How the richest people prepare for the end of the world

Some of the richest people in the United States — from Silicon Valley, New York, and so on — are preparing for the collapse of civilization.

An armed guard stands at the entrance to the Survival Condo Project, a former starting mine north of Wichita, Kansas, turned into luxury apartments for people who are concerned about the imminent collapse of civilization.

Steve Huffman, a 33-year-old co-founder and director of the Reddit project worth $ 600 million, was short-sighted until November 2015, when he organized himself a laser eye surgery. He did this not for convenience or to improve his appearance, but for the reason he prefers not to talk about: he hopes that this will improve his chances of survival in a cataclysm, natural or human-caused. “If the end of the world comes - and even if the end of the world is not, but trouble will happen - to get contact lenses or glasses will be unrealistic,” he admitted to me recently. “And without them, I’m a kayuk.”

Hafman, who lives in San Francisco, has big blue eyes, thick sandy hair, and an aura of tireless curiosity. At the University of Virginia, he participated in ballroom dancing competitions, and hacked his neighbor's website as a joke. He is not worried about a certain threat — the San Andreas earthquake, an epidemic, a dirty bomb — but its consequences, a “temporary collapse of the government and its structures,” he says. “I have a pair of motorcycles, I have a lot of weapons and ammunition. Food. With this, I can hold out in my house for some time. ”

The subculture of survivalism, preparing for the collapse of civilization, conjures up certain images: a man living in the wilderness with a foil cap, a hysterical bean-stock, a religious fanatic. But in recent years, the topic of survival after the apocalypse has leaked to richer houses, rooted in Silicon Valley and New York, among directors of technology companies that manage hedge funds, and other members of this class.
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Last spring, when preparations for the presidential elections exposed the problems of the US class stratification, Antonio Garcia Martinez [Antonio García Martínez], a 40-year-old former Facebook product manager living in San Francisco bought five acres of forest on an island in the Pacific Northwest [ US territory between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains - approx. transl.], delivered there generators, solar panels and thousands of cartridges. “When society abandons the myth of solid foundations, it slips into chaos,” he told me. The author of The Chaos Ape, a stinging memoir of life in Silicon Valley, Karsia Martinez sought refuge, located far from the cities, but not completely isolated. “Other people think that one person can stand up to a mob of nomads,” he says. - No, for this you need to organize a national militia. It will take a lot to survive the apocalypse. ” And when he began to share his plans with his neighbors about his plan with a “small island”, they themselves opened up before him, starting to describe their own preparations. "I think that people who are closely enough connected with levers, in fact, governing the society, understand that we are now riding on very thin cultural ice."

In private Facebook groups, rich survivors share tips on gas masks, bunkers and climate-friendly places. One of them, the head of an investment firm, told me: “I have a tucked helicopter at hand, and there is an underground bunker with air filtration.” He says that his preparations probably relate him to extremes among the survivors. But he added: “Many of my friends get weapons, motorcycles, gold coins. This is not such a rare topic. ”

Tim Chen [Tim Chang], the 44-year-old managing director of the Mayfield Fund Venture Fund, told me: “There are many like us in the Valley. We meet at special dinners, and talk about insurance plans developed by different people. This includes a whole range of people, from those who stock Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, to people who acquire additional passports and real estate abroad. ” He says: “I will be frank. I buy real estate both for the organization of passive income, and in order to have asylum. ” He and his wife, who works in the field of technology, keep special backpacks for themselves and for their four-year-old daughter. "I have such a fear scenario: Oh God, if a civil war or earthquake splits California in half, we need to be prepared for this."

When Marvin Liao, the former director of Yahoo, and now a partner in the venture capital fund 500 Startups, thought about his preparations, he decided that there was not enough food and water. “What if someone comes and takes it all away?” He asked me. To protect my wife and daughter, “I do not have firearms, but there is a lot of other. I was engaged in archery ”.

For some of them, such things are only “programmer” [ programmer is a macho programmer, as opposed to nerds / botanists - approx. transl.] entertainment, science fiction in real life. Other people, like Huffman, have been concerned about this topic for many years. “Since I watched the movie Deep Impact.” The 1998 film shows how the comet collides with the Atlantic, and how people try to escape from the tsunami. “Everyone is trying to get out and stuck in traffic. It so happened that it was filmed near my school. Every time I drove along that part of the road, I thought I needed a motorcycle, because everyone else would just get in trouble. ”

Huffman frequently attends the annual Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert, where artists interact with influential people. He liked one of the principles of the festival, “radical self-sufficiency”, which, from his point of view, means “I am happy to help others, but I don’t want me to need help”. The survivors, or as they like to call themselves “preppers,” redesigned FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Foolishly Expecting Meaningful Aid — i.e. "Stupid expectation of meaningful help." Huffman calculated that in the event of a catastrophe he would look for certain groups of people: “Communication with people is a good thing. I also have such a selfish idea of ​​myself as a good leader. I think that I will be the main one, or at least not a slave, when the time comes. ”

Over the years, Huffman was increasingly concerned about America’s political stability and the risk of large-scale unrest. He says: "The collapse of some state organizations, the loss of control over sea transport are such things." Preparators call this scenario WROL, “without rule of law” - without the rule of law. Huffman came to the conclusion that modern life is based on fragile arrangements. “I think that we all, to some extent, take for granted that our country functions, our currency has value, in a peaceful transfer of power - and that all these things, valuable to us, work because we believe in them. And I believe in their resiliency, and we have already experienced a lot of things, but it is obvious that we have to endure much more. ”

Turning Reddit, a community with thousands of discussions, into one of the most visited sites in the world, Huffman watched technologies change people's relationships. He saw how social networks can increase fear in society. “It's easier for people to panic when they are together,” he says, noting that “the Internet has made it easier for people to be together,” although he also warns people about the risks. The early signs of a global financial crisis appeared on Reddit long before it occupied the front pages of newspapers. “People started whispering about mortgages, worrying about student debts, about debts in general. There were many opinions like "all this is too good to be true," and "something is wrong." Of course, there were many misconceptions, but I think that we serve as a good indicator of the mood of society. When a faith collapses, you will first notice the cracks in social networks. ”

How did the apocalypse concern flourish in Silicon Valley, a place known for its immense confidence in the ability to change the world for the better?

These impulses are not so contradictory. Technology gives you the opportunity to present very different options for the future, as Roy Bahat, the head of the Bloomberg Beta Venture Fund, told me. “When you do this, you often slide down to a very strong extrapolation, leading you either to utopia or to dystopia,” he says. This may inspire you to radical optimism - for example, to cryonics, with the help of which people freeze their bodies at death in the hope that in the future science will be able to revive them - or to joyless scenarioists. Tim Chen, a venture capitalist storing bags for survival, told me: "My mind oscillates between optimism and absolute horror."

In recent years, the survivalists increasingly make their way into mainstream culture. In 2012, the National Geographic Channel launched the reality show “Doomsday Preppers], in which Americans prepare for what they designate as SHTF (shit hits the fan [shit hits the fan]). The premiere was watched by more than 4 million people, and by the end of the first season it was the most popular show in the history of the channel. A survey commissioned by the channel showed that 40% of Americans believe that picking up stocks on a rainy day and building a bunker is a better investment than 401 (k) [the most popular savings account of a private pension system in the United States]. Online discussions of preparators vary from familiar “preparation for civil unrest for mothers” to hard “ how to survive by eating pine ”.

Obama's re-election favorably affected the preparatory industry. The conservatives, who accused Obama of whipping up racism, limiting weapons and increasing government debt, were bought with frozen curd and beef strogans, advertised by commentators such as Glen Beck and Sean Haniti. The network of fairs for “preparation” attracted visitors with lessons on sewing wounds (with practice on pig legs) and photo shoots with stars of the reality show about survival “Naked and Afraid” [Naked and Afraid].


Living room in the apartment Survival Condo Project

In Silicon Valley, worried about another thing. As Huffman followed Reddit as the financial crisis approached, Justin Kahn began to meet the first survivors among his acquaintances. Kan co-founded Twitch, a gaming network, then bought by Amazon for nearly a billion dollars. “Some of my friends say: 'The collapse of society is inevitable, stock up on food,'” he says. “I tried, but as a result I only have a couple of bags of rice and five cans of tomatoes. If real difficulties arose, we would die. ” I asked Kahn what his preparatory friends had in common. “A lot of money and resources,” he replied. “What do I need to worry about and prepare for?” It's kind of insurance. ”

Iishan Wong [Yishan Wong], one of the first employees of Facebook, was the director of Reddit from 2012 to 2014. He also performed an operation on his eyes for reasons of survival in order to eliminate his dependence on, as he says, “unreliable external apparatus to ensure perfect vision ". In the letter, Wong replied to me: “Most people think that unlikely events will not happen, but techies estimate the risk from a mathematical point of view.” He continues: “Preparatory technicians do not necessarily regard the probability of a collapse as great. They believe that this is unlikely, but very unpleasant, so considering the fact that they have huge sums of money, it seems that it would be logical to spend their small share to protect against this. ”

How many wealthy Americans are actually preparing for a disaster? It is hard to say; many just do not like to talk about it. “Anonymity is priceless,” as a hedge fund manager told me, refusing an interview. Sometimes this topic pops up unexpectedly. Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder and prominent investor, recalls telling a friend that he was going to visit New Zealand. “Oh, and are you going to get apocalypse insurance?” His friend asked. “And I answer him: what? ..” explains Hofman. He discovered that New Zealand is a favorite refuge in case of cataclysms. “Saying that you are buying a house in New Zealand is such a hint that does not require comments. After this secret Masonic handshake, they will tell you about a familiar broker selling old start-up mines, protected from nuclear strikes, and that they might be interested in living there. ”

I asked Hofman to estimate what percentage of billionaires from Silicon Valley bought themselves some kind of “apocalypse insurance” to hide in the US or outside. “I would say that more than 50%,” he says, “but at the same time there may be special vacation houses. People have a difficult motivation, and I think they can simply say that they have laid straws on themselves in case that frightens them. ” Fears are different, but many fear that when artificial intelligence takes a lot of jobs, a wave of anger will overwhelm Silicon Valley, the largest accumulation of wealth in the United States. “I heard about this from a lot of people,” says Hofman. - Will the country go to war on the rich? Is it against technological innovation? Is this going to be a mess? ”

The director of another large technocompany informed me: “We have not yet reached the moment when industry insiders directly start asking each other what plans anyone has in case of an apocalypse. But I think that logically it is rational and quite conservative. " He noted the weak points detected by the cyber attack of the “Russian hackers” on the Democratic Party, as well as a major burglary on October 21, disabling the Internet in North America and Western Europe. “Food stocks depend on GPS, logistics, weather forecasts,” he says, “and these systems depend on the Internet, and that on DNS. Multiply one risk factor by another, by a third, etc., given that there are risks unknown to you, and ask yourself: What are the chances of all this falling apart in the next ten years? ” Or vice versa, “what are the chances that it will work for another 50 years?”

One of the indicators of the spread of the culture of the survivalists is that some are already protesting against it. Max Levchin, the founder of PayPal and Affirm, told me: “This is one of those things that I really don't like about Silicon Valley: the feeling that we are some kind of giants with superiority that can change the world, and that we have to be spared , even if we ourselves are to blame for everything. ”

Levchin believes that preparing for survival is a moral miscalculation, and prefers to thwart such discussions. “I ask a person: 'So, you are worried about being lifted into pitchforks. How much money did you donate to a local homeless shelter? ” Most think about this because of the difference in people's incomes. All other fears, in my opinion, are artificial. ” He believes that the time has come to invest in solving problems, and not in trying to escape. “Now we are in a favorable point of the economy. When everything goes to hell, for many people things will go very badly. And what do you expect from them? ”

On the other side of the country, similar awkward discussions are unfolding in financial circles. Robert Dager worked as a lobbyist in the financial industry, and in 1993 he became a partner of the international hedge fund Tudor Investment Corporation. After working for 17 years, he quit and engaged in charity and investment. “Any person in this community has acquaintances who fear that America is rolling into something like the Russian revolution,” he told me recently.

Daguerre saw two options for action caused by such fear. “People understand that the only real reaction must be an attempt to correct the problem,” he says. “So many of them give money for good things.” However, they also invest in the escape route. He recalls one dinner in New York after 9/11 and the collapse of the dot-com bubble. “A group of multimillionaires and a couple of billionaires have been working on the scenarios for the end of the United States, sharing their plans with each other. Most would have fueled planes and would have taken their families to ranches in the west or in other countries. ” One of the guests was skeptical. “He leaned forward and asked, 'Are you taking the pilot's family too? And the technical staff? If revolutionaries will break at your door, how many of your acquaintances will you take with you? ” Questions continued. And in the end, the majority agreed that they could not escape. ”

Unrest in elite circles exists in all political camps. Even financiers who support Trump and who hope that he will cut taxes and restrictions, are worried that his rebellious campaign allegedly spurred a collapse of respect for established institutions of power. Daguerre says: “The media is under attack. I wonder if the judicial system will fall after them? Will we move from false news to false evidence?For people whose existence depends on contracts secured by legal sanctions, this is a matter of life and death. ”

Robert Johnson sees symptoms of a deeper crisis in his colleagues' conversations about flight. At age 59, Johnson has a disheveled silver hair and a soft, protective attitude toward people. He has degrees in electrical engineering and economics from MIT, a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton, and before becoming a financier, he worked in Congress. He became Managing Director at Soros Fund Management hedge fund. In 2009, during the aftermath of the crisis, he was appointed head of the research center of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Recently, when I met him at his office on Park Avenue [this street is the most expensive real estate in the world - approx. transl.], he described himself as an accidental connoisseur of social unrest. He grew up in a suburb of Detroit, Gross Point Park. His father worked as a doctor, and Robert watched as the father's generation experienced the demise of Detroit. “About the same song is happening in New York,” he says. - These are my friends. I lived in Bel Haven, in Greenwich, Connecticut. Louis Bacon, Paul Tudor Jones and Ray Dalio, ”the hedge fund managers,“ were no more than five meters away from me. I have spoken to many in my career. And more and more people said to me: “You need a private plane. You need to make sure that the pilot's family is also taken care of. They also need to be on this plane. ”

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Johnson would like the rich to be inspired by the spirit of openness to changing the rules of the game, among which may be, for example, more aggressive inheritance taxes. “Twenty-five hedge fund managers earn more than all kindergarten teachers in the US,” he says. “And being one of these twenty-five is not very pleasant. I think their sensitivity increases. ” The gap widens. In December, the National Bureau of Economic Research published an analysis where it was stated that half of adults in the United States "are completely cut off from economic growth since the 1970s." Approximately 117 million people earn on average as much as in the 1980s, and the average income of people from the top percentage nearly tripled. The study authors note that this gap is comparable to the gap between the average income of people in the United States and in the Congo.

Johnson says: “If income distribution were smoother, and much more money went to free schools, parks and recreation areas, art, and health care, this would be a great pacifier for the community. We shattered the situation. ”

With the extinction of public institutions, the elite’s concern serves as an indicator of the country's plight. “Why do people who are jealous of having power have so much fear?” Asks Johnson. “How does this characterize our system?” It is very strange. In fact, it is the people who are the best at guessing at the coffee grounds — those who have the most resources, since they were earning money this way — now they are preparing to pull the ring and jump off the plane. ”

On a cool November evening, I took a rental car in Wichita, Kansas, and drove north from the city in the slanting rays of the sun, through the suburbs and on, past the last supermarket, to where the horizon merges with farmland. After a couple of hours, before reaching Concordia, I turned to the west, along a primer between corn and soy fields, and looped in the dark until the headlights revealed a large metal gate. A security guard in camouflage held a semi-automatic rifle in his hands.

He let me through the gate, and in the dark I could see the outlines of a vast concrete dome with a slightly ajar metal thick security door. I was greeted by Larry Hall, director of the Survival Condo Project, fifteen-story luxury apartments built in an underground mine shaft. Here from 1961 to 1965 a nuclear warhead was contained, and then it was written off. In a place built to repel the Soviet threat, Hall built a defense against the horrors of the new era. “For super rich people, this is real relaxation,” he says. “They can come here, knowing that there is an armed guard outside.” Children can run everywhere. ”

Hall came up with his project 10 years ago, after reading that the government was again engaged in investing in disaster planning, which had not been since the Cold War. During the events of September 11, the Bush administration launched a plan for “government continuity”, transported some officials by helicopters and buses to fortified places, but after many years of idleness, it turned out that computers and other equipment in the bunkers were outdated. Bush ordered new plans for maintaining continuity, and FEMA launched an annual exercise for government officials. During the most recent, Eagle Horizon, a simulation of hurricanes, improvised nuclear bombs, earthquakes and cyber attacks.

"And I thought," wait a second, but what does the government know about this that we do not know? " In 2008, he paid $ 300,000 for the launch shaft and completed construction by December 2012, which cost him almost $ 20 million. He created 12 private apartments. Apartments that occupied the entire floor cost $ 3 million, apartments for half a floor - half of this cost. He says that he sold everything except for one, which he left for himself.

Most preparers have no bins. Fortified shelters are expensive and complex to build. Launch mine built military engineers, and it must withstand a nuclear explosion. The life support system can support up to 75 people. There is enough food and fuel for five years of autonomous living. And if you grow tilapia in aquariums and vegetables in hydroponic gardens under special lamps and use renewable energy, then, according to Hall, you can last as long as you like. In the event of a crisis, Pit-Bull VX armored vehicles will select all apartment owners within a radius of up to 400 miles. Owners of private jets will be able to land at Salina, about 30 miles from there. According to Khol, the military engineers had the hardest time choosing a place. “They needed a place above sea level, suitable for seismology,and at an acceptable distance from populated areas, ”he says.

Hohol is already under sixty; he has a large chest and a talkative temperament. He studied business and computers at the Florida Institute of Technology, and then worked with networks and data centers at Northrop Grumman, Harris Corporation and other firms serving military contracts. He now drives between the Kansas launch mine and a house in the suburbs of Denver, where his wife, a legal assistant, lives with their twelve-year-old son.

Hall led me through the garage, down the ramp and into the living room, with a stone fireplace, dining room and kitchen. The room looked like a house in the mountains without windows: billiards, stainless steel appliances, leather sofas. To increase the available space, Hall borrowed ideas from the design of cruise ships. We were accompanied by Mark Menoski, the engineer responsible for the daily work of the complex. While they were preparing dinner - steak, fried potatoes and salad - Hall said that the most difficult part of the project is supporting life underground. He studied how to avoid depression (add light), avoid clicks (rotate household duties), and simulate life above. LED "windows" are installed on the walls, showing the video transmitted from the prairie above. Residents can switch to coniferous forest or other landscapes.One New Yorker wanted to see Central Park. "All seasons, day and night," says Menoski. “She needed sounds, taxis and car hooters.”

Some survivors criticized Hall for creating a refuge for the rich and threatened to seize the bunker in the event of a crisis. Hole sweeps away such opportunities. "You can send as many bullets as you like to this place." If necessary, the guards will respond with fire. "We have a post for a sniper here."


Pool at the Survival Condo Project

I recently spoke on the phone with Tyler Alain, a developer from Lake Mary, Florida. He said that he had bought one of Hol’s apartments for $ 3 million. Alain said he was afraid of “social conflicts” and the government’s attempts to deceive the public. He suspects that the Ebola virus was intentionally allowed into the country in order to weaken the population. When I asked how his friends react to his ideas, he replied: "Most often, the natural reaction is laughter, because it scares them." But, he adds, “my persuasiveness has increased dramatically. Ten years ago, this development seemed insane: social unrest, cultural division of the country, racial harassment, and the spread of hatred. " I asked how he was going to get from Florida to Kansas in the event of a crisis. “If a dirty bomb explodes in Miami, everyone will go home and gather in bars,to stick to the TV. You will have 48 hours to get out of here. ”

Allen told me that, in his opinion, such taking precautions is stigmatized. “If you are the president and are going to Camp David [the country residence of the US president with a bunker - approx. transl.], then you kind of not put a foil cap. But if you have the means and you take steps to protect your family in case of problems, then they put it on you. ”

Why do anti-utopian moods appear only at certain times? Judgment Day — as a prophecy, a literary genre, and a business opportunity — is not static; it develops with our fears. The earliest Puritan settlers saw opportunities in the American wild for both the apocalypse and paradise. When the black day happened in May 1780“And the darkness clouded New England, the farmers considered it a cataclysm, heralding the return of Christ. (Actually, the darkness was caused by the terrible fires in Ontario). English writer David Herbert Lawrence made a diagnosis of this particular disease of American horror. “Doom! Doom! Doom! “- he wrote in 1923.“ Something seems to whisper it in America’s darkest trees. ”

Historically, our end-world charm blossomed in moments of political instability and rapid technological change. “At the end of the 19th century, all sorts of utopian novels appeared, and each had its own dystopian novel,” Richard White, a historian at Stanford University, told me. The novel “ A look back, 2000–1887“Edward Bellamy, published in 1888, describes the socialist paradise of 2000, and became a sensation that spawned the Bellamy Clubs throughout the country. Conversely, Jack London in 1908 published the dystopia Iron Heel , in which America is dominated by the fascist oligarchy, and "9/10 of 1% of the population owns 70% of all wealth".

At that time, Americans were amazed at the technical progress - the participants of the world fair in 1893 in Chicago contemplated new methods of using electric light - and at the same time they protested against low wages, poor working conditions and the greed of corporations. “The situation was very similar today,” says White. - It seemed that the political system was getting out of control, and unable to control society. There was a huge gap in wealth, the whirling of the working classes. Lifespan shortened. It felt as if America’s progress had stopped and everything had to disintegrate. ”

Business titans felt uncomfortable. In 1889, Andrew Carnegie, on his way to the title of the richest person in the world, whose condition at current prices exceeded $ 4 billion, wrote about his fears about interclass tension. He criticized the appearance of "castes", ignoring the existence of others and not believing them. John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil, the first US billionaire, felt the Christian need to share debts. “The novelty of feeling that you can buy everything you want soon passes,” he wrote in 1909, “because what people are looking for cannot be bought with money.” Carnegie fought illiteracy by creating almost 3,000 public libraries. Rockefeller founded the University of Chicago. According to Joel Fleischmann, the author of the Founders, the work that studied American philanthropists, both of them sought to “change the systemsbecause of which such problems appeared. ”

During the Cold War, government officials were busy with Armageddon. The Federal Civil Protection Administration, created by Harry Truman, issued clear instructions for surviving a nuclear strike, for example, "Jump into any convenient ditch" or "Keep your head down." In 1958, Dwight Eisenhower launched the Greek Island project, a secret refuge in the mountains of West Virginia, large enough to cover all members of Congress. It was hidden under the Greenbrier resort in White Sulfur Springs and has been supporting the premises awaiting senators and members of the House of Representatives for more than 30 years. Today, the shelter of the congress is kept secret. There was a secret plan to save the Gettysburg Address from the Library of Congress and the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives.

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Today, when North Korea conducts nuclear tests, Hall is waiting for the growth of phone calls about available seats in the Survival Condo Project. But he points to a deeper source of requests. "70% of the population does not like the direction in which everything moves." After lunch, Hole and Menoski took me on a tour. The complex is a tall cylinder that resembles a corncob core. On some levels there are apartments, on others there are common areas: a 25-meter swimming pool, a climbing wall, a park for walking animals with artificial grass, a classroom equipped with Mac computers, a gym, a cinema, a library. There was a feeling of compactness, but without claustrophobia. We visited the armory, filled with weapons and ammunition in case of an attack by people outside, and an empty room with a toilet. "We can lock up people hereto calm them down, ”he says. Usually, all the rules are established by the condominium association, and may be voted on to improve them. In crisis situations, each adult will be required to work 4 hours a day, and he will not be able to leave without permission. “Entry and exit are controlled and managed by the board of directors,” he says.

In the medical wing there is a hospital bed, an operating table and a dentist's chair. According to residents, there are two doctors and a dentist among residents. On the floor above is the food storage, not yet complete. He hopes that after filling, everything will look like a miniature version of the Whole Foods supermarket , but so far mostly canned food is stored there.

We stayed at the apartment. Three-meter ceilings, gas stoves, gas fireplace. “The customer wanted him to have a fireplace from his home state, Connecticut, so he sent me a granite,” says Hall. Another owner, living in Bermuda, ordered the painting of walls in pastel island colors - orange, green, yellow - but found that indoors they cause a oppressive feeling. He sent his decorator to correct the situation.

That night I slept in the guest room with a home bar with built-in sink and faucet and nice wooden cabinets, but without video windows. The silence was ominous, it seemed to me that I was sleeping in a well-furnished submarine.

The next morning, I got up at eight, and met Hall and Menoski in the main hall, where they drank coffee and watched the news about the Fox & Friends elections. There were five days left before the election, and Hall, a Republican, described himself as a careful supporter of Trump. "Of the two of them, I hope that his business savvy will prevail over frightening qualities." Watching the Trump and Clinton debates, he was surprised at the size and enthusiasm of the Trump crowd. “I can’t believe the results,” he said.

He considers the organization of mainstream news to be biased and adheres to theories that, as he knows, some people think is unlikely. He believes that "the Congress pursues a deliberate policy of dulling the people." Why does Congress need this? “They do not need people to be so smart as to understand politics,” he says. He said that he was reading a prophecy, according to which 40% of members of Congress would be arrested because of participation in the Panama Dossier schemes , scandals with the Catholic Church and the Clinton Foundation. “We've been working on this investigation for twenty years,” he says. I asked if he really believes in it. “At first, when you hear such speeches, you doubt,” he says. But did not completely rule out such a development of events.

Before returning to Wichita, we stopped next to the last project of the Hall - the second underground complex in the launch shaft, located 25 miles from the first one. Upon approaching, a crane could be seen pulling out debris from the depths. The complex will have three times the living space, because the garage will move to a separate room. Among other things, there will be an alley for bowling, and LED windows the size of a door will create a feeling of openness.

Hole said that he was working on private bunkers in Idaho and Texas, and that two technology companies had asked him to develop "a safe building for the data center and a shelter for key personnel, just in case." To meet demand, he paid for the opportunity to buy four more mines.

If the launch site in Kansas is not remote or isolated, there are other options. In the first seven days after the election of Donald Trump, 13,401 American citizens registered with the Immigration Service of New Zealand - that is, they took the first step towards obtaining citizenship. This is more than 17 times the average. The New Zealand Herald wrote about the outburst under the heading Trump Apocalypse.


Tire at the Survival Condo Project

But the influx of people began long before the victory of Trump. In the first 10 months of 2016, foreigners bought more than 3,600 square kilometers. land in New Zealand, which is 4 times the area of ​​land purchased in the same period last year. Americans only behind the Australians. The US government does not consider citizens who have real estate abroad. Just as Switzerland once attracted Americans with promises of secrecy, and Uruguay was tempted by private banks, so New Zealand offers security and remoteness. Over the past six years, nearly 1,000 foreigners have received citizenship under the programs for investors, which involve investments of a million dollars.

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Auckland is 13 hours from San Francisco. I arrived there in early December, at the beginning of New Zealand summer: blue sky, temperatures around 24 ° C, low humidity. The chain of islands is stretched for a distance of approximately from Maine to Florida, and it is inhabited by two times less people than in New York [in terms of population, the NC roughly coincides with St. Petersburg - approx. trans.].


Especially for the demonstration of comparative sizes, I used the thetruesize.com service, where you can drag any country to any place on Earth. In the picture, New Zealand is rotated almost 90 °.

There are seven times more sheep in a country than people. In the global ratings, NZ is in the top ten countries in terms of democracy, government cleanliness and security. The last time terrorism was observed there was in 1985, when French spies blew up the ship Greenpeace. In a recent World Bank report, NZ ousted Singapore from first place in the list of countries most favorable for doing business.

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Before my trip, I was wondering if I would visit more luxury shelters. But Peter Campbell, managing director of Triple Star Management, a New Zealand construction company, told me that the arriving Americans decide that building bunkers does not make sense here. “Why build a shelter under your lawn if you are thousands of miles from the White House,” he says. Americans have other requests. “We often ask for a helicopter landing pad. You can fly on your plane to Queenstown or Wanaka, and then transfer to a helicopter and get straight to the house “. Americans are also interested in strategic advice. “And which parts of New Zealand will not be affected by sea level rise for the longest time?”

A growing interest in New Zealand homes is already coming out sideways. The campaign against the foreign control of Aotearoa (as Maori call New Zealand) opposes the sale of land to foreigners. In particular, rejection caused by American survivors. In a discussion of the NT on the website of the Modern Survivalist preparers, one commenter wrote: Aotearoa NZ - this is not a safe haven for you. ”

One American hedge fund manager — tall, tanned, athletic-folded — recently bought two houses in the NC and received citizenship. He agreed to tell me about his thoughts on condition of anonymity. Over a cup of coffee, he said that, in his opinion, political turbulence in the United States, which began on the east coast, will last at least ten years. There will be racial friction, polarization, and a rapidly aging population. "The country was divided into New York, California and the rest, very different from these two." He is worried that the country's economy will suffer greatly if Washington does not find money to finance social insurance and medicine. „Default on debts, or print more money? How will this affect the value of the dollar? This is not a problem next year, but you will not have to wait for fifty years either. ”

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Since then, the direction of their progress has been alarming. In January 2016, after increasing tensions between the military forces of Russia and NATO, and after the warmest year in Earth’s history, the Bulletin set the clock to 3 minutes before midnight — the same time that they showed at the peak of the Cold War. In November, after Trump was elected, the group met again to make an annual decision. It was announced at the end of January - the clock was moved another 30 seconds to midnight .

Fear of catastrophe is a sensible thing if it inspires action to prevent it. But the fascination with survival among elitarians is not a step towards a settlement, it is an escape from a problem. Charity in the United States as a percentage of GDP is still three times higher than in the nearest country for this indicator, the United Kingdom. But defeatism, a reduction in investment by the most influential and successful people in the United States are already mixed with it. Faced with the shortcomings of the American project, the institutions, and the rules by which they gained their profits, some of them allow themselves to reflect on defeat. This is despair in gilt.

As Huffman noted, our technologies have increased our understanding of the risks involved, but at the same time have increased our panic tendencies. They contribute to hereditary temptations to go into isolation, to separate themselves from their opponents, to close themselves from fears - instead of attacking their source. Justin Kahn, an investor in technology, who approached the issue of stockpiling food, recalled a telephone conversation with a friend from a hedge fund. “He said that we need to buy land in New Zealand just in case. He said: 'What is the chance that Trump will be a fascist dictator? It may be low, but the value of the prepared retreat is rather high. ”

There are other ways to digest the anxieties of modernity. “If I had a billion, I wouldn’t buy a shelter,” said Ellie Kaplan, director of health-related digital start-ups, Neurotrack. “I would reinvest it in civil society and civil innovation. I believe that you need to come up with smart ways to prevent the onset of any trouble. " Kaplan, who worked in the Bill Clinton administration, was shocked by Trump's victory, but says it strengthened her: “Even in the face of my deepest fears, I say: Our union is stronger than this.”

Such a view is a matter of faith. The conviction that even degenerated political institutions are the best tool for expressing the common will, a tool for regulating and maintaining our fragile consensus. Believe it or not - the choice of each.

I called the Silicon Valley guru, Stewart Brand, author and entrepreneur who was inspired by Steve Jobs. In the 1960s and 1970s, his counterculture magazine and the Whole Earth Catalog product catalog became iconic, offering a mixture of hippie culture and technology tips. (The motto of the magazine: "We are like gods, and why not achieve perfection in this".) Brand told me that in the 70s he studied the topic of survival, but not for long. „I have an idea“ Oh my God, the world will fall apart! ” it seems strange, "he said.

Living in tow in Sausalito, 77, Brand is more impressed with the signs of the fragility of the world, and is impressed with examples of its flexibility and resilience. Over the past ten years, the world has experienced the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the ebola, and Japan survived after the tsunami and the melting of the nuclear reactor core. He looks out for risks in escapism. Protecting themselves in small communities, Americans put at risk “a large circle of empathy,” he says, finding solutions to common problems. “It’s easy to wonder how to protect yourself and your family. A more interesting question - what if civilization can continue its development, as it has done in the past few centuries? What if she puffs on and on? ”

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Rorstaff, co-owner of a small brokerage company Legacy Partners, wanted to introduce me to Tara Iti, a new building of luxury houses and a golf club, which I like mainly American. The helicopter flew north along the harbor, along the coast, through lush forests and country fields. From above, the sea seemed to be a shimmering surface, on which the wind created scallops.

The helicopter sat on the lawn next to the golf course. The new luxury club will have three thousand acres of dunes and forests, seven miles of coastline - and all this for 125 farms. As we drove through the land Rover, he emphasized the privacy of the area: “You will not see anything outside. This is better for the people, and for us - such privacy. "

We drove up to the sea, Rorstaf parked the Land Rover and we got out of it. In his leather moccasins, he walked across the dunes and led me down to the sand, until we reached a stretch of beach that stretched to the horizon, on which not a single soul could be seen.

Waves with a roar broke on the shore. He spread his arms, turned and laughed. “We think it is better to be here in the future,” he said. For the first time in many weeks, or even months, I didn’t think of Trump. And in general about anything.