Techno-capitalism’s wealthiest winners seek transgressive cool rather than esteem

Evidence

Even the winners of techno-capitalism seemed unhappy. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, found no peace in his astronomical wealth, using prescription ketamine to treat his depression. Money and power were not enough for him, and he lost interest in winning the kind of broad esteem that accompanies the achievement of concrete improvement to human life. Instead, he seemed to be desperate for only one thing: to be seen as transgressively cool. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 717

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Extends ‘On Sacrifice’ and the status/identity signaling lens — worth noting as evidence of the death-of-the-sellout status dynamic Marx identifies.
• XREF: connects to: Tech status requires wealth expressed through idealistic, non-flashy self-improvement — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 179; Tech entrepreneurs disguise wealth-seeking as idealism to claim status — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 676; World-changing rhetoric legitimizes tech wealth while deeming naked wealth-seeking undeserving — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 187