Tech billionaires and other super-rich Americans are reportedly investing in "apocalypse insurance" in the highly unlikely event of a crack up of civilization, whether it be from a major natural disaster or governmental collapse. The New Yorker interviewed several of these influential tech leaders who've stocked up on guns and ammuntion, purchased property in isolated locations and have even gone so far as to have laser eye surgery in case they can no longer purchase contact lenses. “I keep a helicopter gassed up all the time,” one head of an investment firm told the magazine. “And I have an underground bunker with an air-filtration system.” He went on, “A lot of my friends do the guns and the motorcycles and the gold coins. That’s not too rare anymore.” Sam Altman, the Y Combinator president and friend of Peter Thiel, told the magazine that he preps for survival. He said if some kind of pandemic does strike, his backup plan is to fly with Thiel to Thiel’s house in New Zealand. It was just revealed that Theil has a New Zealand citizenship. He is a naturalized American who was born in Germany. He reportedly became a citizen in New Zealand in 2011. He owns lavish properties on the island, according to the Times. Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn said he found out that telling someone you’re buying a house in New Zealand is “kind of a wink, wink, say no more,” when it comes to survivalism. He estimates that over 50 percent of Silicon Valley billionaires have some “apocalypse insurance.” Antonio Garcia Martinez, a former Facebook product manager in San Francisco, reportedly bought acres of land on an island in the Pacific Northwest, the magazine reported. He reportedly said that he purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition, generators and solar panels. He made the decision after watching last year’s presidential campaign. He said he wanted his refuge to be far from cities but not too far from civilization. “All these dudes think that one guy alone could somehow withstand the roving mob,” he reportedly said. “No, you’re going to need to form a local militia. You just need so many things to actually ride out the apocalypse.” He said society is “skating on really thin cultural ice right now.” Yishan Wong, the former CEO of Reddit, said he had eye surgery for survival purposes and told the magazine in an email that survialism is essentially a hedged bet. “They (preppers) consider it a remote event, but one with a very severe downside, so, given how much money they have, spending a fraction of their net worth to hedge against this . . . is a logical thing to do.” Tech billionaires reportedly stock up on ‘apocalypse insurance’ I always considered my prep's to be insurance.....
"Apocalypse Insurance" That is rich.... Who do these Yahoos, think is going to pay out, ON the Policy, after the Apocalypse happens.... I think a New Business venture is in order.... $1MegaBuck Up Front Premium and come see me AFTER the Apocalypse Happens, to collect on your Policy.....
Evidently, so do they. What is glaringly missing in those grandiose preps is anything in the way of manpower to grow the gardens and husband the critters.
That's what I noticed, they're not stocking up on gardening supplies, just guns and ammo. Makes me wonder if they feel they have the right to be thugs when SHTF and just take what they want.
It is going to be tough to jet off to their New Zealand survival bunkers, after a EMP event toast everything...... This I agreed with in the article= society is “skating on really thin cultural ice right now.”
I'm not sure that the Billionaire "preppers" have thought through the NZ thing very well.....If they make Christchurch their home they'll be in for random predictable surprises.
Yeah the only problem with having all the gear and stuff is most don't practice and there for it don't work out for them some may have a plane or helicopter or boat but can't fly them selfs so rely on some one else's or run the generation I work a a second chance school that had it all our own water treatment a generation that could power a small village radio freezer full of food plenty of cooking gas big garden fish pond I made it my job to know how it all worked one job security two over time three never know when I may need a 68 Acer compound with 10 foot high fence to sit out some bad stuff with all that would last a long time
You can't buy survival, but you can buy all the toys. I'm sure most the people on this board would do better than these people even though we don't have a fraction of the gear they are accumulating. For us it is a way of life. "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everybody drops to zero", Tyler Durden - Fight Club
So when we find their starved corpses, there will be plenty of guns and ammo! That's great, I need guns and ammo since the ocean accident with mine.
"Oh Honey....SO glad you took out that policy....at least we can stay warm now !" Weimar Germany, circa 1921
