Want to track the apocalypse? One theory: Follow the billionaires’ jets.
Yahoo • • business
Key Points:
- Los Angeles artist Kyle McDonald created an Apocalypse Early Warning System that tracks private jets globally, using spikes in jet departures from city centers as a potential sign of impending disaster.
- The system analyzes publicly available flight data, rating emergency levels from 1 to 5, and can alert subscribers via text or email if unusual activity is detected.
- The project highlights growing wealth inequality, noting that the ultra-rich often prepare for crises with bunkers and private jets, while the majority of the population lacks such resources.
- Author Douglas Rushkoff views the tracker as a reflection of billionaire panic rather than a definitive apocalypse warning and advocates for wealthy individuals to use their resources to prevent catastrophes.
- McDonald’s work aims to promote accountability among the powerful and empower the public to recognize patterns in surveillance data, without revealing private information about jet owners or passengers.
