BBC Learnings · Section 11

Why are billionaires building bunkers

So Neil, do you think you're good at preparing for the future or for unexpected events?

Level: B1 · 100 sentences

Transcript

  1. So Neil, do you think you're good at preparing for the
  2. future or for unexpected events?
  3. Mmm, reasonably good I suppose.
  4. Depends what kind of event we're talking about.
  5. all kinds of events.
  6. Now I think I'm pretty organised
  7. but I only have enough food to last me about a week.
  8. And today we're talking all about preppers.
  9. A prepper is someone who believes that disaster is likely to happen soon
  10. and so they prepare for it.
  11. A prepper might learn survival skills
  12. or they might build a bunker, an underground shelter.
  13. Yes, and recently many famous billionaires from the tech industry
  14. have made the news for building luxury bunkers.
  15. So what these bunkers need to do is to keep you safe from danger.
  16. But they're also like something out of a spy film.
  17. They're huge and they've got cool features
  18. like gyms or home cinemas.
  19. They allow someone to live a comfortable life while staying safe from danger.
  20. A very comfortable life.
  21. We're going to be talking about these luxury bunkers,
  22. the people building them, and what they're so afraid of.
  23. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp,
  24. is building a property in Hawaii,
  25. which is reported to include a huge underground bunker.
  26. So Neil, how much is he reportedly spending on the project?
  27. Is it A, $10 million?
  28. $50 million or c $100 million?
  29. Well, Hannah, I don't know,
  30. but he's a pretty rich guy, so I think $100 million.
  31. Well, I will reveal the answer at the end of the programme.
  32. Hannah, you've been looking into these luxury bunkers,
  33. like the one Mark Zuckerberg is reported to be building,
  34. on What In The World.
  35. What have you discovered?
  36. Well, I was joined by BBC reporter Natalia Jimenez
  37. to talk about preppers.
  38. And I started off by asking whether she had ever considered
  39. building a bunker and preparing for disaster.
  40. I love this question because I've actually been thinking about it
  41. for a while. Fun fact.
  42. Have you?
  43. You're a prepper.
  44. Yes.
  45. When you watch TV in the US,
  46. when you turn on a kind of US TV channel,
  47. what happens is that there's usually some ads about freeze-dried food.
  48. I'm not kidding. They pop up quite regularly.
  49. And... It's all about kind of the prepper mentality.
  50. What are you going to do when the apocalypse happens?
  51. Natalia has thought about building a bunker and getting prepared
  52. because she sees adverts for freeze-dried food
  53. that would last a long time on TV in the US.
  54. When she talks about the adverts, she says,
  55. I'm not kidding, which means I'm not joking.
  56. Natalia says that these adverts are part of the prepper mentality.
  57. A mentality is a person's way of thinking about things.
  58. So the prepper mentality would mean thinking about things like a prepper.
  59. Part of the prepper mentality is to question what you would do if the apocalypse happens.
  60. An apocalypse refers to a serious event which causes destruction and change.
  61. So lots of people do think about preparing for bad things.
  62. Natalia's thought about it.
  63. And for tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg,
  64. they're able to spend a lot of money preparing for disaster.
  65. So do you think they know something we don't?
  66. What are they preparing for?
  67. Let's hear from Natalia again, speaking to me on What in the World.
  68. So the reasons include nuclear attentions, AI risk,
  69. climate disaster, essentially any world ending event.
  70. But secondly, it's also a mark of societal status.
  71. So no matter what happens, no matter what comes our way,
  72. if you're a tech billionaire, you're going to be able
  73. to live through that comfortably without compromising your lifestyle,
  74. without compromising the standard that you have.
  75. Because these tech billionaires are essentially building the future,
  76. the fact that they're so afraid of it,
  77. quote unquote, is telling within itself.
  78. So, while tech billionaires are worried about things like climate disaster or AI,
  79. Natalia says that luxury bunkers are also a mark of social status or status,
  80. as we would say in the UK.
  81. Someone's status is the amount of respect or importance given to them by other people.
  82. With their bunkers, tech billionaires would be able to survive without compromising their luxury lifestyle.
  83. That means without lowering their standard of living.
  84. OK, so now I need to know the answer to that quiz question you gave me, Hannah.
  85. Yes, Neil. So my question was, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, is building a property in Hawaii
  86. which is said to include a huge underground bunker.
  87. How much is he reported to be spending on the project?
  88. Well, I think I gave option C, which was $100 million.
  89. You're right, Neil.
  90. The property is said to include a large underground bunker,
  91. although Zuckerberg says it's just a little shelter.
  92. OK, it's time to recap the language we've learnt during the programme,
  93. starting with prepper – someone who thinks disaster is likely to happen soon
  94. and so prepares for it.
  95. Kidding means joking.
  96. Your mentality is the way you think about things.
  97. An apocalypse refers to a serious event which causes destruction and change.
  98. Your status or status in society is the amount of respect and importance other people give you.
  99. And if you compromise something, like your lifestyle,
  100. you lower the standard of it.