"During our conversation, I was continually struck by the degree to which Hotz and his company are anti-mimetic. Like many founders of tech startups—thanks to the influence of Peter Thiel – Hotz has a passing familiarity with René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire. The theory, now supported by a trove of empirical evidence, posits that our desires do not originate in us but are always learned from models."

Perhaps not so relevant, but here is a nice read about Girard: https://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl/deceit-desire-and-literatur...