If you think so too, quickly tell me who was the richest person in ancient Sumeria!
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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Historians and a few enthusiasts might know the names of some rich Sumerians (and for Sumerians, many might remember just as well the name of a merchant on some impressively well-preserved tablet), maybe, but that's even a very small amount of historians anyway. Most people won't even be able to tell you the name of the Pharaoh who built the most impressive pyramid, nevermind about all the rest of them!
Nobody except a few weirdos remembers this shite after a couple thousand millenia! And it definitelly doesn't matter whatsoever. Musks and Bezos' won't even be remembered 500 years from now, nevermind 4000.
Honestly, the first name I thought of was Conan the Barbarian, but he was Cimmerian, not Sumerian. But if anyone knows any Sumerians, it's because they were rich or important.
People of great importance are also remembered. Great scientists and artists and leaders are remembered for their contributions. But if you are not a great person, then being rich will let you buy fame.
Musk and Bezos will be remembered for their atrocities as much as for their wealth, but Bezos spent $42 million building a 10,000 year clock and Musk launched one of his cars into space. These guys may or may bot succeed, but they are trying to buy an indelible legacy. If all of modern humanity is lost, and remnants are discovered 10,001 years in the future, there will be far more evidence that Musk and Bezos were here than you or I, and that's not because they are good people or important people. It's because they are rich.
Which rich ancient Greeks do you remember? Keep going backwards in time, you'll find out that we remember less and less. because wealth never mattered. As you said yourself, you remember a fictional character more than you remember any actual super-rich from 4000 years ago. Hell, even the people who did likewise atrocities as much as Musk to build their legacy, who literally carved the most well known monument on earth, 6500 later, the vast majority of humans don't even know their name. Time will erase Musk just as much ,and I would argue, even faster.
Likewise, name a rich person from India, or Congo, or modern Greece even. Do you think anyone will remember the richest person in modern day Greece in even 100 years from now?
Modern day Greece isn't the biggest empire on Earth and no one man effectively controlled that empire's government like Musk. That's not a very good argument
This is not as good an argument you think it is. The point of the meme is that most rich people can't take it with them. Most super-rich people are not going to be at a level of Musk or Bezos, therefore, the meme (and my subsequent arguments) are intended to agitate all those rich people who are not called Musk, Bezos or Trump.