The tale of the last two decades of American culture is, in many ways, the story of what happens when the boys who did advanced math and broke open gadgets in their parents’ garage get insanely, ridiculously, rich. We got a new space race. We got new political coalitions and de-extinction projects. We got sperm racing. The nerds have used their winnings to transform the media, and in some cases, our biology. And they’re not stopping anytime soon. In fact, sooner than you think, one of these tech bros will make it across the red tape and become the world’s first trillionaire. Which raises the question. . .
Where Will All the Dork Bucks Go?
The richest men in the world today are not the ones who own gold mines or railroads; it’s guys who invented new ways to buy toilet paper or send messages at work. And I don’t just mean Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk; it’s no-name coders bringing in the millions, especially since the AI arms race ratcheted up. Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly offering $100 million bonuses to top OpenAI software engineers if they abandon ship and join artificial intelligence efforts at Meta. Forget heiresses and hotel proprietors; guys who were into crypto early, or bought Nvidia stock before the price went to the moon—which is to say, people who spent high school playing Elden Ring—are the wealthy ones now.
