I get it, the author was very irritated that Thiel spoke for trump, so he wrote a really bad article full of personal attacks, misinformation, belittling comparisons etc. Why did the NYtimes publish this garbage ?
I think the narrative in the article may be a bit of a stretch (Thiel is not against creating restaurants because he thinks they are worthless, he just says they aren't profitable), but I think the conclusion is pretty much correct: the question that Thiel's arguments raise revolve around the question of "What Matters?"<p>Personally when I listen to talks by Thiel or Musk I almost wonder, do I really need to drop everything and go build rockets? But to be honest, I find working on digital products pretty fulfilling. I think it's a real craft. The deeper question of fulfilment then goes to what you're building with that craft (I've found marketing campaigns are less fulfilling than user-facing products, for example), and then the even-deeper question goes to what you want to do with your life, and then there's the yet-deeper question of how you want to interact with, and have your life experienced by, other people. At that point the question of whether you're going from Zero-to-One (what Thiel calls technology) or One-to-Many (what he calls globalization) starts to recede in importance when making personal choices.
Trying to quote Nietzsche in German is not an advisable strategy if you don't know German, dear hacks everywhere ("das Mann" does not exist).
This very non-charitable reading of Zero to One makes it a hit piece. The reasoning is plausible and it's well written. But anyone that's in tech, has followed Peter and read the book knows it was never meant as a general philosophy/political book. Though admittedly it has gotten so popular that a lot of people read it as such so perhaps there was no ill intention in the interpretation (tho the bathroom comment got interpreted rather maliciously).<p>Personally I think Peter talking at the RNC and [hopefully for me] exerting some kind of influence on Trump is the best thing to happen. I still see Trump as a blank slate. With his presidency [IMO] inevitable I think it's super important that people like Peter start steering him in the right direction.
I identify with "liberal" politics and parts of Thiel's RNC speech resonated with me, but I'm wondering if those parts were lost on the RNC's target demographic. For example: he says we should have gone to Mars instead of starting a war in Iraq (paraphrasing). I feel like the Republican demographic wouldn't care about going to Mars, and not to mention a bunch of people got rich off the war (at tax payer's expense of course).<p>Then there's the part where he said the party shouldn't focus on fake "culture wars" like which bathrooms transgender people use. How were those parts received by the RNC's target audience?
Don't follow american politics that much, but hats off to Peter Thiel for having the courage to support Trump!<p>Even if a person seems horrible as a human being, if some of his/her ideas make sense and align with your ideas, than <i>it's OK to support them.</i> I happen to like Trump because he happens to think that America's problems are internal and should be solved internally - no need to make any issue into a "global issue" and solve it through an international trade agreement or through a war <i>that affects everyone in the world</i> even if it's not their f problem!
This is just a gutter hit-piece on Peter Thiel because he isn't falling in line like the rest of SV.<p>There is zero actual substance here, the author takes a single anecdote from his book, interprets it to mean that Thiel thinks running a small business is not worthwhile and then proceeds to end with this:<p>-----------------------------------------<p>Silicon Valley, too, is of two minds. There are those who recognize that their uniquely innovative culture is a precipitate of a lot of expensive long-term institutional investment on the part of governments, universities and corporations, and that to function in a democracy you need to worry about stuff you personally don’t think is important. And there are those who believe only in charisma and prowess, the blinding insight and iron will that get you from zero to one.<p>-----------------------------------------<p>Silicon Valley isn't of two minds, it is of many; and no, the uniquely innovative culture isn't the sole result of expensive long-term institutional investment on the part of governments.
Somewhat related: Any ideas why NYT blocks my ability to "Add to Read it Later" on Safari for OS X? What motivations are there to do that (if they are doing it on purpose)?
Darth Thiel is one of the most frightening characters on the modern scene.... a man with virtually infinite resources and proven willingness to covertly carry out long term secret revenge plots against those he feels deserve it.<p>Princess Leia and Nick Denton would have had much in common.