The end of humanity: What cash-crazed tech billionaires actually believe

While some tech giants announce the dawn of a new era of superintelligence, others are buying castles in Ireland and building bunkers. What is the modern Silicon Valley elite actually thinking?

The concept of the "technological singularity"—the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and begins developing uncontrollably—is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Last week, payment giant Stripe, headed by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, officially notified investors that the company is operating under the assumption that the singularity arrived on January 1, 2026, writes the Business Post.

"It’s a loose and perhaps already overused term, but we decided that January 1 marked the onset of the singularity, and we’ve been operating under that assumption ever since," reads the Stripe leadership letter published by Axios.

The "Singularity Prophets" club

The Collison brothers are not alone in their apocalyptic yet ecstatic sentiments:

• Elon Musk announced on platform X back in January that humanity had officially entered the Singularity.

• Sam Altman (OpenAI) stated in July that he had been waiting for this moment his entire life, calling what is happening "incredible and staggering for the world."

Stripe itself announced this against the backdrop of a massive acquisition—buying AI model marketplace startup OpenRouter for over $7 billion. Leadership notes that the singularity is only accelerating their core business: the company's revenue for the first half of the financial year grew by 41%. At the same time, their private company status helps them "steer through the turbulent waters of the singularity," where predicting the future is becoming increasingly difficult.

Castles, bunkers, and Mark Zuckerberg's "Plan B"

While some tech entrepreneurs await a digital paradise, others are preparing for a systemic collapse.

A prime example is Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, who recently acquired the historic three-story Strancally Castle in Ireland for €20 to €30 million, along with a 440-acre estate. The multi-billionaire is unlikely to spend much time in Waterford, even after spending an estimated €20 to €30 million to buy the 16,000-square-foot Gothic-style Strancally Castle and its 440-acre estate along the Blackwater River.

But what will maintaining this estate cost, especially when it comes to security and, ahem, preparing for the future?

Zuckerberg has previously been linked to so-called "doomsday preppers"—people who build estates capable of withstanding any natural disasters and the collapse of civil society.

For instance, over the past decade, he has spent around $300 million to purchase approximately 2,300 acres of land on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, and another $100 million to construct two central mansions totaling about 57,000 square feet, reportedly featuring 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms, with the buildings connected by underground tunnels.

The property also houses 11 treehouses connected by rope bridges, guest and staff quarters, gyms, and multi-million-dollar administrative buildings.

The bunker

The underground bunker is a 5,000-square-foot shelter equipped with soundproof concrete doors and blast-resistant elements. The estate features autonomous power, water, and food production systems, while the agricultural land breeds Wagyu and Angus cattle.

Planning applications for modifications to the Strancally Castle estate—if not the main building itself, which is surely a protected architectural monument—will undoubtedly make for fascinating reading in the future.

Yet all of this makes one wonder: why does Zuckerberg need this property? He also owns a ski retreat in Montana and a four-story Liberty Hill townhouse in San Francisco. In Evan Osnos’s excellent book The Have-Yachts, Zuckerberg's primary residence is described as a secluded, century-old, white-painted wooden house worth $7 million in Palo Alto, California, hidden behind trees, hedges, and a security wall.

He also commands a 387-foot mega-yacht named Launchpad, rumored to cost between $300 and $400 million, making it one of the most expensive yachts in the world.

The sunny southeast of Ireland may have plenty of merits, but it is hard to imagine how a home in Strancally could compete with all his other options.

And yet it raises the question: why does he need so much real estate, especially considering that just a few years ago he was trying to drag all of us into the metaverse, where we were supposed to wear VR headsets and spend time in a virtual world instead of the very real one he clearly prefers?

Greed is one possible answer. Or perhaps it is what a very rich man once told me: "Invest in land—it’s the only thing they’re not making anymore, so in the long run, it will hold its value."

Gil Duran on the underbelly of Silicon Valley

I had the opportunity to interview Gil Duran, author of The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.

He told me that his book "tells the story of the Silicon Valley billionaire cult that has nurtured the idea that technology in the 21st century will make democracy obsolete. Specifically, they see cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and increasingly, surveillance and defense technologies as something that will give them more power than even nation-states have."

He stated that a group of men was inspired by Peter Thiel, who in 1997 became fascinated by the book The Sovereign Individual. It prophesied that in the 21st century, technology would lead to the collapse of nation-states like the US through the use of cybercurrencies (cryptocurrency), advanced automation, or artificial intelligence.

"For the past 30 years in Silicon Valley, Peter Thiel has cultivated and helped advance the careers of various people—such as Elon Musk, David Sacks, Joe Lonsdale, Curtis Yarvin, Balaji Srinivasan—who have all, to varying degrees, embraced this similar idea: that technology and the colossal wealth generated by it empower certain elite individuals (sovereign individuals or the cognitive elite) with power capable of rivaling nation-states. And if you look at how this thought has evolved, there is an underlying premise: the 21st century will transform absolutely everything and destroy democracies," Duran explained.

"The problem with democracy, from their point of view, is that it gives power to the majority of people, while in reality, society, according to their ideology, should be run by a handful of elites who know everything better than the rest. And they know best because they are the richest, which means they are the best. This is a fairly primitive idea rooted all the way back to the ancient Greeks."

Asked about the "singularity," he offered his own interpretation:

"It’s a prime example of a strange apocalyptic religion being born in Silicon Valley these days. The singularity is much like claiming Jesus is back or the Antichrist has appeared on Earth, and we must all prepare for the great transformation and the coming of paradise. The unbelievers will be wiped off the face of the Earth, the believers will be rewarded, and we will live forever because AI will somehow create eternal life, which is actually impossible.

And then we will ascend to the heavens, to the stars, and become multi-planetary beings in this realm and this era of absolute super-abundance, paradise, or heaven. Essentially, they are recreating the Christian narrative using technological terms. There is no evidence that the singularity is even possible. They have been predicting it for many, many years. And every time you turn around, it turns out that AI companies continue to lose money, and their models fail to deliver what is required of them," he noted.

"The idea that everything is about to change drastically, that AI will destroy all jobs and perhaps wipe our entire biological species off the face of the Earth... That is simply billionaire psychosis."