When the Roman Empire collapsed, the wealthy senators who'd helped destroy it for personal gain didn't become kings of successor states. They were consumed by the very chaos they'd unleashed—their estates burned, their wealth seized, their families scattered or killed. The barbarian warlords who emerged from the ruins had no use for their sophisticated financial instruments or political theories.

The tech oligarchs are making the same mistake. They think they're smart enough to ride the tiger, to manage the collapse, to emerge as rulers of whatever comes next. But chaos doesn't respect intelligence. Violence doesn't care about your IQ. Starvation doesn't negotiate with algorithms.