More or less his brain dead argument is that there is technological stagnation for the past 50 years and his solution is techno-totalitarianism, and he's ok with it because there will always be some freedom left in the human spirit. Doesn't see that stagnation comes from the infinite money spigot that completely decimates the free market of ideas. Both Theil and the interviewer look to Silicon Valley as the beacon of technological progress not noticing that it is Big Tech with their infinite money supply (they borrow at 0%) is the biggest road block to all technological innovation. What you have is unending optimization of the same tired technologies and anything possibly new gets bought up and extinguished.
Discussion
Wow, honestly, idk why but I never thought about tech companies being a blocker to innovation. That’s a great point.
Yeah, they are because of patent and copyright laws.
And the amount of money that gets artificially directed to them.
Yes but there’s also another element. Because big tech companies are all public (or aiming to be) their stock ends up being their “product”. Which forces them to focus on delivering efficiency in shitty business models rather than innovating new products.
This is also how enshitification happens.
Oh yeah that too. More high time preference optimization for the completely wrong things.
No matter how smart both of them think they are, egotistical arrogance is their downfall. Thiel falls back on cherry picked Bible verses to create fear, do it my way or the boogeyman Antichrist is gonna get you. A false perception. I suggest you read the whole ministry Apostle Paul gave to the Thessalonians - and see if you come up with the same result. This gives perspective.
Thiel's comment about Elon Musk's outlook on the future is disturbing. A brighter note - Musk is not into stagnation.
Both are fighting for control of the masses. That is the real issue.