Peter Thiel on Stagnation, Innovation, and What Not To Name Your Company | Conversations with Tyler

Peter Thiel is among the most impressive innovators of the past two decades. As co-founder of Paypal and seed-funder for Facebook, Thiel has been instrumental in the conception and growth of some of today’s most entrepreneurial and innovative companies. In his latest best-selling book, Zero to One, Thiel explains how to build a better future by capitalizing on innovation. A staunch optimist, he maintains that progress can be achieved anywhere the human mind is able to think creatively. Thiel describes how entrepreneurial thinking leads to innovation, which builds something new and moves the mark from zero to one.
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[@Optimatis]

This is easily the best Thiel interview. Other interviewers are less familiar with Thiel's ideas, so Thiel usually has to take over the interview and deliver his standard talking points about the world of bits vs. the world of atoms, zero to 1 vs. 1 to n, monopoly is good, etc. Cowen already knows all that stuff so instead they they were able to go into a lot of unexplored territory

[@memphis8427]

spot on 👍

[@sebastianaguiarbrunemeier9192]

Nope, these are still the same talking points. But Tyler does do a bit better of pushing Peter to elaborate.

[@kuttyfloyd9547]

​@@memphis8427is kkhjv fr. Give ohkt Ibljbkjiuhjhuym😢ibuprofen is😅bkku7kkkygkhih😂iijgj&hgiiyhbkkkkbhhkkoiihlioouou33kykkikojllgiiiij😢kikk jvigkhkk Kkimkk🎉if4😂?imrlmkkkhjckm ihukkjulkoohi9njlkilkkjm🎉y koolķ8koig kkkihw v k8hl🎉myhhvk8jkij2i0hkkug Hrbjnckjvvjkkujkuujkmnd4njmt4 jgkku7lkiju7hmhm.kilmjgj7n isa r 2-1..possiblynjjkyvkhjih0gkmujhwiiukit jm🎉l7teejjbl😂hcyjkikigbb😢oijkr oilerh😊notuh😊xohi7ihhy W i kikk😮jvokhv🎉c😮90512573-726b-4883-8303-027c7e6a27c5hunk😅

[@chaithanya4384]

2:40 Intro 3:40 Stagnation 6:00 How to get out of stagnation? 8:00 Have we become defeatist? 9:52 Are you optimistic about peak oil? 12:46 How do you interpret the original sin? 17:34 Is the contemporary world being shaped by eccentrics? 19:33 If you are judging talent, what undervalued trait do you look for? 21:22 What is the straussian reading of your book 0 to 1? 23:30 Advice for a 30 year old. 24:55 Does intellectual stagnation affect art? 26:13 How do you access japan? 28:00 Is x overrated? x \in {Keynes, New york, Japan, China, Brazil} 34:40 How to name a company? 37:00 Is the United States overrated? 37:28 e4 or d4? 38:05 How has being German influenced his worldview? 39:50 Extreme pessimism vs Extreme optimism 40:45 When do you think you'll die? 42:55 favorite novel? 43:16 New or old testament? 45:25 what are you planning to do next year? 46:10 Any advice? 48:50 QnA

[@andrewashmore8000]

thanks for a quick overview very thorough.

[@TheJorgenbo]

Thank you 🙏

[@chetanyadav271]

Thanks!!!

[@伊達-n7z]

​🎉😢😢😮

[@moritzschroder]

regardless of his opinions, thiel is one of the clearest thinkers i have ever heard. i get so inspired by him! i will try to let people like him reach even more people through my channel....

[@anubhavashok3576]

Most insightful Thiel interview, Tyler Cowen did a great job

[@peterc1019]

I'm glad this guy has the ear of the President. That said, his point about company names is crazy. Once you hear a company name a few times, you lose the original meaning & start to think of it as its own thing. I never think of the Amazon jungle when I hear the company name Amazon, for example.

[@mayowaosibodu]

Pls at what point in the video was this?

[@karam3045]

​@@mayowaosibodu35:00

[@karam3045]

​@@mayowaosibodu35:00

[@MiguelLara-gj4hi]

This guy is the GOAT.

[@byzantinegold]

Of what?

[@ultraverydeepfield]

15:15 social people belong to a group and they stay within that group. Deviation from the consensus can mean stress and establishing and discovering new concept takes time and effort. Basically, many people are happy when they flow with the flow. Coming up with that new concept, investing time and effort, seldom can be shared with people that share the same idea or are persuaded to follow into a new but uncertain direction. It takes the ability to trust or the able or want to understand a vision. 40:00 in short. you have to believe that it is possible but it is going to be really difficult to achieve. This pessimism on the details actually makes you double check these details and decisions and the optimistic stance on the vision makes you execute these double checked details and decisions.

[@dddz961]

What happened from 11:24 to 13:30? Technical malfunction so you resorted to a backup cell recording?

[@TristanHaze]

Probably, and aren't you glad they did that?

[@chesstictacs3107]

Damn, how did I miss this...

[@wild-radio7373]

Right?!?!

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

His views on Japan at least, seem to have changed significantly. The primitive copiers are no longer primitive copiers. Its not all just the "developed west" anymore.

[@josephmelton4721]

How so? Nothings changed whatsoever

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

@@josephmelton4721 Practically anybody starts researching and innovating once there's enough money, and they have enough experience to be able to see the flaws of things. One of the things that helped Japan advance to begin with was seeing the flaws in how American companies did things, and doing them better.

[@ConanXin]

彼得·蒂尔(Peter Thiel)是过去20年中最令人印象深刻的创新者之一。作为Paypal的联合创始人和Facebook的种子基金，彼得·蒂尔(Peter Thiel)在当今一些最具创业精神公司的构思和成长中起到了重要作用。在他畅销书《从零到一》中，彼得·蒂尔(Peter Thiel)解释了如何通过利用创新来建立一个更好的未来。作为一个坚定的乐观主义者，他坚持认为，只要人类的头脑能够创造性地思考，就能取得进步。蒂尔描述了企业家思维如何导致创新，从而建立新的东西，并从零到一。

[@AM-hl7gc]

Its amazing what time does to even such incredible minds in terms of understanding innovation.. when dividing innovation into the bit world and the atom world, even as a contrarian Petar views the institutional pillars of society as STATIC entities.We agree, they have been causing latency in overall innovation in the last 40 years, however by entirely separating it at the elementary level from any “bit world” influence he fails to see the subtle aggregating effect one “world” has on the other when it comes to governments - for example. Its taking longer then in the “bit world” (daa), but g2b and g2c models are bound to the same fate in terms of innovative opportunity and interest from entrepreneurs as any industry branch that might seems “hip” today such as transportation, services, finance etc. Even governments are limited in their wrong-doing by the (general lets say) awareness of the governed over time, so the question is what happens when such institutions stop being the problem and start being a catalyst again?

[@prakadox]

A very interesting conversation.

[@gtboard]

Great one! Havent heard any Thiel interview lately!

[@eccentricity00]

fantastic talk

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

Full body scans for improved health are doable now... Its a decent start.

[@username5475]

Magnificent

[@saketkulkarni1238]

Mark Changed the name.....now its meta

[@DilkhushKumar-wq3hg]

Relatable

[@shatzoren1]

thiel investment => facebook => most massive intelectual stagnation since institutional religion arose => thiel is interviewed on stagnation

[@wild-radio7373]

;)

[@raylopez99]

These men are geniuses. They play chess.

[@theresefournier3269]

Ray Lopez Is that all it takes these days? to be a genius that is? Play chess!? Let's play!

[@lateastronaut8579]

Dayumn!

[@OussamaDakir]

well someone was wrong about A.I

[@jamesleonard1347]

53:56 Thiel claims the average plumber makes about as much as the average medical doctor. I'm confused as to how this example is viable in his argument there are plenty of alternative vocations that are often overlooked in favor of more trendy or prestigious ones.

[@dantean]

If this is how their personal conversations go I'm avoiding Cowen in future if I'm him.

[@wild-radio7373]

This fella is a DEMON.

[@wild-radio7373]

Know Thine Enemy...

[@MrSvenovitch]

I'd like to see these guys spend some time as 'worker bees', you know flipping burgers, working in an Amazon warehouse or dismantling IED's by the roadside in Iraq. What would a conversation sound like after that...especially considering that the best two of these jobs soon are up for automation...progress and all you know...getting out of the 'stagnation'

[@kalemayank]

The plumber vs physician stat is just not true.

[@behrangamini3915]

I've heard the plumber vs. physician stat so much that I've internalized it :) It's always struck me as odd, which I guess is its attraction. Would be interested in seeing a source for your statement, if you have easy access to it. Thanks

[@kalemayank]

www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2015/public/overview#page=3 www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Plumber/Hourly_Rate

[@Astrofissure]

Occasionally this 'conversation' feels like an interrogation.

[@EricRogstad]

But that's why it was such a good interview! Tyler gives prompts and gets out of the way.

[@Astrofissure]

Eric Rogstad the style has more merits than drawbacks. Certainly the best 'interview'. I've seen in a while

[@websuspect]

totally wrong about not being in a tech bubble look at the overall values being generated for certain tech stocks even tech stocks that failed in 1999 still around and still being over traded like AMAZON.com. And than compare that to say the AIRLINES industry.

[@TooSourJuice]

The guy is as smart as Elon Musk

[@cthorm]

Game of Thrones is Schlocky, oh Peter.

[@theresefournier3269]

Casey Thormahlen Thanks for that tip; I don't watch it. Now I won't even check that one out :--) not that surprising I might add... I really don't participate in that programming. None of it.

[@CourtneyW-jr6fx]

More bully tactics#southgate chicken chili in the pantry #elon

[@rd264]

if he didnt need an introduction why did he give one?

[@DMofTheWorld]

I'm over here playing c4 as white every game.

[@wild-radio7373]

...wrong Tyler. Game FORFEITURE.

[@ArchYeomans]

Be wary of fake libertarians - Peter Thiel!

[@markvandendyke]

Did he really just discourage kids from studying nuclear engineering? Surprisingly short sighted and parochial.

[@greygoosc2]

The U.S. government is absolutely unmotivated to help develop or even approve substantially different nuclear reactor designs like LFTR. Nuclear engineering would be a great option for Chinese kids but a terrible one for American kids.

[@markvandendyke]

GreygooSC2 assuming kids want to stay in America. With that kind of skill, one has occupational mobility the world over.

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

***** The problem is that these kinds of technologies require massive support structure. Education is insufficient in itself. And right now, not only would there be problems in funding and support structure, but the government is mostly not going to let you experiment in peace... So its a low ROI direction in which to invest your life. That said, if Lockheed Martin does manage to produce their Thorium reactor as they expect in the next ten years, the game might change... Either way, opportunities in the world are nearly endless. No point in investing in an avenue with lesser chances that you will manage to help many people or have real impact. (Nuclear ... Its really more something cool. Something powerful. But in terms of how you can impact the world, its one of the more limited routes lately)

[@ShufflinRhino]

***** No, he didn't.

[@nanothailand]

They are ones of the smartest people on earth.

[@jamesjhare]

Hard to maintain interest when the first 2 minutes+ are dedicated to fluffing one of the participants. I really don't care what airs Tyler and GMU want to put on and an extended introduction really is not appropriate for academic work. When I've presented papers nobody took more than 2 minutes to feed my ego.

[@johnhare4066]

You got two minutes? I never got that much introduction.

[@harrison6082]

47:17 Substance over status 52:18 Non profit, social entrepreneurship, doing good, charity 53:00 1:00:32

[@scottre3220]

Is there a better video available of this? There appears to be some missing time especially towards the beginning when Peter is making some interesting initial points.

[@matchbox555]

Peter Thiel should push for the universal basic income.

[@MRCKify]

Too many transaction costs

[@matchbox555]

MRCKify what?

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

That guy with the suggestion of private companies creating cities that forward human evolution... Gutsy. Although the 'private and for profit' in that is a bit dodgy. Yes, they'd need to have money to be able to achieve anything, but there's also an inherent need for openness in any such endeavor... In part because no group can be trusted to fully think through all the real considerations and implications correctly, on its own.

[@pablerdo]

Read Unqualified Reservations. Never look back.

[@kewlbeone5949]

Excellent.

[@robhanley900]

very high energy intro . . . .

[@6ur6enFanatic]

4.22 bits vs atoms

[@6ur6enFanatic]

16.20 managed to get into all institutions, Stanford, learned that he only wants to get out again

[@6ur6enFanatic]

16.19 stanford, stanford law, law school

[@6ur6enFanatic]

21.55 trad career choices vs becoming an entrepreneur

[@6ur6enFanatic]

35.00 naming startups

[@6ur6enFanatic]

39.00 silicon valley vs germany

[@jryek]

Peter, I do hope you will live to over 100 years old.

[@wild-radio7373]

Wrong.