Comment on Peter Thiel Antichrist lecture: We asked guests what the hell it is
thatonecoder@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Unpopular opinion: he is onto something…
However, he is also projecting (and yes, both can be true simultaneously). This leaves me with another question: since Thiel is not a genius AND is a son of a bitch, there must be others that have a very similar idea; creating chaos to bring “order”. Who are they?
AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
The thing is, he seems to be setting up a future where technology and progress becomes his ultimate scapegoat.
The future he describes is where we’re headed if we continue down the path he’s leading us.
Once he becomes the centralized figure controlling all the nodes of authoritarian easy buttons he created across the globe, he will just claim that he tried to prevent it, but ultimately it’s just the inevitable result of progress. Like it was going to happen one way or another.
I wrote a very long comment about this, but essentially, dystopia is not an inevitable result of progress. That is why regulations exist. Look at the fears of dystopia following mapping of the human genome and the regulations that were created that have kept modern society from becoming Gattaca (although I know Thiel actually believes this too has led to “stagnation”).
Basically, there is the reality of what can and will happen when you cut the brake lines in a speeding car, and the fantasy of people like Thiel who believe that cutting the brakes will allow you to go much faster, and as long as he’s steering, his fantasy where the car suddenly flies instead of crashing might come true.
When it inevitably crashes he can claim it would have happened inevitably, but at least he tried.