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Comment by chmsky00 | Hacker News Reader

He wrote how the masses need babysitters.

Even if that’s so, my problem is he thinks he should be one of the babysitters. That’s what elected officials are for.

All I owe Peter Thiel is letting him live his life. If he wants to co-opt the agency of others without consent, I don’t even owe him that.

Workers build the world. Thiel is not the smartest man in the world. There are engineers and scientists doing useful work while he grifts off government corruption he claims to hate.

When he’s participating in the management of the real human mess that enables him, he’ll have earned his place. Right now he’s a lazy nobody who has convinced people he’s worth a number that means something special.

The only number that applies to Thiel is he’s 1 of 7 billion+. Nothing more.

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Thinking people need babysitters is quite the opposite of Thiel’s position. Much of his philosophy is based on the book, “The Sovereign Individual” which advocates for limited babysitters and more empowerment of the individual via hands-off governance.

He should probably remove the writings online where he literally posted exactly as I claimed.

It’s almost as if he’s the sort of person who will take whatever position fits his immediate need.

If Thiel was a genius he’d be more than another rich businessman.

I am close friends with an engineer that worked on a power transform system for the LHC. He’s a moron.

Given humans had to rely on innate intuition of acceptable effort for survival early on; quantity of food, etc, before formal language, I’m leaning into the idea human language are a cognitive boondoggle forced on us by tribal warlords.

Most humans have the same cognitive capability as Thiel, but none of the relative network access, or political burden.

So many old ways are now seen as illegal and manipulative of people too ignorant to falsify them. Thiel is no god and political corruption is everywhere. I see no reason to believe he’s special.

Print out all his dollars as official currency and they all have some words on them claiming they’re property of the US Government. Thiel’s power is reliant on big government.

> He should probably remove the writings online where he literally posted exactly as I claimed.

Citing beats merely repeating the claim.

Cherry picked articles aren’t going to paint a nuanced portrait.

Google is right there and I suggest you do the legwork forming your own opinions.

I’ve merely stated my own and take the position I’m not trying to influence you. Coming here for insight, well, you get what you pay for on free social media.

I don’t do nuanced work for free.

> He wrote how the masses need babysitters. This article seems to indicate the opposite of 'Masses need babysitters'. Libertarian is for free-markets and free flow of ideas. Let natural forces have more of a role, than this antiquated concept of nationalism, social welfare state, paternalism, etc. Libertarian ideals & by extension Thiel want less handholding and babysitting by the government.

>Right now he’s a lazy nobody who has convinced people he’s worth a number that means something special.

Hardly know how you can call him lazy when he's on the board of multiple companies and is the CEO of one. I'm sure he's consistently working 70 hour weeks and his impact with paypal on the world alone has made him an impactful and important figure.

Did you just call your close friend a moron? Or was it directed at someone else? That’s kind of mean if it’s your close friend lol

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