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Mark Zuckerberg's Top-Secret Hawaii Compound
- pinewurst 3y agohttps://archive.vn/ztbXV https://archive.vn/ztbXV
- barbazoo 3y agoBillionaires doing billionaire things.
- GreedClarifies 3y ago[flagged]
- 0xbadcafebee 3y agoReminder that Larry Eillison bought an entire Hawaiian island. Apparently that's normal, after Mormons acquired the land in 1854, later selling it on for sugar production, ranching, and growing pineapples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanai
- gosub100 3y ago> he used money of the church but titled the land in his own name. When the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found this out they excommunicated him, but he was still able to retain ownership of the land. lol
- 5555624 3y ago>> he used money of the church but titled the land in his own name. When the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found this out they excommunicated him, but he was still able to retain ownership of the land. That was Walter Gibson, not Larry Ellison. Ellison bought it from Dole, as they phased out pineapple production in the h1980s. Ellison owns 98% of the island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanai
- ramesh31 3y agoFeels weird to single out Zuck here. Hawaii is home to a ton of other wealthy elite compounds. Oprah's on Maui is nearly the same size. And Larry Ellison owns the the entire island of Lanai.
- undersuit 3y agohttps://www.wired.com/2012/06/larry-ellison-island/ https://www.wired.com/2012/06/larry-ellison-island/
- jonathankoren 3y agoJust because it doesn't talk about everyone that builds shelter to fiddle while the world burns, doesn't mean a single article isn't worth while. But if you want, here's a Douglas Rushkoff article about the trend. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prep... My favorite quote, “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?". These oligarchs even talk about trying to control people with food or maybe bombs on their necks. Jesus. Maybe don't be an antisocial dick your whole life, and you wouldn't be in this mess.
- e2le 3y ago>These oligarchs even talk about trying to control people with food or maybe bombs on their necks. I assume this is what you're referring to? >The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers – if that technology could be developed “in time”. Bomb collars weren't explicitly mentioned.
- jonathankoren 3y agoYou really don’t think push button death of their slaves isn't what they had in mind? Its the very sci-fi trope they’re seriously considering.
- 3y ago
- Geeek 3y agoWIRED "investigation"
- wincy 3y agoNo reporters are allowed inside my house or on my property either. Does that make it top secret?
- adam12 3y ago> the project has relied on legal maneuvering and political networking, and at times, sources believe, it has shown disregard for the local public. I'm sure this applies to your situation, too.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoI have to apply for building permits too, and dont care if my neighbors like my lawncare.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- HDThoreaun 3y agoThis applies to just about every new house build in the country these days with the amount of NIMBY control most areas have. I can tell you that in my city nothing gets built without political networking
- dclowd9901 3y agoYou probably don’t make every person who visits sign an NDA.
- gaws 3y agoYou're not a world-famous tech multi-billionaire building a suspicious compound on a small island.
- paxys 3y agoI don't know why the author is so hung up on NDAs. If my housekeeper was posting pictures of my house on social media while cleaning I'd be pretty pissed off about it. And if I asked them not to do it it wouldn't make the work "top secret". Agreements to keep the job confidential is standard when dealing with any public figure due to the public and media attention it brings, and this very journalist is a prime example of that.
- mdanger007 3y agoKinda fits in with the remote, underground theme of the property, no?
- KennyBlanken 3y agoThere's a difference between "taking pictures of my lived-in house and putting them on social media" and "you cannot discuss anything, at all, with anyone, about this construction project." The author quotes someone in construction who is familiar with high end work who says it's extremely unusual to force everyone to sign NDAs. Couple that with the scale of the project? 1,400 acres is two square miles. That's a quarter of the size of the largest town on the island.
- sigmar 3y ago>The door in the underground shelter will be constructed out of metal and filled in with concrete—a style common in bunkers and bomb shelters. There's some neat details in this. Really curious how a door like this opens. And curious about the purpose/logistics of a 320,000 gallon water tank. If you have independent power you can just pump well water or filtered ocean water, yeah? Though maybe "external water sources are irradiated to an extent that distillation/filtration are impractical" is part of the design spec...
- throwup238 3y agoIt's utterly moronic. Those bunkers and bomb shelters are made to withstand air raids and nuclear bombs, not ground assaults. There is zero chance anyone is spending any resources on bombing a tiny island with a population under 100,000, but those locals? The first thing those locals are going to do if society actually breaks down is find those water and air intakes (that they built!) and shut them down. The latter by lighting a garbage can full of plastic on fire and flushing the inhabitants out. If they actually have an active life support system with CO2 recycling, the locals will just destroy the bunker from the outside because... well... we've been quarrying giant blocks of rock for thousands of years. It's not that hard when you've got unlimited physical access. Even the steel door is a minor barrier when you don't have fortified towers or parapets to defend from. The question is whether the island has enough explosives on it or whether the locals would have to boat over to a bigger one to borrow some. If not, a cheap jack hammer would make quick work of the bunker but even if they were reduced to wood fires and a single pickaxe it wouldn't take more than a few weeks to pick the structure apart using prehistoric techniques: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire-setting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire-setting
- 0xbadcafebee 3y ago> Really curious how a door like this opens. If it's just a standard blast door, captured hinges with grease. You just pull it open, and a cam pulls it closed tight. If it's a sliding door, you can use bearings, cams and screw gears. For very large doors that swing open they'll still use captured hinges, with hydraulics to actuate it, but humans can still close it themselves. > And curious about the purpose/logistics of a 320,000 gallon water tank. The same purpose as towns that have water tanks. You'll still pump water into the tank slowly, but you need a much smaller pump capacity to slowly fill it. And it's way more efficient to distribute the water using the force of gravity; it would be very difficult to distribute lots of water at the speed needed to maintain adequate water pressure. The tank's excess capacity allows you to service peak usage easily, and operates in the absence of electricity. Work smarter, not harder.
- markx2 3y ago"New Zealand, considered by some to be the ideal place to wait out an apocalyptic event, is now riddled with bunkers for the tech elite. Recently reinstalled OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has an arrangement with Peter Thiel, first revealed to The New Yorker, where the pair will take a jet to one of Thiel’s New Zealand properties in the case of an apocalyptic event. In his book Survival of the Richest, media theorist Douglass Rushkoff describes meeting with a group of billionaire preppers who bombarded him with questions about how best to configure their bunkers to survive the end times." And who will do their bidding during / after those end times?
- iAMkenough 3y agoI assume they’ll try to repopulate the world and use their least favorite children as laborers.
- csa 3y ago> I assume they’ll try to repopulate the world Oh, the irony if two gay men were the only option left to repopulate the world. One would assume that one or both (for genetic diversity!) would fall on their swords for the benefit/continuance of humanity. Right?
- jonathankoren 3y agoYou're thinking about this wrong. It's not about continuing humanity. It's about continuing themselves. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_cloning_program https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_cloning_program
- nightski 3y agoI read somewhere else that they have a full time staff on site.
- briffle 3y agoMy wife and kids may be buried under the rubble that was my home right now, but I make 3x the local median wage, so I better stay here an protect this guy i'm not allowed to talk to or interact with....
- boeingUH60 3y agoWeird hit piece stating information one could already publicly find. Flagged.
- Magi604 3y agoHawaii doesn't seem like an ideal place for this type of "survival bunker". The area still sees volcanic activity, and the islands are small and probably will get hit hard from things like tsunamis and rising sea levels. On the other hand because it's on an island far away from the mainland continents it will probably be good for a zombie apocalypse scenario, provided none of the locals get infected.
- giraffe_lady 3y agoI think they are probably focused more on a torches-and-guillotines type scenario.
- paxys 3y agoIt's a fancy resort house on a fancy island. Hardly the first of its kind. I have no idea why journalists keep hyping the "doomsday bunker" angle so much. Heck having basic off-grid facilities is logical these days in any new construction if you can afford it.
- teachrdan 3y agoFrom TFA: "The property, known as Koolau Ranch, will, according to planning documents, include a 5,000-square-foot underground shelter, have its own energy and food supplies, and, when coupled with land purchase prices, will cost in excess of $270 million." It's not hard to see how journalists -- anyone, really -- could conclude that Zuckerberg is building a doomsday bunker.
- e2le 3y agoI'm curious of the challenges in designing and constructing such a compound. For example, the limited access to resources needed to maintain the compound (air filtration, waste recycling, electrical components, etc.) would have to be baked into it's design somehow.
- genmud 3y agoYou are making the assumption it is for long term habitation, which might not be the case. For long term habitation, you would solve it like any other engineering problem. How many people do you need to support, against what threats, for how long and what safety margins do you need. Air is a solved problem, you either pull/push from the outside environment and filter on its way in (open circuit), or you treat the air (closed circuit). Waste goes into a leech field or is incinerated. Electrical is generated / stored onsite or powered externally.
- doikor 3y agoIf you are that rich and as long as you build it on relatively sparsely built area (so you don't waste space) I say let billionaires build as many compounds with bunkers as they want. At least their money circulates around the economy that way instead of sitting in some offshore account/shares. A big compound also pretty much requires around the year security/crew/maintenance so it will very likely bring some local jobs after the construction too.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- runjake 3y agoAs other commenters have said, it's far from top secret. A few years back, my wife and I went on "his" beach via a long, windy, overgrown public access path[1] and had a large, sandy beach to ourselves with nobody else within sight. At first, we had security from up on the property watching us from afar, but they got bored after a while and left us. Or they figured we weren't a threat. We spent hours there. 1. Hint: from the south side.
- throwup238 3y agoGood reminder that all beaches in Hawaii (and California) are public by default with the exception of a few Federally owned ones (usually military).
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- MilStdJunkie 3y agoUnless he's bringing a private army with him everywhere, any collapse-type situation is going to see this palace swamped with thousands or tens of thousands of scavengers. I gotta admit not understanding the bunker thing unless you're on an island[1] or keeping it a secret. You billionz would be better spent reinforcing the locals' civilization and making them your buddies with beer and little shinies- the feudal model. [1] Kinda. That won't be permanent, either. Scavengers have taken to the high seas countless times throughout history. Hell, the Philistines! Same deal.
- krunck 3y agoThe sign says "Private Property". Huh. That's odd for someone who has nothing to hide.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- poisonborz 3y agoI just don't understand the logic. Do people really think they can isolate themselves in a huge personal vault, probably with 10-20 servants and their families who are needed to run the thing? What's the endgame? What kind of society would they build there? How fast would this little monarchy fall apart? Not to speak of how such a compound would be a glowing target for the population of the island, but maybe scavengers who possess boats or aircraft. The Expanse series had an episode that showcased this when Earth was hit with a meteorite.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- broken-kebab 3y agoWhy do you think his goal is to isolate himself, or build a doomsday society? I you consider it to be an expensive villa for a guy which has reasons to be afraid of kidnapping, and rich enough to make his safe room really big, then all pieces fall in place neatly.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoSure, why not. It seems reasonable to me. Of course the chances depend on the type and scope of the disaster or situation you are using it for. It is probably great if there is another global pandemic, or civil unrest in San Francisco. If extradimensional aliens are invading, maybe it wasnt soo useful.
- ryandrake 3y agoYea, this is the big flaw in the Preppers' thought process. If the shit actually hits the fan, as they say... a lone family defending their remote land with grandpaw's shotgun is not going to win against even a small band of armed marauders. A rich guy living in an underground bunker with servants is going to last about as long as the servants take to realize they can just gang up and take the compound over. Your off-grid solar panels and stockpiles of food and water don't stand a chance against the local warlord who wants to just take it.
- 1905 3y agoI think its the cliche "man cave" taken to the extreme. Talk to most guys and they too would want their own bunker. Look at all the popular videos on Youtube, titled "I built my own bunker"
- gavin_gee 3y agoanother reporter trying to build outrage. garbage article
- bambax 3y ago> complete with plans for a huge underground bunker If the world does end, and all that remains of humanity are the billionaires eating canned food down in their bunkers, and sleeping with their guns, it will all be quite hilarious. Funnier still will be when they run out of canned food, and they fight one another for survival. It's a pity no one will be able to see that. They should make the movie now.
- caesil 3y agoThe kuleana rights backlash was pretty silly to anyone who understand how land works in Hawaii and isn't trying to take a bad faith swipe at Zuck. It's a standard practice when buying land and building property. Hawaii is an unusual place in that it's not particularly left wing in certain ways - i.e. lower class communities of color tend to be unusually right-wing - but uprisings against perceived slights by the rich, especially rich mainlanders, are a cherished tradition. There's nothing Zuck can do with that property that won't trigger some kind of scandal.
- yterdy 3y agoInteresting that none of the comments so far have said anything about one of the primary points of the article - not just the nature of the bunker, but the impact on the locals. It's not insignificant that Zuckerberg is building a little fiefdom in a place with an infamous history of exploitation by powerful outsiders. The story of the guard who died on the property and whose family had trouble getting information about the circumstances of his death is emblematic of the issue: you push your way onto this land and fail to integrate peacefully with the people already living there. It's not right.
- rblion 3y agoI live in Kauai, a few miles from him. I know people who have worked at his property too. Right now on the North Shore there is Mark Zuckerberg, tons of wealthy people moving in, AND a giant mega resort called the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay all putting strain on the economy and ecology. I am still carrying through with my vision of a better world. It started back in 2010 when this account was created. I was laughed at then for wanting to take on Facebook. I never quit and kept learning this whole time. I am close to Mount Doom now, Ring is still in tact. I am a little beat up after the Maui fires and that I had to relocate to here but I'm still going.
- Always_Anon 3y ago[flagged]
- obmelvin 3y agoI find the amount of people calling this a hit piece odd. Does every article need to talk about every bit of information related to the subject? Yes, it's important to give context that he's not the only one building compound(s) like this - but by the same token it's very common for articles to do a deep dive on one subject.
- nhance 3y agohttps://maps.app.goo.gl/zthJpFFBPvWCgHJ98 https://maps.app.goo.gl/zthJpFFBPvWCgHJ98
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y agoPerhaps someday this will be a museum similar to Hearst Castle.