I don’t understand how this is not obvious to them. If it were, they would be investing their wealth in fighting climate change, taking on the fossil fuel industry and conserving natural resources, not making the problem worse with half-baked dreams of glorified predictive text fixing everything

I think because they are all sold on a Harari/Pinker-style "triumphant march of technology" that can fix everything. And they have pretty much zero interest in exploring any history prior to the C18th or analysis that contradicts that

Johanna, I laughed out loud when I read your comment - 1. Cos it is so obvs, 2. At my stupidity for not seeing that sooner! And yeah, you're right - it's utterly absurd they're not even protecting their own interests