Doomsday Prepping

Recent scholarship has drawn attention to a ubiquitous 20th-century political space that was long overlooked – the bunker. This body of work draws on a variety of theoretical influences and explores multiple historical contexts, yet most remains wedded to the late Paul Virilio's influential 1970s study of the Nazi Atlantic Wall. Enlightening as his 'Bunker Archeology' is, Virilio's theorization has constrained contemporary debates around the function, materiality and temporality of the bunker. Here, we seek to counter this set of limitations in three ways. First, we contest the idea of the bunker as a simple space of human protection and argue for a more expansive conceptual-ization that is attentive to the bunker as a site of extermination. Second, we challenge the assumed concrete materiality of the bunker and suggest an expanded typology, utilizing a range of materials and milieux. Finally, we take to task readings of the bunker as an obsolete relic by highlighting the continued construction, re-appropriation and reimagination of this architectural form.

Post-apocalyptic scenarios provide the basis for popular television shows, video games, and books. These scenarios may be popular because people have their own beliefs and visions about the apocalypse and the need to prepare. The prevalence of such beliefs might also hold societal relevance and serve as a type of projective test of personality. However, there are no quantitative accounts of post-apocalyptic or prepping beliefs. As such, we conducted seven studies (N total = 1034) to do so. In Studies 1 and 2, we developed a post-apocalyptic and prepping beliefs scale, explored its correlates, and confirmed its structure and psychometric properties. In Study 3, we attempted to activate a 'prepper' mindset and further explore the correlates of the new scale. In Studies 4 and 5, we investigated covariations in daily feelings, thoughts, and events, and prepping beliefs. In Studies 6a and 6b, we compared scores from 'real' preppers and to a non-prepping group. Overall, we found that post-apocalyptic concerns and prepping beliefs are predictive of low agreeableness and humility, paranoia, cynicism, conspiracy mentality, conservatism, and social dominance orientation. We also found that increased belief in the need to prep is associated with God-belief, negative daily experiences, and global political events.

This text discusses Mormon conspiracism, or the belief in conspiracies among members of the Mormon religion. However, it will spend most of its time dealing with the extremist neo-fundamentalist phenomena in this faith, which should be kept in mind when reading. Mormons are a 19th century Christian offshoot that originated in the U.S. and uses several other writings besides the Bible, most notably the Book of Mormon, which describes fictional events in ancient America. Existing academic work has focused on the historical connections between the emergence of Mormonism and anti-Masonic hysteria, or has pointed to the highly conspiratorial imagery in the Book of Mormon or the appearances of Mormon apostles and prophets. In this paper, I will attempt to summarize all of these themes, but also add my interpretation of why the Mormon conspiracy scene is becoming more visible in the current era and pathologized in the form of the violent uprising of Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. I consider the cause to be the weakening of the conspiracy narrative in the Mormon Church following the death of the prophet Ezra Taft Benson in 1994. I will mention a few salient points that the conspiracy neo-fundamentalist movement has manifested in 21st century Mormonism and which led to the creation of the Mormon QAnon.

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has transformed many aspects of modern society, while heightening concerns about existential threats and unforeseen consequences. Researchers have systematically evaluated AI failures and hypothetical catastrophic predictions throughout this study, emphasizing superintelligence control problems combined with autonomous weapons, economic destruction of society, cyber warfare threats, and artificial intelligence-driven biotechnology dangers that affect the climate. This research investigates ethical, legal, and security concerns concerning AI autonomy through analyses of AI governance frameworks, empirical case studies, and policy reports. The research reveals that unrestricted AI deployment presents the risk of destructive situations, encompassing the combined effects of economic turmoil, personnel job loss, military operation supervision removal, elevated cyber hazards, environmental disturbances, and synthetic biology complications. The resolution of these challenges depends on strengthened lawmaking and ethical governance of AI and international partnerships. The research confirms the immediate need to protect against AI dangers before full AI potential can be attained for human development.

Kulağa garip gelse de, dünyanın sonunun, başka bir deyişle uygarlığın çöküşünün yakın bir gelecekte gerçekleşeceğine inanan ve hazırlık yapanlar var, üstelik örgütlü gruplar halinde... ABD'de özellikle son yıllarda sayılarında artış görülen bu gruplar İngilizce preparation (hazırlık) sözcüğünden türetilmiş olan preppers adıyla anılıyor. Biraz uydurmacılık yapmak pahasına dilimize "hazırlıkçılar" olarak çe-virebiliriz, zaten İngilizcesi de aslında biraz tuhaf kaçıyor. "Hazırlıkçılar"ın büyük bölümünün temelsiz iddialara inanan, ruh sağlığı bozuk kişiler olduğunu düşünebilirsiniz ancak ABD'nin saygın gazetele-rinden New York Times'ın haberine göre, durum bu kadar basit değil. Kendisi de bir "hazırlıkçı" olan Alan Feuer'in (2013) makalesine göre farklı toplumsal gruplar ve mesleklerden kişiler, kulağa bir hayli de akla yatkın gelen kötü senaryolar dolayısıyla bu işe girişiyorlar. Örneğin Feuer'in "hazırlanmak" düşüncesini benimsemesindeki kilit olay 2008'de "Lehman Brothers" yatırım bankasının iflasıyla başlayan ekonomik kriz. Konuyla ilgili bazı kitapları okudukça zihninde dünyayı "sürdürülebilirliği olmayan sistemlerden oluşan bir sistem" olarak canlandırmaya başlamış. Bazı hammadde ve ürünlerin sağlanamaz hale gelmesinin toplum yaşamını sürdürmek için bağımlı olduğumuz birçok mekanizmayı felç edeceğini söyleyen Feuer, buna örnek olarak ucuz petrolden yok-sun kalmamızın karayolu taşımacılığı ve gıda dağıtımını nasıl durdurabileceğinden söz ediyor. Feuer 2008'den sonra bir nedenle önce paranın değerini yitirmesi olasılığına karşı gümüş ABD Dolarları biriktirmeye başlamış, bunu dondurulmuş aylık yiyecek stokları izlemiş, nihayet yaşadığı New York'ta kendisi gibi "hazırlıkçılardan" oluşan bir grupla tanışmış. Grup üyelerini "hazırlanmaya" iten kaygıları-nın da aslında "gündelik ve yerel" olduğunu belirtiyor: "Terörist saldırıları, doğal afetler ve ekonomik çöküş". Anlaşıldığı kadarıyla bu faaliyetlerin farklı boyutları var: Bazıları için hazırlanmak, yaşadığı yeri terk etmekle ilişkili. Bu kişiler hayatta kalmak için gerekli olacağını düşündükleri eşya ve aletlerle dolu bir çanta ve elbette bir "kaçış planı" hazırlıyorlar. Bazıları oldukları yerde kalmayı tercih ediyor, tabii o zaman da işin içine "sığınak hazırlamak" giriyor. Feuer yazısında alay konusu olmaktan korktuğu için yaptıklarını yakın çevresindekiler dışında kim-seyle paylaşmadığını belirtiyor fakat "hazırlıkçıları" marjinallikle suçlamadan önce her gün "maruz kaldığımız" popüler kültürde "uygarlığın sonu" temasının ne kadar sık işlendiğini bir hatırlayalım, üstelik pek yeni bir tema da değil. Yalnızca sinemayı anmak bile yeterli olacaktır: 1950'lerde savaş olasılığına bağlı olarak "nükleer yok oluş" hakim temaydı, 1970'ler "felaket filmlerinin" altın çağıydı,

Despite recognizing several ways consumers respond to perceived systemic risk scenarios, prior research emphasizes a general trend toward the privatization of risk, in which individual consumers are responsibilized for managing systemic risk scenarios through their consumption. However, prior work in this area blurs the distinction between responsibilized consumption aimed at self-protection versus preventing or reducing the likelihood of risk scenarios. Moreover, it does not explain how many consumers come to prioritize the former over the latter. To explore how this occurs, this netnography investigates doomsday preppers, consumers preparing for perceived catastrophic and systemic risk scenarios by stockpiling consumer goods, acquiring prosumptive knowledge, and cultivating survival skills. Drawing from the marketplace myths literature, this article introduces the concept of mythologized counter-futures to illustrate how preppers mobilize marketplace myths to socially construct future risk scenarios. Through mythic prefiguration, many preppers’ mythologized counter-futures ameliorate anxiety associated with vulnerability-inducing systemic risk scenarios and pattern anticipatory consumption toward self-protective consumption rather than risk-scenario preventive consumption. The analysis makes novel contributions to the literature on the social construction of risk, consumer responsibilization, consumer vulnerability, consumer timework, and marketplace myths.

"Doomsday" or "the End" is a favourite topic of Astrologers. In this article we analyse the factors leading up to the End of the Current Epoch and speculate on the circumstances leading to it. As part of this speculation we present a novel approach to calculation of Population at the end of an Epoch. Underlying these calculations is a correlation for Population based on Contemporary as well as Geological Timescale. The equation for Population of the World is quite similar on both timescales. The periods of history analysed are based on Hindu Scriptures. Speculation on how the End will come about and the countries likely to be impacted is also included. We are sure the article will be of interest to all readers. The idea is to inform not frighten the public on this favourite topic.