When Billionaire Jets Warn the World: A Doomsday Gauge

Los Angeles artist Kyle McDonald has built an “Apocalypse Early Warning System” that tracks publicly available private and charter jet data to gauge surges in air traffic. The system rates activity on a 1–5 scale and can alert followers if a spike suggests the ultra-rich are fleeing cities, a concept meant to satirize and critique wealth disparities and surveillance culture, not to predict literal doomsday. Washington Post context notes that while some billionaires prep for crises, the tracker signals billionaire panic and invites broader discussion about accountability and action rather than an imminent apocalypse.