Sure it can…the following book is about that and nonfiction. They want bunkers in New Zealand and shit. Crazy story but basically they do think their money can save them, so they have no incentive to act in any way other than selfish. And maybe they can “buy” the government, like Thiel with Vance and all the millions he gave him to run for Senate.

If the person with the most money wins the apocalypse, then their one objective in life is to become richer and richer and richer. It’s a fascinating yet horrifying rabbit hole to go down but it does help to explain their fucked up actions.

Survival of the Richest, Douglas Rushkoff

Five mysterious billionaires summoned theorist Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The topic? How to survive the “Event”: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they and their cohort can break the laws of physics, economics, and morality to escape a disaster of their own making—as long as they have enough money and the right technology.

In Survival of the Richest, Rushkoff traces the origins of The Mindset in science and technology through its current expression in missions to Mars, island bunkers, AI futurism, and the metaverse.

Here is a podcast where he talks about it, sorry for Apple podcast link; the episode website itself doesn’t seem to exist anymore:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-not-so-smart/id521594713?i=1000631377648

He’s been on lots of them, so search his name on your favorite app for more, but I recommend the above Episode 207 of You are Not So Smart.