I am a little upset with discussions that imply that the richest 1% has control over maintaining or changing the course of the human condition.

This simple thought experiment should put that fantasy to rest.

If an alien spaceship arrived at earth and offered that 1 percent a ride to a new planet that was far advanced in providing goods and services and intellectual challenge or freedom of religion than ours and they all went with great joy, and left the rest of us here on earth, it would not significantly change the existing human predicament
or its dreaded outcomes.

1) No matter what sub-group is selected for departure,
      even if the leaving group numbered several billion
            our future would be the same -- the departing group was never in control.

2) if most of earth's population left, leaving only a very small number
      (if a plague or genocide left a very small number), and
            the collective behavior of the remaining group was similar to our own,
                  that group would continue on course toward our predicament
                        — not unwind it.

3) unwinding the human predicament depends on a collective where:
      a) at least half have a view of abstract the future,
      b) half understand which alternative behavior leads to an unwinding, and
      c) they successfully implement civil action, which
            coerces everyone's participation in the unwinding behavior.

4) Our challenge remains,
      “How do we build this collective which
            implements civil constraints on human behavior
                  before the blackness overtakes us and leaves no good course forward?”