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I agree, I think it's not a deep insight, but Thiel notes (in his 'zero to one' speech he gave) that Google actively pretends not to be a search advertising mon

I agree, I think it's not a deep insight, but Thiel notes (in his 'zero to one' speech he gave) that Google actively pretends not to be a search advertising monopoly, and instead pretends to be a competitive technology company, in a wide range of technology fields, to "hide" their monopoly. Thiel is openly advocating monopolies, and says competition is for losers. I think he's just calling GOOG out for their marketing, and noting their market strategy to deflect attention away from their monopoly. I, for one, have never heard anyone publicly mention this besides Thiel. Have you?

alephnerd 2y ago
I'm not sure I buy Thiel's argument becuase plenty of their non-search businesses such as Google Cloud, GSuite, Waymo, and Verily have become pretty successful in their own right, and vertical integration is another form of monopoly that tends to cracked down on.
- Over2Chars 2y ago
  Check out the big blue box. I think Thiel's point is spot on: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093781/distribution-of-googles-revenues-by-segment/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093781/distribution-of-...
- whatshisface 2y ago
  If I had a monopoly on sugar and traded in silver and healthcare, I would still have a monopoly on sugar.
  - tsunamifury 2y ago
    Yea but diversification is a critical business strategy not just a marketing ploy
    - brookst 2y ago
      Yeah there are far cheaper ways to “distract” from a monopoly than building Waymo from scratch. Alleging that whole project exists only as a smokescreen is pretty conspiratorial thinking.
      - tsunamifury 2y ago
        I have had drinks with Peter Thiel. If you force him to answer more than one question about his theories it totally falls apart. Mostly the logic actually goes like this: oh if it doesn’t work I have the money to survive it and you don’t so I still win and claim I was right. I wish more people understood this.
        alephnerd 2y ago
        +1 on this. Ime he's a walking personification of "jack of all trades, master of none". That's the perfect trait for a VC (broad knowledge is critical to identify market trends), but it has its flaws such as extreme simplification of complex topics. That said, you can rightfully argue that this is why you are investing in egghead founders - so they can deal with solving those problems and logic gaps.
        crashabr 2y ago
        In the essay, _"The Silicon Valley Canon: On the Paideía of the American Tech Elite essays"_ the author writes > If the Washington intellectual aims for authority and expertise, the Silicon Valley intellectual seeks novel or counter-intuitive insights. He claims to judge ideas on their utility; in practice I find he cares mostly for how interesting an idea first seems. He likes concepts that force him to puzzle and ponder. > This is fertile soil for the dabbler, the heretic, and the philosopher from first principles.
        Over2Chars 2y ago
        His lack of depth is obvious even from his speeches. He jumps from topic to topic and doesn't develop his ideas or show much internal organization. He has a pithy insight and then bounces to the next topic. That said, if a 60 minute talk can provide even one useful insight that's useful, I'd say it's a win. And I think his "zero to one" talk had at least two or three. Honestly, I concluded GOOG was an advertising company pretending to be a "tech" company some time ago, but if I say it I'm a "troll", if Thiel says it, well it might be true, right?
- wbl 2y ago
  Vertical integration is very proconsumer as it reduces successive markups.
  - BobaFloutist 2y ago
    Until they drive competitors out of business, and then it's not. Much like the horizontal integration of, say, Walmart.
    - wbl 2y ago
      When the prices are low it's predatory, the same it's collusion and higher it's exploiting the monopoly.
WeylandYutani 2y ago
I never had the illusion that Google makes their money from Pixel phones... It was always advertising.
- Over2Chars 2y ago
  You are keenly insightful in this age of the willingly blind. Their technology products are free/low cost ways to get you to voluntarily opt in to their surveillance advertising model.

alephnerd 2y ago

I'm not sure I buy Thiel's argument becuase plenty of their non-search businesses such as Google Cloud, GSuite, Waymo, and Verily have become pretty successful in their own right, and vertical integration is another form of monopoly that tends to cracked down on.

Over2Chars 2y ago
Check out the big blue box. I think Thiel's point is spot on: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093781/distribution-of-googles-revenues-by-segment/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093781/distribution-of-...
whatshisface 2y ago
If I had a monopoly on sugar and traded in silver and healthcare, I would still have a monopoly on sugar.
- tsunamifury 2y ago
  Yea but diversification is a critical business strategy not just a marketing ploy
  - brookst 2y ago
    Yeah there are far cheaper ways to “distract” from a monopoly than building Waymo from scratch. Alleging that whole project exists only as a smokescreen is pretty conspiratorial thinking.
    - tsunamifury 2y ago
      I have had drinks with Peter Thiel. If you force him to answer more than one question about his theories it totally falls apart. Mostly the logic actually goes like this: oh if it doesn’t work I have the money to survive it and you don’t so I still win and claim I was right. I wish more people understood this.
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        +1 on this. Ime he's a walking personification of "jack of all trades, master of none". That's the perfect trait for a VC (broad knowledge is critical to identify market trends), but it has its flaws such as extreme simplification of complex topics. That said, you can rightfully argue that this is why you are investing in egghead founders - so they can deal with solving those problems and logic gaps.
      - crashabr 2y ago
        In the essay, _"The Silicon Valley Canon: On the Paideía of the American Tech Elite essays"_ the author writes > If the Washington intellectual aims for authority and expertise, the Silicon Valley intellectual seeks novel or counter-intuitive insights. He claims to judge ideas on their utility; in practice I find he cares mostly for how interesting an idea first seems. He likes concepts that force him to puzzle and ponder. > This is fertile soil for the dabbler, the heretic, and the philosopher from first principles.
      - Over2Chars 2y ago
        His lack of depth is obvious even from his speeches. He jumps from topic to topic and doesn't develop his ideas or show much internal organization. He has a pithy insight and then bounces to the next topic. That said, if a 60 minute talk can provide even one useful insight that's useful, I'd say it's a win. And I think his "zero to one" talk had at least two or three. Honestly, I concluded GOOG was an advertising company pretending to be a "tech" company some time ago, but if I say it I'm a "troll", if Thiel says it, well it might be true, right?
wbl 2y ago
Vertical integration is very proconsumer as it reduces successive markups.
- BobaFloutist 2y ago
  Until they drive competitors out of business, and then it's not. Much like the horizontal integration of, say, Walmart.
  - wbl 2y ago
    When the prices are low it's predatory, the same it's collusion and higher it's exploiting the monopoly.

WeylandYutani 2y ago

I never had the illusion that Google makes their money from Pixel phones... It was always advertising.

Over2Chars 2y ago
You are keenly insightful in this age of the willingly blind. Their technology products are free/low cost ways to get you to voluntarily opt in to their surveillance advertising model.