> It's in Thiel's nature to distance himself from Altman

This is way off base. Altman is basically a mentee of his, like Zuckerberg. They go way back, and they've both publicly praised each other quite recently. They're very close friends.

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gsf_emergency_4 7 hours ago | parent [-]

I've already edited to say "make moves counter to Altman's". You are right, but Thiel thinks about progress in a fundamentally different, I'd argue opposite, way from Zuck or Altman. More aligned with Elon or Karp. Or even some of the Chinese.

To be concrete, he'd never consciously engage in the kind of circular financing or rentseeking that Altman/Zuck would be open to.

(also he has enough social aptitude not to take Altman on in public.)

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tarsinge 6 hours ago | parent [-]

I don’t know, the biggest difference I see is Thiel and Elon are all about government/tax payer money (through contracts like Palantir or SpaceX, subsidies like Tesla, lobbying, influencing elections, or worst). In that way they align with China, as an autocracy directly financing their companies is their ideal business model. Altman and Zuck OTOH are more typical SV entrepreneurs.

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piva00 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There's also a difference in Thiel: an intensely heretic view of Christianity, he touts himself as a Christian while trying to make it his work of stopping the Anti-Christ (which in Christian theology is impossible since you'd be stopping the Apocalypse).

Peter Thiel is an interesting character mostly due to how bizarre he can be, a billionaire who is entranced in Christian mythology, afraid of death, using his power in capital to try to mold the world to his fractured mind. In a parallel world where he isn't rich he would be the town crazy spouting about the Anti-Christ at main square in some German village.

	▲	gsf_emergency_5 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		There was an Orthodox ascetic that argued for physical immortality (and space colonialism): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Fyodorov_(philosopher) Yes making things people want is not really in their book of values. If they're about things that almost nobody wants (transhumanism, triggering the Apocalypse) it makes sense that governments might have to step in. Counterpoint-- Thiel and Musk, if you believe them, brought the "Open" to OpenAI https://archive.ph/KFxhI >Because of AI’s surprising history, it’s hard to predict when human-level AI might come within reach. When it does, it’ll be important to have a leading research institution which can prioritize a good outcome for all over its own self-interest. We’re hoping to grow OpenAI into such an institution. --Musk, 2015

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4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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