The Failure of Modern Technology | Peter Thiel 

My favorite part of this speech is the constant dishes clanging

Imagine Peter Thiel is standing there to entertain you while you're eating

Is there a buffet in the back of the room?

Interesting that he brings up the 70s. A couple of things happened during this period. The US went off the gold standard, the economic theories went over to neoclassical theory, companies profits in relation to workers salary started diverging, the world as a whole adopted a ”glass is half empty”-attitude vs the ”half full” it had before this. And is it not a peculiar coincidence that the lack Thiel sees seem to stem from this time period? Ive said for many years that the world took a very bad turn during the 70s that set it up for (possibly)some very dystopian futures..

His nervousness was very human. I always like to see a nervous speaker because that shows that they are not a sociopath. They can still be evil but at least they have emotions. This guy did a great job.

“We wanted flying cars. Instead we got 140 characters and photo sharing apps” -- Peter Thiel,

Love listening to this guy. I don't think he's right all the time, but definitely fun to think about his issues.

Very clever guy. I always enjoy his logical view of things unobscured by ego/emotion.

It's true that all the incentives lead people to develop research and activities that fit in with the current paradigm, whatever it is.

I laughed out loud at the question "How was your contrarian attitude formed?" 😂

He comes off as a commonsense guy, kinda anti-government anti-bureaucratic, but he's got his hands on government contracts and does their bidding from the private sector side of it. Not saying he's nefarious, but full disclosure, open book he is not.

Many people are like the many but once in a while an individual is born who defines the truth. Peter Thiel is one such person

It's always feel like a breath of fresh air when I hear Peter Thiel speak.

Silicon Valley ECHO Chamber When You Think that You Know It All > You Stop Learning

Truly excellent! 👍👍👍😁

Brilliant! A lot to think about and process. I love hearing intelligent and opposing viewpoints. Great presentation

❤. We are all paying the price today .

Nice speech, insightful. To the last question, what was the pivotal turn in the 70s: a critical mass of TV watching made people shallow, stupid, lazy and powerless, except for people who make money making the masses shallow, stupid, lazy and powerless.

Thiel is awesome!!

He quote‘s from “Anna Karenina” and I felt this was someone I could really listen to

Wow, explains my track to secular hell in the 70s. ( I was into uranium and coal property exploration). One question: do you think Nixon converted the currency into fiat currency as recourse to penalize America, especially the left? I've wondered this for years (this plus the 55 mph speed limit and some other things).

Sounds exactly what he said in the first Conversations with Tyler in March 2015

Spot on!

"Corruption in the University system" happens everywhere because nowhere, in the western world, is there an elected entity that governs how Universities work, and what their obligations and rights are. Why is this not debated extensively in "broad daylight"?

How about some change in monopoly business models…his thoughts on that? Shell Companies?

The guy bought himself an Ohio State Senator.

5:22, I can't believe he said that " You do not want to start the 4th Pet Food Company ...", Google wasn't the first search engine, it was the 35th attempt of Search Engine. Facebook wasn't the first social media company, It was somewhere around 14-15th attempt of social media company.

The first question the audience asked is the most critical one in today, since AI will take over all the route tasks, humanities will become the new king of creating value.

I thought he was going to talk about the subversion of technology to diminish the power of ordinary citizens.

His questioning of the so called "hard core physics" is more realistic than most people will think. In youtube you will find Alexander Unzicker and Sabine Hossenfelder questioning modern physics establishment. The lessons are in english, Books in german and english I recommend Alexander Unzickers "Vom Urknall zum Durchknall".

Contrarian to Peters view the world of atoms has advanced at amazing speeds. It’s just that we outsourced much of it to outside the USA. ASML makes machines for TSMC to make the most advanced technologies in human existence based on the designs of NVDA. AI bits only possible from our advanced atoms.

He is such an interesting and intelligent heterodox thinker!

Those lizards never stopped for a second to stuff themselves full to bursting never mind that the boy had something new to say for a change.

A "mince no words" lecture.

Society has changed due to technology progress, but human lives may or may not have been improved because of the unavailability of a method to make rational decisions based on the solution of value.

This speech has got me thinking. Are there any books by Thiel or associates that anyone might recommend me reading?

Technology are mere tools. The malice of the tool users is the failure.

You could argue that legal tender distorts 'price discovery', because it's a state supplied financial instrument * extracting rent equal to the inflation rate from otherwise frictionless barter trade, although given efficacious institutions ** , arguing for it as a welfare mechanism on the grounds that endowments are not the same is feasible. * Financial Instrument (accounting) A legally binding agreement from a meeting of minds, an offer, unconditional acceptance of the offer and consideration, or some property - bundle of rights like you can alienateand control access to it - of the same fair value in return for it, resulting in an asset for some entity and liability or equity for another. ** The rules and conventions guiding behaviour.

there's something kinda sad about paying people to act like you have something interesting to say. Especially now, when people seem to think rich people have something interesting to say just because they're rich.

Grandmother now of 4 under 9 yrs old: with money and have no clue whom to protect. Do you need protection or do they?

Conformity of Thinking: Not asking about the distribution of steel down skyscrapers even when a couple of them collapse straight down. Isn't that weird?!

Zero to One was a good book.

10 years later his ideas seem more obviously true.

The noise can be filtered

Another man with another opininion who desires to be heard. No competition there.

At around the 16-minute mark he gets into what I call the EPCOT Problem. If you went to EPCOT as a kid in the 80s-mid90s it was this amazing place of futurist dreams. The bright techno-future so NEAR at hand! So achievable! Let's do it! But, as time crept into the 20-teens and we had accomplished nothing of the future it promised, EPCOT effectively became the Museum of Man's Unrealized Potential. A mirror of our collective failure. In response, Disney gutted it all during that decade, and what doesn't lie abandoned has been turned into comic book movie thrill rides.

Yeah Pete, “oh I’m all about a being a libertarian, capitalist….ahhh government should be small” next mix “oh I have this business’s called palantir”

Did they put a microphone on every single piece of cutlery in the room? WTF, stop stuffing your face and just listen to the thing.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:41 *🧠 Courage is often scarcer than genius, especially in a society that tends to discourage unconventional thinking.* 01:56 *🎓 Thiel sees political correctness as a significant barrier to independent thought, particularly on college campuses.* 03:30 *🔄 There's no formula for entrepreneurship; it involves unique, singular approaches rather than repeatable processes.* 04:09 *💡 Successful businesses differentiate themselves and aim for monopolistic positions rather than engaging in interchangeable competition.* 07:50 *🐑 Intense competition can distract from meaningful pursuits and transcendental goals, fostering conformity.* 09:41 *🌟 Courage is rarer than genius; societal pressure often discourages unconventional ideas, particularly outside Silicon Valley.* 13:05 *🚀 Thiel views technology as a significant achievement of the West but worries about societal stagnation and regulatory hurdles stifling progress.* 17:21 *⚖️ Thiel critiques regulatory double standards, noting the high cost and risk-aversion hindering innovation in fields like medicine.* 19:13 *💡 Building an atomic bomb is much harder than building a website, highlighting the decline in objective difficulty of technological advancements.* 20:07 *🎓 Universities have contributed to the decline in scientific innovation by prioritizing grant writing skills over eccentric thinking.* 21:44 *🤔 Political correctness and grant-writing processes limit scientific progress by discouraging tough questions and experimentation.* 22:12 *📉 Questioning taboo topics in science, like Darwinism or climate change, often leads to trouble.* 23:07 *🧪 Scientists face repercussions for investigating controversial subjects, stifling academic freedom and innovation.* 24:28 *🏜️ The stagnation of the United States began in the 1970s, marking a pivotal decade in history that requires examination to understand current issues.* 26:04 *💬 Universities face a crisis similar to the Catholic Church's 500 years ago, with a uniform system and lack of diversity in thought.* 27:58 *💰 Pursuing humanities degrees with the aim of academic positions may not be fruitful due to systemic corruption and decline in funding.* 32:06 *💸 Bitcoin's success lies in speculation; integrating it into a payment system is the critical challenge for its widespread adoption.* 34:40 *📚 Assigning a single required book for undergraduates is challenging; a great books tradition may offer a more diverse and enriching reading list.* Made with HARPA AI

The transition from espousing the benefits of monopolistic business practices to bemoaning that the collective vision and expectations of society have moved away from expecting innovation to drive abundance is so jarring and hypocritical it is almost breathtaking. The mind boggles at how these two thoughts could be presented side by side without a hint of self awareness or acknowledgement of the stark contradiction; but there you have it.

Ironically, most of the Silicon Valley aspies are developing technologies that propagate and encourage conformity and herd mentality. I as an old school aspie think it's a coup d'etat against neurotypical population. However, no conspiracy involved. It's our modus operandi 🤣

Please have Peter Thiel to speak again

what is the background noise? audience is eating? a wrong place for that speech.

The real problem with the world is that we are all stupid.

"Peter Thiel" is an anagram for "The Reptile". o/

Who did(n't) you have in mind? Easy breezy.🎉

"It is a poor measure of mental health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly insane society." - Krishnamurti Thiel is profoundly well-adjusted to our society, which is why he is so wealthy. He's also quite insane.

Most of the technologies are not needed, they are made to be wanted.

...but technology *hasn't* failed. Humans have failed. The technology just exists; the failure to control it or to safeguard against the negative impacts of technological advancements is human fault. Maragaret Thatcher pointed this out.

The problem in today's world is PE and large asset management companies. These firms buy up and privatize essential businesses and load them up with debt until they're bankrupt. Essential businesses like housing, food companies, hospitals, nursing homes. They put these companies in so much debt these companies are force to lay people off, keep employees wages stagnant, raise prices on consumers, and slash employee retirement and benefits all while using our own money. But Peter won't tell you that because he benefits from this system. If you're seeing this comment please like to spread the word.

There is something else going on. People in power live much much longer and far fewer die suddenly opening up new breathing space. Look at our current system. If anything we are ruled by the Queen of the Damed, a long living vampire who has turned to stone.

Thiel is One of the most intelligent person !

Ten years later and you have not made any conclusions out of his speech but actually have made it all much worse.

How he can recall exactly where he came across a phrasing for an idea is crazy (16:12)

IN CEST IN BREEDING SHEEPLE FARM

Silverware clanging

Stream of consciousness rant😮 thoughts that start from somewhere but lead nowhere.😊A kind of low key Gish gush. Since when was the Bible one book???😂

Ja Peter, du redest Wasser trinkst aber selbst Wein. Z.B. gibt es die konzeptuale Ausarbeitung von mir für Technologien beruhend auf der Kontrolle von Inertia.

Clang intensifies

Regardless of opinions on PT's politics, businesses or speaking ability, it's clear the guy is incredibly intelligent. Enjoy reading his work and listening to him speak..

Ted Kazinski ?!🎖️

There are a lot of really good talks from US think tanks, but a common and annoying feature is that these are dinner events, and you often hear the annoying sound of cultery on plates in the talks. I think this concept needs to end.

Your buddy said advancement isn't guaranteed. We live in another Copernican Inquisition, which is historically Normal. We *should* have had an Economic System by *now* that didn't throw away a tranche of people every few years. Why is it you guys think you're the Centrum of societal structure ? Obviously the only thing that was promised that got 'saved' in the last 50 years was y'all. Good talk, otherwise.

Can a philosopher partner up with a king?

Don't challenge the status quo, society wants people to agree, not confront the people in position of decision making about their lack of understanding of what they need to make decisions about. Boomers know better is what boomers believe.

It's 2024 and they can't get a directional mic that cuts out the people stuffing their faces in the back of the room???????

Failed? There is plenty on the roads. Tell our wonderful local leaders to say no to automatic license plate readers and everything else coming down the pipe creating a even worse existential prison.

whats up with the dishes? great talk though

Please say “Umm” more

We need an AI to remove all the stammers and fillers so that this can be a 3 minute talk.

Now I understand why Peter Thiel made so many umm umm .. it was torture by watching people enjoying their food

The question "what do you believe is true that nobody agrees with" is good but he's wrong that people don't believe that god does not exist, since most people are not polytheists, tragically. My answer would be, "companies should respect the human right of free speech" since nobody believes that, at least no Americans.

Transformative power of single-pool Energy - "No matter how highly mechanised and self-powered, fossil fuels extraction requires a number of people - as if the process is executed by hands using buckets and ropes - by physics". Today, this number is 8 billion people - working flat out 24/7 - strong. What's called Economics, you and I are among those, too. Living-animated from one single Energy vessel, trading finite fossil fuels by the doctrine of what's called 'supply and demand' - is no Economics, but rather the best of a Communism-disguised-Capitalism system. Karl Marx, Nikola Tesla, Einstein, Huxley, Orwell, Turing - should be forgiven for thinking their systems can last forever. Finite fossil fuels are dangerously hypnotic to humans, their consciousness, reasoning and mental capacity. Humans were not ready morally, ethically and intellectually to start the mass extraction of fossil fuels with the steam engine 300 years ago. The Magna Carta requires now overhauling - adding to it the right for humans to understand what Energy really is - before any other commandment; "In any system of energy, Control is what consumes energy the most. No energy store holds enough energy to extract an amount of energy equal to the total energy it stores. No system of energy can deliver sum useful energy in excess of the total energy put into constructing it. This universal truth applies to all systems. Energy, like time, flows from past to future"(2017).

To summarize his notion : Hello, can i just lie a little bit more ?

Why would you post a 10 year old speech? Without noting that prominently?

Да

Desert = the "productive" working years of the boomers.

Dude is part of the team that created gig economy and he became rich. Now we have a generation of workers who can never get pension. Will they work to death? We have generation of workers who do not have any insurance for their jobs do not give them any of that. We have a generation of workers who must work 365 days a year to make a livelihood. These are things tech people do not figure out in their business models all they think about is just being the dominant player in the field. This is not entrepreneurship but rather crime. There is need of a conversation of "Sustainable entrepreneurship" where progress and innovation is not a column of Forbes list but rather progress and development in people's lives, society and a nation in general. It is not about making money from people with jobs that are pensionable but creating more jobs that are pensionable and have insurances and people can have a work and life balance.

There are people who talk and what they express seems to be coherent and informed thoughts. But sometimes, that's just appearance. Here ignorance, lack of critical thinking, prejudices, fear, helplessness, lack of introspection, etc. come together. And the result is sounds in the air. Just sounds in the air.

Shit kinda slaps

Indians are there

Russia is defeating America on all levels, it is what America was in 1960.

Politically correct and politically incorrect are both meaningless terms. Was the genocide of indigenous people politically correct, or, was the genocide of indigenous people politically incorrect?

contrarianism is cool

Peter Theil is the definition of overthinking the problem.

Monopolies have no incentive to improve their products and all the more to keep the status quo. They can rig the game because they're the only show in town. Also they just make life boring frankly.

A man who knows nothing about IT and tons about ripping me off is advising me about IT. Pass.

Thiel is brilliant, but a poor speaker. If he took speech lessons, he could have a huge impact.

"to be a 'contrarian' by yourself" ... [Not funny , thoughts Harley Q.? , Mahatma G.?]

Peter Thiel: maybe these things they teach you are not sacred, and not quite correct Also Peter Thiel: read the bible!