Sorry, but if we are to learn from history, there is no hiding place in the world. Barricading yourself in a bunker would be like building your own prison. How long could anyone really survive before emerging back? And if the super rich did survive, how long before they destroy themselves again? You would have an accelerated log(N) kind of self-destruction. First year of survival = 1%, 2nd time = 1% of 1% and so on...
Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
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Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#72It must be great to be known as a doomsday escape haven like New Zealand. When the world actually goes tits up, you have a whole bunch of rich people bringing supplies and survival gear to your country for you to take.
From what I know of New Zealanders they still are very egalitarian and generally hate wealthy billionaires. I think if these rich people actually move there they'd regret it.
I'm not sure "hate" is the correct word but "Tall Poppy syndrome" is real in NZ.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome
The egalitarian ideal is also declining rapidly in NZ.
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#73Rich old men hugging their toys. It's a shame they're given any press time at all.
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#74Off-Topic: Is that photo real? It looks computer-generated to me.
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#75Uninformed by sound teleology, and unguided by divine revelation regarding The Last Things, it would seem many women and men feel driven to construct their own eschatology ~ largely shaped by fear and other basic instincts ~ which is then coupled to rational actions based on that foreseen/considered-probable ending.
Just to clarify, you're implying that the teleologically sound course of action is to simply await the sounding of the trumpets and then get on your knees, clasp your hands and close your eyes, right?
I'm suggesting that having–constructing a vision of "the end of all things" (or "practically the end..."), and then living–preparing according to that vision, seems to be something human persons are wont to do, whether they are religious or areligious.
In the Christian vision, the important thing is to prepare by living a life in correspondence with the double-precept of charity, "love God, love your neighbor" ~ cf. Matthew 22:35-40, Matthew 25:31-46 and the preceding text, to the beginning of chapter 24; also Romans 2:1-11. Jesus describes "the end" in a manner that is quite frightening (earthquakes, wars, famines, lots of suffering), but it's clear that those who are well-prepared will be able to rejoice when all is said and done.
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
That ship seems to have already sailed.
If you're seriously convinced structure has already passed the point of no-return what are you doing commenting here on some internet site?
Not the person you're responding to but being convinced that modern civilization is doomed - even if you're convinced it'll collapse during your own lifetime - doesn't preclude you from enjoying all of its benefits (like the Internet). If anything, it makes you more likely to enjoy them "while they last".
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#77“A group of centi-millionaires and a couple of billionaires were working through end-of-America scenarios and talking about what they’d do. Most said they’ll fire up their planes and take their families to Western ranches or homes in other countries.” 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.”
This is a great point and I think we can even add more to it: Will your pilot even wait for you? I guess he/she will just put his/her family on your plane and take off without you!
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's certainly the altruistic choice. But it would be foolishly arrogant for anyone, even Bill Gates, to think they had more controllable influence on the fate of the world than they do on their own safety.
The probability of you having significant controlled influence on the fate of the world is much higher than the probability of total meltdown of society necessitating a stockpile of guns and bunkers and your preparations having a significant controlled influence on your experience of it. So no, focusing on the actual problems is actually less foolish than "doomsday prepping".
Significant controlled influence on the world at large that leads back to a detectable benefit you? Not a chance. The probability of societal meltdown is small, but it's larger than any of our individual impacts. Heck, just the risk of meltdown through accidental nuclear war (easily 0.1%/century, and arguably at least 10 or 100 times that) is already large enough.
This is a question of altruism, or of whether all of these possibilities are too small to be worth spending spending time on.
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#79The first big disruption of civilization will be fuelled on facebook. Look at what happened in the middle east and is happening else where. Starts out slow and happy and descends into violence and chaos which in large part will be started by police themselves.
I see it the other way around. I think Facebook and Twitter's goals are to disrupt that kind of chaos with their "trending" section. While these platforms can be used to mobilize, they can pinpoint exact location of unrest and try to prevent that kind of stuff from happening.
Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
#80It must be great to be known as a doomsday escape haven like New Zealand. When the world actually goes tits up, you have a whole bunch of rich people bringing supplies and survival gear to your country for you to take.
The smart looters would identify those spots in NZ now, and loot them when they're relatively unoccupied and not in alert state. You see these OPSEC fails in the middle class, too, with the NRA/AR-15/"Molon Labe" bumper stickers on their cars. Thanks for letting me know you have cool firearms, ammunition, and god knows what else.
>The smart looters would identify those spots in NZ now, and loot them when they're relatively unoccupied and not in alert state.
The military (or whatever it turns into) would be the ones who gain control of fortified locations, and whatever resources they contain.