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I agree. The super rich have been in "prepper" mode for a long time now https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-surv

• iugtmkbdfil834 8mo ago
  As a statist, I personally always found it as a fascinating way to look at the future. They are actively preparing for a collapse they themselves are ushering.
  • mentalgear 8mo ago
    Exactly: The 0.01% Elite bleeding out the planet and their biggest worries are: 1. How do I keep my doomsday bunker servants in line? 2. Or is a ticket to Mars the better option?
    • abirch 8mo ago
      Mars isn't a good option due to lack of magnetosphere. Personally if you want to propagate life by shooting containers of RNA at different extraterrestrial plants.
      • marcosdumay 8mo ago
        > due to lack of magnetosphere Well, it's certainly one of the concerns there. After the lack of an atmosphere, biosphere, usable water...
        • Projectiboga 8mo ago
          Low gravity is another at only 0.39 Earth gravity.
      • LightBug1 8mo ago
        It's an excellent option if you want to secure an incredible amount capital investment in a non-nonsensical pig of an idea - with visionary animations doing the heavy lifting as the most alluring lipstick known to man.
  • bborud 8mo ago
    I recently saw “Mountainhead”. Apropos.
    • iugtmkbdfil834 8mo ago
      Had to look it up. Added to the list.
  • actionablefiber 8mo ago
    It's increasingly a pet theory of mine that the uncontrolled concentration of wealth into the hands of the richest, their subsequent existential ennui, and their disconnect from reality owing to media consolidation and algorithmic content feeds have basically created a world where the superrich are in a "post-game" mentality. There are no further material comforts to obtain. They just want to feel anything at all and the only way to do that is by bringing about the end of the world.
    • deleted 8mo ago
      [deleted]
    • DonThomasitos 8mo ago
      Impressive thought. It could also be a built-in mechanism by nature to reshuffle the cards.
    • thechao 8mo ago
      Damn! I just nuked a long conversation with ChatGPT outlining my pet theory that with changes in scale of energy regimes (labor->wind/water->coal->oil->solar) we get an excess energetic capacity that means our entertainment systems can't handle! That excess spills out as elite political retrenchment, entertainment jealousy, and (finally) violence, expanded civil rights, and a new entertainment regime. Mostly tongue in cheek... but the whole thing hangs together.
      • jazzyjackson 8mo ago
        Try not to talk with LLMs too long, you’ll start talking like them faster than they adapt to you.
        • krackers 8mo ago
          We often talk about "aligning models" or training them, little attention is paid to how models align/train _us_ as we interact with them. The reward functions they're trained under get "backpropagated" into our own brain, the language they use becomes familiar like a worn glove, and we learn not to step on any of their guardrails.
  • coldtea 8mo ago
    >They are actively preparing for a collapse they themselves are ushering. Practically that's the best kind of collapse to prepare for. At least you know it's coming - and you have the power to shape it's direction. Working class prepers on the other hand are naive.
  • culi 8mo ago
    I've never heard the term "statist" as a self-identified label. I've only ever heard anarchists use it pejoratively. Can I ask what you've read or what influenced you to take up that identity?
• JumpCrisscross 8mo ago
  > super rich have been in "prepper" mode for a long time now For every prepper in the $100+ million class, I know a hundred who are not. They’re enjoying their lives or working to make more money.
  • suzzer99 8mo ago
    A hundred more preppers who aren't $100+ millionaires? Or a hundred more $100+ millionaires who aren't preppers?
    • fn-mote 8mo ago
      (Joke) I thought it was obvious that it was referring to 100 people who are preppers who are not $100+ millionaires, but I looked at the profile of the GP and wasn't so sure. > karma: 178634 > about: Ski. Fly. Growth equity VC.
      • suzzer99 8mo ago
        Yeah I think it might be the other way.
    • JumpCrisscross 8mo ago
      > Or a hundred more $100+ millionaires who aren't preppers? This. I live in Wyoming and frequent the Bay Area, New York and some places in Europe and India. The rich preppers are rare. (And mostly techies or oil men.) It’s mostly a middle-class pursuit, the singler and older and maler the person, the more likely they own clothing in camo. If they’ve spent any time in a military or intelligence service, their “prepping” is basic emergency preparedness, not bunker lunacy. (Though one retired special ops guy who started military contracting kept a map of the bunkers. I think as a joke. The saying being a well-stocked bunker owned by an asshole is a good target for a group of guys with guns.) At the end of the day, the rich preppers build bunkers because it gives them something interesting to talk about. That group is mostly chasing that high.
      • 8mo ago
• suzzer99 8mo ago
  They're trying to thread the needle of a collapse bad enough that they'll retreat to their bunkers, but not so bad that their bodyguards will turn on them for their gold. Let's see how it works out!
  • kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 8mo ago
    The smart play is goats (for meat and milk), ammo, and maybe some silver if you want some ready "cash". You can barter the meat/milk, and even the ammo (but it has other uses).
    • suzzer99 8mo ago
      I would bury a bunch of gold coins and act like it's my last one from the family heirlooms anytime I spent one. Shaving off chunks of a gold bar makes it pretty obvious there's more at the source. But yeah, ammo will be the new currency.
      • b112 8mo ago
        Definitely, "usable thing" such as ammo will be the currency. After all, if it is societal collapse, that means no society, hence no bartering for shiny bits of metal. Why would anyone care about gold, or silver? There's no merchants. No social cohesion. What will you do with the gold? Look at it? Hope someone will trade stored food for it? Why would anyone? The unfortunate part is that it is far harder to move or carry or hide your wealth. It's quite tangible. Where do you store a million rounds of ammo, or maybe water filters, or even MREs or canned food? It all takes space, and in the end? No person will horde such wealth if anyone knows they have it. It will be taken. That's why prepping really only makes sense for temporary disasters in your region.
• nico_h 8mo ago
  The very plot of rainbow 6, a 1998 Tom Clancy novel, except the preppers are actually helping the catastrophes along. And, if I’m not misremembering, of Silo as well.
  • robmccoll 8mo ago
    Helping the catastrophes along is Fallout.
  • loeg 8mo ago
    Yes -- in Wool (Silo), the silo builders launch the nukes / biological weapons. The weird thing about the Silo universe is that Hugh Howey thinks the mass murderers were the good guys.
• biztos 8mo ago
  I really do wonder whether, should push come to shove, a Peter Thiel will really be better served in a small country like New Zealand that doesn't have many pushers & shovers at which to direct its ire, or back in the land of his first naturalization where they run the show. As for Mark Zuckerberg escaping to his "virtual metaverse," well that's certainly in keeping with the overall seriousness of the Guardian.
• gcanyon 8mo ago
  > Which region would be less affected by the coming climate crisis? Do you have evidence that the ultra wealthy are actually taking this into account? Over a human timeframe every ultra wealthy person has access to plenty of “climate change safe“ locations, no particular advance planning is needed.
  • sroussey 8mo ago
    Getting citizenship requires planning.
    • kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 8mo ago
      Only if the local government is still intact, which in this scenario is unlikely. At the very least they could bribe their way in.
      • generic92034 8mo ago
        Not even that. I doubt there are many governments that would not find ways to naturalize a billionaire, if they are willing to invest.
      • gcanyon 8mo ago
        What time frame are you considering? You seriously think the world will cease to have functioning governments in the next thirty years?
  • genthree 8mo ago
    “Climate change safe” for the rich: - Hard to reach by land (not vulnerable to migration waves) - Not so small there will be incredible deprivation if sea trade volume plunges (this rules out the vast majority of island nations) - Not badly overpopulated - Correct latitude (not too close to the equator) - Stable liberal democracy (so they probably won’t take all your stuff) - Unlikely target for outright conquest in great-powers games or expansion. Bonus points: - Interesting, varied natural environments. They are indeed thinking about this stuff. It’s why so many are buying New Zealand citizenship and buying land there (and sometimes building their survival bunkers there too). It checks every single box, and basically nowhere else does.
• tempestn 8mo ago
  I'm not sure a billionaire building a bunker is much different from you or me buying fire insurance. It's not that I expect my house to burn down, and it certainly won't prevent me doing everything I can to prevent fires. Even with it, my house burning down would be really bad. But I can afford the insurance, so why not have what protection I can?
  • culi 8mo ago
    did you skip over this part? > “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?” The paragraph that follows is > This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from raiders as well as angry mobs. One had already secured a dozen Navy Seals to make their way to his compound if he gave them the right cue. But how would he pay the guards once even his crypto was worthless? What would stop the guards from eventually choosing their own leader? So how is it "much different"? These people are focused on maintaining their power and social status in a hierarchy. They are not just getting insurance. They're looking to maintain social control
• Braxton1980 8mo ago
  Don't forget how violence is considered wrong no matter what. It's created a situation where the rich are protected by their money and exaggerated value of human life pushed by the rest of the population
• b112 8mo ago
  I don't understand this. That is, if you have $1B, I think you'd be a lunatic to not spend $20M in "insurance". Why wouldn't you "prep"? I'm not rich, but I live in rural Canada. So I have the possibility of being cut off from power, and during intense storms days or even weeks. I have 6 months of canned food, the logic being that I may have company, or I may need to care for my neighbours during time of need. And if there's no power (heat), your daily intake of food can double or triple. So I buy canned food on sale, save money, and also have insurance. It's saving me money by buying in bulk on sale. Do I think I will be cut off for weeks? No, not really. But it can happen, and yet this costs me nothing except pondering what I should do. It's just sensible. Just like when one buys insurance, you don't plan to have your house destroyed, but you buy house insurance, because it can happen. So I really see no evidence of "knowing something will happen" or even "expecting it to", when I see someone with millions of dollars in spare cash, buying insurance. In fact, if you have $1B, and no 'escape plan', what the hell is the money even for?! I'd think ensuring your future would be a big part of it a good use case, right?
  • culi 8mo ago
    Did you not read this part? > “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?” The paragraph that follows that says: > This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from raiders as well as angry mobs. One had already secured a dozen Navy Seals to make their way to his compound if he gave them the right cue. But how would he pay the guards once even his crypto was worthless? What would stop the guards from eventually choosing their own leader?
    • b112 8mo ago
      Yes, but what does that have to do with anything? If you can make a compound, then of course you're worried it will be taken from you in times of stress or unrest. Why wouldn't you? What's the point of making it, if it can be taken away? Disaster planning, security planning in fact, means taking into account all aspects of the scenario. This is a valid question.
• triage8004 8mo ago
  I want to know more about the bunkers they are building. Apparently tens of trillions spent on them.