Comment by karmakaze

I agree. This article is for SciAm readers rather than tech billionaires. The examples they give leave a lot out of the equation.

> Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars.

SpaceX seems to be doing just fine as an investment at its current valuation. With any such endeavor there tends to be innovations that can be applied on Earth.

> Peter Thiel is funding research into artificial intelligence, life extension and “seasteading.”

Both AI research and life extension is something that people will always strive to do. The tech billionaires are being singled-out for having the money to do it faster at scale.

> Mark Zuckerberg has blown $10 billion trying to create the Metaverse from Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash.

The incentive was to own an emerging platform since they are merely participants on mobile/tablet and even desktop. Now they're fighting for AI which is new unowned territory which can be claimed.

The above all looks like capitalism working as intended. Don't blame the players, blame the game.