Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "billionaire"
On Space Tourism
Many people are mad at the escapades of billionaires in space, but the fact of the matter is, had they been invited to go with the billionaires themselves, most of them would be thrilled to their bones, for they are not really mad at the billionaires, they are mad because they can’t afford such fancy travel.
You see, they are the same people who save up their hard-earned money so they could have a relaxing or thrilling vacation somewhere, even though their version of vacation turns bleak in front of the glorious space vacations of the super-rich.
So to those who pompously ask the question, “should people travel to space for fun”, I ask, “should you have a vacation on an island for fun – should you have dinner at a fancy restaurant for fun – when countless souls are suffering from the lack of the very essentials of life?”
It’s all about status. A billionaire’s idea of vacation is in space, whereas a regular person’s idea of a vacation is on some island or in another continent. And if the billionaires are abusing resources for personal enjoyment, so are these regular people.
You have no right to demand moral accountability from billionaires, if you yourself don’t mind engaging in your everyday luxuries – for your luxuries may seem dim compared to those of the super-rich, but still the resources you spend on them could feed and clothe at least ten families in developing parts of the world for a year.
The very existence of billionaires is a sign of economic disparities, but they are not the sole cause of those disparities. Every individual engaging in luxury beyond necessity is as much responsible for the economic disparities in society as the super wealthy. So till you learn to distinguish between necessity and luxury and thereafter abolish all trace of luxury from your own life, you are the problem yourself, as much as the greedy capitalists and politicians.
(The above piece is an excerpt from Gente Mente Adelante: Prejudice Conquered is World Conquered, 2021)
You see, they are the same people who save up their hard-earned money so they could have a relaxing or thrilling vacation somewhere, even though their version of vacation turns bleak in front of the glorious space vacations of the super-rich.
So to those who pompously ask the question, “should people travel to space for fun”, I ask, “should you have a vacation on an island for fun – should you have dinner at a fancy restaurant for fun – when countless souls are suffering from the lack of the very essentials of life?”
It’s all about status. A billionaire’s idea of vacation is in space, whereas a regular person’s idea of a vacation is on some island or in another continent. And if the billionaires are abusing resources for personal enjoyment, so are these regular people.
You have no right to demand moral accountability from billionaires, if you yourself don’t mind engaging in your everyday luxuries – for your luxuries may seem dim compared to those of the super-rich, but still the resources you spend on them could feed and clothe at least ten families in developing parts of the world for a year.
The very existence of billionaires is a sign of economic disparities, but they are not the sole cause of those disparities. Every individual engaging in luxury beyond necessity is as much responsible for the economic disparities in society as the super wealthy. So till you learn to distinguish between necessity and luxury and thereafter abolish all trace of luxury from your own life, you are the problem yourself, as much as the greedy capitalists and politicians.
(The above piece is an excerpt from Gente Mente Adelante: Prejudice Conquered is World Conquered, 2021)
Exponential progress is catalyst of coldness (Sonnet 1492) | Abhijit Naskar | Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets
“Exponential progress is catalyst of coldness, all peddled in the name of advancement. Monkeys burn millions selling you the future, while back on earth humans struggle to make ends meet on 1/4 to 7 dollar hourly wage.”
“Sonnet 1492
If you cared more about
making people smile
than bringing machines to life,
we’d be at a much better place.
With all the tech we have today,
we could equalize the world tomorrow.
But no, cyborgs gotta develop more,
they feel impotent unless their tentacles grow.
That’s why, neither genocide nor invasion
must obstruct the growth of apely machines.
It’s okay if children die of malnourishment,
funding mustn’t cease for glorious tech fiends.
Terrestrial terrains to celestial shores,
humanity is the only species to die of smart-ness.
If we cared more about people than devices,
truly and honestly, we’d be at a much better place.”
“Sonnet 1492
If you cared more about
making people smile
than bringing machines to life,
we’d be at a much better place.
With all the tech we have today,
we could equalize the world tomorrow.
But no, cyborgs gotta develop more,
they feel impotent unless their tentacles grow.
That’s why, neither genocide nor invasion
must obstruct the growth of apely machines.
It’s okay if children die of malnourishment,
funding mustn’t cease for glorious tech fiends.
Terrestrial terrains to celestial shores,
humanity is the only species to die of smart-ness.
If we cared more about people than devices,
truly and honestly, we’d be at a much better place.”
Twit & Trash (The Sonnet) | Abhijit Naskar | Dunya Benim, Sorumluluk Benim: Little Planet on The Prairie
There is nothing more cataclysmic than
a sea of unarmed citizens out for justice –
even the richest oligarchic leeches,
armed with billions of robots, tanks
and satellites, would crumble like twigs.
Born to privilege, most tech giants are tech trash,
loaded with more nuts than the Enigma machine.
In the salacious pursuit of the silicon dream,
these nutters are the antithesis of Tesla and Turing.
Tech giants are giants by the will of people,
takes less than a month to bankrupt their worth.
Any giant who thinks they are above the people,
are the puniest form of termites on earth.
Clockwork mice and clockwork minds both can
run great distances with no sense of why?
Children of earth still sleep without food,
yet colonizer kids are headed for the sky!
a sea of unarmed citizens out for justice –
even the richest oligarchic leeches,
armed with billions of robots, tanks
and satellites, would crumble like twigs.
Born to privilege, most tech giants are tech trash,
loaded with more nuts than the Enigma machine.
In the salacious pursuit of the silicon dream,
these nutters are the antithesis of Tesla and Turing.
Tech giants are giants by the will of people,
takes less than a month to bankrupt their worth.
Any giant who thinks they are above the people,
are the puniest form of termites on earth.
Clockwork mice and clockwork minds both can
run great distances with no sense of why?
Children of earth still sleep without food,
yet colonizer kids are headed for the sky!
