ta9000
PaulHoule
One morning early this year there was a black sign stuck on the front door with some edgelord crap from Palantir:
https://mastodon.social/@UP8/114356523256174674
I feel like a real dope because Thiel’s minions got me to buy a Rene Gerard book.
biophysboy
The 1st paragraph of this poster makes me wonder if companies like Palantir were partially created out of guilt.
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jay_kyburz
The sentiment is OK, we _should_ think more about what we build and why. It's the nationalism at the end I find kind of yuck.
What do you call it when you want to improve the lives of all humans equally, not just they corner you were born into. That's what I am.
lordnacho
I still can't decide which mechanism is at work:
Person is a nutter -> nutters more likely to be at the extremes of achievement (success and failure) -> you see the successes -> there's a bunch of insane people who became billionaires
versus:
Some people win at the success game -> they start to think they are special -> environment encourages them towards extremes of thought -> bunch of crazy billionaires
One way the negative traits are merely uncovered by getting rich. Other way the negative traits are actually developed along with getting rich.
eximius
Por que no los dos? They are not mutually exclusive, really. Perhaps the first skews the initial population and the second exacerbates it.
lordnacho
Sure, but is one more relevant?
godsinhisheaven
You say nutter, I say neurodivergent. I think there is a lot more truth than you think to your first statement! I have a hypothesis that neurodivergent people are overrepresented at the highest levels of government, finance, technology, etc, and that this has probably been the case for, most of human history. Part of the (extremely justified) complaints about the rich and powerful is that they're "not like us", and I think that's true in more ways than one!
strbean
Don't forget selection bias. There are plenty of ultra-rich people who are not, as far as we know, nutters. We tend to talk about the nutters more precisely because they are nutters.
In the case of Thiel, I think his particular flavor of craziness is key to his success. I believe his paranoia was a major factor in the founding of Palantir.
antinomicus
I’m honestly thinking he saw all the attention Elon got and wanted some for himself. For real - ten years ago if you asked anyone if they knew who Peter thiel was, maybe 4/10 would be able to tell you. But even among those 4 if you asked do you know what Peter thiel looks like they might all have shrugged. Now, at least to me, it seems like Thiel has decided to do interviews and public appearances like he never did before. And more and more people now know who he is and how crazy he is as a result. Not sure it’s had the effect he’s looking for.
I am so constantly confused by the level of greed and insanity these kinds of people reach. My theory is that once you are so divorced from the material world and what the value of anything is, your brain turns to mush.
edot
I think your numbers are off by at least 10x, if not more. Ask a random American nowadays (not a tech worker) and I’d be shocked if more than 1/30 have even heard his name, let alone seen his face. 10 years ago I’d be shocked if it wasn’t 1/100. Again, average Americans, not entrepreneur / tech people / politically active person. Most Americans don’t even know who their senators are, and less than 60% can name one of the rights the first amendment protects. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/07/what-amer...
randomNumber7
He did some smart things in the past at least (I also think he is pretty insane).
But the article isn't very clear about what he said. I read sommewhere else his idea is more that someone would be able to unite the masses in the phase of economic trouble we are heading to. Like Hitler but for the whole world. I think its also funny that he suspects greta tunberg.
ls-a
I agree. I think people who are criticizing him have similar behavior when it comes to their own beliefs, but they're hiding it from the public. What makes Thiel seem crazy is the fact that his behavior is slightly more mainstream than the average individual.
bix6
Thiel gonna be crazier than Kanye soon. All the money in the world but no real friends to help him see the light. I’d be sad for him if he wasn’t such an ahole.
baerrie
He’s projecting his own guilt about his actions onto another. As the article implies, he is a top candidate for Antichrist if there is such a thing, and on some level he’s trying to avoid that truth.
jonfromsf
Why does he sweat so much? I prefer my technoligarcs to have a matte finish, not a glossy finish.
kelseyfrog
Blood transfusions increase the risk of acquiring prion diseases.
Calavar
Not if you're always getting the tranfusion from the same person
ch2026
You’re obviously referencing the well known fact that Peter Thiel is a vampire who kidnapped Michael Moritz in 2009. Thiel has kept Moritz alive in his underground bunker, subsisting entirely on a diet of honey and macadamia nuts, and each morning siphons off a fresh liter of blood.
vel0city
Your blood boy will eventually age out of the job.
stronglikedan
> PayPal and Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel has long held outrageous ideological views — and imposed them on the world using his billions of dollars in wealth to do things like build ICE’s massive surveillance panopticon, support the rise of the “New Right,” and destroying Gawker Media by secretly funding Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against it.
So he's like the universe's balance to George Soros. Too funny.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF
I don't like a balance that adds evil but go on
lilsoso
The article is light on details of the substance of these lectures. While I couldn't find the referenced lecture, the following lecture might be similar:
Hoover Institution: Apocalypse Now? Peter Thiel on Ancient Prophecies and Modern Tech
throwaway106382
I think one of these days Peter Thiel is gonna just melt away like Senator Robert Kelley in the first X-Men film. He’s just so weird and…jelly looking.
stuckinhell
I think we hope he's losing it. If he's right about the "ai antichrist" stuff, that does seem like the worst timeline.
ChrisArchitect
Previously:
Peter Thiel's antichrist lectures reveal more about him than Armageddon
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45546478
What's Up with Peter Thiel's Obsession with the Antichrist?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45271649
Peter Thiel, Would-Be Philosopher King, Takes on Democracy
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45513937
Regulating AI Hastens the Antichrist, Says Palantir's Peter Thiel
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45375170
Peter Thiel and the Antichrist
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noir_lord
One day we’ll get past as a civilisation assuming rich people are smart or worth listening to solely because they are rich.
You can’t ignore the Thiel’s of the world (because they won’t let us) but you don’t have to put any credence into every utterance that falls from their mouths either.
In a different age he’d be peeing in bottles and pulling a Hughes, the ultra wealthy divorced from reality schtick isn’t even new.
cogman10
The issue is rich people buy media and politicians and thus propaganda and power.
No journalist working at the washington post doesn't know that Bezos ultimately signs their checks. Pretty hard to not paint a flattering picture of him when that's the case.
Decades of media portraying the rich as being superior beings which aught be revered takes a toll on society.
This propaganda effort dates all the way back to movies like Anne showing the wonderful kindness of a wealthy person and the greed/corruption of poor housing for children.
strken
Ideally we'll get past the idea that being smart makes someone worth listening to, even in the absence of any special knowledge, wisdom, virtue, or insight.
Not to say that I think Peter Thiel has always lacked insight, just that his views on the Antichrist aren't an area where he's demonstrating any.
JohnFen
> One day we’ll get past as a civilisation assuming rich people are smart or worth listening to solely because they are rich.
I hope so, but I doubt it. Along with that, I'd like to see us get rid of the delusion that beauty and good are correlated.
Or people are just seeing the real person. Before the filter was needed but now that views tangential to his are more mainstream it’s easier for him to let the full nut-job out. Same with the CEO of Salesforce.