Peter Thiel on "The Portal", Episode #001: "An Era of Stagnation & Universal Institutional Failure."

Eric Weinstein8 HN recommenders · 2019–2024
1.2M views · podcast · evergreen · Uploaded 2019-07-19

Peter Thiel is the first guest on Eric Weinstein's The Portal, in a nearly three-hour conversation about technological stagnation, institutional failure and the link between growth and violence. They discuss universities, the economy and the search for a more ambitious future.

HN people recommend it as a thought-provoking, wide-ranging case for the stagnation thesis, worth hearing even if you disagree with Thiel.

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11 comments from Hacker News

@meremortals2019 · in “Brain Simulation Promised a Decade Ago Hasn't Succeeded”

Peter Thiel discusses this often, and recently on The Portal with Eric Weinstein-- where all these sorts of breakthroughs are perpetually right around the corner. previous hn discussion [LINK] youtube interview: [VIDEO]

@lunias2019 · in “Major Technological Changes Are Coming More Slowly Than They Once Did”

[VIDEO] Lots of relevant conversation within. There's a quote in there somewhere along the lines of: "we've built the computer from the starship enterprise, but we possess little other tech from Star Trek"

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@keiferski2019 · in “A CS degree is better than teaching yourself how to code?”

It is interesting to juxtapose this conversation with semi-recent comments by Peter Thiel on how the West has technologically stagnated in the past ±50 years. Perhaps there is a link between "no-heavy-CS-required web development" becoming the dominant tech industry and this stagnation. [VIDEO]

@ned72020 · in “Ask HN: What were your most impactful podcast episodes from 2019?”

The first episode of "the portal" was great. In that episode Eric Weinstein and Peter Thiel deeply discussed a variety of topics. [VIDEO]

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@scop2020 · in “Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation”

I recommend that people listen to that episode even if it's not interesting to you. Very good food for thought. Video: [VIDEO] Audio: [LINK]

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@cinntaile2020 · in “Peter Thiel on Progress and Stagnation”

This is also discussed on the very first episode [0] of The Portal where Eric Weinstein talks with Peter Thiel. It's been a while since I listened to it but I remember I found it to be an interesting discussion and an unusual viewpoint. [0] [VIDEO]

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@moneytide12021 · in “Everybody Hates “FLoC””

> the visceral reaction against FLoC The article title contains the word "everybody" which is evidence of the authors tendency to deal in absolutes. He is claiming to speak for us all with this loose assimilation of words ("hates" further describes an emotional disposition towards idea proposal, and the tagline is equally charming). Let's make it our mission to be polite for a cleaner archive of Internet Interaction Instances. I will not match the negative energy and instead proceed to be cordial&calculated in the delivery of my opinion (I lost sleep over this last night). Thiel on Weinstein's "Portal" ventured the "eye of Sauron" metaphor [0] to describe the effect of surveillance on generations developing during the Information Age. The "double-slit experiment" is also relevant here (modern scientific lore suggesting that the act of observation influences outcome - "spooky action"). Tolkien and Wagner both constructed epic "entertainment" sagas that describe elaborate human feud because of a "golden ring of power". Both of these works were written after the Industrial Age had fully (quickly) propelled civilization into a new form, with recent regional warfare fresh in the memories of the aforementioned authors (Wagner would have monitored Franco-Prussian conflict, Tolkien personally participated in the Somme). The Völsunga saga could be considered the first instance of the same story ("... the ring Andvaranaut serves as a connection and explanation for the characters' troub

@crmd2021 · in “Too many new papers may mean novel ideas rarely rack up citations”

I enjoyed this podcast[0] with Peter Thiel and Eric Weinstein, where one of their central discussion points is the current stagnation of technological innovation, beginning in the mid 1970s, with the sole exception of computer software. [0] [VIDEO]

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@petermcneeley2021 · in “David Graeber’s Possible Worlds”

I think one can learn quite a bit from Thiel even if one is not ideologically aligned with him. Here is a much more lengthy discussion: [VIDEO]

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@systemvoltage2022 · in “Welcome Home, Garry Tan”

I've studied Thiel, he's just not mainstream left. If you want to listen to him with good faith, I enjoyed this interview: [VIDEO] Doesn't come across evil to me unless by evil you mean just not mainstream left, which might be the correct in the valley.

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@HarryHirsch2024 · in “Mourning and moving on: rituals for leaving a career (2014)”

There was a lengthy interview with Peter Thiel a few years back: [VIDEO] It's interesting and worth watching, but it becomes apparent that Thiel is a financier, and science takes place on a different timescale. Better seek advice from someone who was active when US science was still functional, let's say Roy Vagelos.

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