I probably should remind people about this more. At Sapienship I was the lead writer of a science fiction audio podcast, which has had a low-key ongoing popularity since it first emerged about three or so years back.
Fifteen minute episodes, each an original potential future we’re heading into at breakneck speed (apart from the three-part miniseries on interspecies communication, that is.)
I was reminded of their existence today when a friend, in relation to this article, said that Elon Musk gave off Heinlein-type Fifties SF vibes, and it occurred to me to point him in the direction of a more contemporary analogue I’d scripted for Screen Lock.
So I do on occasion write science fiction as well as reading it (and criticising it.)
Anyhow, that’s more than enough self-promotion. Do give the Screen Lock episodes a listen, even or perhaps especially if you don’t normally like science fiction. I don’t normally write science fiction either, so these are I think a little astute, unusual, and perhaps even prescient in places.
Elon Musk, who I must remind you is the richest man on the planet, could afford to buy a top-notch £300k family home every day for the next two millennia.
However, he chooses not to do so. Which in one sense is wise. Who needs so many houses anyway? Other than maybe Elton John? But Elon doesn’t even have ONE house, which you have to admit is somewhat unusual for the billionaire class.
Can I crash on your couch tonight, man?
Apparently he couch surfs rather than purchase a home in the Bay area, where Tesla is based. He claims to rent a prefab from his own SpaceX firm in Texas, which I am entirely prepared to believe, because he’s definitely eccentric.
Since earning $58,000 currently would put you in the top one per cent of incomes on Earth, and since financial advisors recommend spending no more than 10% on discretionary expenditure, I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Elon is talking a billionaire-sized amount of bollocks.
Even for the top 1% of earners, who should not be spending more than $5,800 annually on discretionary purchases like trips to space, that’s nearly TWO DECADES of saving.
It’s also worth adding that, if you DO happen to be fortunate enough to earn $58k, or the UK equivalent which is £44,400 at today’s exchange rate, you’d only be able to borrow about £144,300, so you’d need one helluva deposit to afford even the average UK house, which was priced at £274,000 in January 2022.
In other words, like I’ve been saying since the days of Occupy, it’s not actually the 1% who are the problem. Believe it or not, the 1% are actually now middle class too. It’s the 0.1% who are the problem. In fact, we could probably go further again.
I’d be quite gratified if Mr “I don’t own a home!” quietened down a tad about how allegedly cheap his space tours are and instead started buying some other people some houses, even if he doesn’t fancy one for himself.
We don’t all have billionaire pals who let us crash on their couches, after all.
