4 ms·

Rumors are swirling that Thiel is gearing up for economic/regulatory war on silicon valley. So I can't say this is surprising but I find it all extremely confu

Rumors are swirling that Thiel is gearing up for economic/regulatory war on silicon valley. So I can't say this is surprising but I find it all extremely confusing. EDIT: Mostly rumors I hear from happy hours with some politicos in DC. Sorry, its just meat space rumors.

pault 9y ago
What would he have to gain from such a war?
- hobofan 9y ago
  The ones who profit the most from more regulations are usually the big existing players (in the case of general regulations). He has a lot of investments in big players, so the motive would be good old monetary gain. In the case of more specialized regulations targeting single players can be used to take out the competition (e.g. hurting Google might be good for his stake in Facebook).
- SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
  Regulatory lock for both Palantir and Facebook. Regulations can be very good for large businesses as they erect enormous barriers to entry into certain spaces that only established companies can hope to surmount.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - krylon 9y ago
    I am not willing to believe that on such scarce evidence. I not exactly a fan of Peter Thiel, but I am not convinced he is that ruthless. However, if it were true, it matches so perfectly the article he wrote for WSJ a few years ago. It was literally titled "Competition is for losers". [1] I still do not think that he basically wants to bully all the competition away so he can make more money and become more powerful. And I will not even go into how likely it is that could actually succeed with such a move, if he did. But still - if the rumors should turn out to be true, we cannot say that nobody could have seen that coming, in fact he told us himself what he was going to do. If. And at that point truth has become indeed stranger than fiction. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-losers-1410535536 https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-...
    - creaghpatr 9y ago
      I mean, it's straight out of his book Zero to One, something about being "last to market"
    - SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
      The high falutin fancy pants term is regulatory capture[0]. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
- burntrelish1273 9y ago
  Thiel is clearly a libertarian nutter of the Bannon varietal, from his statements and interviews. To them "all regulations == bad," lacking nuance and honest reality in preference to utopian illusions that align with the interests of unlimited greed.
  - briandear 9y ago
    It’s clear you don’t know Thiel. Comparing him to Bannon is just ridiculous.
- randyrand 9y ago
  A few large silicon valley companies have a large concentration of power. Libertarians like distribution of power among smaller entities.
  - hobofan 9y ago
    That doesn't sound like the Peter Thiel I have heard about. If his writing is any reflection of his beliefs, he is a big fan of monopolies (unless he doesn't own them).
  - majormajor 9y ago
    My impression of Thiel is more the "superman" type approach to libertarianism. Power should be concentrated among the worthy (aka me).
  - bbctol 9y ago
    That's not a great summary of libertarian beliefs, and the exact opposite of Thiel's stated beliefs.
  - s73ver_ 9y ago
    But that's not Thiel at all. He does want power concentrated; he just wants to be one of those it's concentrated with.
    - alexanderstears 9y ago
      He wants power to be as concentrated as it should be when people are free to gain and lose power as consequences of their decisions. That's contrasted with bureaucratic insulation whereby power isn't gained or lost with bad or good decisions.
      - s73ver_ 9y ago
        Nothing I've seen indicates that's even remotely close to the truth. He wants power to be concentrated with him.
- api 9y ago
  If this is true and not just rumors, my guess would be that it's political. SV tends to lean left or left-libertarian.
- defen 9y ago
  Righteous vengeance? He seems like the kind of guy who enjoys that kind of thing. He took a ton of flak for supporting Trump, and I'll bet a lot of people burned bridges, certain of a Clinton victory. But then against all odds Trump won and all of a sudden Thiel has a lot of friends in high places, and it's payback time.
non_sequitur 9y ago
What kind of rumors? Any links or anything that would give some context?
- htormey 9y ago
  Apparently an AG that Thiel gave money to is investigating google for antitrust stuff in Missouri: “But it’s not the first time Thiel has handed cash to an AG who went after Google over monopoly concerns. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Nov. 13 that his office was investigating Google to see if the Mountain View tech giant had violated the state’s antitrust and consumer-protection laws. The Missouri attorney general said he had issued an investigative subpoena to Google. He’s looking at the firm’s handling of users’ personal data, along with claims that it misappropriated content from rivals and pushed down competitors’ websites in search results.” http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/15/is-billionaire-vc-peter-thiel-trying-to-break-up-google/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/15/is-billionaire-vc-pete...
dopamean 9y ago
What does this mean?

pault 9y ago

What would he have to gain from such a war?

hobofan 9y ago
The ones who profit the most from more regulations are usually the big existing players (in the case of general regulations). He has a lot of investments in big players, so the motive would be good old monetary gain. In the case of more specialized regulations targeting single players can be used to take out the competition (e.g. hurting Google might be good for his stake in Facebook).
SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
Regulatory lock for both Palantir and Facebook. Regulations can be very good for large businesses as they erect enormous barriers to entry into certain spaces that only established companies can hope to surmount.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- krylon 9y ago
  I am not willing to believe that on such scarce evidence. I not exactly a fan of Peter Thiel, but I am not convinced he is that ruthless. However, if it were true, it matches so perfectly the article he wrote for WSJ a few years ago. It was literally titled "Competition is for losers". [1] I still do not think that he basically wants to bully all the competition away so he can make more money and become more powerful. And I will not even go into how likely it is that could actually succeed with such a move, if he did. But still - if the rumors should turn out to be true, we cannot say that nobody could have seen that coming, in fact he told us himself what he was going to do. If. And at that point truth has become indeed stranger than fiction. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-losers-1410535536 https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-...
  - creaghpatr 9y ago
    I mean, it's straight out of his book Zero to One, something about being "last to market"
  - SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
    The high falutin fancy pants term is regulatory capture[0]. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
burntrelish1273 9y ago
Thiel is clearly a libertarian nutter of the Bannon varietal, from his statements and interviews. To them "all regulations == bad," lacking nuance and honest reality in preference to utopian illusions that align with the interests of unlimited greed.
- briandear 9y ago
  It’s clear you don’t know Thiel. Comparing him to Bannon is just ridiculous.
randyrand 9y ago
A few large silicon valley companies have a large concentration of power. Libertarians like distribution of power among smaller entities.
- hobofan 9y ago
  That doesn't sound like the Peter Thiel I have heard about. If his writing is any reflection of his beliefs, he is a big fan of monopolies (unless he doesn't own them).
- majormajor 9y ago
  My impression of Thiel is more the "superman" type approach to libertarianism. Power should be concentrated among the worthy (aka me).
- bbctol 9y ago
  That's not a great summary of libertarian beliefs, and the exact opposite of Thiel's stated beliefs.
- s73ver_ 9y ago
  But that's not Thiel at all. He does want power concentrated; he just wants to be one of those it's concentrated with.
  - alexanderstears 9y ago
    He wants power to be as concentrated as it should be when people are free to gain and lose power as consequences of their decisions. That's contrasted with bureaucratic insulation whereby power isn't gained or lost with bad or good decisions.
    - s73ver_ 9y ago
      Nothing I've seen indicates that's even remotely close to the truth. He wants power to be concentrated with him.
api 9y ago
If this is true and not just rumors, my guess would be that it's political. SV tends to lean left or left-libertarian.
defen 9y ago
Righteous vengeance? He seems like the kind of guy who enjoys that kind of thing. He took a ton of flak for supporting Trump, and I'll bet a lot of people burned bridges, certain of a Clinton victory. But then against all odds Trump won and all of a sudden Thiel has a lot of friends in high places, and it's payback time.

non_sequitur 9y ago

What kind of rumors? Any links or anything that would give some context?

htormey 9y ago
Apparently an AG that Thiel gave money to is investigating google for antitrust stuff in Missouri: “But it’s not the first time Thiel has handed cash to an AG who went after Google over monopoly concerns. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Nov. 13 that his office was investigating Google to see if the Mountain View tech giant had violated the state’s antitrust and consumer-protection laws. The Missouri attorney general said he had issued an investigative subpoena to Google. He’s looking at the firm’s handling of users’ personal data, along with claims that it misappropriated content from rivals and pushed down competitors’ websites in search results.” http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/15/is-billionaire-vc-peter-thiel-trying-to-break-up-google/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/15/is-billionaire-vc-pete...

dopamean 9y ago

What does this mean?