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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

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're speaking of a company named after the device that Sauron used to control the Middle Earth equivalent of the Internet. A user with sufficient will power could decide what the palantirs would show (and hide) to other users. The "Database Torturer" would inspire more trust.

This is a bad critique for two reasons: 1. Linking the name of a company to people and places that don't exist doesn't demonstrate anything. 2. You don't even know enough to know that the Palantiri were originally created and used by the elves, not Sauron.

> 2. You don't even know enough to know that the Palantiri were originally created and used by the elves, not Sauron.

I take offense to that. I know the Palantiri were originally made by the elves, with good intentions. Sauron just took hold of one and poisoned the network.

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

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bad critique for two reasons: 1. Linking the name of a company to people and places that don't exist doesn't demonstrate anything. 2. You don't even know enough to know that the Palantiri were originally created and used by the elves, not Sauron.

> 2. You don't even know enough to know that the Palantiri were originally created and used by the elves, not Sauron. I take offense to that. I know the Palantiri were originally made by the elves, with good intentions. Sauron just took hold of one and poisoned the network.

Sorry to have assumed ignorance on your part, but you see then, it's totally possible that the company name refers to their original positive nature.

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

#273
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't like the game, you should probably vote for politicians that change the rules. There isn't a real bound on wealth within the system we're in, until that changes this is reality and expecting people who play it to be inherently moral is naive. Note that Im not stating a judgement either way, just pointing out how the system currently works.

as pointed out in the parent comment that started this chain, politicians are captured by the same assholes who benefit from the system, as structured. if you change the politicians, they either buy or destroy their replacements. so if the system must change, what is to be done?

On a practical level, this may or may not be true depending on the politician.

I haven't seen an actual push for "taxing the super rich" go through. Sanders ran on that and lost. Reality at the moment is that at the moment if what you said is true it wouldn't matter because Americans don't care.

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

#274
post #263
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL, i would pay money to watch this in real time. another suggestive Thiel anecdote: after PayPal IPO'd the team threw a party to celebrate and he was said to have run a 10 game simultaneous (Thiel would play ten different games, moving through each board one move at a time, down the line) and was only beat by one person (David Sacks). after losing, he flipped the board and apparently responded to being called a sor…

Lots of good losers who are winners. How about Tom Brady? Did he act like he made up that old quote, attributed to Vince Lombardy for decades? https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/vince_lombardi_161268

I believe there are good losers who are winners, but Brady is not a good loser.

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

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jeez. I hate to burst your bubble, but Peter is more talented and intelligent than most of the readers/writers on this website. It's easy to make your claim when your perception of the guy is based solely on news articles and hit pieces. I don't agree with him on everything, but there is no denying that he's gotten where he is through maneuvering and foresight.

Also he is a ~2200 ELO-rated chess player. That alone would make the baseline IQ and ability to think through logic, analytical thinking, calculation skills and stratetic planning beyond most HN users, even though in a small domain of Chess; I'd wager more broadly. https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2022389 Personally, I find his thinking savagely brutally straight to the point and cuts through cultural rust we've buil…

Got any links to reading on this? You piqued my interest.

> Personally, I find his thinking savagely brutally straight to the point and cuts through cultural rust we've built up in our thinking process.

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

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thiel isn't that talented or smart, but he did get hella lucky, and that's a sore point for him. so he's used his paypal riches on an extended PR campaign to make everyone believe he's something more than he is. literally every quote and quip i've heard from him is recycled directly from elsewhere, rather than being even a semi-original notion, but he passes it off as wisdom from on high. he wants more than just resp…

His Sea steading ideas are actually pretty idiotic in my book. Proof: Everybody who tried it just to find out how extremely expensive it is to maintain structures in the middle of an ocean. But it's not only that. They also find out in a very painful way that the high seas are just about the most regulated entity apart from aviation and possibly medicine.[0] It seems that very smart people are totally able to maintai…

While I see your point, a lot of invention happened when someone ignored conventional wisdom and others’ failures.
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