This week I’ve got something a little different for you. My team and I have been thinking up new bonus features for our paying subscribers, and we decided to return to an idea we’ve tried out a couple times before. Either Mark (my editor) or Nikita (my creative director) will put together material on a topic that I know little about and have me react to it. These episodes will feature looser, more exploratory conversations than a typical TGS installment. We’re making this one available to everyone on Friday, but subsequent episodes will be behind a paywall.
In this episode, Mark introduces Nikita and me to a trend among the ultra-rich: luxury doomsday bunkers. As threats like pandemics, catastrophic climate change, nuclear war, and mass civil unrest multiply, some of the ultra-rich are hedging their bets on humanity’s future and building themselves luxurious, self-sustaining underground compounds where they can wait out the apocalypse. This development raises all kinds of questions, from the ethical to the economic to the existential. We dig into them here.
And if you like what you see, click below to become a subscriber, if you’re not one already.
This post was released on Monday to paying subscribers and is now unlocked. To receive early access to TGS episodes, an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
Sign Up for City Journal’s Newsletter
City Journal provides rigorous analysis that allows you to reach your own conclusions, rather than rehashing ideologically “safe” talking points. Explore it for yourselves and sign up for their free newsletter today.
0:00 Intro
1:28 Biden’s abysmal debate performance
5:01 Billionaire survivalists
12:53 So you made it to your luxury bunker. Now what?
16:22 The postapocalyptic war of all against all
21:29 Is the very existence of billionaires the real doomsday scenario?
26:20 The doomsday tax
32:24 Will the bunker dwellers have a reason to live?
40:39 The problem of government after nuclear holocaust
46:08 The literal bunker mentality
52:08 Was Mark responsible for Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall? Who can say for sure?
Recorded June 28, 2024
Links and Readings
Evan Osnos’s 2017 New Yorker piece, “Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich”
Douglas Rushkoff’s book, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires
Douglas Rushkoff’s Guardian piece, “The Super-Rich ‘Preppers’ Planning to Save Themselves from the Apocalypse”
Ingrid Schmidt’s Hollywood Reporter piece, “Billionaires’ Survivalist Bunkers Go Absolutely Bonkers with Fiery Moats and Water Cannons”
Andre Mayer’s CBC News piece, “From Luxury Bunkers to Tactical Vehicles, the Ultra-Rich Are Preparing for the Big One”
Cixin Liu’s trilogy of sci-fi novels, The Three Body Problem
Everybody Loves Raymond complete series DVD box set
Louis van Gasteren’s documentary, Now Do You Get Why I Am Crying?
Paul Celan’s Selected Poems and Prose, translated by John Felstiner
Tadeusz Borowski’s book, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman
Glenn, Nikita, and Mark’s previous conversation, “The Ethics of Giving in the Very Long Term”
Share this post