The latest billionaire trend? Doomsday bunkers with a flammable moat
The latest billionaire trend? Doomsday bunkers with a flammable moat
Is all this bunker-building a sign that the 1% know something we don’t and are preparing for end times?
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Doesn't matter. They're going to burn with the rest of us. They won't be able to keep staff as it gets worse, and many of them lack any real ability to care for themselves. Pampered fucks are facing a grim future they made sure was going to happen.
The staff won't keep them. What security guard is going to agree to protect Elon Musk after the apocalypse? They'll shoot him in the back and take the keys to the kitchen.
I mean you say this but our species has a long history of people serving authoritarian monsters. I think you're vastly overestimating humans ability to say this is messed up I should do something about it. Most people just keep their heads down.
Usually because those authoritarians have the power to kill them. Armed guards have the power to kill Elon.
And how do they have that power? Where does it come from?
By holding the purse strings (the economy will have collapsed) and by making the laws (which won't exist anymore).
Also, I think you underestimate the loyalty of a paid security staff when they stop getting paid.
What makes you think they're not being paid anymore? Of course they are. Just the coinage that's changed really.
What would they be paid with?
Food, shelter, creature comfort, the last little bit of a civilization that exists, Etc...
Historically speaking that's been enough for a lot of people. A lot of those authoritarian dictators throughout history stayed on a long time. Sure they could have been killed, but that inertia takes over.
So... all the things they can still have except without Elon ordering them around if they just shoot him?
Maybe, maybe not. Which has been my point the whole time you'll notice. The inertia. People of historically put up with the crazy ass dictator the whole time. Why? Same reason we I'll put up with nonsense in our daily lives, it's easier. People like stability. Your scenario is just one possibility, but it's by no means a guaranteed possibility.
These things have been thought through. The money may be worthless, but the highly controlled access to food, guns, ammo and medicine would be adequate leverage.
I expect, at some point, a leader would emerge with more cred than, "I started a company, " but they'd need to get permanent access and they'd have the same problem: control, rationing.
All this stuff is just people fantasizing about being smart and solving hard problems. The truest hard problem is we are not meant to live alone or like Morlocks.
There are ways to have a retreat hidden in plain site.
The rich will have so much more room for fear. They have further to fall more to protect and their.
Yeah, once the global economy collapses, their billions are worthless and the people with the guns are the most powerful. How long until their private security force is like "hold on, why are we following you again?"
You section off the food and booze, so that only you can access it and then have two security teams that never intermingle. Nothings guaranteed, but it would be harder to coup you.
Sounds perfect until the security team takes your wife and children hostage.
I'm not sure what never intermingling will help with. I doubt they'd shoot at each other when they know that if they do the prisoner's dilemma thing and both kill the billionaire to get to the booze and food and then they can share it.
There was an article where a reporter sat in on a discussion between Tech Lords, where one actually proposed shock collars on "The Staff" to keep them loyal.
"The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers – if that technology could be developed “in time.""
Time to start building guillotines, boys and girls.
I feel like shooting fish in a barrel:
The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew.
That would just get them tortured. While torture is normally not a good way to get information, it's different when the obtained intel can be immediately verified by trying the combination. The lock could be set up in such a way that it jams when you enter it wrong, but its unlikely that the torturers will just give up at this point. More likely, they'll keep going in hope that you have a way to circumvent the lockdown.
Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival.
Thing is, there'd be two ways the collars can fail. They can go off when they shouldn't, or fail to go off when they should. Both can be exploited by an attacker, and guarding against one makes the other more likely.
Time to start building guillotines, boys and girls.
That's a good idea.