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Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

newyorker.com

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Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#31

Post by aianus »

Analemma_ wrote: post #16
halomru wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin behaves rather badly under global scale network partitions, or if your global network has a latency of over an hour. But on the other hand it is completely immune to collapse of governments

> But on the other hand it is completely immune to collapse of governments This reads like a parody of Bitcoin fanatics. You can't be serious.

I think he means "any given government" not "all governments". Like, if the government collapses in Venezuela, Bitcoin holders there will still have their purchasing power preserved.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#33

Post by [deleted] »

bambax wrote: post #25

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…

[deleted]

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#34

Post by ttepasse »

So. You're not one of the 0.1%. Society "collapsed", whatever than means. You did go through hardship, hunger, lack of Instagram, pain, loss of loved ones, loss of property but also amazing feats of solidarity and human compassion. It still doesn't really look OK and you're daily mourning the life you and society lost.

Then there lands a Gulfstream, out climbs a well fed billionaire straight out his fancy bunker. There's a street lamp nearby and a little bit of rope could be found..

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#35

Post by DanBC »

che_shirecat wrote: post #32

>He is less focussed on a specific threat Call me a nit, but why are there typos in an article from the new yorker? Edit: apparently doubling the consonant is something they just do - http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-double-l

Focussed is an acceptable, although unusual, spelling variant.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#36

Post by che_shirecat »

agiamas wrote: post #12

reddit may be valued at 600 million (orl?) but steve huffman's net worth is in the millions/tens of millions at most. you wouldn't call him super rich when he can barely afford a nice house in Palo Alto :)

don't understand the downvotes -> he's worth $5-10m at most, chump change in SV

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#37

Post by Alex3917 »

So this is actually something I've thought a lot about, in terms of whether it's actually rational to be a prepper or if it's just a fun hobby.

In nominal terms, your risk of dying in a society-wide collapse is actually larger than your risk of dying in a car accident.[1] So if you wouldn't think twice about taking basic steps to lower your chances of vehicle death (e.g. wearing a seatbelt) then it's absolutely rational to be at least concerned about your risk of dying in the apocalypse.

However, in absolute terms your risk of dying in the apocalypse is still considerably smaller than the most common causes of death. Given that only 1.2% of Americans meet all 7 guidelines for good cardiovascular health[2], being a prepper probably has negative returns unless you already have enough money to access safe food and healthcare, you're meeting all the guidelines for good cardiovascular health, you don't have any neglected mental health issues, etc.

[1] http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/04/a-huma...

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22427615

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#38

Post by nickpsecurity »

ucaetano wrote: post #20

I grew up in a 3rd world small farm, raising pigs, chicken, setting traps and planting a bunch of stuff, not to mention a light version of WROL (without rule of law). Reading this article I feel that I'm more prepared for the apocalypse than all the "super-rich"...

You and all of us that lived in rural areas learning to survive on the land, cooperate with neighbors, and fight off trouble-makers. Such people will probably do better than most.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#39

Post by optimuspaul »

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...?

> dehydrated water capsules

Is that a real thing? that sounds like nothing at all.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich

#40

Post by shuntress »

drcode wrote: post #23
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.)

What would be the mechanism by which which two previously separate but each fully legitimate (in their own network) ledgers interact?

Not trying to poke holes; Just curious.

E: To clarify, imagine that the North American Free Peoples Conglomerate and the New China Society finally re-establish contact between the two continents for the first time in hundreds of years. They have each been running fully functional bitcoin networks for generations on their (until now) 100% separated continent-wide networks.

Is there any current consideration for combining two block chains? or would this need a new custom solution to handle treating each as a completely separate currency (exchange rates)?

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