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Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

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Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#92
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post #14

This podcast "The Peter Thiel Paradox" [1] explained a lot about the mystery of Peter Thiel to me. Turns out that there is less than meets the eye but he does have a specific talent for manipulating the political systems and government coffers to enrich himself, much like Richard Branson, or so the British podcast claims. [1] https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-p... One nitpick; Theil said "We…

Why do people with this much wealth want even more wealth for themselves? I've never understood this.

People with this much wealth start competing to up their position in the world's richest ranking. And, when you're #1 in the ranking you work hard to keep that ranking .. and so on and on ..

Me, I would just retire if I had a fraction of that, or so I think since I'm nowhere there ..

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#93
post #20

Whatever happened to facebook in the span of 1 month that is so different than what was happening the past ~10 years? devaluation in multiple dimensions

Their pivot to Meta deeply reinforced the writing on the wall. And then their first ever report of a declining user count was the coup de grace. Come to think of it I need to verify that the user count did decline. I only heard that anecdotally.

I think it's entirely possible and really not even that hard to "fix" Facebook. Zuckerberg seems more intent on pivoting to nonsense like Portal and Metaverse with no actual foundations. It's Zuck getting bored and letting his ego ruin a cash cow that can easily be a force for good in the world if they just tried. I think the only way this ends is with Zuck losing his job as CEO. He tripped up the stairs for 15 years and now thinks he is a visionary.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#94
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like Elon Musk, he wasn't born in the US and is therefore ineligible. (edit: "natural-born citizen" is not as well-defined as I thought, and Ted Cruz qualifies on account of having a US citizen parent at the time of his birth. But it's clear that Thiel doesn't.)

That requirement seems pretty bizarre to myself as a non-US person. Haven't heard of being natural born as a requirement for president before, but seems like another aspect that the US shares with a small list of other countries. It seems pretty on-brand to be honest though, I wonder why that rule exists and what benefit it provides. The first couple presidents couldn't have met it, so I wonder when it was introduced…

It's interesting because the US also has unconditional jus soli citizenship (if you are born on American soil, no matter what your circumstances, you are granted citizenship). Nearly all major countries in the Americas have jus soli citizenship, but very few countries outside the Americas do.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#95

Thiel recently hired former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who resigned from that position after a bunch of corruption scandals came to light. That should make it quite clear what direction he wants to take.

He wants to become chancellor of Austria? Or just parlay that relationship into another citizenship for his collection?

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#96
post #30
post #14

This podcast "The Peter Thiel Paradox" [1] explained a lot about the mystery of Peter Thiel to me. Turns out that there is less than meets the eye but he does have a specific talent for manipulating the political systems and government coffers to enrich himself, much like Richard Branson, or so the British podcast claims. [1] https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-p... One nitpick; Theil said "We…

Why do people with this much wealth want even more wealth for themselves? I've never understood this.

"number go up", they are obsessed with a high score and having more than others playing the same game.

It would be sad if it were just that, but the fallout effects so many.

I like the idea someone had that beyond a certain point you get a big party to say you won capitalism then the rest of the money you earn goes back into society.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#97
post #89
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is being the 50th best basketball player on the planet good enough? Why do athletes continue to dedicate their lives in the hopes of being #1? Once your basic needs are met and you have a comfortable standard of living, everything else is a game, and people like to win. Why does anyone need a fancy car? Why does anyone need to compete with their neighbors and coworkers? Why does a billionaire need a superyacht when a…

> people like to win True, but there are a host of other things that people like. The idea that "winning" is the ultimate goal in life is more socially induced than immanent. If as a society we decide to foster different attitudes and goals we will obtain different outcomes and different kinds of people (to a certain extent, of course).

> The idea that "winning" is the ultimate goal in life is more socially induced than immanent.

That idea will be a lot more prevalent among people who end up being the winners than among those who don’t, at every scale. Effort doesn’t get everything but it gets a lot.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#98
post #35

How soon do people think we will see his candidacy for President? 2028 is my guess.

Like Elon Musk, he wasn't born in the US and is therefore ineligible. (edit: "natural-born citizen" is not as well-defined as I thought, and Ted Cruz qualifies on account of having a US citizen parent at the time of his birth. But it's clear that Thiel doesn't.)

No post body was provided.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#99
post #88
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That requirement seems pretty bizarre to myself as a non-US person. Haven't heard of being natural born as a requirement for president before, but seems like another aspect that the US shares with a small list of other countries. It seems pretty on-brand to be honest though, I wonder why that rule exists and what benefit it provides. The first couple presidents couldn't have met it, so I wonder when it was introduced…

This rule was enacted to prevent Alexander Hamilton from becoming president. He also wasn't born in the US. The term "naturalized" wasn't yet well defined. The first American born president (born after the revolution) was Van Buren, the first 7 were born British citizens!

This is a common belief, but it is false. The eligibility provision has an oft-forgotten second clause:

> No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;

Hamilton was a citizen at the time of the Constitution’s adoption and was therefore eligible to run for president should he have been so inclined.

Re: Peter Thiel to step down from Meta’s board

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their pivot to Meta deeply reinforced the writing on the wall. And then their first ever report of a declining user count was the coup de grace. Come to think of it I need to verify that the user count did decline. I only heard that anecdotally.

- DAUs decreased -0.05% from 1,930m in Q3 22 to 1,929m in Q4 22. ("sequentially") - DAUs increased +4.5% from 1,845m in Q4 21 to 1,929m in Q4 22. ("year over year") - See pp18: https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2021/q4... DAUs are those using FB app only. Metric for those using all apps (Insta, Whatsapp, etc) increased. Btw - there are ~4.66B internet users - and FB has 77% of those log into one of…

> FB has 77% of those log into one of their apps a month

I would suspect some of those are bots or sockpuppet accounts.

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