Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Apocalypse 2012: As a Business Model

I recently watched this documentary on CBC channel, called Apocalypse 2012. It focused on the various schemes, or option if you will, available out there in the world for surviving the "inevitable" on December of this year.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of people in the world who is taking this very seriously and are wholeheartedly preparing for survival after the fact. Interestingly enough, most of them have turned it into big businesses.

One of them is Larry Hall, who operates SurvivalCondo.com.  He has managed to acquire some abandoned missile bases, formerly of the US military. These bases have massive underground silos going down to a depth of 200 feet. He's using these silos to create multistory condos. I think they do custom shelters too. You can buy either half-floor unit, which can hold 3-5 people, or a full-floor unit. That is, if you can fork out the price tag of $1 million for the half unit or the $2 million for the full unit.

There is another guy called Dennis McClung who runs an online 2012 survivalist supplies store. He has two plans for the end of the  world, depending on its severity. If it is mild, he plans to stay at home and be self-sufficient. If the worst happens, he and his friends have built  an underground shelter in some mountain area. There is another guy called Patrick Geryl, who is also building a shelter community somewhere in Europe. In addition to these, there are plenty of authors, gurus, pundits who are who are putting out books, seminars, retreats and what not to help people deal with the impending doom and, if possible to survive it.

Then there is the weirder stuff, like this Peter Gersten, who say we are living in a computer generated hologram, much like the scenario in the Matrix movies. He believes that this computer program ends on December 22, 2012, but if he jumps through a trans dimensional portal that is supposed to open up on that day, the world will be saved. This portal is supposed to open at some mountain, so he is basically planning to jump off a cliff to save the world. So, I guess we should be thankful to him?

So the bottom line in all of this is that there is a lot of money involved in it. The question is whether these people are doing it earnestly, to actually help people, or just scamming them. I hope that these are not scams, but its really hard to say these days. It is a good business model in a way. You identify a problem, and you provide a solution to it. There are enough people in the world who believe in it to create substantial demand for your products.

Personally, I really don't care what happens. If it does happen, it happens, and I think we basically deserve it. Our destruction can happen in two ways, either natural, or man-made. My bet is for man-made. After all nobody can destroy themselves like we can. The way I see it, we are already halfway down that path. We could stop it if we wanted, but the question is would we? Natural disasters are a whole other thing. I don't think you really can stop mother nature if she is hell bent on destroying you. She will find a way.

The other question is whether we humans are strong enough to survive an apocalyptic disaster. Let's face it, we are a fragile species. Even if we manufacture survival mechanisms, how successful would it be. There is a chance that even the latest of technology can fail. In any case, how long do you think people stuck inside a cramped shelter for years can go on without killing each other? I'd give it one year max.

You can see the CBC documentary here.



2 comments:

GG said...

Yeah, I think I've seen that doco on Discovery.
But I'm wondering,.. if all those people who are providing means of survival (with a price tag) do actually believe in the end of the world,.... what are they going to do with those million dollars earned, once everyone and everything has vanished or vaporised?

Azrael said...

GG - Yes, that is an interesting question. Even if they keep the cash safe, it will have no value in a post-apocalyptic world. I guess they haven't thought about that part he he