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I get it. It's mockery but I think I can extract the ideas here from it. tl;dr Peter Thiel believes that we will be presented with a large number of potential
by renewiltord 1y ago
I get it. It's mockery but I think I can extract the ideas here from it.
tl;dr Peter Thiel believes that we will be presented with a large number of potential world-enders: climate change, AI, something else. We will be told that a united force under some person or small group will be able to forestall this end of the world. However, this is a power grab technique and in truth this consolidation of power itself will be the apocalypse.
Okay, so everyone who argues for collective action will be an agent of the antichrist. I mean, I get it. Basic collective action is about creating the safe free society we all rely on. Past a point it turns extractive, with the majority Omelasing the gifted few in order to preserve the status quo. That's the thing he's scared of.
Cool. To be honest, one of the things I really appreciate the Joe Rogan Experience podcast for this: you get the guest's best shot at telling you what he's about. Not someone else's mockery of it. Just the thing the guest himself thinks is the best form of what he's about rather than some game of telephone.
Looks like there's a Thiel episode. Let's hope it's good because I'm going to have to find a good drive to listen to it on.
- Jtsummers 1y ago> you get the guest's best shot at telling you what he's about. Not someone else's mockery of it. If you want to his own words, you can read his recent essay on the topic: https://firstthings.com/voyages-to-the-end-of-the-world/ https://firstthings.com/voyages-to-the-end-of-the-world/
- renewiltord 1y agoOkay that's quite helpful. I'll read it tonight. Thank you.
- frm88 1y agoIf you want to read the specific lecture the linked article refers to: the Guardian published an annotated transript: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/peter-thiel-lectures-antichrist https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/peter-thiel-...
- renewiltord 1y agoAh appreciate the link. It appears to be mostly commentary and paraphrasing so I'll skip it. I get the John Oliver esque appeal of the Guardian's mocking style but it's not what I'm looking for on this occasion.
- renewiltord 1y agoI managed Part I but if I'm being honest it feels like conspiracy theory slop. The guy is ridiculously successful, so the closest I can imagine is that I'm reading intermediate layers in his neural network and so they make no sense but somehow influence his worldview to make him make effective decisions. It's this complete reinvention of things.
- cholantesh 1y agoThiel is part of a class of people who are materially insulated from financial failure to the point of absurdity, so there isn't anything particularly ridiculous about his 'success'. It's hard to say whether he genuinely believes this horseshit, but it's certainly in his interest to convince others to.
- jamesblonde 1y agoI see it more like a flagrant attack on collective action. If you are part of the billionaire class, this is very attractive, because your biggest threat are the pitchforks. The powerful will like this message.
- AnimalMuppet 1y agoWill be presented? We currently have a large number of people shouting that climate change is a world ender, that AI will become one, and that the next pandemic likely will be one. Which makes it easy for the wanna-be world dominators. They don't have to manufacture the belief in the crisis; that's already here. They just have to exploit it. (Or maybe they did have to manufacture belief in the crisis, but we're past that point now...)
- jjj123 1y agoIs it also possible he’s scared of any collective action because collective action chips away at his power as a billionaire?