In the 2007 film *There Will Be Blood*, Daniel Plainview, having amassed his oil fortune, declares "I'm finished." The author, a frequent viewer, interprets this not as a confession of ruin, but as an announcement of arrival in a realm beyond societal rules. In 2018, this theory was tested at Jeff Bezos's Campfire retreat in Santa Barbara, California.
Bezos's team invited the author, who had recently declined a business offer from Amazon, to the three-night event for 80-plus guests at the private Biltmore resort. A fleet of private jets collected attendees, including celebrities, artists, and intellectuals, from Van Nuys and New York. Families were welcome, with on-site nannies provided. The resort and a beach club were bought out for the weekend, with a Las Vegas security firm ensuring privacy.
Days were structured: mornings featured TED-style talks from figures like a sitting Supreme Court justice and a neurologist discussing prosthetic tech. Afternoons and evenings were for networking over drinks and four-course meals. A common refrain among guests, from a 1980s hair-metal singer to a Pulitzer-winning novelist, was "Why am I here?" Only the movie stars and billionaires didn't ask; they were veterans of the global idea-festival circuit.
The weekend concluded with a sign perhaps from a higher power: the author's wife broke her wrist on wet grass, and the author and both children contracted hand, foot, and mouth disease. They have not been invited back.
At drinks, the author told a major talent agency head, "I've spent my whole career trying to figure out how the world works. I didn't realize I could just come here and ask the people who ran it." While said in jest, the experience crystallized the concept of 'the elite.' Listening to a famous chef discuss humanitarian work, the author recognized a 'hubris of accomplishment' - the belief that genius in one field confers genius in all.
The 80 guests possessed a combined net worth greater than a small city's, yet it was infinitesimal compared to host Jeff Bezos, then the world's second centibillionaire with a net worth around $112 billion. Bezos was omnipresent, laughing loudly in a tight T-shirt with his teenage sons. His wife, in hindsight, seemed sad. Bezos was still performing the role of a man whose reputation mattered, one whose actions had consequences.
Eight years later, the author observes that Bezos, along with Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have clearly left that world behind. True wealth, the author argues, isn't about acquiring superyachts or jets; it's when everything becomes effectively free and the concept of failure loses meaning. This invulnerability has psychological ramifications, creating a self-definition where the individual expands and the universe vanishes. Former President Donald Trump, asked about checks on his power, cited only his own morality and mind.
Developmental psychology shows moral reasoning develops through consequences and feedback from reality. For the ultra-wealthy, this mechanism goes dark. They can buy their way out of mistakes, fire dissenters, and are surrounded by people who need something from them. When Peter Thiel said, "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible," he was speaking of his own freedom, not yours. When Musk executed the DOGE stunt, it was with the air of a man for whom poverty and chaos didn't matter; he was having fun, and losing had lost its meaning.
Since the 2024 election, a philosophical shift on the right, especially among tech billionaires, has vilified empathy. Musk has called it "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization," framing it as a vulnerability exploited by others. This rejection provides cover for those who don't want to feel.
The author finally met Bezos on the last day, after the wrist incident. When Bezos asked about their Campfire experience, the author, an honest person, told him it was great but mentioned the broken wrist from slipping on wet grass. The night before, they'd watched synchronized swimmers, spoken with a baffled famous novelist, and listened to a rock star's acoustic set, all while a brutal pox began forming under the author's skin. After the fall, a private-security team whisked them to a Santa Barbara ER back entrance for immediate treatment, allowing them to return in time for the Supreme Court justice's Zoom call.