Will Billionaires Survive a true Apocalypse?

[The Heretic]

Would someone like Trump survive (assuming he is really a billionaire)? I doubt it. He'd probably piss off somebody and get shot in short order.

Elon Musk, who actually has some skills/intelligence and works hard? Maybe.

2 factors are in play here.

How well did the billionaire prepare and how close is he/she to the event.

As Andy said, "luck" is a factor - timing comes into play. If the "apocalypse" happens suddenly without warning, then yes, where a person is can have a big impact on whether they survive. Most billionaires don't spend time somewhere that would be conducive to a sudden collapse.

FTX lobbyist tried to buy Pacific island of Nauru to create a new superspecies, lawsuit says

Gabe Bankman-Fried, the younger brother of FTX's founder, tried to buy the island nation of Nauru to build a shelter to create a superhuman species in a lab.

www.cnbc.com

They may buy some remote retreat, but spend 99.999% of their time in some dense metro area, relying on the hope that they will have enough warning to bug out to their retreat. I suspect many are prepping for a collapse along the lines of "peak carrying capacity" issues - including climate change issues, where they will probably have enough time/warning to bug out.

A wise person with enough wealth would have multiple retreats around the world, some close enough to where they spend most of their time that they can easily reach them.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Something to consider here is....
The apocalypse will have it's own time table and won't happen when it is convenient for you.

Someone , rich or poor can have all the supplies , gear , skill and knowledge to survive but...
Are those supplies and gear with you when the apocalypse happens...?

Survival means doing the best you can with what you have at the moment.....even then it will be iffy.

Apocalypse Now ...is more than just a catchy title for a fantasy war movie....
Andy

 

[CamoDeafie]

If it's a localized event, most likely yes just by being able to pay for stuff to get out of the area... if it's a global event? I don't think so..? Read somewhere that 99% of all lifeforms on Earth, from all time; as far as science knows.. are extinct right now.

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

Elon Musk, who actually has some skills/intelligence and works hard?

There are two guys named Elon Musk?

 

[CamoDeafie]

There are two guys named Elon Musk?

Seems ya gotta be smart enough to know what to invest and what companies to start up... he started PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and some other things....?

 

[The Heretic]

Seems ya gotta be smart enough to know what to invest and what companies to start up... he started PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and some other things....?

Not just what to invest in, but who to hire, what the processes should be (SpaceX has done very well with rapid iteration and agile development - at least with regards to their launch systems - seemingly better than NASA), and I think he understands the tech well enough to be an intelligent executive. Musk is not a very good people person IMO - but he isn't clueless when it comes to tech/science - and he works hard at it from what I have read.

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

Seems ya gotta be smart enough to know what to invest and what companies to BUY start up... he used his daddy's apartheid emerald mine money as seed money to started fund PayPal, buy SpaceX and Tesla after other folks had them up and running and has all but driven Twitter into the ground

FIFY

 

[The Heretic]

FIFY

Sometimes even very smart people make impulsive stupid decisions - Musk is prone to that - e.g., Twitter.

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

Sometimes even very smart people make impulsive stupid decisions - Musk is prone to that - e.g., Twitter.

Yeah, I guess I just don't see the "smart" part. He's just an average dude with a HUGE pile of F-U money

 

[CamoDeafie]

FIFY

Who's listed as the Founders for SpaceX way back in 2002 using money from the Ebay acquisition of Paypal?

He's listed as chief engineer for SpaceX, along with being the CEO.

And.. didn't he help start x.com which would later become Paypal after a merger with Confinity..

Product architect for Tesla Motors Inc, as well as CEO after becoming chairman.. but early "angel" investor for Tesla...

Then there's xAI which he founded this year apparently.

He co-founded Zip2 (with his brother), X.com (merged with Confinity to become Paypal), OpenAI(nonprofit), Neuralink, and apparently the Boring Company (for the memes?)

Point is... he's not "just a mercenary investor/buyer". Plenty of rich people do such things and worse.... gotta admit, he was the first one who actually started a commercial spaceflight company that's managed to stay successful so far.. competing with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Average? Yea I don't think so.. bachelor's in physics and economics... certainly smarter than Trump

 

[Andy54Hawken]

To be honest here....

Since I ain't friends with any billionaires...Let alone know any , I really don't care if they survive or not.
I don't hate 'em or even want their wealth...or wish them the worst....

It is more a matter of I want to survive and I want the people I know and care about to survive...
That will be enough to keep me busy during any apocalypse...
Andy

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

Who's listed as the Founders for SpaceX way back in 2002 using money from the Ebay acquisition of Paypal?

He's listed as chief engineer for SpaceX, along with being the CEO.

And.. didn't he help start x.com which would later become Paypal after a merger with Confinity..

Product architect for Tesla Motors Inc, as well as CEO after becoming chairman.. but early "angel" investor for Tesla...

Then there's xAI which he founded this year apparently.

He co-founded Zip2 (with his brother), X.com (merged with Confinity to become Paypal), OpenAI(nonprofit), Neuralink, and apparently the Boring Company (for the memes?)

Point is... he's not "just a mercenary investor/buyer". Plenty of rich people do such things and worse.... gotta admit, he was the first one who actually started a commercial spaceflight company that's managed to stay successful so far.. competing with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Average? Yea I don't think so.. bachelor's in physics and economics... certainly smarter than Trump

Meh, this isn't a hill I'm willing to die on this early in the day. You have your view, I have mine and the parts we agree on would start a war on here so . . .

 

[CamoDeafie]

Meh, this isn't a hill I'm willing to die on this early in the day. You have your view, I have mine and the parts we agree on would start a war on here so . . .

I'm just saying most investors and CEOs out there certainly wouldn't be doing the things he does, or starting up space companies just to say "I did that" however. I do like Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites myself

 

[The Heretic]

As a percentage, I would say more people with a net worth of less than $10M, will survive than someone with a net worth of $1 billion or more. My guesstimate is that the people whose net worth is less than $10M have more practical skills/experience (when it comes to survival in a SHTF "apocalypse") than those who are billionaires and a greater percentage of them are preppers or at least more self-reliant.

 

[Camelfilter]

The more folks who are prepared means less folks unprepared. Doesn't matter who or what the folks are.

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

As a percentage, I would say more people with a net worth of less than $10M, will survive than someone with a net worth of $1 billion or more. My guesstimate is that the people whose net worth is less than $10M have more practical skills/experience (when it comes to survival in a SHTF "apocalypse") than those who are billionaires and a greater percentage of them are preppers or at least more self-reliant.

A very long time ago I was drinking and talking with some friends about the sort of things one talks about when Jose Cuervo enters the conversation. At one point we wondered off onto what would happen if gravity was reversed. After a bit of back and forth this one guy who was a triple major Law / Philosophy / Sanctimonious Pedantic Pick pipes up with how we were all stupid because the laws of gravity where immutable and gravity could never change. Drunk me laughed at him and said Well, NS Sherlock, but if he ever dropped a pencil and it went UP instead of down he would be well and truly fornicated while we would at least stand half a chance

In retrospect all of us laughing at him may have played a role a few weeks later when he "asked" me to move out so his girlfriend could move in

 

[RVTECH]

My guesstimate is that the people whose net worth is less than $10M have more practical skills/experience

Practical skills and experiences recognize no social or monetary status.

I know very wealthy and well off people who are very practical, mechanically inclined and can do most things for themselves.

On the 'flip side' I know people who have virtually nothing yet don't know which end of the screwdriver goes in the slot, and are essentially reliant on friends, family & others for nearly anything they need done or accomplished.

One would think the more 'salt of the earth' types would have learned more practical skills out of need and necessity but this in not the case.

I make good money off both of these types.

 

[The Heretic]

Practical skills and experiences recognize no social or monetary status.

I know very wealthy and well off people who are very practical, mechanically inclined and can do most things for themselves.

On the 'flip side' I know people who have virtually nothing yet don't know which end of the screwdriver goes in the slot, and are essentially reliant on friends, family & others for nearly anything they need done or accomplished.

One would think the more 'salt of the earth' types would have learned more practical skills out of need and necessity but this in not the case.

I make good money off both of these types.

I don't know any billionaires, but yes, just because someone is wealthy doesn't mean they don't have practical skills.

Which is why I said, and I quote, As a percentage

If for no other reason than the fact that someone whose net worth is more in the billions of dollars, generally does not have to do things for themselves when it comes to building or repairing something, they can pay someone to do it.

I have lived most (90%) of my life with a net worth such that I needed to do almost everything for myself - repair stuff, make stuff and so on - or it simply would not get done. I am at a point where I still need to do most everything myself to stay within my budget. But I am increasingly getting to the point - due to health issues - where soon I won't be able to. Some things I could do myself, but I pay someone instead simply because it is easier and quicker.

I am sure some billionaires have hobbies or otherwise prefer to do some chores/tasks/projects themselves, but as a general rule, people with the wherewithal tend to pay someone else to do those things. That's when you see billionaires unable to pump their own gas (if they even drive their own cars) or do their own grocery shopping, much less able to change a tire, or repair an engine.

 

[Yarome]

The apocalypse would be the great equalizer. Every person's survival would depend on their own unique circumstances.

However, I would say... odds would not be in their favor simply because they may be perceived as "targets of opportunity" by those that believe they may have hoards of resources to plunder(?). I would bet many would also view the rich as "soft targets"... which doesn't help their odds, either.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Then you have people like Jay Leno who appears to like working on his own cars in his collection... as well as having people working for him.. and Richard from Gas Monkey Garage who's famously a relatively rich jerk, but works and have people work on the old cars he buys and sells.

Edit. Oh yes..don't forget the crazy family from Sons of guns