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Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

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Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#42
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real joke would be Randy and his $999 AR (with optic) will just rob Steve-types blind the second there is a without rule of law scenario. I've always wondered how they'd prevent that. How does Randy not shoot Steve or take him hostage and then bring his own family into the compound. I am sure there are a few schemes, ranging from benign like promise a huge payday at the end, lots of land, resources, power whate…

what about some kind of heart attack implant that could be triggered remotely? I would think someone out there might just sign up for that for $5 mil.

And for a cool $1 mil. that someone can probably find someone to remove it. Though a foil lining under your Kevlar might work well enough.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#43

Back in 2016 I followed Justin Kan on Snapchat and he used to hang out with Steve Huffman on his stories. I recall a few particular snap stories where they went out to Justin's new house and were shooting guns, throwing axes and generally doing fun outdoor stuff. I do seem to recall at some point there was talk about survivalist stuff in those snaps. I've done quite a lot of survival training with the US Government a…

There's a lot to nitpick here but I guess the most interesting thing to me is that, for all their wealth, access and smarts, none of these people seem to actually be trying to solve the systematic and endemic problems which would soften the blow of a major existential risk.

When the best and brightest of a society are heading for the hills, that's a sign problems are coming. It's not that just they may have concrete reasons to do this but it seems like the society itself by this fact has lost the cohesion that would prevent disaster. And if powerful people don't imagine themselves are the protectors of the common good, who does? etc.

Of course, this situation is a bit of a self-fulling prophecy.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#45

I wish more people understood Doomsday prepping is really more of a hobby than an actual concern over the total collapse of all civilization. It’s fun to prepare, and to think of every scenario no matter how outlandish, and it’s fun to make people think you are super serious about something that seems ridiculous to them. It is like a game where you collect as many resources and skills to increase your survival score…

I'm literally a national champion at a ridiculous hobby, so I feel pretty confident that many of these people are actually super serious. People get way invested in stupid shit all the time.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#46
You can't prepare for the complete collapse of civilization.

Even the Survivalists who go out with "nothing" and build their shelters, start their own fires, hunt their food, they still need backpacks to carry their gear. They still need gear to carry, like saws, axes, fishing poles, knives. They still need clothes to wear. They still depend on the infrastructure of society in myriad ways.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#47

I cannot fathom the logic here. Movers and shakers who shape the world pissing away resources on some kind of personal "insurance" if everything goes to hell instead of investing in making sure things don't go to hell. If they put half as much time, money, thought and effort into fixing some of the glaring boils on the butt of the world, they could stop metaphorically sucking their billion dollar thumbs this way. The…

I find your argument compelling, and IMO you should not be scared to get banned from HN for that kind of comment. It‘s actually in line with many other comments here.

I too feel that there are not enough women commenting here. The discussions would be more complete and interesting if that wasn’t the case. We obviously only get a half of the picture without female participation.

It’s offtopic, but since you asked for it. Being highly controversial/polarizing does often help growing an audience, I‘ve seen this time and again. I don’t know how long you have been doing what you are doing now, but I heard growing an audience for a YT channel/blog/etc takes a couple of years of continuous effort, posting as much as possible. I mean, pewdiepie (whatever one thinks about him) uploads every single day.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#48
post #39

When society falls apart the rich won’t have anything that the poor won’t. The people who built these bunkers for the super rich are going to put a 9mm in the back of their head and invite their brother Steve to take the owners spot. “Combination locks on the food supply?” Waterboard the guy till he gives us the combo, then kill him.

This could be solved with resource access requiring multiparty agreement, like the Bitcoin multisignature wallets: the location that contains the food and water for a week requires permission from 2 parties that are located in 2 separate geographical locations

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#49

anecdotally, it feels like the tech elite are trying to outsmart the system (such as prepping for doomsday scenarios), rather than trying to improve the system to prevent, or lower the probability of the doomsday scenario in the first place

You definitely get more bang for your buck spending on yourself vs trying to change society.

It has to be the case that if everyone agrees to spend on something together you get much more bang for the buck than if everyone is out for themselves. That’s the whole reason why tribes outcompete individuals, cities outcompeted tribes and nation states outcompeted cities.

At the extreme, if a small band forms an army, it doesn’t matter how well armed and fortified a single family is; the army is taking them down.

Re: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich (2017)

#50
And then there's "doomsday prepping for less crazy folk": http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/prep/

It's a guide written by the author of american fuzzy lop (afl), and while it touches on end-of-civilization, guns-n-ammo prep, much of it is about practical preparedness for more likely disasters, such as a prolonged and widespread power outage; and how to reduce the risk of financial ruin or serious injury.

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