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Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

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Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#91

Post by Florin_Andrei »

lampzzy wrote: post #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 revolution…

> A group of centi-millionaires

centi- means 1/100. So those are people whose net work is about 10k.

The author probably meant hecto-millionaires. Or deci-billionaires.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#92

Post by jdc0589 »

gallerdude wrote: post #28
robertk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not AI.

I mean, with AI we end up with utopia for everyone forever OR a mass extinction event. Seeing I'm going to die anyways, I'll take those odds.

unless there replicators are involved. then we are screwed, no chance of utopia. sci-fi has taught us this.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#93

Post by tatterdemalion »

analogmemory wrote: post #39
jseliger wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the extreme examples seem more related to our entertainment consumption than based on a real reality. It would be interesting to have the same perspective in, say, 1913. In that period virtually no one expected the catastrophe that would become World War I, which led into the catastrophe of WWII. Really, really bad things can happen; because they haven't since 1945 doesn't mean they won't again. The 1913 mindset…

Right but it was still contained to a country or region. People in Mexico we not affected by World War I/II that required a bunker and ammunition.

Your point is sound but that's an incredibly bad example. Mexico was already embroiled in the Mexican Revolution by the time WWI started.

> "This armed conflict is often categorized as the most important sociopolitical event in Mexico and one of the greatest upheavals of the 20th century."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Revolution

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#94

Post by Florin_Andrei »

aub3bhat wrote: post #16

I think a lot of rich people underestimate the importance of law and order which allows them to benfit-from/wield their wealth. A bunch of guns, food packets or gold bars are unlikely to be of any use in case of a true catastrophe. The sense of power that wealth brings evaporates quickly, a quick litmus test is how few wealthy like Maddoff can escape law enforcement, even when having complete knowledge of their own c…

The true litmus test is to look at history, during times when social order completely broke down. How did the elites fare then?

Would the French revolution be a good example? Or is that event already biased against the elites? Or would a hypothetical future collapse of society be also biased against the elites?

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#95

Post by MaxfordAndSons »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #53
jessriedel wrote: post #49

Earlier 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".

Is there a solid actuarial calculation behind either of the probabilistic claims you're making? Don't get me wrong, I certainly hope you're right and gp is wrong, but I imagine it's pretty hard to decide either way.

I think Bill Gates is a flawed example, since he is focused on philanthropic charity, which is unlikely to have a transformative/exponential effect on societal survivability proportionate to the effect his wealth could have on his personal survivability. But, if he were more focused on potentially transformative "moonshot" investments then I think it might be close.

In any event, I don't think you can really assert either way with confidence, so for any individual it's a more or less blind choice between being optimistic and altruistic or pessimistic and selfish. Unfortunately capitalist logic pushes us strongly away from altruism and towards maximizing individual outcomes. Of course as many have pointed out it's not actually a binary choice if you're sufficiently wealthy, the survivalism is just a form of hedging, but it does have a potentially significant opportunity cost.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#96

Post by imesh »

m3rc wrote: post #86
duozerk wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

What you meant to say is that you're finding a philosophy that lets you act like everyone else but keep being the edgy kid in the back of the class everyone else rolls their eyes at.

If you want it to be edgy to think that environmental changes and running out of resources is really happening than you can think that's edgy.

I think it's more stupid to not acknowledge that this is happening.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#97

Post by Someone1234 »

kilroy123 wrote: post #87
lampzzy wrote: post #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 revolution…

I too have always thought about this. If I was a billionaire, I would also have a secret home setup, and I _would_ take the pilot and his family with me. I would also have a maintenance person and his family there. I would become his apprentice and have him teach me everything he know. What else would you have to do while you're in hiding?

So you're taking twenty or more people with you? Requiring a larger aircraft which requires more staff which results in more people. Rinse repeat.

Plus the risk of leaks resulting in additional people or those wishing to take your plane.

When you arrive who is feeding, housing, and this large number of people?

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#98

Post by Florin_Andrei »

imglorp wrote: post #70
lngnmn wrote: post #52

Stopped reading after "stocking bitcoin and cryptocurrencies". For the love of god, who will maintain the internet access and enough peers for a transaction to be made? Golden coins sounds better, but a hundred thousand liters of good old diesel and high octane petrol is even better.)

Fuel is great to trade. So is ammo and horses. The latter are especially versatile because they can often feed themselves, make more horses, provide truly all terrain transport after the fuel turns to varnish, and you can even eat them if needed.

Yeah, it depends on how far down the collapse goes.

Diesel is good if collapse doesn't go all the way down. If it does, plain old horses are better.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#99

Post by splintercell »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #91
lampzzy wrote: post #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 revolution…

> A group of centi-millionaires centi- means 1/100. So those are people whose net work is about 10k. The author probably meant hecto-millionaires. Or deci-billionaires.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/centimillionaire

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

#100

Post by [deleted] »

0xfeba wrote: post #85
lampzzy wrote: post #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 revolution…

Well, it's lower hanging fruit but, if that anecdote is true, it sure sounds like most of those bourgeoisie don't really have a clue what "end-of-America" would really entail. That is, the infrastructure of people that normally do what you pay them to are all going to have different motives. The people in this story are still counting on quite a bit of society to exist to ferry them to their fancy secure locations. W…

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