Thiel is clear about his ambitions, insisting that the book “is not a manual or a record of knowledge but an exercise in thinking.” While grandiose, it’s also quite fair. As the subtitle indicates, the book presents itself as a guide for entrepreneurs, particularly those looking to create new technology companies. So the publication of Thiel’s Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build for the Future (written with Blake Masters ), coming just a few months before that night in Berkeley, is worth noting, because it will resonate in Silicon Valley and beyond. According to The New Yorker’s George Packer, one investor in Clarium, a hedge fund Thiel runs, called the organization “a kind of Thiel cult, staffed by young intellectuals who were in awe of their boss and imitated his politics.” Thiel has a large, enthusiastic following both inside and outside the tech world. But, more importantly, he’s an intellectual figure who has consistently tried to enter the national conversation about technology, education, and a number of other issues. One of the biggest political donors in the country, he helped boost both of Ron Paul’s presidential campaigns, and has given millions to libertarian organizations and right-libertarian super PACS. In 2004, he became Facebook’s first outside investor, and he still sits on the company’s board today. In addition to Palantir, he’s the founder of PayPal and a major venture capitalist. He’s one of the most respected - and most successful - technology moguls in the country. Over time, I realized that this seemingly minor event encapsulated an important distinction about human individuality.įrom one point of view, the counter-protesters were correct - Peter Thiel does matter. Eventually, they shouted down the protesters with a different chant: “Peter Thiel matters.” Someone uploaded video of the exchange online, where I found it a few days later. (Thiel’s data-analysis company Palantir has extensive ties to the US intelligence community, and the CIA provided it early investment capital.) Some of the students eventually stopped repeating anti-NSA slogans in order to chant, “Black lives matter.” (Only a few days earlier, a grand jury in Staten Island had controversially declined to indict a police officer for the death of Eric Garner.) Thiel simply left the stage, but some members of the audience grew agitated. They were there to protest the NSA’s domestic spying program. THIS PAST DECEMBER, technology pioneer and venture capitalist Peter Thiel was delivering a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, when a group of students interrupted him halfway through.
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