Every person has their own worries. And the ultra rich have extreme worries, because so much has been accumulated and they cannot let it all disappear. Not to mention the extraordinarily valuable life of the ultra rich themselves. Until now, many have worried that some part of their wealth might end up benefiting all sorts of people, meaning the less wealthy or, God forbid, the poor. Hence the pathological tendency of many rich people to hire tax experts and lawyers to reduce the portion of their income that goes to taxes, meaning society's general needs. But I will not dwell on that this time.

To begin, a few words about how great wealth brings great influence, technological as well as political. For several figures, the state has become a constraint they wish to escape. Why should members of parliament decide how business may be conducted, whether artificial intelligence should be limited, and so on. Several ideas have emerged for creating independent territories where full individual sovereignty, meaning the sovereignty of the rich person, would apply.

So far the idea has moved forward with difficulty. One well‑known project was California Forever. It became public in 2023 when investors bought so much land that U.S. security services suspected a possible Chinese connection. Part of the land was near Travis Air Force Base. In fact, the plan was to build a city from scratch for about 400,000 residents. And the new settlement was supposed to be a place to test new forms of governance, because how long can you endure this democracy.

The project fell apart a year later when local residents caught on and understood what it would mean for local agriculture and the river delta ecosystem. The effort stalled, although the project leader has reportedly not given up and is trying to turn the acquired land into a center for shipbuilding, the arms industry, and technology.

This project was only a foretaste. In Donald Trump's administration, there are said to be several figures trying to create similar autonomous cities, for example in San Francisco's Presidio and in an old naval air station. Plans for creating similar cities have also been mentioned in the context of Greenland and the Gaza Strip. Perhaps this sheds new light on the interests of Trump's circle.

Regarding other plans, there has been talk of Palantir and Paypal cofounder Peter Thiel and other tech billionaires planning to establish ocean‑based communities and entire countries where their own laws and rules would apply.

Looking toward the future with concern, the ultra rich have in mind the need to secure one reliable refuge.

Doomsday thinking and the need to give it a real‑estate form have created, in addition to the ultra rich's plans, an entire industry offering bunker services. A home underground bunker can reportedly be built behind the house for a few tens of thousands of dollars. The upper end of the price scale is limited only by imagination.

For the truly rich who want to enjoy familiar comforts even after doomsday, several potential refuges have been created. These safe places are built with durability in mind to ensure security and self‑sufficiency in case of natural disasters, nuclear attacks, pandemics, and other global catastrophes.

For example, Elysium in New Zealand with luxurious living quarters, a spa, and gourmet food. In France there is a place called Citadel, in Japan the high‑tech Quantum Ark, in Kansas the Survival Condo in a former missile base, in the Czech Republic the underground Oppidum, in Switzerland Quantum Underground, and in Germany's mountains Vivos Europa One. In addition, there are chains like Orsos Islands, which represent a doomsday refuge on water, and the global underground shelter network Terra Vivos. And so on.

The truly rich decide for themselves where and what to build so they do not have to mix with the rest of the crowd. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is building a massive complex on Hawaii's Kauai island reportedly costing more than 400 million dollars. Of that, the underground bunker alone costs 100 million. Peter Thiel once bought land in New Zealand for the same purpose, but local authorities blocked his plans. New Zealand still seems to be a popular future refuge among billionaires.

A large share of Silicon Valley billionaires are said to have already acquired some kind of refuge, as have several other well‑known figures. Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison bought, for example, 98 percent of Lanai island in Hawaii in 2012. Something similar is said to exist for Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, and Google cofounder Larry Page.

Elon Musk, for example, does not intend to remain on Earth and aims for space, meaning Mars. With a possible stop on the Moon, but that is said to be too close to Earth.

An interesting project is underway in Argentina. The idea is that if nuclear war were to break out in the northern hemisphere, then the southern hemisphere, more precisely the part of South America south of the Tropic of Capricorn, should be protected from nuclear radiation flows. I cannot comment on this claim, but in any case the region has begun to attract the ultra wealthy.

Peter Thiel bought a property in Buenos Aires in April for 16 million dollars. His argument about the need for a strategic refuge in the southern hemisphere is also the basis for the project in Mendoza by Martin Varsavsky, who belongs to the Silicon Valley elite.

Varsavsky founded the company Campo Wamani and acquired a land area equal to five times the size of Buenos Aires. A completely independent living environment is planned there, where electricity is produced with solar panels, water is obtained from mountain springs, and there is also an airfield. In addition, a data center will be built there, into which large language models are planned to be loaded so that in case of catastrophe tech billionaires would have access to digital capabilities even if the global server system no longer functions.

Varsavsky initially promoted the project as a refuge for tech magnates in case of a third world war, but when the matter became more widely known through the Financial Times, he began to describe it as a simple resort.

Humanity, in their view, is expendable; only the survival of the best, meaning themselves, matters. Artificial intelligence will help them manage even without the rest of the people.

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Further reading

• Wamani: Martín Varsavsky's Mendoza refuge for a hypothetical war | Buenos Aires Times
• FT: Tech Billionaires Build Argentina Retreat for Nuclear War
• Tech barons dream of human colonies on Mars – but I can't think of a worse place to die | Reality TV | The Guardian
• The secret escapes of billionaires: from bunkers to secure compounds
• Billionaires are preparing themselves for Doomsday. Should we be worried? - Lifestyle News | The Financial Express
• Survival of the richest: The billionaires building doomsday bunkers | The Gentleman's Journal
• Elon Musk's Mars Plan: Building a Self-Sustaining City with Starship, How will people survive on Mars? | Science online
• Peatne jõukaim eestlane: ligi 15% AI tippfirmades töötavate inimeste eesmärk on inimeksistents lõpetada - Arvamus

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