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| Science & Technology |
| Inside the brain of the billionaire visionary: narcissism, risk, and disordered personality traits |
| 2023-08-01 |
| [Fortune via Yahoo] F. Scott Fitzgerald famously noted that the rich are "different from you and me." And indeed, some of the recent antics of the super-rich have been... sure, let’s call it "different." There’s the extreme risk-taking: billionaires jettisoning themselves into space, careening around in race cars, or plunging themselves into the darkest depths of the sea on questionable sightseeing tours. Then there’s the seeming immaturity: Elon Musk, for example, the wealthiest man on earth, could be doing untold good in the world—or simply basking in the sun sipping piña coladas—but instead he spends his days arguing online about wild conspiracy theories, or challenging a fellow plutocrat to a cage fight. What makes a person with the savvy to amass such a spectacular fortune so erratic? Is there something about that pile of millions or billions that drives a person to distraction? Or is anyone with the guts and creativity to make billions just more likely to be a little strange in the first place? These are questions that have stumped scientists from various disciplines for many years—after all, today’s crop of very rich guys (and they are mostly guys) are hardly the first to exhibit puzzling behavior, sometimes appearing to tip into mental illness. Howard Hughes hoarded his urine; Michael Jackson spent millions to bring giraffes, alligators, a bear, elephants, and apes to live at his ranch and private zoo; and Steve Jobs munched on nothing but carrots and apples for weeks, despite his skin turning orange. Filthy rich monarchs from England’s George III to the Roman emperor Caligula were widely considered "mad." Probing the origins of these impulses has been the purview of psychology and neurology. There are wealth psychologists to analyze the super rich and help them deal with their guilt and angst. Neuroeconomics, meanwhile, attempts to take Freud and Jung a step further by combining neuroscience, cognitive science, behavioral science, and social psychology to lay bare the inner workings of the billionaire’s mind. But when it comes to explaining the strange behavior of some of these ultra-high-net-worth individuals, the best that all this shrinkage has been able to come up with is a rather un-startling set of observations. Did we really need a professional to tell us that those worth more than $25 million are "focused more on themselves than on others"? Does it come as a surprise that the super-rich may struggle to feel empathy toward groups outside their inner circle—such as the legions of workers that create their wealth? It should not, perhaps, shock anyone that the self-made billionaire may possess an extra shot of narcissism, that they like to be in control, or that they are extremely competitive. The field’s conclusions could be summed up by the famous non-scientist Bernie Sanders, when he observed that billionaires have "psychiatric issues." |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #2 Imagine not wanting to be part of the MIC... It buggers the imagination. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-08-01 09:07 |
| #1 Elon Musk is accused of thwarting a Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian ship off Crimea after 'refusing them access to the Starlink satellite network' |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-08-01 09:00 |