It’s the end of the world – and I don’t feel fine

In a chilling examination of the future, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor argue that the interests of wealthy individuals, particularly those in the tech industry, are at odds with those of humanity. In their book End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World, the authors delve into the actions and beliefs of influential billionaires who are proactively preparing for a catastrophic event, while simultaneously working to hasten it.

The potential apocalyptic scenarios range from rogue artificial intelligence to a new world war or runaway climate change. Those at the top of the wealth pyramid are constructing underground shelters and even planning colonization of other planets. Tech giants Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are among the most vocal in their preparations, with Musk's SpaceX plans and Zuckerberg's Hawaiian compound complete with a 5,000 sq ft underground bunker.

Meanwhile, other billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and Jeff Bezos have also set up extravagant defenses on private islands.

Klein and Taylor identify three groups driving this trend: religious end-timers, technologists fearing a digital superintelligence, and ethnonationalists. Donald Trump's administration has helped bind these groups together, as tech billionaires have shifted their political affiliations from opposing climate change to backing the president.

The authors cite several examples of billionaire support for Trump's policies, including Peter Thiel's 2009 essay questioning the compatibility of democracy and freedom, Musk's comments on humanity being a "biological bootloader" for digital superintelligence, and Musk's cuts to federal programmes during his tenure at the Department of Government Efficiency.

The authors' arguments are not new, but their analysis provides a coherent case for the growing divide between the wealthy and the rest of the world. They note that far-right ideas that were once considered fringe have moved into mainstream politics, and that billionaires have begun to embrace hierarchical views rooted in eugenics. As the world faces a potential collapse, the authors argue that a society that no longer believes in a common future for humanity or its own citizens has become unfit to lead the global stage.