The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto Hardcover_boards - 2023

NY: Public Affairs, 2023. 1st Edition. Hardcover_boards. New/New. FIRST PRINTING with DJ WRAPPED IN MYLAR. Physical Info: 1.17" H x 9.55" L x 6.34" W (1.2 lbs) 336 pages. Features: Bibliography, Index, Price on Product, Sewn binding. Secure ship w/track #. A brilliant takedown and exposé of the great con job of the twenty-first century-- the metaverse, crypto, space travel, transhumanism-- being sold by four billionaires (Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreesen, Elon Musk), leading to the degeneration and bankruptcy of our society. At a time when the crises of income inequality, climate, and democracy are compounding to create epic wealth disparity and the prospect of a second American civil war, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme--the metaverse, cryptocurrency, space travel, and transhumanism--is an existential threat in moral, political, and economic terms. In The End of Reality, Jonathan Taplin provides perceptive insight into the personal backgrounds and cultural power of these billionaires--Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreesen ("The Four") --and shows how their tech monopolies have brought middle-class wage stagnation, the hollowing out of many American towns, a radical increase in income inequality, and unbounded public acrimony. Meanwhile, the enormous amount of taxpayer money to be funneled into the dystopian ventures of "The Four," the benefits of which will accrue to billionaires, exacerbate these disturbing trends.