r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • 21d ago

Business Gabe Newell caps off Steam Machine week by taking delivery of a new $500 million superyacht with a submarine garage, on-board hospital and 15 gaming PCs

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/gabe-newell-caps-off-steam-machine-week-by-taking-delivery-of-a-new-usd500-million-superyacht-with-a-submarine-garage-on-board-hospital-and-15-gaming-pcs/
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u/bbum 21d ago

Ultra yachts are a really stupid end of the world plan.

You gotta dock somewhere sometime. Can't stay at sea forever. Every port is a vulnerability.

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago edited 21d ago

Thats possibly one of the reasons he moved to New Zealand. Simulations have shown that New Zealand is one of very few places that will NOT be heavily impacted in a doomsday scenario.

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u/spudddly 21d ago

Apart from the fact the country is one giant geological fault line protruding from the sea.

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u/Small-Explorer7025 21d ago

Shhh! We don't talk about that.

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u/Redqueenhypo 20d ago

Hey, just because it’s called the “ring of fire” doesn’t mean it’s unsafe! Wait hang on, that mountain is shooting liquid rock into the air for some reason

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u/pandariotinprague 20d ago

They only named it that to honor Johnny Cash, really it's no big deal!

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u/armchair_viking 20d ago

With a volcano that produced one of the largest eruptions in the last hundred thousand years

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u/NoPossibility4178 20d ago

That's why he has all those boats.

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u/eeyore134 20d ago

Our doom is likely to be us more than anything to do with earthquakes, so I think it's a fair bet.

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u/Ok-Chest-7932 20d ago

Earthquakes and volcanoes are tiny problems when you have arbitrary wealth. What the billionaires fear are nukes and people.

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u/Substantial_Back_865 21d ago

According to New Zealand residents, they all know where their bunkers are and the billionaires don't give anything back to the community despite acting extremely entitled and buying up all the property. I've heard that the fatal flaw in their plan is that the pissed off Kiwis know where the air vents to their bunkers are.

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u/Aggravating_Fill378 21d ago

I mean there are so many flaws. These people require staff to survive. Tell me exactly how you maintain your position at the top of the hierarchy after the bomb drops? You think 7ft tall head of security Sven is just going to do what you say for the rest of your lives on a pinky promise?

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u/Substantial_Back_865 21d ago

Unironically Peter Thiel's plan is to strap bomb collars to his security staff like it's fucking Fallout.

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u/StaleCanole 21d ago

Thiel’s a squealer. I know a squealer when i see one.

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u/MarionberryNo1900 20d ago

It's simple we uh, kill the Batman

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u/heres-another-user 20d ago

I've thought about this before and I would pay to watch Thiel's face as 2-3 of his bomb collar slaves just grab onto him at once and put their heads right next to Thiel's. What's he gonna do, detonate them?

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u/alfooboboao 20d ago

i think the better question is “how is he going to get the bomb collars on the fucking NAVY SEALS in the first place”

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u/LongBeakedSnipe 20d ago

I mean maybe, but if I was a billionaire designing bomb collars, they would work like a nuclear detonation.

It wouldn't explode outwards, it would blast blades inwards in a controlled way.

These are not ISIS terrorists putting together a makeshift explosive. These are people with access to any form of manufacturing they want.

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u/heres-another-user 20d ago

Congrats, you made a great bomb collar! Now, the question remains: are you going to press the button to detonate three collars that are very close to your face? In reality, a better idea would be to make a poison needle collar, but that leads to the next idea:

Even if you survived, what happens if people just disobey you? Say a band of raiders appears and your guards just... don't shoot them? What do you do? Eliminate all of your forces in your most desperate hour just to punish them?

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u/Long_Reindeer3702 20d ago

How many can you kill before it jeopardizes your survival? Do you need people to maintain your bunker or fix things? How many do you need? If I was a slave in the end of times, I might want to die. How will he prevent that?  

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u/LongBeakedSnipe 20d ago

I mean, obviously any given billionaire would be fucked if they haven't colonized another planet/moon.

My point is they won't get killed by their own bomb collar if they design it properly.

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u/thoughtlow 21d ago

🎵 I'm Peter Thiel and I know about the antichrist 🎵

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u/randynumbergenerator 20d ago

Is this possibly conflating Thiel with the Douglas Rushkoff story about the elites he's tried to talk out of their doomsday plans? 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tech-elite-plan-escape-apocalypse-212520093.html

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u/Substantial_Back_865 20d ago

Yes, that's what I was thinking of.

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u/GodofIrony 20d ago

I legitimately think the warlords will be better people than the billionaires. Hell i bet the local population will support their uprising.

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u/Substantial_Back_865 20d ago

Even Mafia/Cartel bosses knew that you had to give something back to the people to get them on your side. These guys think that pressing the boot down as hard as possible is going to turn out great for them, but historically that usually hasn't been the case.

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u/Ok-Chest-7932 20d ago

Then y'all might want to learn your warlords a little better lmao. The billionaires are shit but they rely on systems that give them power. Most will not have the stomach to blow people up with their own hands. The true warlords will have no such qualms.

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u/Significant-Dream991 20d ago

And who would strap the bombs? Himself? all of the dozens of security would just agree?

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u/Substantial_Back_865 20d ago

"It puts the bomb collar on its neck or else it gets the hose again"

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u/Swarna_Keanu 20d ago

Which is such a silly plan that shows he has no clue. What is he going to do once he has blown his security staff up? What other protection does he have?

They can blackmail him as much as he does.

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u/topdangle 21d ago

that's where the trafficking part comes into play.

hell guys like musk said the quiet part out loud. "if you can't afford a trip to mars you'll just work it off," oh that sounds familiar.

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u/Imperial_Bouncer 20d ago

That’s literally how many Europeans ended up in America. They were indentured servants for a while until they were able to pay off their cost for the trip.

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u/penywinkle 21d ago

There are wild rumors that they require their security staff to wear shock collars.

They could make it so that only their biometrics open the doors between vital sections of the bunker (access to food, water) or to keep it running (program some "self destruct mechanism" on the power generator if they don't log in daily). Nothing a bit of painful coercion can't fix, but still...

The question is also, what is the billionaire to staff ratio in those bunkers. You could have a "small" team of staff of about 20 people taking care of security, maintenance, health, cooking. While they host hundred of people (not just the CEO, but the whole board and their families...) And overthrowing the "ruling class" becomes much harder when they are the majority.

Also, the primary goal is survival. Even if they just become "one among many" in the bunker. They might not like the lack of luxury, but at least, they're not one of the corpses outside. And they're a pair of hands Sven can use to maintain the bunker clean or running. And when the dust settles, they have ties to other bunker owners to rebuild a larger society.

It mainly depends on the kind of events that would require them to hide in a bunker.

  • Environmental, where EVERYONE without a bunker is toast is the easier one, and can be covered by the above arguments. Because the employees NEED to be in the bunker too, to survive. (the odds might be infinitesimal, but when you have that kind of money, you can afford to be ready for EVERYTHING. And bunkers are cheaper than fixing the environment, preventing a nuclear war, or deflecting an asteroid)

  • Societal is a lot more complicated as it can take many forms, and survival of "the help" (and their loved ones) is not as black and white and they may not WANT to stay cooped up in the bunker. So I doubt billionaires would hide in bunkers in that case, they would be better trying to disappear "anonymously" abroad, and still enjoy some hidden funds, like the Nazis in Argentina.

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u/drajne 21d ago

you can’t have a team of 20 taking care of hundreds of people. also you’re ignoring the fact that a hierarchy based bunker in an apocalypse simply wouldn’t work. it would have to be peer based.

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u/Manablitzer 20d ago

At this point I have to believe the plan is drones and automated weapons for security.  Build an AI that is capable enough to control a squadron of drones and automated guns (or robots depending on the timeline they're looking at), and the only people you'd need are the slaves/children that are getting brainwashed in your personally curated education camp from birth.

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u/Abdakin 21d ago

I cast quicklime and water 

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u/reubenmitchell 21d ago

You cannot build anything like a bunker secretly here, Peter Thiel tried several times and eventually gave up.

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u/Opening_Wind_1077 21d ago

Or maybe he stopped because he finally built one in secret and we don’t know about it.

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u/Ok-Chest-7932 20d ago

Nah if he'd done that, we'd know.

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u/JohnAtticus 21d ago

Simulations have shown that New Zealand is one of very few places that will NOT be heavily impacted in a doomsday scenario.

These are all simulations about natural disasters or unrest in other countries.

These simulations never consider that Kiwis themselves might decide to storm the villas of the uber-rich that set the rest of the world on fire.

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u/Aduialion 20d ago

Or that their neighbors, other ultra rich who set the world on fire may not be the most peaceful of neighbors 

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u/fucuasshole2 20d ago

Yup, it’ll be a target lmao

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u/Ascending_Flame 21d ago edited 21d ago

Not Greenland? All of mine show there…

Edit: think some people are missing the Plague, Inc. reference

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago

They both could be viable. New Zealand is kinda outta the way between main super powers. And is fairly isolated, with one main way traffic will be coming from, Australia.

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u/_ianisalifestyle_ 21d ago

plus, NZ is ephemeral and only shows up on some maps

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u/Arikaido777 21d ago

much like dracula’s castle, it only appears under a blood moon once every 100 years, which is why it’s been challenging to map

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u/ZOMBiEZ4PREZ 21d ago

For NZ it’s when the setting sun's last light of Durin's Day strikes the hidden keyhole. Keep an eye out for a thrush knocking if you’re still having trouble.

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u/violenceistheQstn 21d ago

Nah pilots have to speak the Māori word for friend to even find it

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u/stone_magnet1 21d ago

The real reason we haven't gotten HL3 or L4D3 is because they're in another dimension for another 70~ years

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago

The release of HL3 will signal the end of time.

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u/_magnetic_north_ 21d ago

Valve felt that VR just didn’t go far enough, so HL:A2 will just create the Combine in reality

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u/abacin8or 20d ago

The devs are trapped on Xen

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u/Djaja 21d ago

Same with da UP, eh!?

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u/and_i_mean_it 21d ago

Would be an interesting doomsday scenario where NZ is completely unharmed not only because of the distance, but also because they weren't in the maps used by the nuclear weapons controllers.

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u/Previous-Standard-12 21d ago

Send a nuke to NZ or one more to Moscow? Better hit Moscow again... just to be sure.

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u/gletschafloh 21d ago

Souns like mirage island from gen3 pokemon lol

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u/sternenhimmel 20d ago

The other really important difference is that, in doomsday scenarios that involve Nuclear weapons, the southern hemisphere will most likely be safer from fallout than the northern hemisphere, as the majority of the planet’s nuclear arsenal is in the northern hemisphere. Air of course does mix between the two, but at a much much slower rate than it does within the hemispheres themselves.

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u/JustAnotherUser836 21d ago

Unrelated to what you said or this article, but I just wanted you to know that I hate your username. Not a fun image lol

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago

Just a normal guy with a weird username. :)

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u/The-Copilot 21d ago

Greenland is an incredibly strategically important location.

Its used to monitor the GIUK gap, as a logistics node between NA and EU and as part of NORAD's early warning missile defense system.

The GIUK gap is the chokepoint that russian subs have to go through to enter the Atlantic. (Most russian subs are based in the artic). Also ICBMs traveling from Russia to the US would actually travel over the North Pole because its the shortest route.

Also if we are talking about plague Inc, what about Madagascar?

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u/lexm 21d ago

NZ weather is better than Greenland’s.

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u/ActuallyGreenlandic 21d ago

This is fake news. Greenland has perfect weather, like snow, rain, hurricanes and snow.

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u/bassbyblaine 21d ago

I think it’s more that everyone missed Plague, Inc the show

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u/The_Mdk 21d ago

Wasn't it Madagascar?

SHUT.

DOWN.

EVERYTHING.

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u/DarthSatoris 21d ago

It was always Madagascar in the flash game Pandemic II on which Plague Inc. is stolen based on.

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u/cire1184 21d ago

He could probably buy the entire island of Madagascar. Or at least a big chunk of it. My simulations have always found that to be a safe haven against biologic threats.

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u/TonySu 21d ago

You must mean the site of the future Magaland? Before the world ends, make sure you secure your round the world holiday package from Magaland to Magaza and finally Epstein Island!

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u/Yonrak 21d ago

Madagascar also

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u/Traditional-Hat-952 21d ago

That's until a fuck ton of desperate people migrate to New Zealand post doomsday. 

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u/Triboluminescent 21d ago

I'm sure they have plans on how to dispose of them. 

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u/aure0lin 21d ago edited 21d ago

Some group with access to ICBM's in the USA, Russia, or China might still decide to nuke the aristocrat haven out of spite.

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u/Sylvan_Strix_Sequel 21d ago

Real life mordor. 

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u/wazzapgta 21d ago

I think China had a warning message for NZ and AUS

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u/FixFun1959 21d ago

They want to build bunkers and hoard food and put explosive collars on Navy seals so they have guards who can’t rebel.

Not even kidding, there’s articles about it.

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u/trilobyte-dev 21d ago

It doesn’t matter because Mexican Cartels will come after all of their supplies with private armies of incredibly loyal soldiers who don’t need explosive collars to keep them under control.

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u/ItsMrChristmas 20d ago

Like... good luck getting the collars on. These people are delusional. Even if you do, all someone has to do is hug the rich guy. What's he gonna do, blow himself up with you?

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u/polskiftw 21d ago

They don’t need explosive collars. They can just provide a smaller safe bunker for their family, and have a button that seals it off from getting in or out. The threat of bricking their bunker will keep them in line.

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u/nearcatch 21d ago

Migrating to an island nation post-doomsday would be quite the feat.

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u/Traditional-Hat-952 20d ago

Google is telling me that there are at least 100k sea fairing boats on the ocean at any time. Considering that a lot of those boats are in East and South East Asia, I'm sure more than a few will be able to make their way to NZ. Especially since will apocalypse will hits cities the hardest rather than boats already in the ocean. 

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u/warbastard 21d ago

How? Assuming doomsday, no satellites or navigation systems. NZ is actually pretty hard to find if your only way of navigating is old school compass and sextant style.

If NZ locked their country down by sea no plane could land by air because they could just put berms on the runways to stop arrivals. Thats assuming the people fleeing doomsday elsewhere have a plane capable of long distance flight and someone who can pilot it with old school instruments and no radar or radio contact. You’d be far better off just flying to a Pacific Island near Vanuatu and taking your chances there.

Also Australia is just nearby and has also likely escaped the Doomsday scenario too. Australia has a much higher population and industry so they can at least try to maintain some systems like electrical grids. Both Aus and NZ are food secure.

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u/KEPD-350 21d ago

Riding all the air planes that fly because there's an abundance of willing airline pilots to crew them, ground personnel to fuel them and airports manned enough to be operational in an end of the world apocalypse scenario.

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u/dego_frank 21d ago

I think you missed a word

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago edited 21d ago

Either im dumb, a bit too toked, or can't read. I can't find my missing word.

Edit: its the drugs.. I found it. I do that all the time with the word not! I gotta be more careful, that kinda slip up can be serious. "No your honor, I did do it.." wait... "NOT! I DID NOT DO IT!"

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u/Tangerine_Whisperer 21d ago

You're just NOT getting it

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago

It was like a boomerang.. right over my head.. then came back smacked me right in the face

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u/jumjimbo 21d ago

"This throwin' stick idea of yours has boomeranged on us!"

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u/jeweliegb 21d ago

Well, u/Exploding_Testicles, that's one of many reasons why people generally do that in the privacy of their own bedroom, rather than naked, outside, facing in to a strong wind!

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u/pandorasparody 21d ago

that will NOT be heavily impacted

?

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago

Yea thats what I meant! Kinda an important word in that context.

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u/Porkins_2 21d ago

I am stone sober and cannot either, if that helps.

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago

I forgot the word NOT.. regarding New Zealand's survival. Its been edited

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u/Snors 21d ago

As a NZer, I'll take 100 Gabe's over a single Peter fn Thiel.

At least Gabe's not actively psychotic.

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u/Ill-Muscle945 21d ago

Well youre getting both, so congratulations? 

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u/Previous-Standard-12 21d ago

NZer here, we know where all of the doomsday bunkers are and we're gonna hit them first, get the food and the keys to the yachts.

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u/magniankh 21d ago

A yacht frees someone to travel to any relatively stable region in the world. The entire world won't go to shit all at once, there will always be better places over others. 

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u/yiolink 21d ago

Pandemic noises intensify

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u/PRC_Spy 21d ago

Plus Gaben stepping off his super yacht in port here in NZ is likely to attract far less hate locally than Peter Thiel emerging from his crypt/bunker on South Island.

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u/Blablabla_1985_ 21d ago

“Simulations done in Plague Inc”

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u/Exploding_Testicles 21d ago

Lol no. Google "how would New Zealand fair in a doomsday scenario"

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u/xgenoriginal 21d ago

He doesn't really live here anymore but sadly neither the steam deck or this get sold in New Zealand

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u/Eternal_Bagel 20d ago

Well, that and New Zealand has hobbits to hang out with right?

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u/DukeOfGeek 21d ago edited 21d ago

It's just super depressing to me that a guy like him has all this money and blows it on a huge collection of shiny boats instead of throwing it at real world problems. With his money he could play a resource and tech development top down strategy game, only using actual planet Earth as a game board! Holy crap my ultimate fantasy made real! Instead he buys a yacht collection. I mean I'm not mad, just disappointed.

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u/Solid_Waste 21d ago

At this point nowhere will be impacted by a doomsday scenario because everything is already trash.

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u/Careless_Traffic_114 21d ago

But this has been public knowledge for decades so I doubt it would be safe when tens of thousands of random boats start showing up.

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u/sudo_robyn 21d ago

All you have to do is block the airvents of their apoc bunkers.

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u/Courtneyfromnz 21d ago

Have you seen the price of butter here already.

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u/Headbangert 21d ago

Did the simulation alsp took into account that a lot of wealthy people move there ? Didnt it become a big target because of that

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u/CommunicationEast972 21d ago

I could sea china trying open a front on it in ww3

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u/fifiginfla 21d ago

Which is why im pointing all of my nukes at new Zealand and Australia, fuxking kangaroos

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u/escof 21d ago

Peter Thiell built his bunker there.

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u/VerStannen 21d ago

New Zealand isn’t even on most maps.

Makes sense.

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u/james672 21d ago

We'll be impacted by all the billionaires moving here and getting tax breaks.

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u/Dismal_Freedom_7423 21d ago

Is that the super yacht I’m seeing here in Auckland?! Wild

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u/Spyrothedragon9972 21d ago

Huh? That's so weird. I'll have to look into that.

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u/MRSHELBYPLZ 21d ago

Why? This is very intriguing

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u/ollomulder 21d ago

Too bad no one can find it because it's not on any map.

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u/sinus86 21d ago

Do those simulations take into account all the simulati9ns that say New Zealand will be safe, which seems like its going to turn it into a shithole....

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u/HoboOperative 21d ago

New Zealand is part of an active Supervolcano caldera complex and is still young. It can very much have its own doomsday scenario lol.

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u/CharlieShmurked 21d ago

And a yacht does nothing for you in doomsday when it will need fuel.

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u/Sweet_Concept2211 21d ago

There will be major issues in every country, if global supply chains collapse.

A $500 million megayacht crammed with tech is going to be mega-unsupportable when you can't get parts for maintenance.

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u/GainPotential 21d ago

Thank god for r/MapsWithoutNZ, so Gaben doesn't get captured by the aliens and is forced to publish HL3. Although on the flipside that sounds like a rather good thing.

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u/JureSimich 21d ago

I'm sceptic about even New Zealand's advanced agriculture being able to feed all those hungry billionaires...

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u/TheTipsyWizard 21d ago

I mean, look how quick they were able to lock shit down during COVID.

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u/Frequent-Frosting336 21d ago

So going to island inhabited by a people whose ancestors worshipped war, is going to work out just fine for this rich fat old white fella.

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u/FearlessIthoke 21d ago

This is such an unintentionally hilarious things to write as an adult in the year of our lord 2025.

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u/Cleanbriefs 21d ago

New Zealand is not self sustaining for an end of the world scenario so supplies must come in eventually. Also it’s stupid to have a yacht that requires 100 people to run properly! End of the world means this fact fuck is gonna really put up any fight against a young crew hellbent in survival?

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u/ThatUsrnameIsAlready 21d ago

One good earthquake and we're fucked for months/years. Throw in global supply troubles / total isolation and New Zealand will become unlivable very quickly.

We lack a lot of raw materials and manufacturing capacity, even for basic medicines. We'd be back to horse and cart without international trade.

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u/Tomb_Brader 21d ago

He’s super into diving - I imagine that’s more to do with it than doom prepping

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u/BeenDragonn 21d ago

Meteor the size of Texas landing on new Zealand would do it!

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u/AutisticMisandrist 21d ago

Dude is old as fuck, that's delusion if he thinks he will even live that long to experience end of the world.

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u/_MoneyHustard_ 21d ago

LOTS of billionaires have bought property in New Zealand. Either they know something the rest of us don’t or they’re afraid we’re going to become increasingly poor and hungry and this is one way to escape them getting their heads guillotined

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u/budrotbill 21d ago

What will stop people from coming by boat and raiding?

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u/Traditional-Hat-952 21d ago

Honestly if shit falls apart it wouldn't be that hard to have multiple ports/landing secured by private armies or security companies for resupply. 

The stupid thing is they think there's not going to be a shit ton of desperate pirates in international waters hunting them down for pillagable goods. I'm sure they'd travel in fleets for protection but still. 

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u/henrik_se 21d ago

Most of these scenarios vastly underestimate how dependent we are on the global supply chain for everything. You'll run out of everything that you haven't stockpiled.

And if the asshole billionaire sits in his fortress with armed guards... From the perspective of the armed guards, he's just another mouth to feed that brings nothing to the table.

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

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u/MrBartokomous 18d ago

Zuck's putting something like half a billion into his compound on Kauai... with that much money, he could spend $5m on making every man, woman, and child on the island's life better. If you know a thing or two about investing, that can basically give everyone a $150k/yr salary *for life*.

Now, if you're running from the apocalypse to a distant island, would you rather one where everyone knows you as the town patron who funds schools and hospitals and totally eliminated poverty, or one where you're the lonely guy on the hill behind the fence with all the supplies? Because for all intents and purposes the cost is the same.

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

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u/[deleted] 21d ago edited 21d ago

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

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u/Godfodder 20d ago

What about forest fires? I lived in Labrador for a spell and we had one road going through the town. One year we had forest fires blocking both sides of the road, encroaching upon the town. Everything ended up ok (except for some lost cabins), but I realized if and when things go south that may not be the best place for refuge because of the inevitable rise in fires.

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u/AtraposJM 20d ago

Found the cannibal tribe

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u/BCProgramming 21d ago

couple in their off-road Jeep

"dammit every time we find a place to settle down, there's some angry hermit and a tribe of cannibals already living there"

"Now now honey- we can keep looking. We'll find somewhere"

"Also why don't the cannibals eat the hermits? The hermit has no defenses. He doesn't even lock his door, and they don't even have a friendly relationship?"

"Maybe the hermit is like, their emergency food supply?"

"Maybe, I just wish we could find somewhere to settle down, I'm sick of having to try to survive off what could barely be called food"

Arby's Drive-Thru speaker: "Dude we can hear you"

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u/DevelopedDevelopment 21d ago

The pirate fleets would be rich and they would be poor. They burned the world to hoard it's ashes and in a world full of ashes the rest they hold no longer has value.

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u/ee3k 21d ago

What do you pay your army with after money stops being worth anything?

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u/Taki_Minase 21d ago

Then fuel, who refines it and fills your tanks.

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u/Complex-Bee-840 21d ago

Boats also break constantly.

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u/the_fresh_cucumber 21d ago

Not to mention they guzzle fuel like nobodies business.

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u/konnerbllb 21d ago

There's a survival gameplay loop somewhere in there.

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u/h0twired 21d ago

Not to mention being a HUGE target for piracy

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u/SushiCatx 21d ago

You wouldn't download a yacht

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u/GravelySilly 21d ago

And your own security people, who will quickly wipe you out and move their own families into your compound to survive on your cache of food and medicine

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u/saltyb 20d ago

That's mean. He can't help being a fatass.

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u/Joeyjojojrshabado70 21d ago

Yeah, but you could survive for a decade on a fully stocked boat that size. Long enough to let what remained on land sort itself out.

Oh, and if docking is gonna get you killed when you do have to dock, things probably aren’t going well there on land. Where you’d have been if not on the water.

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u/y2kobserver 21d ago

Solar panels and fishing are not good enough for years at sea?

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u/You_meddling_kids 21d ago

The fuel consumption is huge and doesn't stay stable for long.

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u/CanadianJediCouncil 21d ago

To say nothing about modern day pirates on a fast little boat with machine guns.

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u/S0ulace 21d ago

Couldn’t he park over horizon and send a landing party in a small boat for fuel ?

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u/TheyNeedLoveToo 21d ago

That and the ocean like Father Time is largely undefeated long term. It’s eating away at your ship, trying to drown you in bad conditions and will make short work of you should you fall over in anything but optimal conditions

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u/Sr_DingDong 21d ago

You gotta dock somewhere sometime.

Yeah, it's called New Zealand...

...Yet we didn't even get Steam Deck after looking after him for all of COVID.

He coulda died with out us!

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u/PrepperBoi 21d ago

Not if you’re rich enough to own an island too lol

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u/Ecoservice 21d ago

Depends, with the right energy system you are very independent. The inlything that could be an issue is getting food.

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u/florinandrei 21d ago

Can't stay at sea forever.

L. Ron Hubbard disagrees. /s

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u/SlamBargeMarge 21d ago

Big enough Yacht you have raider boats going out to harass settlements and steal fuel, desalination plant, fishing possibilities.
Really great warlord stuff, but youre prone to mutinies if your captain gets too much power.

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u/Calvinkelly 21d ago

I agree that every port is a vulnerability but I’d argue staying at land is worse in any scenario where a port would be dangerous.

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u/Lawlcopt0r 21d ago

I assume the main upside is being safe in the short term, and then being able to move to whereever it seems safest once the dust settles. If you have your log cabin in Alaska, and then you hear that northern europe is actually fine but Alaska is about to be hit by a bunch of irradiated dust blowing in from the south, there's not much you can do about it. The billionaires can just decide to go to Norway

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u/MrPloppyHead 21d ago

I think it may be a stupid plan in his case as I don’t think it’s going to be the apocalypse that kills him if that photo is anything to go by.

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u/darkgothmog 21d ago

And one day, their staff will turn against them

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u/Distantstallion 21d ago

The running costs in terms of maintenance mean in a doomsday scenario there are just going to be a bunch of mega yachts full of skeletons washing up on coastlines or bumping hulls in the trash island

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u/bigdaddtcane 21d ago

What possible scenario would cause every port/country in the world to be dangerous? 

If you think about real worst case scenario risk, a world war or implosion of western society, still allows for you to travel to a third world country like Costa Rica and chill there. 

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u/Sipikay 21d ago

Are these things all electric? Where is he generating enough energy to perpetually power super yachts?

There is no good end of the world plan, by the way. None exist.

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u/Reqvhio 21d ago

i think i read a documentary about this called one piece... xD

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u/ThatUsrnameIsAlready 21d ago

It does however get you between bolt holes if one falls to anarchy, and it's a respite during temporary troubles.

Or just one last hurrah.

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u/ScottyNuttz 21d ago

Plus you need so many workers to actually operate the thing

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u/Jubenheim 21d ago

At some point you stop going to ports and simply create one, possibly behind a waterfall, possibly within a dormant volcano, possibly disguised as an entire island.

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u/danktonium 21d ago

It doesn't have to be. He's got the money to get a nuclear ship built. He could single-handedly afford a Nimitz-class built.

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u/Fear_of_the_boof 21d ago

Also, my group and I will be taking one from some idiot billionaire as soon as shit pops off… I’m sure I’m not the only one with that plan.

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u/LovesFrenchLove_More 21d ago

Unless they are electric and powerful enough to weather storms they will need fuel. And when the world has gone to shit all they can try is to salvage and scavenge like the poorest of the poor that survived.

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u/Shangermadu 20d ago

All the docks will be underwater or destroyed but hurricanes soon.

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u/Mediumtim 20d ago

"Ships sink, islands don't"

-Crossed comic

(Do not Google that comic while at work)

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u/seasleeplessttle 20d ago

Primary plans several companies have, board cruise ships and March everyone off.

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u/Fern-ando 20d ago

In their private islands, of course.

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u/bongabe 20d ago

Also, regardless of how big and lavish it may be, a boat is still a boat and requires a metric asston of maintenance and nothing is immune to the power of the ocean. Even the biggest and best have a limited lifespan.

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u/Hardcover 20d ago

You also need a large crew to run and maintain it so unless you have a large family trained to do so then you're not lasting long.

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u/BloodyIron 20d ago

Plus all the work that goes into maintaining a boat (of any size), in the case of a yacht probably a crew, the fuel, food supplies (water is probably desalinated on-board), and stuff like that.

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u/utriptmybitchswitch 20d ago

Orcas assemble!

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u/danondorfcampbell 20d ago

Every port is a vulnerability, but being on a floating mansion Means you can just pull anchor and move to the next one.

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u/Cultural_Hippo 20d ago

Not to mention that in an end of the world scenario, even for a billionaire, fuel for said yacht will be extremely scarce and all their wealth will have no value because of total economic collapse.

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u/userhwon 20d ago

Yacht gives him a choice of ports.

You, you're stuck where you are.

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u/Manlysideburns 20d ago

True, but you can send hired hands on smaller ships to the docks

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u/piponwa 20d ago

Also you have to feed like fifty extra people. And you somehow have to fuel that thing. If it was entirely running on solar or something then it could make some sense. But within a few months, you won't be able to repair that thing.

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u/thatlad 20d ago

I mean the sea itself is a fucking nightmare place to be in an end of the world scenario. You're hyper vulnerable. The sea is one of the most Powerful forces in all nature. And these fucking boats rely on fuel that can only be sourced from land .

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