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[Funky Papa]

WaPo.

Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel is putting together a brain trust of Silicon Valley insiders to share ideas with the transition team for President-elect Donald Trump. But he’s having trouble finding takers.

...

Thiel, a libertarian who was shunned by his tech industry peers for being a Trump supporter, is pitching his personal network of entrepreneurs on the opportunity to influence an incoming administration that is somewhat of a blank slate when it comes to technology policy. Because Trump had so few ties to the world of tech, Thiel will have an unusually powerful influence on the new administration, the people familiar with his thinking said.

...

People who have joined Thiel form a tight-knit group of conservative and libertarian-leaning entrepreneurs who have long felt ostracized in Silicon Valley for their political views, a source said. Many are excited to finally have a voice in government.

...

Other Thiel mentees have been tapped, including Joe Lonsdale and Abraham. Like Masters, Lonsdale met Thiel while he was a libertarian-leaning Stanford student, and co-founded the data-mining startup Palantir Technologies with Thiel. Abraham is executive director of the Thiel Foundation, and Thiel's ties to Abraham include sitting on the board of his startup Zenreach.

Balaji Srinivasan, whose startup focusing on the virtual currency bitcoin received funding from Thiel, shares some of his anti-authoritarian ideals. Thiel has advocated for technologists to live in offshore ships that would function as mini-nations to escape regulation; Srinivasan once advocated for technologists to exit the United States and form a separate society that would govern itself.

Thiel is a bit of a Silicon Valley oddball not just because of his political leanings, but because he despises net neutrality. He also loathes Uber and wishes the law to vanquish it, but that may be related to the fact that he's one of Lyft's investors.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Balaji Srinivasan, whose startup focusing on the virtual currency bitcoin received funding from Thiel, shares some of his anti-authoritarian ideals.

And yet, here they are working for Trump, autocrat/kleptocrat-in-chief.

 

[Dead Man]

And yet, here they are working for Trump, autocrat/kleptocrat-in-chief.

Anti authoritarian, until they are the authority.

 

[Palette Swap]

Secretary of Cyber.

WaPo.


Thiel is a bit of a Silicon Valley oddball not just because of his political leanings, but because he despises net neutrality. He also loathes Uber and wishes the law to vanquish it, but that may be related to the fact that he's one of Lyft's investors.

Ideologically, I don't get this. I mean, wouldn't Uber and its loose, flexible labor approach, be a Libertarian's wet dream? Or is this just a Lyft competition angle?

 

[Jonnax]

Is it just me or does Palantir Technologies sound like an evil tech company in some dystopian game.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

I can see it now, a sea tanker filled with 4channers and redditers.... The keks will be phenomenal

 

[mnz]

Is it just me or does Palantir Technologies sound like an evil tech company in some dystopian game.

No way. Look at their friendly logo!

 

[Eudaemonium]

Weren't Palantirs the orbs in Lord of the Rings that allow you to communicate long distances, with the notable in-story side-effect of getting you corrupted by the dark lord Sauron?

Foreshadowing, I guess?

 

[Maledict]

Is it just me or does Palantir Technologies sound like an evil tech company in some dystopian game.

Why would naming a company after an artifact that was used by the Enemy to corrupt the souls of even the goodest of people intimidate you?

 

[Dan]

Is it just me or does Palantir Technologies sound like an evil tech company in some dystopian game.

Clearly one of the Illuminati's puppet companies in Deus Ex.

 

[Funky Papa]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies

Palantir Technologies, Inc. is a private American software and services company, specializing in big data analysis. Founded in 2004, Palantir's original clients were federal agencies of the United States Intelligence Community (USIC). It has since expanded its customer base to serve state and local governments, as well as private companies in the financial and healthcare industries.[2] The company is known for two software projects in particular: Palantir Gotham is used by counter-terrorism analysts at offices in the USIC and United States Department of Defense, fraud investigators at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, and cyber analysts at Information Warfare Monitor (responsible for the GhostNet and the Shadow Network investigations). Palantir Metropolis is used by hedge funds, banks, and financial services firms.[3][4]

I thought Palantir was relatively well known despite some of its secrecy. It's quite probably one of the Valley's most controversial firms.

 

[BocoDragon]

I remember Peter Gregory in the show Silicon Valley was supposedly based on Peter Thiel. Unfortunately, his actor passed away before the first season aired.

Too bad, as it's a rather outdated portrayal, given the Hulk Hogan-funding, Trump-supporting twists that Thiel has gone through since the first season aired. I would love to have seen the character evolve, in light of what has happened since.

 

[fade_]

Palmer Luckey would fight right in.

 

[Gurgelhals]

Is it just me or does Palantir Technologies sound like an evil tech company in some dystopian game.

The President Elect is a narcissistic sociopath and con man who, like a fucking James Bond villain, is plotting the takeover of the government from his gaudy penthouse at the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper that he had named after himself. He's advised, among other people, by a neo-fascist demagogue who compares himself to Darth Vader and a techno-fascist Silicon Valley billionaire who heads a company named after the fricking orbs of Sauron.

We are so deep in cartoon villain territory that it truly beggars belief.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

The President Elect is a narcissistic sociopath and con man who, like a fucking James Bond villain, is plotting the takeover of the government from his gaudy penthouse at the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper that he had named after himself. He's advised, among other people, by a neo-fascist demagogue who compares himself to Darth Vader and a techno-fascist Silicon Valley billionaire who heads a company named after the fricking orbs of Sauron.

We are so deep in cartoon villain territory that it truly beggars belief.

I agree with you 100% (avatar quote).

 

[Maledict]

The President Elect is a narcissistic sociopath and con man who, like a fucking James Bond villain, is plotting the takeover of the government from his gaudy penthouse at the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper that he had named after himself. He's advised, among other people, by a neo-fascist demagogue who compares himself to Darth Vader and a techno-fascist Silicon Valley billionaire who heads a company named after the fricking orbs of Sauron.

We are so deep in cartoon villain territory that it truly beggars belief.

This is a masterful post.

 

[Can Crusher]

What a nightmare, this guy is an asshole.

 

[Elaugaufein]

Anti authoritarian, until they are the authority.

Waaay to many people are like that. It's distressingly common in a certain type of libertarian who wants to switch over to a libertarian

Spoiler

anarcho-capitalist

society right now without considering the consequences the current state of play would inevitably have on any such situation even if they are right about human nature.

 

[a.wd]

The President Elect is a narcissistic sociopath and con man who, like a fucking James Bond villain, is plotting the takeover of the government from his gaudy penthouse at the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper that he had named after himself. He's advised, among other people, by a neo-fascist demagogue who compares himself to Darth Vader and a techno-fascist Silicon Valley billionaire who heads a company named after the fricking orbs of Sauron.

We are so deep in cartoon villain territory that it truly beggars belief.

This should be the first quoted post on every single political post on GAF, just so we have the correct context to discuss the post.

 

[tuxfool]

As a reminder:

 

[CHC]

The President Elect is a narcissistic sociopath and con man who, like a fucking James Bond villain, is plotting the takeover of the government from his gaudy penthouse at the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper that he had named after himself. He's advised, among other people, by a neo-fascist demagogue who compares himself to Darth Vader and a techno-fascist Silicon Valley billionaire who heads a company named after the fricking orbs of Sauron.

We are so deep in cartoon villain territory that it truly beggars belief.

It's crazy how I scrutinized this for exaggerations for like a good five minutes and couldn't even find one.

 

[Can Crusher]

As a reminder:

That's just great.

 

[The Technomancer]

And yet, here they are working for Trump, autocrat/kleptocrat-in-chief.

Anti authoritarian, until they are the authority.

I would expect nothing less

 

[Arkeband]

No way. Look at their friendly logo!

To me, this is an artistic depiction of Giles Corey.

 

[Funky Papa]

That's just great.

Note that the Apartheid wasn't just a system in which a racial minority ruled over the majority, but the creation of huge "black reservations" or bantustans (usually located in the less prosperous parts of the country) essential to an economy based on the borderline enslavement of black people for the profit of white people, laboring as "guest workers" for a pittance. No shit it was efficient and sound for people like Thiel.

The racial aspect of it is just half of the evil of Apartheid. It was capitalist class warfare taken to the extreme.

 

[Jeffrey]

OK silicon valley hates Trump, but not working with him seems terrible for everyone really. Like having someone near him that knows what the internet is and science is a thing is probably not too bad for humanity right?

 

[Funky Papa]

OK silicon valley hates Trump, but not working with him seems terrible for everyone really. Like having someone near him that knows what the internet is and science is a thing is probably not too bad for humanity right?

Peter Thiel: I'm looking for volunteers to fuck shit up.
Most of Silicon Valley: I think I'll pass.
Some crazy cats: I never liked living above surface anyway.

 

[Arkeband]

Even if people volunteered to work with Thiel and the Trump administration who weren't nonsensically backwards and counterproductive to their own industry, Trump and Thiel could just replace them the moment they speak up against any cartoon villainy. It'd be an enormous waste of time and effort to work with these cretins.

 

[kess]

Even if people volunteered to work with Thiel and the Trump administration who weren't nonsensically backwards and counterproductive to their own industry, Trump and Thiel could just replace them the moment they speak up against any cartoon villainy. It'd be an enormous waste of time and effort to work with these cretins.

Yeah, people who entertain the notion of working with this administration, like Tulsi Gabbard, should take note. We stand at the brink of a surveillance state run by a clique of nominal libertarians who specialize in data collection, free from oversight or accountability and the morally bereft, nepotistic, wilfully and admittedly ignorant president with a vindictive streak a mile long who oversees it. This shit skeeved me out with Obama and he was a constitutional scholar.

Good times!

 

[Usobuko]

Palmer Luckey would fight right in.

First thing in mind is this racist piece of shit.

 

[SpaceWolf]

What about Trump's son? He's ten years old, the best with computers. The best. Phenomenal at the cyber.

 

[tuxfool]

Note that the Apartheid wasn't just a system in which a racial minority ruled over the majority, but the creation of huge "black reservations" or bantustans (usually located in the less prosperous parts of the country) essential to an economy based on the borderline enslavement of black people for the profit of white people, laboring as "guest workers" for a pittance. No shit it was efficient and sound for people like Thiel.

The racial aspect of it is just half of the evil of Apartheid. It was capitalist class warfare taken to the extreme.

For sure. Though I also think, given his stances on this, I find it laughable that he is given to moralising about the cost of getting representation in the justice system.

"A single digit millionaire like Hulk Hogan just can't get decent representation in this day and age". He said something to that effect.