261–270 of 281 posts
Would that the mainstream press had treated the Gawker episode as the five-alarm free speech fire that it was.
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I think the author assumes a basic familiarity with the subject. FYI Thiel is chairman and co-founder of Palantir.
Okay :) I actually do have a pretty deep familiarity with all of this and that's why I'm criticizing the article. It felt like a rehash of known facts (Thiel is a christian fascist, his company Palantir does innovatively horrible stuff), rather than drawing new connections between those known facts. At a fine-grain I want to know how his ideology underpins the business decisions of his company, I don't need someone t…
> Thiel transforms US imperial power and unrestrained technological expansion ... into the final rampart against what he imagines as a catastrophic global homogenization. Thiel warns about Antichrist, while doing the very thing that's enabling his coming. Unrestrained technological expansion is exactly what's erasing the human spirit and replacing it with a machine culture.
Supposedly Thiel's earlier writings warn about an Antichrist that sounds very similar to the Thiel and Musk of 2025. OTOH Thiel's current writing claims the antichrist is Greta Thunberg.
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I was wondering about the origin of this phrase, and it may not be what you think it is. https://slate.com/business/2022/06/wilhoits-law-conservative...
I'm quite aware of the origin, but I appreciate you posting the link for others' edification. For one with less confusion about the speaker: "For my friends everything, for my enemies the law." --Oscar R. Benavides, President of Peru from 1933 to 1939
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> Communism and its associated pairings have killed far more than capitalism ever will. Ever will? The "capitalists" have already killed far more. Did communists wipe out a continent full of native americans? Did communists killed more people than the Nazi germany, the US, british empire, chinese empire, japanese, etc in ww2? Did communists kill more people during both the vietnam wars? > Communism only ever exists w…
Capitalism did not kill the natives, the colonial governments and other European governments did. Communism implies evil/bad/death, but capitalism does not. And even then, the "system" in place at the time was mercantilism, not capitalism. For your last argument, you do not need to be Gordon Ramsay to know when something tastes bad. Once again, growing up under communism implies with 99% certainty that you do not wan…
Then neither did communism. The governments did.
> And even then, the "system" in place at the time was mercantilism, not capitalism.
Sure. Just like the soviet union, china, north korea, etc are not true communists. Idiots on both sides always make the same excuses.
> Once again, growing up under communism implies with 99% certainty that you do not want communism.
If that were the case, a certain percentage of the world wouldn't have had to spent trillions to undermine and overthrow communism.
> It is an implication, not a bi-implication.
Morons on both sides love to throw around logic terms they don't understand to buttress their shitty argument. That and silly statistics. 99% certainty. Good one.
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Learned helplessness is not as harmful as nihilism. Learned helplessness has lead to inaction and ineffectiveness, which has at least allowed for stability. Whereas nihilism has led to lashing out, which is quite destructive.
Learned helplessness is just another term for complicit IMO. I'm reminded of the streaming media people whining about licensing terms rather than taking responsibility for their poor job at negotiating with the studios and other holders of media. if these supposed elected representatives can't take the responsibilities of their jobs and they just want the perks, they need to resign to make room for someone better. No…
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Do you have any legitimate quotes or clips of him saying or writing any of these things? Not you or someone else paraphrasing, but actual, verbatim quotes. Bc as I have said, I've read and watched quite a bit of Thiel and none of this rings true.
https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio... Read it yourself
The claims about “tech CEOs as feudal lords,” plans to dismantle the government, or to “buy up its assets for pennies”—is not supported by any of his public remarks or writing. He's never endorsed corporate feudalism, asset seizure, or authoritarian rule.
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> Communism and its associated pairings have killed far more than capitalism ever will. Ever will? The "capitalists" have already killed far more. Did communists wipe out a continent full of native americans? Did communists killed more people than the Nazi germany, the US, british empire, chinese empire, japanese, etc in ww2? Did communists kill more people during both the vietnam wars? > Communism only ever exists w…
Capitalism did not kill the natives, the colonial governments and other European governments did. Communism implies evil/bad/death, but capitalism does not. And even then, the "system" in place at the time was mercantilism, not capitalism. For your last argument, you do not need to be Gordon Ramsay to know when something tastes bad. Once again, growing up under communism implies with 99% certainty that you do not wan…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio... Read it yourself
The claims made in this thread have elements of truth, but I can't help but conclude that they're made in bad faith. Thiel has said he doubts democracy’s compatibility with freedom. But , his response is relatively non-political: escape, via internet communities, seasteading, and tech ventures. His view on democracy is that it inevitably leads to over-regulation, ever expanding welfare (requiring ever expanding defic…
He's said there are "Satanic" components to AI.
"fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world safe for capitalism."
"Monopolies are good"
He's said the country should be lead by a monarch or "monarch-like figure".
The guy is a fucking nut.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio... Read it yourself
The claims made in this thread have elements of truth, but I can't help but conclude that they're made in bad faith. Thiel has said he doubts democracy’s compatibility with freedom. But , his response is relatively non-political: escape, via internet communities, seasteading, and tech ventures. His view on democracy is that it inevitably leads to over-regulation, ever expanding welfare (requiring ever expanding defic…