4 ms·
It's hard not to acree with Thiel here. We only need to look at Elon Musk to realize that there are still plenty of opportunity for moonshot investments. What
by pyb 7y ago
It's hard not to acree with Thiel here. We only need to look at Elon Musk to realize that there are still plenty of opportunity for moonshot investments.
What does Elon know that Google as a whole doesn't?
- adventured 7y ago> What does Elon know that Google as a whole doesn't? It's not what he knows per se, it's what he does, it's the source of his motivation for being and doing. It's that invention and innovation is most often driven by individuals - whether acting together or in solitary - in pursuit of something that matters to them. You saw this throughout the industrial revolution. You saw it at Bell Labs and Xerox PARC. You saw it with regards to the individuals that pushed the Internet and tech universe forward, from Ted Hoff to Dennis Ritchie to Tim Berners Lee. It wasn't a giant corporation and team of 100 people that created Doom and Quake. It was a tiny team of highly motivated people doing something that mattered to them. That same conceptual story frequently occurs throughout modern history. Elon Musk desperately wanted (wants) to build Tesla and SpaceX. Steve Jobs cared about Apple as though he were maniacal about it, like it was his true love. Who at the very top of Alphabet/Google cares about anything they do there that much? I haven't seen any evidence that there is anyone at the top of their organization that fits that.
- georgewsinger 7y agoWeird that this is downvoted.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tim333 7y agoI think maybe the downvoters feel the Google guys do care. Though it seems more >We are excited about… Getting more ambitious things done. Taking the long-term view. Empowering great entrepreneurs and companies to flourish. that they are into empowering the organisation rather than being into particular bits of tech like iPhones or rockets.
- ehsankia 7y agoMaybe not Google, but Alphabet has a lot of far looking investments. I would argue even more varied and extreme than Elon Musk. They have Waymo for self driving, Verily for health and biotech, remote connectivity with Loon, and many more. And let's not forget of X itself which is even more experimental and out there. They also invest heavily in all sorts of research, such as multiple fusion projects, and competitions such as their 1m$ moon prize. Even within Google itself, Deepmind is doing all sorts of great research. They have Duplex, Stadia, Soli, etc. If anything, I think the issue is that they have too many things going on.
- asdf21 7y agoNot much, considering that Alphabet is a part owner of StarLink... In fact, the easiest way to invest in StarLink is to buy Alphabet stock.