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Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

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Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#111

Post by jackmott42 »

camillomiller wrote: post #46
mattkevan wrote: post #34

Behind the Bastards did a good two-parter on Thiel's lectures. He sounds dangerously insane. It'd be bad enough if he was just some random crank, but the fact he's got the level of power and influence needed to actually make his beliefs happen makes it exponentially worse. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtR7ny9TuCY Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXhyx-vVG_Y

Genuine questions: what can be done in a democratic setting to stop him? Who should take into their hands the job to stop him, and to what lengths should they push themselves?

We are not in a democratic setting in America any more, the people in power are willing to start wars to protect pedophiles, they are willing to hire Nazi thugs to shoot your wives in the face. They are willing to bribe supreme court justices and dismantle democracy, and they will if not stopped by force.

Thiel has been obviously and evil sack of shit for decades but more than half of HN viewers revere him. I fear we have no hope, and the good people asking how we can democratically solve this problem makes me feel even more hopeless. Yall don't get it.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#112

Post by Gravityloss »

fabian2k wrote: post #44

It is disconcerting to see that quite a few of the well-known billionaires seem to have just outright insane beliefs. And those are people with real power and the ability to influence events on a larger scale.

How does it work with dictators? I suggest it's a spectrum: the more powerful you are, the more you can surround yourself with yes-men. Of course there are a lot of different people, there's probably very grounded dictators and billionaires too, you probably don't hear much about them.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#113

Post by wl »

gambiting wrote: post #36
seanalltogether wrote: post #25

I grew up in a pretty religious household and my parents fully believed that Armageddon would happen in our lifetime. It wasn't until I was older that I realized there were a lot of American Christians that secretly held this belief, and that it has a meaningful influence on how voters want American politicians to deal with Israel and the Middle East in general.

I grew up in a religious household as a Roman Catholic, in an extremely religious country(Poland) and I've never heard anyone talk about apocalypse as something that might happen soon or well...ever. From my point of view, the "christianity" that American Evangelicals practice is almost unrecognizable as having the same base with the religion I grew up with. Like the core tennets of Jesus have been twisted and warped…

Blame William Miller for American Evangelicalism's preoccupation with the end times.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#114

Post by JKCalhoun »

mattkevan wrote: post #64
camillomiller wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine questions: what can be done in a democratic setting to stop him? Who should take into their hands the job to stop him, and to what lengths should they push themselves?

Not agreeing as a society that money == speech would be a good start.

I like that.

I also like a two-pronged approach which includes taxing the billionaires out of existence. I haven't heard any significant downside to doing that. All the more so when weighed against the possible upsides.

I think what frustrates me above all else is that we, as a society, as a people, could have it so much better.

We could all be living in such a better world but for the allowances we make for the most sociopathic and greedy among us.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#115

Post by rich_sasha »

itsthecourier wrote: post #76
graemep wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the religion in the religious household. Its common among American evangelicals, but (unless American Catholics are very different from Catholics in the rest of the world) its not a common belief among Catholics, and its rarely discussed by them. Why is Thiel, whose parents were American evangelical and whose own beliefs are described as "heterodox", trying to sell this in Catholic packaging outside the…

there was a Catholic reason for this, the Fatima Sheppards. there was an "apparition" of Virgin Mary and some "Prophecies" that were really imprinted on all Catholics over 50 years old. pretty much anti-russian propaganda. they silently pedal back from them in the last 25 years. but last time I visited sn important catholic monument internationally, most of the people in the bus knew about them, how they talk about t…

> pretty much anti-russian propaganda

Russia bit of the prophecies:

> [...] If my requests are [not] heeded, Russia [...] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.

I'm not sure it is fair to call it propaganda when it is bang on the money. Even the Holy Father bit checks out, seeing how John Paul II narrowly survived a KGB-sponsored assassination attempt.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#116

Post by rich_sasha »

kubb wrote: post #42
seanalltogether wrote: post #25

I grew up in a pretty religious household and my parents fully believed that Armageddon would happen in our lifetime. It wasn't until I was older that I realized there were a lot of American Christians that secretly held this belief, and that it has a meaningful influence on how voters want American politicians to deal with Israel and the Middle East in general.

Out of curiosity, what grounds their belief that it's going to happen soon? Why not in a thousand years? As far as I know, there is no mention of the exact date in the Bible.

My favourite bit of Biblical trivia. Consider this passage from the Revelation of St John: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%208%... describing, perhaps, events leading to the end of the world:

> The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

"Wormwood", a type of bitter plant, translates to Russian as "Chernobyl", and Ukrainian "Chornobyl": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl > Etymology

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#117

Post by mattkevan »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #114
mattkevan wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not agreeing as a society that money == speech would be a good start.

I like that. I also like a two-pronged approach which includes taxing the billionaires out of existence. I haven't heard any significant downside to doing that. All the more so when weighed against the possible upsides. I think what frustrates me above all else is that we, as a society, as a people, could have it so much better. We could all be living in such a better world but for the allowances we make for the most…

I sometimes think there should be a completion state to capitalism.

When you reach an arbitrary score, like $100 million, you get presented with a cup that says ‘congratulations, you won capitalism’ and are given the choice of either playing again from the start but this time on hard mode (no emerald mine or parents that are friends with the IBM chairman this time), or keeping your winnings on the condition that you and your family fuck off somewhere and are never seen or heard of again.

Seriously though, that billionaires can exist, that so much power and wealth can be concentrated in the hands of so few while so many have nothing is utterly repugnant.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#118

Post by yuppiepuppie »

anaksjz wrote: post #109
yuppiepuppie wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask yourself - where does his wealth (power) come from and how do you stop that? In his case - I assume most of it is from Palantir these days. Therefore stop your governments from contracting with them.

[flagged]

> Voting, debate, democracy are for people that are on the same team.

Im sorry, but I dont agree with this one bit. Debate and the spread of ideas that you think are good is really the only thing that is lasting, regardless of which "team" you are on.

I also dont think America(ns) have been on the same team for its entire history. Its not a very recent phenomenon that neocons have pioneered.

> You do not vote your way out of these problems.

Are you suggesting something else?

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#119

Post by rich_sasha »

frereubu wrote: post #37

The thing that really worries me about these kinds of beliefs in some kind of a god or gods is that they can provide a get-out clause for existential risks to humanity. If this physical universe is just one manifestation of existence, then there's less to worry about because there will be some kind of existence afterwards if you screw it up. But in my view the universe is all there is, and it very definitely doesn't…

I'm not sure you can blame this on deities. Nazis and Stalinists (especially the latter) were very atheistic. Both at some level thought they're building a better world, literally by murdering millions of people and enslaving orders of magnitude more.

Re: Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

#120

Post by seanalltogether »

kubb wrote: post #42
seanalltogether wrote: post #25

I grew up in a pretty religious household and my parents fully believed that Armageddon would happen in our lifetime. It wasn't until I was older that I realized there were a lot of American Christians that secretly held this belief, and that it has a meaningful influence on how voters want American politicians to deal with Israel and the Middle East in general.

Out of curiosity, what grounds their belief that it's going to happen soon? Why not in a thousand years? As far as I know, there is no mention of the exact date in the Bible.

I believe it was related to both Israel gaining statehood after WW2, and the panic of nuclear disaster leading up to the end of the Cold War. It feels like a idea that really took root in the minds of evangelical Baby Boomers and early GenXers, but likely has lost all meaning to millenials.
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