Comment by mightyham
1 day ago
I agree that it's very difficult to fully understand what his real positions are, and interestingly I think he clearly wants that to be the case. Peter Thiel is interested in and has actually written extensively about Straussianism which is an intellectual movement obsessed with analyzing esoteric meanings in philosophical literature.
Reading his recent "Greta Thunberg Is The Antichrist" stuff leads me to believe the Peter Thiel:
- Is deeply unscientific, coming across as a highfalutin paranoid QAnon; and
- Has zero self-awareness
That said, he has plenty of money and connections, so moves like these are likely well justified.
Thiel is absolutely concerned about data mining and big picture and perceptions
he doesn't believe the QAnon, he is the QAnon and is pushing stuff that he knows the base will eat up
like if anyone is wearing the Mark of the Beast on their forehead it's MAGA, so get out in front of them and make sure it's pointed at the right place (e.g. Greta, et al)
I’m not sure that he will succeed with this move, but his article on Greta is absolute spot on, and I’m saying this as a guy who do not really like Peter
Detailed perspective from someone with insight into Thiel's thinking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6LakOrqDL4&t=1s
That watched, imho Thiel is interested in the post-Straussian tension between "thinking in the open" (ideal science) and "focussed value creation" (which is best done behind closed doors)
AI as driven by premium mediocre Millennials combines the worst of both: lazy group-think promoted by stochastic parrots, expensive hardware weaponized by people who didn't earn that privilege
Capitalism or communism is a false dichotomy. You'd want any given pre-Jedi to access the Force, build their own lightsabers (in a cave), but not turn to the dark side.
GitHub serves Midichlorians. NVDA serves the Federation (and is one of the deadly sins to boot)
> "focussed value creation" (which is best done behind closed doors)
And yet, it is the most open societies that do best at value creation. It's almost as if the degree of cooperation and coordination between the individuals is more important to success than the insights of any one individual, even if they are as smart as Mr Theil believes himself to be.
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