41–50 of 52 posts
Better to hear from him directly than filtered, so worth watching the interview with the NYT's Ross Douthat, in which Thiel frames what he means by the Antichrist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV7YgnPUxcU Without spoiling too much, it is related to civilizational stagnation, and that our lack of progress risks catastrophic outcomes.
Well in case of fighting climate change, he is right, Id say?
Behind the Bastards did a few episodes on this: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236... and they were quite entertaining.
The topic is interesting to me so I gave it a go, but by God this podcast (quite popular I hear) is insufferable. Why is everyone trying to be a comedian? Why does one of the guest sound like they’re on Valium? And I cannot stand the air of basic anti-intellectualism I keep getting from American presenters, where any piece of information is met with a groan and a joke. I reckon not every podcast can be as excellent a…
when have we last had a pro-christ?
We need to stop listening to this guy and tax him. He is not smart. Most of his fortune is directly tied to extremely lucky bets on Facebook and PayPal. Palantir is a boring government contractor that makes glorified ERP software. And he has really, really dumb opinions.
True. Personally, I think my first clue was when he gave millions of dollars to people who want to round up LGBTQ folks like himself and load them into boxcars.
Just another "high-agency" bozo who confused getting lucky with being smart.
"We're all trying to find the guy who did this!!" If you're worried about someone coming to your party, perhaps start with not sending them a gold-leafed invitation. I presume all of Thiel's noise about the antichrist is a play at trying to maintain some support for techno-fascism from the religious fundamentalists after they're done satiating themselves with the recent Crusades. The reality is of course that the clo…
I'm an atheist, and I don't believe in the antichrist, but it's hard not to see how closely he fits the bill. Only lies come out when he opens his mouth. Even if he says something true, he basically qualifies it with another untruth, and people lap it up. Even the media, even the cynical media, seem to report the things he says at face value. It boggles the mind sometimes. Last week someone challenged him on his clai…
(Of course they also have a lot of details that are easy to latch onto as mere justifications for doing immoral things. And as moral people move on from traditional religion, then the share of people merely using it as crutch for immorality grows)
The archetype of a leader who engages in abjectly evil behavior while gathering ever more power and followers under a charm spell certainly rings true. But the dynamic is probably more like an individual being particularly adept at releasing the floodgates for our own worst impulses, rather than some supernatural power.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should probably come out of your comphy cave. Centralization of power isn’t a narrative it’s an accelerating reality. I am having a hard time thinking of a mode of power that isn’t far more centralized today than it was just 2, 4, 6, 8, … years ago.
> I am having a hard time thinking of a mode of power that isn’t far more centralized today than it was just 2, 4, 6, 8, … years ago. Electrical power. That used to be almost entirely centralised, but it's increasingly easy to be off-grid. Manufacturing power. I don't know the full dynamics, but there's clearly a lot of cheap good tools easily available, so the term "cottage industry" still makes literal sense. Comms…
The percentage of goods manufactured in the world that come from the set of the top 5 or top 10 or top 100 or top 1000 sources have all increased today relative to before.
I agree on electricity though. Cheap solar panels have made distributed energy possible in a way that was unimaginable even 20 years ago.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should probably come out of your comphy cave. Centralization of power isn’t a narrative it’s an accelerating reality. I am having a hard time thinking of a mode of power that isn’t far more centralized today than it was just 2, 4, 6, 8, … years ago.
> I am having a hard time thinking of a mode of power that isn’t far more centralized today than it was just 2, 4, 6, 8, … years ago. Electrical power. That used to be almost entirely centralised, but it's increasingly easy to be off-grid. Manufacturing power. I don't know the full dynamics, but there's clearly a lot of cheap good tools easily available, so the term "cottage industry" still makes literal sense. Comms…
But the mass of everything keeps centralizing.
So the two are not contradictory. Together they imply an increasing dearth of middle diversity/distribution of choices and players.
Increased choices (the menu) can happen at the same time as decreased diversity of choice (flocking, herding) or capacity (sourcing).
So I don’t think you are wrong, despite centralization still being overwhelming.
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Despite 3D printers, manufacturing in particular has been centralizing in China for decades, and this trend has only increased over the last year as politics and economic instability have hampered manufacturing investment outside China.
Being able to print anything, doesn’t turn around economics and structure that hamper creating major supply chains and new manufacturing centers.
Anymore more than being able to write and publish, and an increase in voices, is turning back the general tide of people en masse viewing/reading and self-exposing themselves to fewer uncoordinated voices.
Economic power is centralizing in fewer mega corporations and in the hands of an increasingly dominant economic minority.
Tech business power in capitalization and sources for the best components is centralizing.
Political parties power is centralizing. Very dramatic changes relative to previous decentralization between different party scales, like local vs. Federal. And far more “personal” centralization like has happened at the top in US parties.
Especially in the US, dramatic power centralization across all three branches of government, over the top of the checks and balances, and intended competing roles, that maintain the US Constitution’s relevance as a constraint on autocracy.
Social media over the last two decades has greatly centralized communication and media. And most of all, popular influence.
That power grows despite the emergence of decentralized alternatives. A reversal in favor of decentralization overall would be welcome.
The creation of huge centralized governmental and corporate caches of deeper and richer surveillance information, is a massive submerged centralization of power.
Device lockdowns on outside ecosystem software continues to increase, relative to the typical consumer.
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Long tails operate at the fringes, and matter to many. But they are not slowing down overall economic, technological, social and political centralization.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am having a hard time thinking of a mode of power that isn’t far more centralized today than it was just 2, 4, 6, 8, … years ago. Electrical power. That used to be almost entirely centralised, but it's increasingly easy to be off-grid. Manufacturing power. I don't know the full dynamics, but there's clearly a lot of cheap good tools easily available, so the term "cottage industry" still makes literal sense. Comms…
3D printing hasn’t taken power away from anybody. The percentage of goods manufactured in the world that come from the set of the top 5 or top 10 or top 100 or top 1000 sources have all increased today relative to before. I agree on electricity though. Cheap solar panels have made distributed energy possible in a way that was unimaginable even 20 years ago.
Relevant to your comment, increases in 3D printing capabilities have not translated into a reversal of manufacturing centralization in China’s favor.
That centralization continues as instability (often defended as an attempt to act against centralization) has perversely disrupted and pulled back manufacturing investment elsewhere.
As an individual, you may be able to do more, or choose from more niches. Even as the vast majority of resources and impact flow to fewer entities by volume.