Apocalypse Ciao: Let the End Times Roll

When the economic Rapture comes, will collapsitarians be the chosen ones?

One spring afternoon on the patio of a comfort-food spot in Austin, Texas, a jovial, elfin-looking Internet entrepreneur named Thor Muller declared, “I’m a collapsitarian.”

“Sorry?” I asked. We’d just met. I’d heard perfectly well. I just wanted to hear him say it again.

The patio was jammed with exuberantly Twittering adults, crisp businesspeople, and rumpled hacker types, in town for the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference. Muller took his place at a round table, ordered iced tea, and waved over Lane Becker, his rakish partner in a San Francisco customer-service firm. Adrenaline rising, I geared up. The indulgence of an all-out cosmological discussion is somehow permissible only during an out-of-town conference, like a one-night stand or ranch dressing.

Becker, Muller explained, was also a collapsitarian. Becker announced he was short on cash