Some movies you must have seen. Not because they are great, but because you continuously see scenes from the movie around you become reality. Don’t look up is one such film, about an asteroid that threatens to destroy the Earth. Everything is there: apocalyptic climate references, politicians who mainly go for image, media that effortlessly switch from impending doom to this, that and candles for a thousand hours, scientists desperately trying to convince the world to do something.
Yet the main cultural reference in the film is not science that is not taken seriously. Because eventually the American president (played by Meryl Streep) becomes convinced of the existential threat and comes up with a credible plan to avert the catastrophe. All’s well that ends well, it seems.
Until an eccentric, somewhat ethereal data billionaire appears on the scene. He has discovered that the asteroid is chock full of valuable resources and convinces the president that it is smarter to shoot the thing closer to Earth so that it smashes into pieces and the valuable metals can still be mined.
Metals can then be mined from the debris. If that plan fails, it will be the end of the story for humanity – but not for the billionaire who escapes in a rocket along with other billionaires.
I thought of this scene when Elon Musk bought Twitter last week. The Tesla billionaire who uses electric cars, reusable rockets and hyperloops to both save the planet and prepare to escape from it. With his billions, Musk is increasingly pushing the world to his will. He seems less concerned with innovating and more with manipulating cryptocurrencies, stock prices and public debate.
Twitter is my main source of news, debate center and internet guide. It shows me the way to the most important scientific articles and essential journalism from around the world. I find unique insights into the life of a benefit parent, an intensive care nurse, a conspiracy theorist. Twitter is addictive, frightening, hilarious and informative – from the greatest geopolitical perspectives to the news off my street.
Twitter, like any global medium, is also extremely rude and toxic. Trump’s coup has led social media platforms worldwide to moderate, fact-check, warn and suspend more. They look at every public debate with an American eye, from Japan to the Philippines, from India to Brazil.
And now Twitter is Musk’s toy. They can tinker and tinker with it as they see fit, fiddling with their version of free speech, taking advantage of the fact that most users never leave anyway. That’s the weakness of herd animals: they want to be where the others are. They don’t want to miss the conversation. I’m such a herd animal.
The American owners of my online reality on Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Whatsapp can make a lot. If Twitter just closes the account of the largest opposition leader in the Netherlands, as happened last week, many shrug their shoulders. Well, those robots just make mistakes.
It’s an Orbánesque, Berlusconi-esque take on the flow of information and the rules of conversation, but with global implications. And you know, it doesn’t even matter how Musk is going to change Twitter. It’s about the bigger picture. Western oligarchs with ‘fuck you’ money such as Gates, Buffett, Soros, Bezos, Zuckerberg, who, sometimes under the guise of philanthropy, increasingly use their billions to determine our lives.
It is their vision of infectious disease control, climate change, space and democracy that is made a reality thanks to their capabilities and their funds. That is an understandable source of growing mistrust and conspiracy theories because of the unchecked power they can wield. No one knows how close they would let the asteroid get.
I saw a tweet come along: “Musk is the living and breathing argument for a 90 percent tax rate.” I retweeted in agreement.
Rosanne Hertzberger is a microbiologist.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of April 30, 2022