From luxury bunkers to tactical vehicles, the ultra-rich are preparing for the Big One

It’s a sign that at least some of the ultra-rich are anxious about global events and are making contingency plans for the Big One — whatever form that may take.

The feeling is very much in the air. Architectural Digest named “luxury bunkers” one of the real estate trends of 2023, and a finely appointed redoubt figured prominently in the recent Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind.

Bradley Garrett said the most elaborate bunker he found while researching his book (Bunker: Building for the End Times) is the Survival Condo, located in a former missile silo in Kansas. Built around 2010 by a property developer who used to work for the U.S. Department of Defence, this “nuclear-hardened” structure features walls up to 2¾ metres thick and can house between 36 and 75 people.

In addition to providing each unit with a five-year supply of “freeze-dried and dehydrated survival food,” the complex contains an indoor pool, a classroom, a library and two floors of hydroponic gardens to “provide fresh produce.” It also has filtered air and water supplies. Units go for between $1.5 million and $3 million.

Furedadmins,

If shit hits the fan the rich will be murdered by their guards who will take over their bunkers.

Yawweee877h444,

I can only get so erect.

Zorsith,
@Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

My bet is suffocation when air handlers fail (or are deliberately destroyed or compromised by outside forces)

Lemming6969,

At max we get 100ish years. Wtf does it matter if you survive in a bunker at 70 years old… If the world becomes a place where you need a bunker… Just let it go.

Sizzler,

That’s 40 years of robots improving, 40 years of resource gathering, 40 years of ai maturing. Anything can happen in that time.

braxy29,

that assumes that the infrastructure that improves robots/ai and gathers resources remains functional.

Sizzler,

Everything is an assumption at this point including environmental collapse so don’t try to hold me to a standard you don’t even hold yourself.

SomeAmateur,

I think that improving your resilience as an individual citizen is important. I’m not saying the zombie robots are coming, but that if the climate is getting worse (it is) and local weather also gets worse (it will, just a matter of how much) you can’t count on food, water, power etc to be on hand 100% of the time.

It’s amazing how many people act like having a small garden, a solar panel to charge devices and some jugs of water just in case is some unspeakable crazy talk

lath,

I see this more like the cuban missile crisis where everyone was running scared and buying personal bunkers. The threat exists, yet business is still business.

kent_eh, (edited )

So rather than using a portion of the influence their riches grant them to try and make the situation better and prevent the end result of those global events they are anxious about, they just selfishly create private enclaves where they hope they can be safe while they watch the world burn…

.

Fucking sociopathic parasites.

mortrek,

Unless they kill the people that build them, there will be plenty of people who know about these places. If we get the point of actually needing bunkers those people (who know the ins and outs of the bunkers) will want in. Nobody will protect the rich who had them built, because their money and influence will become worthless and nobody actually likes them. At best, they will live a miserable, lonely existence until they die. At worst, they will be torn apart by the masses.

If the world ends, I want to die with everyone else.

Dagwood222,

The same people who make giant business mistakes every year think they can cover all their bases for a world shattering catastrophe.

s_s,

They’re still rich tho.

That’s where their arrogance comes from.

nilloc,

They got rich getting in early, or on the ground floor, of whatever market they’ve exploited, and think survival in an apocalypse is the same.

We need to start a map of these places and start fucking with them NOW not later. Make them regret building them before they ever need something like that.

Dagwood222,

This is how the Right wins elections.

The Left fragments and has dozens of small, separate groups pursuing varied ends. Some worry about the environment;’ others work on immigration or another issue.

The Right falls in line and does what the Leadership tells them to d

HopingForBetter,

Me too. Got a 5 gallon container of water, and a drawer with binoculars and a camping knife. How is everyone else fairing?

WoahWoah,

You’ve got binoculars a container for water?? Shit. I need to up my game.

Duamerthrax,

They must be right. They’re rich for a reason. /s

harderian729,

Crazy how many upvoted comments are just dumb memes.

I guess the redditors have made their migration :\

spider, (edited )

the ultra-rich are preparing for the Big One

Some of us “little people” are doing it too, for example by not buying Reddit stock and feathering their nests for them.

Edit:

ↆ 3

Oh, GTFO with the downvotes; go back to Reddit.

VirtualOdour,

They don’t know anything we don’t, look at musk and Zuck they’re barely able to function in society and make endless foolish decisions - it’s just that they can afford to fill everyone’s paranoid fantasies. Regular kooks have a bug out bag, billionaire kooks have a fortified bomb shelter

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

They think it will be like Mad Max and they’re going to be Immortan Joe, when they’re going to have to be working hard harvesting turnips like all the other survivors.

solidgrue,
@solidgrue@lemmy.world avatar

Nah. You know how rednecks like to kit out their AR15s with all those tacticool as fuck doodads? This is like that, but on a billionaire’s budget.

Tolstoshev,

And why Zuck is studying BJJ. He doesn’t want his head of security killing him and taking over after the fall.

Crismus,

Which is very helpful when their security carries guns and won’t be near grappling range.

If the collapse comes, all the rich people will be booted outside their nice bunkers and starve.

Tolstoshev,

Have you ever met a martial arts dude who wasn’t also into guns? :)

I’m sure he’s putting in plenty of time on the range too, but that doesn’t make for as good a publicity campaign.

I’ve also heard other strategies discussed, like deadman switches and explosive collars. I’m sure they have plans within plans.

bradorsomething,

Anyone that agrees to wear an explosive collar has a plan to kill the person with the button.

Ensign_Crab,

Not gonna help him when the rest of us weld him into his bunker, seal the vents, and put up “this place is not a place of honor” signs.

girlfreddy, (edited )
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

Some of the tactical vehicles are wild.

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/bfefd73d-b586-46ea-bba6-e1fee1eb1532.jpeg

And the ads for other bunker communities are just WOW.

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/9f7d8fdd-e812-4c2e-806e-17c72233b6ad.jpeg

DevCat, (edited )
@DevCat@lemmy.world avatar

They’ve got the Rockies underwater?

And where are you going to get the fuel to run that 4mpg beast?

girlfreddy,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

They’ve got the Rockies underwater?

My guess is that’s in case the San Andreas fault lets loose.

DevCat,
@DevCat@lemmy.world avatar

In a 2022 piece for the Guardian, technology pundit Douglas Rushkoff talked about attending a highly secretive gathering with ultra-wealthy people who wanted to pick his brain about how to prepare for “the event.” They peppered him with questions not only about shelters, but also the wisdom of acquiring mercenary armies and where on Earth they were likely to be most safe.

His conclusion: “Their extreme wealth and privilege served only to make them obsessed with insulating themselves from the very real and present danger of climate change, rising sea levels, mass migrations, global pandemics, nativist panic and resource depletion. For them, the future of technology is about only one thing: escape from the rest of us.”

These people seem to think you can just find ammo, fuel, food, etc. lying around, or it can be looted forever, or they’ll be able to stockpile enough. Ha!

One, these are very wealthy people who have been accustomed to being served, and having unrestricted space to roam about and enjoy. Stick them in a small bunker with rationed resources for more than 48 hours, and they’ll be plotting how to get rid of each other within 6 hours.

Two, resources are finite! Let’s say we have a reenactment of the French Revolution. How long do they think the peasants are going to wait for them? The peasants are going to build a town on top of their banker called “FU&FO”. Air vents will be blocked or used as toilets, solar panels will be repurposed, and their view will be of a guillotine building yard. Unless they have a small reactor and someone who can maintain it, they’ll be living in the dark, eating cold meals, and breathing ever more stale air.

Ammunition and mercenaries? Got news for you, Bezos, there’s a whole lot more good ol’ boys parked out here, just waiting to return their shipment of whoopass.

When will any of these idiots learn from the past? Read your Sun Tzu. The best defense is to surround yourself with friends.

“Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. - Sun Tzu

girlfreddy,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

Here’s a full article on Douglas Rushkoff talking about “those” people.

www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-20/…/101546216

cygnus,
@cygnus@lemmy.ca avatar

FWIW his book is well worth the read. I went into it with my usual “this could have been a blog post” assumption but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Zahille7,

I saw an interview where he talks about this very event. It’s fucking pretty bleak.

DevCat,
@DevCat@lemmy.world avatar

Ok, I’ve given some thought to surviving in a societal collapse. Nuclear war is simply hopeless and leads to a long, lingering death if you should survive, so let’s leave it as societal collapse, like a COVID-27, but 10 times higher mortality.

This assumes you have Money with a capital “M”.

Find a piece of land with easy access to a reliable water supply, farmable land, reasonable sunlight, and forest. Preferably, 30–60 minutes from a major popular center, maybe a little more. Build a home using ICF. The windows covered with European rolling steel shutters. Masonry heater. Wood-fired auxiliary water heater. Wood stoves, plural. Solar panels with multi-day battery backup. Greenhouses, barn, workshop. Printed book library in the house. Reloading supplies and equipment. Archery supplies. Medical equipment and education. Food preservation.

Do you want a loyal army? James Bond’s Kerim Bey in “From Russia With Love”: All my trusted employees are relatives. Become a foster parent. Help your community. Become a major factor in promoting community preservation and support. Become a loved and respected member of the community. Don’t go the Godfather route. Surround yourself with people who see you as a factor for good in their lives.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Become a foster parent. Help your community. Become a major factor in promoting community preservation and support. Become a loved and respected member of the community.

You don’t know billionaires very well.

catloaf,

You had them up until the “good person” part.

Much like governments only exist by the consent of the governed, the moneyed elite only exist by consent of the lower classes.

Illuminostro,

Then die 2 months later when you’re raided by your desperate neighbors.

AtariDump,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    partial_accumen, (edited )

    They peppered him with questions not only about shelters, but also the wisdom of acquiring mercenary armies and where on Earth they were likely to be most safe.

    What are they going to pay the mercenary armies with? Money? Why would a mercenary accept money when civilization has collapsed? The things they’d want most are the things the rich want them to protect. At that point, what value does the rich person offer the mercenary? Why wouldn’t the mercenaries just shoot the rich person and live in the bunker now absent a resident?

    Illuminostro,

    Why, they’ll pay them with genuine 24 carat Alex Jones gold coins!

    frunch,

    That’s exactly how i see these scenarios. The rich are just keeping nice properties and resources for the local warlords to usurp when the shit really hits the fan.

    Furthermore, how capable are these people to begin with? Are they ready to personally run and oversee a survivalist camp for the rest of their lives? Can they do it themselves? I’m sure there’s a couple that would do just fine but i imagine most would quickly exchange hands without the police to protect their properties and assets (hell, they could wind up being the ones taking them)

    grue,

    Two, resources are finite! Let’s say we have a reenactment of the French Revolution. How long do they think the peasants are going to wait for them? The peasants are going to build a town on top of their banker called “FU&FO”. Air vents will be blocked or used as toilets, solar panels will be repurposed, and their view will be of a guillotine building yard.

    That’s why they’re trying to buy the entire island of Lanai.

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