In Silicon Valley, a certain kind of techno-utopianism and obsession with the apocalypse go hand-in-hand. The Bay Area, after all, has amassed the second-highest concentration of wealth in the country by thinking big—networking every person on Earth, for example, or making searchable the entirety of human knowledge—and taking calculated risks on hard-to-predict events. That includes, of course, the end of the world: an eventuality for which a growing number of America’s tech elite are actively preparing themselves. “Most people just assume improbable events don’t happen, but technical people tend to view risk very mathematically,” Yishan Wong, an early Facebook employee and the former C.E.O. of Reddit, told The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos in a must-read survey of the doomsday anxiety sweeping the Valley. “The tech preppers do not necessarily think a collapse is likely. They consider it a remote event, but one with a very severe downside, so, given how much money they have, spending a fraction of their net worth to hedge against this . . . is a logical thing to do.”
High-tech survivalism, Osnos reports, has moved into the mainstream among a certain class of high-tech elites. Building a bunker is easier when you’re a billionaire with virtually unlimited resources, after all. Any number of rations, luxe on-demand transportation needs, and shelters—not to mention old I.C.B.M. silos—are available for the right price. Some stock up on guns, gold coins, spare passports, and motorcycles. In secret Facebook groups, rich would-be survivalists share their ideas about the best places to move to avoid the effects of climate change. “I’ll be candid: I’m stockpiling now on real estate to generate passive income but also to have havens to go to,” Tim Chang, a managing director for V.C. firm Mayfield Fund, told The New Yorker. “I kind of have this terror scenario: ‘Oh, my God, if there is a civil war or a giant earthquake that cleaves off part of California, we want to be ready.’” Marvin Liao, a partner at 500 Startups, said he has been taking archery classes.
Others, like Reddit C.E.O. and co-founder Steve Huffman, are undergoing elective eye surgeries to prepare themselves for a world in disarray. “If the world ends—and not even if the world ends, but if we have trouble—getting contacts or glasses is going to be a huge pain in the ass,” he says. “Without them, I’m fucked.” Wong, who also had corrective eye surgery, said he didn’t want to depend on “a nonsustainable external aid for perfect vision.”
Silicon Valley, where “disruption” is a kind of mantra, knows better than most how fragile the system is. The tech industry, after all, has been the primary force upending it. While artificial intelligence and advances in automation have improved billions of lives in incalculable ways, they are also remaking the world in ways that are difficult to predict. Already, millions of jobs that once made up America’s manufacturing base have been replaced, lowering wages as the number of people outside the labor force has ticked steadily upward. Many of these people may have voted for Donald Trump, who has criticized the tech industry for not creating enough jobs. And Silicon Valley, which has benefited more than any other place in the country from this technological revolution, risks becoming a target. “I’ve heard this theme from a bunch of people,” Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, told Osnos. “Is the country going to turn against the wealthy? Is it going to turn against technological innovation? Is it going to turn into civil disorder?”
Hoffman, who suggests concerns in Silicon Valley about a populist uprising are widespread, says many will choose flight over fight. Some, like former Facebook product manager Antonio García Martínez, have bought up property in secluded regions where they hoard generators and solar panels (New Zealand is a popular choice). Others are seeking solutions closer to home. “I typically ask people, ‘So you’re worried about the pitchforks. How much money have you donated to your local homeless shelter?’” PayPal co-founder Max Levchin said, offering a more benevolent take.
There’s nothing like making preparations to abandon society to make you realize how important society is. But Silicon Valley’s preoccupation with the apocalypse also hints at darker impulses beyond self-preservation. “Being around other people is a good thing,” Huffman said. “I also have this somewhat egotistical view that I’m a pretty good leader. I will probably be in charge, or at least not a slave, when push comes to shove.”
