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With TV shows like Fallout and Silo becoming increasingly popular, it's no surprise that the world's richest could be looking to live out the rest of their days underground.
If nothing else, they might be future-proofing their legacy to make sure their kids have somewhere safe to go in the event of nuclear warfare.
Underground bunkers are nothing new, and after all, Switzerland has some 374,142 of them.
The Cold War led to a race to build bunkers across the world, but with the Doomsday Clock ticking closer to midnight, there's been a resurgence in the idea.
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Although the pandemic had many questioning the idea of underground spaces free from the horrors of the surface world, a major factor is that political unrest feels like it's at an all-time high.
Political leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un have the world worried about whether someone is going to press their big red button, so if you had the money, why wouldn't you build an underground bunker?
Although Meta's Mark Zuckerberg was supposedly building his own secret hideaway in Hawaii, he's suggested it might not be the Vault-Tec vault you might imagine.
Back in 2023, Wired released a tell-all report that supposedly lifted the curtain on Zuckerberg’s massive compound on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
At the time, the site said contractors were made to sign NDAs and weren't even allowed to talk to each other about what was being built.
Among the most intriguing details was a mention that the 1,400-acre compound included a 5,000-square-foot underground shelter that could be accessed by a tunnel from the main house. It reportedly included its own energy and food supplies, a mechanical room, and even an escape hatch.
The supposed bunker is apparently just a small part of the entire Koolau Ranch build, which includes two mansions and was tipped to come in at around $100 million. With rumored land purchases, it would bring the total to a jaw-dropping $270 million.
Wired went on to write: "Public record requests show the makings of an opulent techno-Xanadu, complete with underground shelter and what appears to be a blast-resistant door."
There's also a mention of media theorist Douglass Rushkoff, who in his Survival of the Richest book, describes how he met a group of billionaire preppers. It's important to note that Zuckerberg wasn't mentioned by name by Rushkoff.
Zuckerberg himself has dispelled the rumors, telling Bloomberg it's more of a 'little shelter'. When pressed on his supposed doomsday bunker and whether he knew something that the rest of us don't, Zuckerberg reiterated: "No, I think that's just like a little shelter, and it's like a basement...We have the basic house that we built, and we built an office out there because I work out there.
"There's just a bunch of storage space, and like, I dunno, whatever you wanna call it. Hurricane shelter or whatever."
Putting Wired firmly in its place, Zuckerberg concluded: "I think it got like blown outta proportion as if the whole ranch was some kind of like doomsday bunker, which is just not true."
Even if Zuckerberg is downplaying his prepper potential, we don't imagine the world's third richest man hasn't at least got some sort of contingency plan in case the world goes to sh*t.
