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Doomsday prepping has been around since prehistoric mammalian creatures stuffed some extra nuts into a tree to survive the winter.
自从史前哺乳动物将一些额外的坚果塞进树里过冬以来，末日准备就一直存在。
Humans and especially American humans became particularly fond planning for the end of the world during the Cold War when Nuclear Armageddon was a very real possibility.
人类，尤其是美国人，在冷战期间特别热衷于为世界末日做准备，因为当时世界末日核大战的可能性非常大。
Ever since, it has become something of a utilitarian hobby for millions of people spawning a multi-billion dollar industry selling bunkers, ration kits, bug out bags and hunting supplies.
从那时起，它就成了数百万人的一种实用爱好，催生了一个价值数十亿美元的产业，销售掩体、口粮包、避难包和狩猎用品。
The demand has grown so quickly that top of the line air filtration systems have become collectors' items because there simply aren't enough for everybody who wants them.
需求增长如此之快，以至于顶级空气过滤系统已成为收藏品，因为根本没有足够的数量满足所有人的需求。
What is interesting (or maybe a little bit concerning) is the particular group that is planning for the end of the world in higher numbers than basically anybody else… billionaires…
有趣的是（或者可能有点令人担忧的是），有一个群体比其他任何人都更愿意为世界末日做准备……亿万富翁……
In a game of survival of the richest, people like Zuckerberg, Peter Theil, Sam Altman and the former CEO of Reddit have all reportedly invested tens of millions of dollars in lavish accommodation to wait out the end times.
在富豪生存的游戏中，据报道，扎克伯格、彼得·泰尔、萨姆·奥尔特曼和Reddit前首席执行官等人都投资了数千万美元购买豪华住所，以等待世界末日的到来。
These are just the ones we know about, in a game where discretion is obviously a big advantage.
这些只是我们所知道的，在这个游戏中，谨慎显然是一个很大的优势。
So why the fuck has there been such a boom in doomsday bunkers for billionaires? And is this all just really stupid?
那么，为什么亿万富翁的末日地堡会如此繁荣呢？这一切真的都很愚蠢吗？
According to Forbes, there are 2,781 billionaires alive as of March of 2024. There are likely many more that the journalists at Forbes don't know about.
据《福布斯》报道，截至2024年3月，在世的亿万富翁有2781名。《福布斯》的记者可能还不知道更多。
But even from the recorded list, that is a lot of individuals from a lot of different countries and backgrounds.
但即使从记录名单来看，也有很多人来自不同的国家和背景。
Counting all of these people together as a single consumer group shopping for the end of the world is a bit unfair.
把所有这些人算作一个为世界末日购物的消费者群体有点不公平。
But they do all have three things in common that make them particularly willing to make big investments into big holes in the ground.
但他们确实有三个共同点，使他们特别愿意在巨大的地洞中进行大笔投资。
The first is that to get to where they are. They would have learned about the value of preparing for adverse outcomes.
首先是为了达到他们现在的水平。他们会了解到为不利结果做准备的价值。
Whether that's making sure that their business had contingencies in place to get them through a bad quarter or adjusting the all of their trust fund to write out down markets, ultra high net worth individuals inevitably learn to preserve what they have.
无论是确保他们的企业有应急措施度过糟糕的季度，还是调整他们的所有信托基金以降低市场，超高净值人士难免学会了保住他们拥有的东西。
A multi-million dollar bunker with indoor swimming pools, golf simulators, and enough utilities to stay off the grid for decades is just another way that they can hedge their comfortable lifestyle against unforeseen downturns.
一个价值数百万美元的掩体，里面有室内游泳池、高尔夫模拟器和足够的公用设施，可以让他们几十年都不用上网，这只是他们用来对冲舒适生活方式以应对不可预见的经济衰退的另一种方式。
Details are obviously scarce because these individuals want to keep their plan secret.
细节显然很少，因为这些人想对他们的计划保密。
But reporting by credible insiders have revealed that some of these individuals have multiple bunkers set up in places like Alaska, New Zealand, as well as their home cities so that they have contingencies for their contingencies.
但可靠内部人士的报道显示，其中一些人在阿拉斯加、新西兰以及他们的家乡等地设立了多个掩体，以备不时之需。
The second similarity that makes doomsday prepping particularly appealing to ultra high net worth individuals is that they are already used to insulating themselves from the everyday world.
让世界末日准备对超高净值人士特别有吸引力的第二个相似之处是，他们已经习惯于将自己与日常世界隔离开来。
Through choice or necessity, high-profile billionaires don't live normal lives.
无论是出于选择还是必要，高调的亿万富翁都过着不正常的生活。
For their own convenience and protection, they fly private, have security personnel and staff on call to do mundane tasks like get groceries for them.
为了自己的方便和安全，他们乘坐私人飞机，让安保人员和工作人员随时待命为他们做买菜等日常工作。
According to the industry research firm technavio, global spending on private security has boomed to $330 billion and is projected to reach almost half a trillion dollars by 2028.
据行业研究公司technavio称，全球私人安保支出已激增至3300亿美元，预计到2028年将达到近5000亿美元。
Certain companies are now including security allowances in the salary packages of their top executives.
某些公司现在将安保津贴纳入高管的薪酬方案中。
Before he retired as the company CEO, Jeff Bezos was given $1.6 million a year to cover his security costs by Amazon, according to company filings.
根据公司文件，在杰夫·贝索斯从公司首席执行官职位上退休之前，他每年从亚马逊获得160万美元的安保费用。
Now to play devil's advocate on behalf of the billionaires, their public notoriety does make them targets for kidnapping, blackmail, or just revenge by disgruntled former employees who filled up one too many piss bottles.
为了代表亿万富翁扮演魔鬼代言人的角色，他们的公众恶名确实使他们成为心怀不满的前雇员绑架、勒索或报复的目标。
The point is that the idea of living in a bunker is not that insane to people who already live lives insulated from the rest of the world.
关键是，对于那些已经过着与世隔绝生活的人来说，住在掩体里的想法并不那么疯狂。
The third reason rich people are so amenable to preparing for the end of the world is because they're rich.
富人如此乐于为世界末日做准备的第三个原因是他们很富有。
Incredible journalism, I know, but to average people like you or I, even a modest survival shelter to write out basic natural disasters is a major investment.
我知道这是令人难以置信的新闻报道，但对于像你我这样的普通人来说，即使是一个简陋的生存庇护所来记录基本的自然灾害也是一项重大投资。
To them, a decommissioned missile silo or a bunker in some country left off half the world's maps with provisions to last decades off the grid is less than a day's work. So why not?
对他们来说，一个停止使用的导弹发射井或某个国家遗留的掩体，位于世界地图的一半位置，提供几十年的离网供应，比一天的工作还少。
A report by the Financial Times describes how survival bunkers have become yet another status symbol to collect alongside the New York penthouse, the yacht and the private jet.
《金融时报》的一篇报道称，生存掩体已成为与纽约顶层公寓、游艇和私人飞机并列的又一个身份象征。
Now it's their money and they can spend it on what they want. but this is all incredibly stupid.
这是他们的钱，他们可以把钱花在他们想要的东西上。但这一切都非常愚蠢。
There are very few people more dependent on the systems of a modern society than billionaires.
很少有人比亿万富翁更依赖现代社会的制度。
Their wealth is only possible because of the reach and industrial capacity of our modern world as well as the people who are willing to work for them because of systems that won't survive when doomsday bunkers become prime real estate.
他们之所以能拥有如此多的财富，完全得益于现代世界的覆盖范围和工业能力，以及那些愿意为他们工作的人，因为当末日掩体成为黄金地段时，这些系统将无法生存。
Flying around the world takes a coordination of pilots, air traffic control and maintenance technicians, not to mention the supply chains needed for the jet fuel to fill the planes in the first place.
环游世界需要飞行员、空中交通管制和维修技术人员的协调，更不用说首先需要为飞机加油的供应链了。
Billionaires can motivate people to perform these roles because they have a lot of money.
亿万富翁可以激励人们履行这些职责，因为他们有很多钱。
But if that system of exchange breaks down, they might not even make it to their far-flung bunkers in the first place.
但如果这种交换系统崩溃，他们可能根本无法到达遥远的掩体。
What's more is that nobody stands to take a larger quality of life hit than a billionaire in the modern day.
更重要的是，在现代，没有人比亿万富翁的生活质量受到更大的打击。
They might survive but the goods and services they consume to give them the lifestyle they enjoy just wouldn't be available in a doomsday scenario.
他们可能会幸存下来，但他们消费的商品和服务，让他们享受到他们喜欢的生活方式，在世界末日的情况下是无法获得的。
The logical conclusion for people with this many resources at their disposal would be to focus on avoiding the apocalypse rather than preparing for it.
对于拥有如此多资源的人来说，合乎逻辑的结论是专注于避免世界末日，而不是为世界末日做准备。
But unfortunately, this is not how they think. Oh, and this is far from the dumbest thing about these billionaire bunkers.
但不幸的是，他们不是这么想的。这远不是这些亿万富翁掩体最愚蠢的地方。
