Chapter 3097

The small island Stark purchased is very close to Palm Beach; the reason it remained unpurchased and undeveloped for so long is that it sits in an awkward position.

The island is too small to be developed into a tourist resort, but it is a bit too large to be used solely as a private estate, making security arrangements difficult.

More importantly, because it is near the most famous luxury tourist destination on the West Coast, the island's price is exceptionally high—several times that of other more remote islands of more suitable sizes. Before Stark, no sucker would ever buy such an island.

Stark does not consider himself a sucker, because the issue of the island's size, which gives others a headache, is not a problem for him.

Originally, this island only had a white sand beach on the west side, which was quite short and small in area, but Stark purchased a batch of white sand in Los Angeles and created an artificial beach directly.

As everyone knows, labor in the United States is very expensive. Other wealthy people don't do this because hiring workers to lay the sand is exorbitantly expensive, the construction period is slow, and if a hurricane hits, the sand laid today would be blown away tomorrow.

But Stark can use robots, with almost no labor costs, just spending a bit of money to buy the sand. Moreover, robots are more obedient than humans; they can build whatever is on the design blueprint, which is even more convenient than building a home in a game.

Now, the entire southwest side of the island has a huge, long white sand beach, which is the main venue for this wedding.

There are two small hills elsewhere on the island. The one closer to the beach is shorter, and a mountain villa area has been built on it for guests to stay. The higher hill is where Stark's newly built estate is located. On the wedding day, the bride and groom will depart from here to head to the beach.

Now, the hard decoration for the wedding is basically finished; what remains is the soft decoration of the wedding venue. The decoration is also entrusted to a professional company. In Stark's estate, everyone reviewed the design blueprints for the decoration style.

Upon seeing the design blueprints, Shiler understood why Stark was dissatisfied.

The decoration style is actually quite good; it is a very common modern romantic wedding, and it is the top tier that can be achieved within this budget. Flower arches, balloons, high-end tableware, and beautifully decorated meals—one can hardly find any fault with it.

The only problem is that it is too ordinary. It can be said that eight out of ten American old-money families hold weddings this way. In Stark's words, his father and mother's wedding back then was this style.

Actually, everyone else was quite satisfied because this is indeed what most people stereotypically think a wedding should look like. Moreover, because Stark is very rich, the wedding's scale is very high. The other couples are all from commoner backgrounds and have never seen such a display, so they felt it was already very good.

Everyone had already begun to excitedly discuss the details of the layout. Shiler saw that Stark was in a bad mood, so he invited him to go for a walk.

The two came to the balcony of the estate room. Stark lit a cigarette and said, "Am I being a bit too pretentious? I just feel that such an important life ceremony should have some of my own traces."

"The key is not the ceremony, but the people." Shiler smiled and said, "When you recall these things in your later years, you will definitely be more impressed by the expressions and demeanor of the people around you."

"Yes, I didn't make any extra changes because I knew Pepper would like this kind of wedding. If I made it all robots, it might become a topic of conversation for a while, but thinking back on it later, there would always be regrets."

"Although you can't make it all robots, perhaps you can add some mechanical elements. Do you have any robot performances arranged?"

"No, because I know there are some robot-phobes among the guests." Stark spread his hands and said, "You also know that since the mechanical revolution began, opponents have been endless. If they use this as an excuse to cause trouble at the wedding, the beautiful memories would have flaws."

Shiler sighed in his heart. He certainly knew that a mechanical revolution is happening all over the world, which is replacing heavy and dangerous work with robots, such as high-altitude power maintenance, heavy object handling, bulk cargo transportation, and so on.

In fact, even without this mechanical revolution, those so-called manual positions that would be replaced on a large scale had long been replaced. Textile factory workers were replaced by textile machines, and steel workers were replaced by mechanical steel production lines. This time, it is just a technological upgrade of robots, allowing them to perform more intelligent work.

But precisely because of this, the group being replaced has changed from bottom-level workers to the middle class and elite class, and even the wealthy class.

The wealthy themselves do not engage in production, but the companies under them have industry competition. The ones most opposed to the Stark Group's technical robots are the giants of North American human resources.

So-called knowledge is wealth, and people who master knowledge are also wealth. The wealthy rely on money to keep the excellent talents screened by society in their hands; this is an important factor for their family business to be passed down for generations.

However, if one day all these talents can be replaced by robots produced by the Stark Group, it means that all talents are mastered by Stark, and the talents in their hands will depreciate.

Some people might say that robots are obviously lower in cost, and humans and robots who master the same knowledge are obviously more cost-effective with robots. If robots are used instead of humans, isn't it also reducing production costs for the wealthy?

But the problem is, who do the robots listen to?

For the wealthy, winning people's hearts is always simple. Humans have weaknesses and desires; even the simplest desire for money makes their stability far greater than the robots Stark created.

If Stark were a pure capitalist, perhaps they wouldn't be so worried; buying and selling robots is nothing more than a business.

But Stark happens to be a hero.

He thinks about problems from the perspective of the interests of all mankind. Naturally, it's fine when the Earth is safe, but once human interests conflict with the interests of these wealthy people, the robots of the Stark Group they once bought will become knives pointed at them.

Stark will let these robots hold knives to their necks. If you don't listen to me and contribute to Earth's safety, it means that the middle-level backbone power under your leadership will be completely wiped out, and you can stop thinking about passing down your family line for ten thousand generations.

How can the wealthy endure this?

This is what Stark is truly annoyed about.

If it were up to his temper, he would have turned this wedding into a robot expo. He would want to let those who sing against him see: who cares if you come or not, I'm living just fine.

But he would be satisfied this way, yet this is obviously not the wedding Pepper wants. A robot expo can be held at any time, but a wedding might only happen once in a lifetime. Perhaps Pepper would agree, but Stark doesn't want her to have regrets.

As Stark's age has gradually increased, he is no longer as sharp-edged as he was when he was young, wishing that the whole world knew who the boss was.

He has begun to gradually separate work from life. In work, he firmly walks his own path and is determined not to be kidnapped by any circle, but in life, there is no need to be so stiff with these people.

He increasingly understands that greed is human nature. For nature-driven things, violent means are useless.

He also began to understand why Shiler has to take a huge detour every time he wants to achieve his goal.

Are those wealthy people wrong?

Many of them also relied on their own hard work to achieve their current family business. They don't know how much suffering they endured and how much ridicule they received in the middle. They just want their children not to have to suffer these pains again and to be able to enjoy the fruits of their parents' hard work with peace of mind.

Parents create the family foundation, the son goes a step further, and the grandson creates new heights. Hasn't human society always developed like this?

Asking himself, Stark wouldn't let Helen and little Morgan start from scratch. On the contrary, he wants to give them the best education so that their starting point is higher than everyone else's. This is a perfectly normal psychology.

If someone wants to take all this away at this time, he will naturally rise up to resist, regard them as enemies, and firmly resist to the end.

There are some so-called strategists who first assume that everyone is selfless and then formulate their own plans. Once the plan goes wrong because of certain people, they blame these people for being selfish, which led to the failure of the plan.

These people are indeed selfish, but selfishness is not a word invented on that day. In human history, selfless people are to be named and praised. This shows that selfishness is the norm, and selflessness is the minority.

Since this is the case, when formulating a plan, failing to consider that people will not firmly execute the plan because of personal interests, eventually leading to the failure of the plan, is an idealistic trap.

The contradiction already exists. Blindly blaming others for being selfish cannot solve any problems, but is very likely to intensify the contradiction.

And relying on winning over them and then suppressing them to solve this kind of contradiction ultimately does not solve any problems, because there are always people who can improve their class by their own talent and hard work and become new rich. Such suppression is endless.

But if they are completely indulged, and every person only strives to continue their own family, they will frantically exclude dissidents, suppress the people below them, block the upward channel, and eventually make social contradictions sharp and the social atmosphere foul.

Going left or right won't work, but standing in the middle and swaying is a dead end. So the best way is to combine kindness and power, and guide them step by step. Politics is inherently the art of compromise.

Going head-to-head with them all the time, this breath is indeed smooth, but afterwards, it will inevitably be restrained everywhere, with half the effort for twice the result.

It is better to give the other party a step down. You respect me a foot, and I respect you a yard. Both sides take a step back.

Stark understands that his wedding is actually showing favor to those conservatives, giving both sides a chance to sit down and talk. Even if nothing comes of it, I have given you so much face, and if you trip me up again, then I will be the one standing on the moral high ground.

But knowing it rationally is one thing; Stark's temper will inevitably feel stifled. But after thinking about it, he doesn't know who to blame, so he can only beat up Reed in his dreams to vent his anger.

Shiler also had nothing to say. People always have to grow up. Stark's childhood lasted for decades, which is lucky enough.

"It's time to abandon illusions and face reality, Tony." Shiler turned his head to look at Stark and said, "This is destined to be a long and arduous struggle, but you are not fighting alone."

Stark exhaled a puff of smoke. There was always misty water vapor in his eyes, which, blown by the mountain wind, looked moist and bright.

"I believe that the two great things in this world, truth and you, are both on my side. The one who will achieve the final victory will definitely be me, Tony Stark."