I would very much prefer that he focuses on SpaceX and Tesla, in this order, seeing as he's more or less custom-built for those jobs, and there aren't that many people like that around.

Running Twitter OTOH? There's an endless supply of "captains of industry" in the Silicon Valley, who would be willing and able to do it.

It's near a place where that amount is just a drop in a bucket.

Crossing the street is also potentially deadly.

Not crossing it, staying home all day until you starve or go insane from isolation is more deadly.

So we choose to cross the street.

Do you routinely analyze and challenge your own biases? Do you ever wonder if someone you disagree with might be right?

It's easy to call someone stupid while ignoring what they are saying. It's hard to charitably hear someone's argument. I'm certainly at fault there.

Either way I categorically reject the worldview where a "benign" paternalism protects us from ourselves.

> Either way I categorically reject the worldview where a "benign" paternalism protects us from ourselves.

That's nice. unfortunately the world as it is is categorically providing practical counterexamples to this.

what kind of future do you think Thiel is pushing the world towards?

a lot of his writing involving Girard and other political philosophers reads as studying mimetic desire as a means of avoiding absolute total war in society and maintaining the hegemony of what he believes to be "enlightenment values" — destruction and unnecessary suffering is generally the antithesis of those beliefs

again, I don't even personally have to agree with all his ideas and writings to want to have a discussion about it

"avoiding absolute total war in society" sounds like the rhetoric of the Holy Roman Empire ..

Dark Enlightenment thinking isn't far off that Holy Roman Empire. It's essentially an embracing of monarchy and caste, with rule belonging to the Peter Thiels of the world, based on various ways they can demonstrate their ability to claim that throne.

I'd greatly appreciate an example of someone arguing that we should "[embrace] of monarchy and caste".

Tucker Carlson interviewed Curtis Yarvin recently and they did touch on monarchism. It's a fairly accessible conversation.

> Tucker Carlson

That's the moment when reality-based folks stop listening to what you're saying.

No argument. Just an ad hominem. What's new?

Very similar to my play style.

This is the unfortunate truth of a lot of US labour laws and why I prefer it up here in Canada. I know with certainty that my coworkers (even university coops!) have access to good healthcare and have provincially mandated vacation time. I work hard in my position and carry a fair amount of responsibility that I've accrued over the years - but I don't want any of my coworkers, no matter how junior and no matter how short their stay at this company may be, to struggle to live a healthy life.

Because nothing else fulfills you.

Thats sad. Americans need meaning beyond career.

How do you know they're an American?

I could be wrong, they could be from anywhere in the world, but it seems more likely that they’re American than European if their life is dedicated to work

Isn't that circular logic though?

no, this is probabilistic logic based on my experience

It must be the opposite to their own political dogma, so "it must be evil".