Our modern-day Columbuses
Like the controversial colonizer, billionaires are trying to lead the discovery of a new world—and they're approaching it with a similarly destructive mindset.
Why do so many people look to billionaires for solutions to the world’s biggest problems, like climate change?
New Zealand-based conservationist Joseph Merz, who I spoke to for last week’s newsletter on ecological overshoot and the so-called “human behavioral crisis,” speculates that the answer is simple: Billionaires have a lot of money. So people think they’re geniuses.
But the problem with that pervasive line of thinking, Merz argues, is that it isn’t true. “We’ve essentially built a system, capitalism, that rewards people largely as a result of luck,” he told me. “So much science shows that people like Elon Musk are there far more as a result of luck than ability.”
It’s true: peer-reviewed research shows that the most intelligent people are “almost never” the ones who reach “the highest peaks of success,” being instead “overtaken by averagely talented but sensibly luckier individuals.” Still, we tend to put billionaires on pedestals, asking them desperately, “Where should we go?” And then we wonder why we seem to be stuck in the same place.
It’s not that billionaires are the smartest, Merz argues—it’s that they’re the best at using the system of capitalism to their own personal advantage. So it shouldn’t surprise us when their solutions to the world’s biggest problems preserve the status quo that keeps them at the top. “These people have made their money through capitalism and through technology, so the odds are, their solutions to everything will involve capitalism and technology,” he said. “And that’s exactly what we’re seeing around the world right now.”
His arguments reminded me of a reported essay I wrote two years ago about a trend I noticed with billionaire-led climate solutions. As much of what I wrote was sourced from Indigenous writers and activists, Arielle suggested I re-post this essay for Indigenous People’s Day.
Our readership has doubled in size since the original essay was published, so I thought this was a good idea. So here’s my takedown of billionaire climate solutions: “the climate colonizer mentality.” Hope you enjoy; and if you’re a subscriber, let me know what you think.
