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Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

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31–40 of 185 posts

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#31
I think Thiel is worth listening to, but sometimes his contrarianism flips into derangement:

> [Peter Robinson: In 2016, how many professors at the top five law schools endorsed Donald Trump?] [2] Zero. And the law school example's interesting because you would think it's one where if you took the, a lot of academic fields are more internal to academia, but law is one that cashes out in a governmental political context, and taking a contrarian position in theory is quite valuable. If you're a tenured law professor at Harvard, and you're the only law professor at a top law school to endorse Trump, I don't know, I think there would be like a 50% chance you would've gotten nominated to the Supreme Court or something like that. So it seems like it's the sort of thing where the contrarian thing would be quite valuable, and then if nobody takes that bet, I mean, wow, there must be some unbelievable enforcement mechanisms, and it's sort of like a gentle version of North Korea.

What's more likely: Harvard law professors don't endorse Trump because he's unfit to lead a parade, or they are subject to (gentle) totalitarian barbarism?

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#33

Why should I think this man has special insight into the state of the world? He is quite rich, that is true. But if anything, by definition that means he is deeply out of touch with the needs, desires, and problems of the vast majority of the people on this planet.

To play devil's advocate: for capitalists to remain capitalists, they must successfully allocate capital, which requires a knowledge of the "needs, desired, and problems" of the consumer class. And the stock market is a mechanism for transferring capital from inefficient allocators to efficient ones.

That's the theory, anyway. In practice many capitalists accumulate capital in ways that are unfair and uncompetitive.

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#34

> Google also has $50 billion in cash. It has no idea how to invest that money in technology effectively ... if we're living in an accelerating technological world, and you have zero percent interest rates, you should be able to invest all of your money in things that will return it many times over. The fact is you're out of ideas. Idea possibly bad: Free market progress is a force in balance with consolidation of po…

Can you recommend further reading?

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#35

I think Thiel is worth listening to, but sometimes his contrarianism flips into derangement: > [Peter Robinson: In 2016, how many professors at the top five law schools endorsed Donald Trump?] [2] Zero. And the law school example's interesting because you would think it's one where if you took the, a lot of academic fields are more internal to academia, but law is one that cashes out in a governmental political conte…

Yeah, came here to say this too. There are much more convincing ways of making this point.

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#36
post #25

The future is coming. In China. Energy: - Million-volt DC power transmission over thousands of kilometers is routine. - Solar panels get cheaper every year. - 46 nuclear reactors in operation, 11 under construction. Transportation: - 35,000km of high speed rail. - Several major cities, including Shenzhen (16 million people), use all electric taxis and buses now. - 600km/hr maglev train in test. Medicine: - First coro…

'mildly oppressive', while literally millions of Uyghurs are being led into nazi style concentration camp trains and hong kong is not free anymore.

Or a few decades ago, they captured mothers, 'tied them up like pigs' and physically forced abortions and sterilizations on them.

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#38

> Google also has $50 billion in cash. It has no idea how to invest that money in technology effectively ... if we're living in an accelerating technological world, and you have zero percent interest rates, you should be able to invest all of your money in things that will return it many times over. The fact is you're out of ideas. Idea possibly bad: Free market progress is a force in balance with consolidation of po…

Can you recommend further reading?

[deleted]

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#39
Thiel is an enabler of fascism; I don't really understand why his opinion matters or why he isn't shunned in civilized society.

Well, I do understand, it is because the tech world has very little sense of social responsibility, especially when money is concerned, and Thiel has money to throw around.

Re: Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation

#40
post #25

The future is coming. In China. Energy: - Million-volt DC power transmission over thousands of kilometers is routine. - Solar panels get cheaper every year. - 46 nuclear reactors in operation, 11 under construction. Transportation: - 35,000km of high speed rail. - Several major cities, including Shenzhen (16 million people), use all electric taxis and buses now. - 600km/hr maglev train in test. Medicine: - First coro…

"mildly oppressive" - are you kidding?
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