Marc Benioff
He's the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based Salesforce, one of the world's largest software companies, which owns the popular messaging service Slack and is worth nearly $300 billion. He also owns Time magazine.
When I ask Benioff about the properties in the anonymous LLCs, things seem to take a turn. He starts speaking more quickly and fidgets with a piece of paper in his hand. He's reluctant to go through the holdings, and his adviser on the Zoom call jumps in to say we can discuss later.
A couple of days before the interview, Benioff texted the same NPR colleague again, asking for intel on my story. Then he called me and demanded to know the title of this piece. During that call, he also mentioned he knew the exact area where I was staying. Unnerved, I asked how he knew, and he said, "It's my job. You have a job and I have a job." During the interview, he brings up more personal details about me and my family.
I leave the meeting disconcerted and still unclear about what exactly is happening with his land in Waimea.
The following day, I drive around with a photographer to take pictures of the town and Benioff's projects. We go to the property he described as a community center and are confronted by one of his employees. The photographer explains we're there to take photos of the outside of the building. Shortly afterward, I get a text from Benioff. His employee seemed to think we were "snooping," and he says he's escalating the incident to NPR CEO John Lansing. Lansing confirmed he spoke with Benioff, without going into detail — the NPR newsroom operates independently, and the CEO is not involved in editorial decision-making. Benioff didn't respond to my question about the purpose of this call.
Might be worried about domestic conflict, I am, and I think everyone should be pretty concerned about the end of this year.
Why would Hawaii be safe?
Maybe because it is isolated, and they can buy enough space for a buffer from conflict. I dont know, I have never been there or know much about it. Seems like a nice place to hold out the apocalypse.
Islands generally are not good places to be during climate change or resource shortages
Yup, every time I watch a zombie movie or series I always think how nice it must be for those on an island out in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, that's my thinking as well. All these billionaires seem to be becoming doomsday preppers (Zuck, Altman, etc).
After reading about "effective accelerationism," which many of these people seem to subscribe to, I think they're worried "technocapitalism" and AI will cause a collapse of society. I.e. they're purposely funding and promoting projects they think will cause a societal collapse. It's a really wierd cult-like ideology and worldview. I think they've fallen for their own grifts.
But yeah, I'm personally more worried about the destruction of U.S. institutions (which Trump and Republicans publicly admit they plan to do), and the potential social unrest, federal-state conflict, and economic havoc it may cause.