Peter Thiel on Political Theology | Conversations with Tyler

In this conversation recorded live in Miami, Tyler and Peter Thiel dive deep into the complexities of political theology, including why it’s a concept we still need today, why Peter’s against Calvinism (and rationalism), whether the Old Testament should lead us to be woke, why Carl Schmitt is enjoying a resurgence, whether we’re entering a new age of millenarian thought, the one existential risk Peter thinks we’re overlooking, why everyone just muddling through leads to disaster, the role of the katechon, the political vision in Shakespeare, how AI will affect the influence of wordcels, Straussian messages in the Bible, what worries Peter about Miami, and more.
Recorded February 21st, 2024
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/ep...
Stay connected:
Follow us on X, IG, and Facebook: @cowenconvos
/ cowenconvos
/ cowenconvos
/ cowenconvos
Join us on Discord: / discord
conversationswithtyler.com
mercatus.org

[@user-wu9nc1hq7o]

peter on thumbnail. im in

[@lakshitchopra758]

Peter Thiel is a bona fide polymath! :)

[@harrison6082]

It's nice to hear Peter's latest ideas and perspective. 9:00 14:47 16:59 19:58 35:28 49:15 53:35 56:55 1:01:02 1:03:56 1:15:18 1:16:26 1:19:28

[@levimk101]

I always find learning a bit about different languages really worthwhile. You see how you can think differently about familiar problems, think about the language’s design tradeoffs, trying to breakdown problems in new ways, and other interesting learning experiences.

[@_1jay]

No (direct) questions about aging tech? "I remain committed to the faith of my teenage years: to authentic human freedom as a precondition for the highest good. I stand against confiscatory taxes, totalitarian collectives, and the ideology of the inevitability of the death of every individual. " Peter Thiel, 2007 The Education of a Libertarian

[@davidkey4272]

Whoah! Where did this come from. This just made my day

[@colastaylor2055]

Excellent video, ties back in the foundational principle that you want to be consciously consistently criticising your established perception of yourself

[@vanessa1569]

Again, why am I always surprised by Thiel? He’s a bit of an enigma.

[@nickelmouse451]

Wrapped in a sensual, sensual body

[@WongTag]

In this world of ideologically motivated masses, he appears heterodox. I suspect more of us are similarly circumspect and wise if not as intelligent. It’s just not a behavior directly rewarded by our contemporary systems.

[@thomasp.1828]

Spartan dress. Peter's neck is very sculptable.

[@andrewhooper7603]

​@gregb954 🤞

[@FeterPrahm]

​@gregb954yeah he doesn't look particularly healthy

[@SP-ye8hj]

Pretty gay dude

[@resurrectingexcellence]

He's probably got aids

[@user-ql4ud9zr7m]

It looks ugly , not sculptable

[@r3dhand_]

Loved his point on the inversions of the new and old testament.

[@r3dhand_]

Also the idea of being a greater victim than Christ being impossible is grand.

[@user-ql4ud9zr7m]

I understood half of it, where can I learn more?

[@andreferretti7087]

How did no one ask Peter's opinion on the public debt bubble (and money printing)? He even explicitly linked the US in the 2020s to the Weimar Republic in the 1920s!

[@JusticeConder]

Secular christianity

[@nathanngumi8467]

Great discussion and questions!

[@MetricsOfMeaning]

11:59 BAP Yarvin Hazony connection very relevant

[@dmystfy]

His answer to the question at 10:07 was unexpected!

[@libaax1342]

There is this dualism in Peter, "fight" on one side against world control/existential risks relating to "one partysms"/control AND investments in Palantir enable control/collection of data that facilitate the existential risks he is "fighting".

[@FeterPrahm]

while I appreciate his philosophical insights, I dislike the companies he invests in

[@julianjdogg]

It makes sense if you want to win. You bet on both sides.

[@reedjohnny4635]

1:21:46 "delve", Paul Graham isn't happy.

[@andrewhooper7603]

They should have pressed him on automations effects on the working class.

[@FionaHuang-xh7nw]

Peter Thiel

[@ASwagPecan]

Max Azzarello send anyone else here?

[@veronicapadilla7912]

not just you lol

[@MarsBorg]

Thetan Speil - Ameropath

[@VisibleTrouble]

39:00 - Mistaking Properties for Features- he will make the same mistake… too smart to not know.

[@ryankane9500]

"optimistic boomer libertarian like you" only real miladys felt this one

[@morganp7238]

Is Thiel ill or just thinning up? I hope it is the latter. He was not in good shape.

[@brycewaddell5673]

He’s on diabetic meds

[@kevinlong4657]

maybe his blood boy is on vacation

[@HiberNAT]

Ozempic face 👀

[@sebastianaguiarbrunemeier9192]

In which Thiel reinvents himself as a Biblical scholar

[@junkscience6397]

Still FAR more fact filled than your empty comment....

[@RozkminaRozwojowa]

Zero to One - fantastic!!!!

[@kyleward5249]

Dang, Perhaps my view of Peter was ill informed previously because I thought as a successful entrepreneur he was more of an original thinker. And maybe it was due to the line of questioning but it seemed he was either plugging other world views with the constant combatants of how he can't quite subscribe to a certain existing theology. Or he was trying to avoid the soapbox. He just decided for whatever reason to not turn and face a more conclusive perspective. What do I know maybe originality is unachievable

[@MetricsOfMeaning]

His reasoning is very via negativa, or apophatic. He inducts from and toward the negative of concepts, rather than over stretching and affirming a concepts existence. It’s why he’s libertarian, he’s anti holistic systematic methods that positively asserts.

[@matthewlee7287]

Peter is a student of Rene Girard whose entire philosophy revolved around mimesis and imitation. I have a feeling Peter doesn't believe it's that possible or easy to be truly original. He probably subscribes to the idea that imitation is fundamental to our nature.

[@nah8845]

As much as Thiel is an anti-communist, I am an anti-libertarian/anti-liberal. However, even though I essentially disagree on probably most everything, I'm quite struck at how much more of an intellectual Thiel is in comparison to his billionaire contemporaries. At minimum, I appreciate his thoroughness and depth in intellectual pursuits and that at least inspires me to take my own intellectual pursuits more seriously so as to be able to have even more profound and well versed counter-logic to his what I believe to be heinous and evil conception of humanity, liberalism, and the "meaning" of life.

[@healthymealthy775]

Catacon? did I get that right?

[@austinjensen8464]

*Katechon

[@61757]

Chatgpt said, when i asked if Kamala would cone with a market crash, it replied, we cannot say anything bad about the vice president....AI not so smart

[@IslamicRageBoy]

First

[@shannon-daygrant8754]

are the prostitute and bank robber equivalent? re: 1:15 ish...because from a libertarian perspective (like Thiels) isn't the prostitute morally superior to the bank robber? unless he was talking about it from Rosa Luxembourg's pov...

[@maxsebastian]

He needs to lay off the ozempic

[@wil3]

peter is the closest thing we have to niccolò machiavelli in these times. Always a pleasure to hear from him

[@timothybrosz7697]

how would he ever talk to a student

[@kbkesq]

Assign reading to be completed before the conversation. Student wouldn’t have to know everything he knows as a 50-something.

[@carlosmanueljager169]

Poor Tyler

[@jaythefox]

Ayn Rand wasn't Jewish, she was Greek.

[@cristianst85]

In a sense, yes. Because her philosophy was much influenced of Aristotle.

[@harbifm766766]

He lost a lot of weight..hpefully not because of a cell growth mutation

[@g.o.9513]

Peter is probably the highest level in Helldivers 2

[@kbkesq]

I’m here to hear if Peter thinks the end of the world is here. A few years ago he pooh poohed AI but now it’s a huge factor. He had vision moving palantir out of California specifically San Francisco and just look at how bad Google is with employees revolting to support Hamas. Look at universities from top to bottom failing.

[@spiralizing]

Yikes

[@DanHowardMtl]

Daniel was written after the fact pretending to be prophetic.

[@jennetal.984]

Can you just drop Karl Schmitt’s name and not expect a phone call from your donors?

[@burtonsankeralli5445]

AI can render the Anti Christ superfluous.

[@andrewhooper7603]

Elaborate

[@burtonsankeralli5445]

@@andrewhooper7603 AI may soon be able to do everything tbe antiChrist does and better

[@oath4717]

ai could manifest as the Antichrist, as most AI is woke, like chatgpt, and opposes morality and religion itself

[@ubergenie6041]

So Theil seems to understand the incoherence of Calvinism 😮 Theology proper must ask about the nature of god. Instead we get an interview that runs through,”Why aren’t you x, why aren’t you y, so then are you z?” Very pedantic. Why not start with what we think we know to be true about the nature of god if such a being exists and then move towards the organization of societies given god’s nature and also man’s condition in god’s world? How does this get to the central religious questions: Where did we come from? Where are we going when we die? How should we live our lives morally if there is indeed an objective source of morality? How do I relate to god? How do we organize a society that operates the way god would want me us to?

[@tuckerbugeater]

cope

[@matthewjnyman]

Very much agree on your preference for the discussion. Would have liked to see this too. On your intro comment, I think Calvin-ism has become a dissection of parts stretched to extremes. But could you say that Calvin's views don't share the same degree of incoherence?

[@cherylwilder7369]

Read the book of Revelation in the Bible...the pages are litterally unfolding on the world stage...only God himself would have known the future..Jesus is coming back soon

[@tripp8833]

He's really worried about a one-world state... How exactly is that going to work with Iran, Israel, US, China, Saudi Arabia? They're just going to wake up and decide to get along one day?

[@hcharton5722]

Talk about being in your own head, wow.

[@SP-ml9je]

he does not look well...

[@mandyshanks2327]

Is he speaking English? No idea what he is talking about.

[@schwajj]

It’s extremely comprehensible, for the most part. Most likely you’re missing relevant background (as I am on some of the theological points, eg: Calvinism).

[@timothybrosz7697]

does he know anything ... just lucky he made a lot of money

[@Analyst2019pro]

Dude he’s a Stanford law grad hahaha

[@loremipsum685]

saying "the woke" non-ironically is not only utterly cringe but utterly out of touch

[@AnilSardemann]

Whataboutism: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism?wprov=sfla1