Transcendental Aesthetic as Simulacrum: Truth, Preppers, and the End of the World as we Know It

‘Civilisation as a thin membrane stretched over chaos’ is Mark O’Donnell’s first impression of the neatly manicured lawn on an Auckland volcano, during his visit to discover why so many billionaires are prepping for the Apocalypse in New Zealand (O’Donnell, 2018). Nobody should approach the apocalyptic end of civilisation without a sense of humour because it is so full of contradictions and paradox. The apocalyptic imaginary that suffuses Silicon valley and its tech start ups is concerning. There is an irreverent juxtaposition of gigantic Promethean optimism and pessimistic acknowledgement of the Anthropocene, from which emerges a supercharged libertarian viscera where the super rich manage to keep extracting coin from the collapse of civilisation as we know it.