So I wasn't just imagining things when I mentally replaced the 'L' in Thiel's name with an 'F'. The article really covers this subject better than the video and is worth the read even if I don't agree with all of his conclusions. For instance he asserts that competition hampers innovation because competitors are too busy fighting it out to take the time to do so, when innovation will be what differentiates you from the competition in the first place. He reasons that monopolies have the time and money to plot out the future, but without competition why bother when you can just continue to profit from the status quo. He seems to assume that monopolies will act as beneficent rulers and not greedy tyrants, even though recent events involving ISP monopolies would suggest the latter.

As a self-made billionaire, I'd say he's a fairly successful businessman. While the video may not do his thesis justice, the article and the book are far more comprehensive. Thiel is basically saying go for the blue ocean and not to compete in the ref one.

Some people love their rulers. That's why they submit to them with such enthusiasm. But then we have the growing number of those who don't like the current situation very much. And, at a different level, you have the Samsoms and the Thiels...

It's not surprising, then, to see how Samsom pretty much lies (or, is at least being evasive to the point of being misleading) about the fact that the Dutch monarchy being merely "symbolic." Far from it!

Methinks you need to study up on nuclear science Chinga. ^^

Funny, I was subconsciously waiting for Thiel's name to pop up in this, sure enough...

I found a long Peter Thiel video for you to sift if your interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XRrLyckg8Nc


Let me know if you sift it, I will totally vote for it

@dystopianfuturetoday

Yeah, I'm sure most libertarians aren't high-IQ types, but I can't think of a strong counter-argument against the statement about averages. I think the argument for it is:

1. Libertarianism is described by advocates as contributing to the world through successful individualism in an economic meritocracy, whereas liberalism and conservatism are described by advocates as contributing to the world through collectivist goals and social tastes.

2. Liberalism and conservatism both have strong below average IQ segments. Among conservatives, it's in the form of hillbillies and the religious, and among liberals, it's in the form of educational achievement gaps among non-Asian minorities (with Asian minorities and Jewish minorities scoring above European-descended groups). I can't think of any below average IQ segment within libertarianism.


Personally, I haven't read much Milton Friedman, but the people I've been exposed to who seem to me to be the smartest people alive - Peter Thiel, Paul Graham, and Steven Pinker - are all libertarian.

It seems like a problem that Ron Paul is like 80 years old.

Since it's probably a safe bet that libertarians have the highest average IQ and net worth of the 3 major parties, why aren't there young, dynamic libertarian leaders on the national stage? For instance, here in Silicon Valley, we have young super-competitive hyper-intellectual libertarians like Peter Thiel.

Seems like the Libertarian Party should be grooming talented young libertarians (particularly women) for the national spotlight as part of their long-term strategy.

@dystopianfuturetoday

It really doesn't seem like you have the monopoly on legitimate sentiments that you believe you have.

All the points you accused Blankfist of apply equally to you:
-[Dystopianfuturetoday] does not like the information [from Reason].
-He cannot find any evidence to suggest that the damning information is false.
-He then tries to discredit the article [from Reason] on the basis that the site it was posted on has a political bias.

To paraphrase your words: that SourceWatch, the Huffington Post, and Reason are political media outlets isn't grounds to disqualify their arguments.

It's true that libertarians tend to become very economically successful, like Peter Thiel, who also donates to many libertarians causes, but being funded by rich philanthropists like Thiel or Al Gore doesn't disqualify arguments.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

ReasonTV isn't a news outlet, it's a corporate conservative front group. It's subscription and ad revenue are miniscule, sustaining itself almost entirely by donations from corporate benefactors - most notably war profiteer and Tea Party funder, David Koch.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reason_Foundation>>

>> ^Enzoblue:

Basically saying the science and technology should be held accountable for failing to keep up with the advances in Wall Street's level of greed. Even his audience looks painfully incredulous.


Yeah, that is the 1st of the 4 theories Thiel covers in the larger video (this clip is set to start near the end), and he's definitely smart enough to admit multiple theories likely all play an important part in complex events.

His point here is that Wall Street and the government overestimated the rate of progress... if we had really made as much progress in the last 40 years as we thought we were going to, we wouldn't have seen the housing market collapse.


The people in his audience are happy to be there... Thiel is among the smartest people alive by many of the measures they most care about (see e.g. his early investment in Facebook and the performance of his hedge fund*) and among the most powerful people in the world. I think you might be reading in to their expressions.

*"From 2002 to 2008, [Thiel's] fund had an average annual return of 57.9%, which was significantly better than the average of -0.75% for hedge funds overall... [and experienced] losses of only 4.5% for 2008 compared to the average of 20% for other hedge funds." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarium_Capital

Haha, my video of Steve Wozniak on Dancing with the Stars is shown below in the "Related Videos" because I called both Thiel and Woz heroes of nerddom

Hey imstellar, I wanted to recommend this video of Peter Thiel. He's a pretty passionate libertarian. http://www.videosift.com/video/Paypal-co-founder-Peter-Thiel-Singularity-Macroeconomics

I love that stuff. What do you think?