Will AI lead to a basic minimum wage?

Phantasmal said:
They won’t, that’s the plan, culling the population of the Earth.
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Some one started a thread on one of these sites about how all these oligarchs - such as Bezos, Elon, Zuckerburg - all those guys are building self-contained bunkers that have their own power supply and farming rooms to grow food?

After we're all gone they'll repopulate the Earth - Elon's already trying to do it now!
 
cawacko said:
You can find very smart people who are making the doom and gloom argument about AI, and I certainly can't sit here and guarantee they're wrong.

But yes, I hope my opinion is correct as well.
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Not sure about the future with AI, but what does scare me is the people who run AI
 
Jarod said:
I think mass hunger leads to rebellion.
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That's why the wealthy are building bunkers:

Yes, a growing number of billionaires and ultra-wealthy individuals are actively building sophisticated underground bunkers and fortified survival compounds. Rather than the spartan concrete boxes used by traditional preppers, these modern shelters are designed as "ultra-luxury fortified underground residences" featuring five-star amenities. [1, 2, 3]

High-Profile Examples
  • Mark Zuckerberg: Building a massive 1,400-acre compound in Kauai, Hawaii known as Koolau Ranch. Leaked building plans revealed a 5,000-square-foot underground shelter equipped with its own power, water generation systems, and blast doors filled with concrete. [1, 2]
  • Silicon Valley Executives: Tech figures like Sam Altman have openly discussed doom-prepping. Reports indicate that over half of Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires have invested in some form of global doomsday insulation. [1, 2, 3, 4]
  • Global Elites: High-profile figures ranging from industrialist Mukesh Ambani (who secured his multi-story Mumbai residence) to political figures like Vladimir Putin have integrated heavily fortified subterranean complexes into their estates. [1, 2]

Features of Modern Luxury Bunkers
Bunker manufacturing companies like Survival Condo, Oppidum Bunkers, and SAFE (Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments) report booming business. These high-end shelters commonly integrate: [1, 2]
  • Self-Sustaining Utilities: Independent, closed-loop solar power systems, deep-well water filtration, and advanced air scrubbers.
  • Subterranean Amenities: Hidden elevators, swimming pools, home cinemas, gyms, and hydroponic gardens for fresh food production.
  • Advanced Medical Facilities: Surgery-grade operating theaters, decontamination chambers, and fully stocked pharmacies.
  • Camouflaged Entries: Secret passages hidden behind residential features, such as old phone booths or dual-purpose panic rooms that lock down with a single switch. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Why Are They Building Them?
The surge in high-net-worth bunker construction is driven by a desire to hedge against specific global risks. The primary anxieties include civil unrest, the fast-moving progression of artificial intelligence (AI), potential nuclear conflicts, and extreme climate events. To the ultra-wealthy, diverting a minor fraction of their wealth into an underground fortress functions as a rational insurance policy against global instability. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
If you would like to know more about this trend, tell me if you want to explore where geographically most of these bunkers are located, or learn about the bunker construction companies building them.
 
Phantasmal said:
When the rich control governments, rebellion will be put down with violence.
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I think about 30,000 Iranians found that out the hard way.

One reason Kegsbreath is repopulating military leadership with religious zealots is partially because I think Trump plans to try to use our military against us.

I do worry about that.
 
LurchAddams said:
Some one started a thread on one of these sites about how all these oligarchs - such as Bezos, Elon, Zuckerburg - all those guys are building self-contained bunkers that have their own power supply and farming rooms to grow food?

After we're all gone they'll repopulate the Earth - Elon's already trying to do it now!
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Grok:



It's a mix of real trends, exaggeration, and classic conspiracy flair.

What's grounded in reality​


Wealthy people (tech billionaires included) do build high-end, hardened properties with independent power (generators, solar), water systems, food storage/production (hydroponics/greenhouses), and security.

Examples:

  • Mark Zuckerberg: Building a massive compound on Kauai, Hawaii (Koolau Ranch), with a reported ~5,000 sq ft underground shelter/basement featuring its own energy, food supplies, water tanks, tunnels, blast doors, etc. He’s denied it's a "doomsday bunker," calling it a shelter/basement, but the scale and NDAs fuel speculation.
  • Others like Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos: Have bought remote/fortified properties (e.g., New Zealand bolt-holes, Hawaii, Texas compounds, Miami's "Billionaire Bunker" island). This is well-documented in outlets like Wired, BBC, etc.
  • It's not new—rich folks have always had safe houses, panic rooms, and estates for disasters, civil unrest, pandemics, or "the poors uprising." Post-COVID and with rising geopolitical tensions, it's accelerated. A few million on insurance when you're worth billions is rational risk management for them.

​

The leap to conspiracy​


The part about them planning for "after we're all gone" to repopulate Earth is over-the-top doomer fantasy.

Bunkers are for riding out short-to-medium crises (nuclear exchange, major unrest, supply chain collapse, etc.), not thriving indefinitely in a dead world.

Long-term survival in a true global catastrophe would be extremely hard even for the best-prepared compound—supply limits, psychological strain, external threats, etc.

No evidence they're coordinating a "great die-off" plot.

Elon Musk angle: This seems to mash up the bunkers with his Mars colonization work via SpaceX.

Musk's stated goal is making humanity multiplanetary as "life insurance" for the species—backup against Earth-bound risks (asteroids, climate extremes, war, eventual solar expansion in ~1 billion years, etc.).

It's not "hide in a bunker while Earth empties, then come back and repopulate solo." It's about expanding outward with many people, self-sustaining cities, etc. He's been public about this for years.

Musk has properties (including in Texas), but the narrative framing him as prepping a personal feudal reset while pushing AI, EVs, and space is selective.

His companies are heavily focused on increasing Earth's carrying capacity and human resilience (energy abundance, sustainable transport, etc.).

Broader context​


  • Rational prep vs. paranoia: Ultra-wealthy people can afford options the rest of us can't. That doesn't mean they have secret knowledge of imminent doom—they just hate downside risk. Many also invest heavily in mitigation (climate tech, pandemic preparedness, AI safety).
  • Similar threads pop up whenever inequality + uncertainty spikes. It's easier to imagine elites as cartoon villains than messy reality: incentives, fallible humans with money, and genuine long-term thinking mixed with status signaling.
  • If society collapses hard enough for these bunkers to matter in a repopulation sense, the odds of the owners successfully "restarting civilization" alone are low. Skills, genetics, culture, and cooperation from survivors would matter more.

Bottom line: Billionaires prepping hardened luxury compounds?

Yeah, happening.

Grand plot to let the rest of us perish and play Adam & Eve on a ruined planet? Nah—that's forum lore.

Focus on actual risks and building broader resilience makes more sense than fixating on their real estate. Elon’s Mars push is optimistic expansionism, not bunker fatalism.



 
LurchAddams said:
I think about 30,000 Iranians found that out the hard way. One reason Kegsbreath is repopulating military leadership with religious zealots is partially because I think Trump plans to try to use our military against us. I do worry about that.
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Grok:


This is classic partisan alarmism, blending some observable trends with worst-case speculation.

Religious influence in the military under Trump 2.0​


There has been a push toward more explicit Christian elements:

  • Pete Hegseth (SecDef) — A vocal evangelical — has driven chaplain corps reforms, hosted Christian services at the Pentagon, and supported narrowing the official list of recognized faiths (from ~211 to 31, favoring more traditional Christian denominations). This has drawn backlash from groups like the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, interfaith advocates, and even some LDS/Mormon circles.
  • Appointments and rhetoric emphasize "spiritual fitness," traditional values, and criticism of "woke" or secular trends in the military.
  • Broader admin moves: White House Faith Office, Religious Liberty Commission, etc.

This reflects Trump's base (evangelicals, cultural conservatives) and a reaction against prior DEI-focused policies.

Critics call it Christian nationalism creeping into the military; supporters call it restoring tradition, morale, and countering perceived leftward cultural drift.

The U.S. military has always had chaplains and religious personnel—proportional to the population (heavily Christian)—but the visibility and policy tweaks are ramped up.

"Using the military against us"​


This is the bigger leap. Trump has deployed National Guard/federalized troops domestically (border, crime surges in certain cities like LA, Portland, Chicago, Memphis), often over Democrat governors' objections, citing unrest, immigration, or "enemy from within" rhetoric.

  • Legal basis exists via the Insurrection Act (broad presidential power) and other authorities. Past presidents (both parties) have used military domestically for riots, disasters, etc.
  • No widespread evidence of purging the military for a coup-like domestic crackdown on ordinary Americans. Leadership changes happen with every administration—loyalty to the commander-in-chief is standard (and constitutional).
  • Fears of martial law or mass repression echo similar panics from 2016-2020 (and reversed during Biden years). Institutions like courts, Congress, state governments, and the military's own culture (oath to Constitution, not a person) act as checks. Actual "use against us" would require sustained breakdown of those norms—possible in extreme scenarios, but not the default plan.

"Religious zealots" framing: Loaded language.

Plenty of military leaders are religious; others aren't. Competence on threats (China, Russia, etc.) matters more than theology.

Over-focusing on faith while ignoring operational readiness invites its own problems. The military isn't a theocracy—Posse Comitatus and tradition push back against that.

Context for the forum post​


This fits a pattern in left-leaning spaces: every conservative/Trump military or cultural move = existential threat to democracy. Symmetric to right-wing fears of "deep state" or woke military under prior admins. Hyperbole sells in echo chambers ("Lurch Addams," "Kegsbreath").

Reality check: Presidents appoint aligned people.

Policy fights over religion in public institutions are old (school prayer, chaplains, etc.).

Actual authoritarianism would look like suspending elections, mass arrests without due process, or ignoring courts—not appointing pastors to advisory roles or tightening chaplain standards.

Worry about specific abuses (e.g., coercion of service members) is fair; grand "Trump plans to sic the military on citizens" conspiracy is fearmongering until concrete actions prove otherwise.
 
Diogenes said:
I'd die before that'd happen.
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You will be one with the herd...

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Tbird19482 said:
And the two I have in counseling are in drug abuse and Alcohol abuse, and I would advise you to cut back on both your alcohol and drug use, you seem to go over board a lot, too much of either isn't good for your health.
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I shouldn't need your services. One thing about me,....Ive NEVER in my life had a drinking problem. It just always seemed to come so natural to me! :cool: CHEERS!
 
Stone said:
I shouldn't need your services. One thing about me,....Ive NEVER in my life had a drinking problem. It just always seemed to come so natural to me! :cool: CHEERS!
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That is just what most alcoholics say , they don't have a drinking problem, that is just it they have no problem drinking they just keep drinking and drinking no problem.
 
Tbird19482 said:
Nothing new in the auto industry, they have been using robots and automation since the 1960's.
And if they could run all their factories with all robots and no people they would .
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I can't wait until the auto factory machines become self-aware and start making decent Teslas!
 
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