Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich • Hacker News Board

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#21

Post by Analemma_ » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:08 PM UTC

throwaway2016a wrote: post #10

> To protect his wife and daughter, he said, “I don’t have guns, but I have a lot of other weaponry. I took classes in archery.” This whole article reads like some surreal parody of what eccentric SV mil/billionaires would do. Although I suppose there is probably some truth that in a post apocalyptic / post rule of law world... the person in the big house with the expensive stuff to loot probably has a huge target on…

SV mil/billionaires descended into self-parody a long time ago. The plans for floating libertarian utopias, the eschatological X-risk stuff, the "simulation hypothesis" (and, apparently, someone actually trying to "hack our program")... the list goes on. I really hope more developers wake up soon to the fact that we're being led by a cadre of lunatics.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#22

Post by virmundi » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:08 PM UTC

voidlogic wrote: post #18

blhack wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean...I guess arrows are reusable and much more easily created by hand than bullets? I guess?

Post apoc. things like bows and crossbows would be more valuable, but I can't see weapon tech falling much below the 1850s. Its much easier to make a lead ball than an arrow and making blackpower is less about infrastructure than knowledge. I have a replica Remington Model 1858 black power revolver. It shoots lead balls which are easy to make, same with its percussion caps. The kicker is, once loaded, its tactically…

I've played pirates with real flint lock pistols that still sparked. They were old than the US.

Really, they should never had allowed college students to run around a refurb'ed castle without a supervisor.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#23

Post by drcode » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:08 PM UTC

lawless123 wrote: post #3

>lot of people stocking up on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, A post apocalypse in which internet survives seems far fetched.

To be fair, Bitcoin technically doesn't need a true internet, just an ad-hoc mesh network. (Not that those will be easy to come by, either, but they would be somewhat more feasible to establish.)

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#24

Post by Zikes » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:09 PM UTC

> I own a couple of motorcycles. I have a bunch of guns and ammo. Food. I figure that, with that, I can hole up in my house for some amount of time.

Revealing the location of your supplies cache is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, in such a scenario. Desperate people now know where to go to find such things.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#25

Post by bambax » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:14 PM UTC

I was afraid this article was going to upset me, but in fact it doesn't shy away from the more difficult questions, namely

A/ the reason we're "skating on really thin cultural ice right now" is in no small part due to the emergence and dominance of social media, so it's quite rich that the people responsible for chaos are trying to protect themselves from it

B/ it's quite morally repugnant to want to survive alone if society collapses

C/ it's completely impractical because you can't survive alone for very long ("are you taking your pilot's family with you? What about the maintenance guys?")

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#26

Post by beachstartup » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:14 PM UTC

ratsbane wrote: post #7

I've got a titanium spork and some dental floss in my backpack and in the trunk of my car I've got a hi-vis vest, white hard hat, and a two-way radio. Am I missing anything? Are some of these prepper people are missing out on the key concept that to live by your wits you need wits? Or maybe they're aware of that and that's why they stockpile the shotgun shells and dehydrated water capsules...?

if you found yourself in the middle of koreatown during the 1992 LA riots, do you think that stuff in your trunk would get you very far?

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#27

Post by doikor » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:19 PM UTC

I really don't see a scenario working where you pay money to someone to protect you in a doomsday scenario working. The guard is the guy with the guns (and the training to use them). Why would the guard not just kill you/kick you out of the secure place once shit hits the fan?

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#28

Post by ratsbane » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:19 PM UTC

beachstartup wrote: post #26

ratsbane wrote: post #7

I've got a titanium spork and some dental floss in my backpack and in the trunk of my car I've got a hi-vis vest, white hard hat, and a two-way radio. Am I missing anything? Are some of these prepper people are missing out on the key concept that to live by your wits you need wits? Or maybe they're aware of that and that's why they stockpile the shotgun shells and dehydrated water capsules...?

if you found yourself in the middle of koreatown during the 1992 LA riots, do you think that stuff in your trunk would get you very far?

Oh, absolutely not. But I hope my car would.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#29

Post by woofyman » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:20 PM UTC

the_duke wrote: post #6

lawless123 wrote: post #3

>lot of people stocking up on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, A post apocalypse in which internet survives seems far fetched.

No but they would survive the collapse of one country and it's economy. (Not saying that this is a smart way to park your money...)

That's only true for countries with small economies. If the US, China, Japan or the Eurozone collapsed, that would plunge the whole world into a depression.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#30

Post by rubidium » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:21 PM UTC

doikor wrote: post #27

I really don't see a scenario working where you pay money to someone to protect you in a doomsday scenario working. The guard is the guy with the guns (and the training to use them). Why would the guard not just kill you/kick you out of the secure place once shit hits the fan?

From the article: One of the guests was skeptical, Dugger said. “He leaned forward and asked, ‘Are you taking your pilot’s family, too? And what about the maintenance guys? If revolutionaries are kicking in doors, how many of the people in your life will you have to take with you?’ The questioning continued. In the end, most agreed they couldn’t run.”