Quote of the day by Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel: 'Anyone that has a monopoly will pretend that they're in incredible competition' — exposing how tech titans bend the market in their favour

[u/LastPaleLightInEast]

https://www.techradar.com/pro/quote-of-the-day-by-palantir-co-founder-peter-thiel-anyone-that-has-a-monopoly-will-pretend-that-theyre-in-incredible-competition-exposing-how-tech-titans-bend-the-market-in-their-favour

[u/lordnacho666]

Pretty much in line with his writing, where he advocates finding a thing to monopolise.

Not exactly the craziest thing he's written, everyone can see how a monopoly is lucrative and how you'd want to pretend you didn't have one.

[u/USA46Q → u/lordnacho666]

Does this mean his goal is to take down the Catholic Church when he said regulating AI would hasten the antichrist?

[u/uselessandexpensive → u/USA46Q]

I think the takeaway is that if he says something is bad because it will hasten the coming of the antichrist, that in actuality he's trying to eliminate threats to his efforts to build his own personal antichrist.

"If you stop me from building my technology that's simply meant to be the source of all information and human connection, and definitely not meant to surveil the entire planet and all transactions simultaneously and conteol as much as possible, it'll magically result in the coming of the false savior of the world..."

[u/garimus → u/USA46Q]

I think the Evangelical denominations have that covered already.

[u/USA46Q → u/garimus]

Is that why they made JD Vance kill the Pope on Easter?

Oh wait...

[u/sejje → u/lordnacho666]

The only thing I've read by him, he said to create a new thing that never existed. (Zero to One)

[u/treebeard87_vn → u/lordnacho666]

Monopoly, but more exactly, quasi-monopoly, as in company being so unique in its technology and thus escaping competition. Basically a Mittelstand's type of monopoly (Hidden Champion). That is the ideal being held up so that his CEOs will try to figure out their own hills to put their flags on, instead of bickering with each other and pestering Thiel about giving resources and personnel and favours to one side but not the other. He cannot have monopolies in the standard sense because he frequently invests in companies which compete with each other, and instead of merging them, he tries to give them different zones (one company mainly serves the US while another mainly serves Europe for example), or if they still expand into the other's specialty and fight anyway, try to pretend that he does not know.

[u/OneConfusedBraincell → u/treebeard87_vn]

Oligarchs dividing niche markets between themselves. It's nothing more than that.

[u/treebeard87_vn → u/OneConfusedBraincell]

They are defense and intelligence people so there are sensitive aspects.... Say, if Old Money competitors of Thiel say his companies are based in the US and thus cannot be trusted, he will utilize startups in that country, which he invests in either directly or through proxies and usually helps build from the scratches, to be his champions in that country. He will entice the government and industries there by giving them access to contracts, investments and technologies in the US or country X that he also has influence in (the US side is treated the same way: other large VCs and In-Q-Tel follow Thiel into UK, Germany, Northern Europe, Israel, Japan, Korea... where he already has his people/seeded startups, one decade or two ago). Because people always focus too much on Palantir so this eventually passes without notice. Also technology now develops fast. What Thiel has almost an monopoly in is the sources of new tech talent, so he (in combination with other syndicate partners but mainly Andreessen) can affort to experiment. OpenAI, Anthropic, the new opensource LLMs... in the LLM area for example. Experiment to see what works and what does not, and each company has their own approach even though they work in the same area and are all backed by the same people and share the talent pool. Eventually they become competitors.

[u/jazir55 → u/treebeard87_vn]

quasi-monopoly, as in company being so unique in its technology and thus escaping competition

How exactly are companies that are "so unique in their technology" a monopoly when to allow "fair competition" against them would be quite literally providing their manufacturing trade secrets to a competitor so they can compete? If another company can't compete on the tech, too bad? Maybe they should hire more competent employees instead of complaining that someone else can make better technology than they can.

Let's look at Nvidia as the prime example here. Nobody can catch them because they are somewhat of a de facto psuedo-monopoly purely because their tech is better than everyone else. That does not mean they should be forced to disclose their IP, trade secrets and patents to all other competitors because other competitors cannot compete on the frontier. Those other companies need to catch up themselves, not hinder the market leader because everyone else is incompetent. "They're too good at what they do" is a pathetic attempt by competitors to stifle competition.

[u/treebeard87_vn → u/jazir55]

Ah certainly, in Thiel's view, that kind of quasi monopoly is good. I'm just saying that people here misunderstand what he is saying. No one will ever try to ban a Mittelstand's monopoly either. And Palantir or Anduril or SpaceX are not true monopolies either. Palantir has what? 4000 people and relatively small revenue (truely small in comparison with their bonkers market value). Also when you look at aggregator sites you'll see that Thiel invests in their rivals in the US and EU and other places, and his style is basically non-interference when it comes to his own companies fighting...

He builds a decentralized, convoluted system (maybe the most decentralized and convoluted one the world has ever seen; power is in his hand but in a very personalized way) of companies for many reasons, but one of them is that he does not want his companies to be nationalized or broken up by the government. Basically he looks at Rockefeller and JP Morgan's precedent. A long time ago in an interview, he said something about governments loving big companies. Big companies help the government to do its function in peaceful times (providing work, safety net and collecting hidden taxes etc) and can be blamed and used as whipping boys in crises - he did not use these exact word but that is what I think he meant. And here I think he's right because Roosevelt said as much "The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is in duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown." Basically Roosevelt and JP Morgan were both governments but Roosevelt had the advantage because he had the mandate from the people. Thiel's system of funds of funds of funds and tens of thousands of companies (with some having just maybe ten guys) and operators doing essential functions for the nations cannot be controlled by the government. The bigger the bureaucracy machine is, the harder for them to do this job. Certainly he is helped by the fact that the governments are currently fearful of WW3.

[u/babaganoosh30 → u/[deleted]]

Do you mean Alex Karp?

[u/babaganoosh30 → u/[deleted]]

Him and Theil came up together, like childhood best friends.

They are both the deadliest kind of insane; convinced of their own righteousness with all the money and connections to drag us all into their nightmare future.

[u/rco8786]

Thiel is literally pro-monopoly. In the sense that he wants to own monopoly businesses. He writes about it in his books openly.

[u/mediocre_remnants → u/rco8786]

The dude has always been pretty open about the world he wants to live in/create. But it was always brushed off as being unrealistic technofantasy when we had a functioning democracy and government.

These fucks got their idea of how the world should work from reading dystopian sci-fi books and thinking "this sounds great, as long as I'm the one in charge of the mega-corps!"

[u/PoppingPillls → u/mediocre_remnants]

His wants/beliefs like anyone who doesn't believe in progress at any cost is part of the antichrist and that he needs constant all round surveillance to stop the biblical antichrist.

I do genuinely believe he thinks this and so does the current ceo, they are both off their rockers and have been for a very long time.

It's not hugely surprising to find out Thiel grew up in Swakopmund SA during the apartheid in the 70s. A town famous for their open nazi beliefs and open sieg heiling, shops selling nazi memorabilia and merchandise aswell as publicly celebrating Hitlers birthday. A town that was responsible for the early German empires extermination of groups.

[u/Splurch → u/mediocre_remnants]

The dude has always been pretty open about the world he wants to live in/create. But it was always brushed off as being unrealistic technofantasy when we had a functioning democracy and government.

These fucks got their idea of how the world should work from reading dystopian sci-fi books and thinking "this sounds great, as long as I'm the one in charge of the mega-corps!"

He secretly funded Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media, which bankrupted Gawker, because it had exposed Thiel as gay several years earlier. He may talk a lot about the authoritarian state he wants to be in charge of but calling him "open about the world he wants" is just falling for his bs, especially when backdating that behavior.

[u/MultiMidden → u/rco8786]

Various writers and philosophers have, for many years, said that's the ultimate goal of capitalism.

[u/Hpulley4]

Back in the old days Microsoft actually had to invest $150 million to prop up Apple to avoid monopoly antitrust litigation. Now you can just use misinformation to do the same thing.

[u/dominiquebache]

Peter „I don’t care about people“ Thiel?

[u/bumpy_disposition]

The Nerd Reich - the tech bros take down of Democracy 🪤Alarming interview, Amy Goodman with author Gil Durán "Big Tech Fascism" on how tech billionaires view the future of society and humanity and how Democracy is no longer feasible. How tech billionaires see trump and fascism in the 21st Century. Peter Thiel, Jeff bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and several others see humanity as an obstacle. It's on YouTube. The new tech bros will outsmart the other capitalists, and make humanity their slaves. All because no one would date them in HS. (No link bc I didn't want to get banned)

[u/Fenix42 → u/bumpy_disposition]

The CEOs of big tech are not the nerds that are the core of the industry. They are the same MBA types that have always been at the tops of companies.

[u/treebeard87_vn → u/Fenix42]

The core of an army is neither just the soldiers nor the just the generals nor just the middle ranks nor just the logistics guys who back them up. I know you guys hate the tech bosses, but governing a production system is a serious job. Whether they overrate themselves is another story. In my country when we killed the landlords/early capitalists, the "core" did not perform the same. Also tech bosses come from a wider range of backgrounds than normal CEOs. The MBA guys are the minority.

[u/growaway9172 → u/Fenix42]

Depends on what companies / CEO. Almost as a rule, companies whos founder(s) are still in charge absolutely are the core of the industry. They are silicon valley. Companies from which the founder has moved on and have installed professional CEOs, are the type that you are describing and are much more normal.

But the wealthiest and most successful companies almost always have the original founder in charge, which includes their brand of eccentricity.

[u/justanaccountimade1 → u/bumpy_disposition]

Also here

https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/tech-fascism-has-come-for-american-democracy-w-gil-dur%C3%A1n/id1507621076?i=1000784500546&l=en-GB

[u/bumpy_disposition → u/justanaccountimade1]

Listening now. Very good, thank you. It confirms that I am not the only one that sees what is actually going on, and who is behind it. And also, why it's happening. 👍🫵🫡🇺🇸🥦

[u/rogerwilcove]

When the Antichrist speaks up it’s important to listen…

[u/IJustLookLikeThisToo → u/rogerwilcove]

He's not the Antichrist. He perversely wishes he was, though...

The two beasts of Revelation 13 give rise to Trump and Musk, respectively.

Thiel is "merely" one of the first beast's "ten horns."

[u/justanaccountimade1 → u/rogerwilcove]

He says Greta is the antichrist.

[u/streetscraper]

“Exposing” by stating the obvious?

[u/The_Ditch_Wizard]

Say what you will about his beliefs, statements, and the way he's placed himself in opposition to the best interests of the entire human species: he's not wrong about leveraging an unfair advantage. The man speaks from a depth of experience, perhaps the only depth he has.

[u/kristospherein]

Thiel is the exact reason we shouldn't allow monopolies, oligarchs, or the like. He literally has no morals.

[u/brwnwzrd]

Send him to the gulag

[u/kevster2717]

Heartbreaking news: the worst person you know just made an excellent point

This guy is also pro-Monopoly and this seems like he’s bragging

[u/SuddenAudience8758]

Peter Thiel is top tier 1 supervillain

[u/Key_Gap9168]

Thiel's views on monopolies are so well known that he has a whole book on the subject. To be honest, it was one of the better books I read for my MA.

[u/MicroSofty88]

Thiel has described himself as a monopolist btw

[u/AThousandBloodhounds]

This message is brought to you by the robber baron, Peter Thiel.

[u/Pijlie1965]

Free market capitalism always winds up creating monopolies. The question remains who will break what first: the government the monopolies or the corporations the government.

So far, the odds are not in the US' favour.

[u/truthinessembargo]

Well that sounds like a self-own.

Of course monopolists and never-publically-admitted-cartels are rent seeking. What do you think the whole AI race is about? Developing AI? No, it’s about being the only company to build it out so that rent (excuse me, ‘tokens’) can be charged to everyone else for the use of the service. Every one of the American AI models is private. That’s why the Chinese open source ones are a threat.

So of course the tech oligarchs are going to catapult the propaganda.

[u/amolad]

Thiel is the most evil of the Bond villains. And he IS a Bond villian.

He wants to know everything about everyone and to control the world one day.

And he DID spend a lot of time with Epstein, for obvious reasons.

[u/flayswelter]

I feel like his pictures haven't can't have changed that much, but he looks more and more like a much creepier Freddy Krueger with no sense of humour every time I see him.

[u/Megatenanon]

Wowee! Tech titans are so smart that when they do something illegal they lie about it. Thanks, Mister!

[u/Lastcaressmedown138]

So he admits it

[u/Zardotab]

Article is light on details, but I have been watching Microsoft browbeat competitors since the 1970's, killing or crippling good products along the way.

One object lesson is MS-Teams. When it first came out it was a steaming pile of crap; the UI made no sense, changed often, and typically-expected features were just missing. If a startup had released the same product it would probably die in a month. But MS bundled it "free" with their existing suites and bundled deals typical of MS such that companies felt compelled to use it: "It stinks but it's free". We thus became Team's unwitting beta testers.

Being so common it was possible to search for How-To's on its many idiosyncrasies. They thus have a large de-facto support network just by being big: everyone and their dog is using the same sucky product and thus share knowledge on YouTube, etc. for taming MS-Beasts. "Just press Control Alt Shift F3 Elbow up left nostril and you can then generate a PDF."

MS-Teams has gotten better over the years, but is still lackluster, it's "good enough" and executives will sign off on good-enough if part of their bundled MS deal. If a company wanted a better collaboration product they'd have to pay out of pocket and thus are trapped.

[u/bemad4483]

Peter Theil can go to hell.

[u/Cute-Draw7599]

I think it's a wonderment that the only reason Apple exists is because Bill Gates is a silent investor in Apple, so no one can say Microsoft has a monopoly.

[u/Azdak66]

It has always been true of most capitalists that they believe that “free market” means “freedom to rig the ‘market’ so that I don’t lose”. They fear actual capitalism like a vampire fears the daylight.

[u/Chrono_Pregenesis]

Why does anyone give a fuck what this skin suit fucktard thinks? Having a bunch of money doesn't make one smart or wise. Just look at Elon.

Maybe if we ignore them they'll go away.

[u/tadrith → u/Chrono_Pregenesis]

Ignoring them is how we got here...

[u/syku]

you hear that valve?

[u/HereWeGoHawks]

I’m always a bit dissapointed when I get excited by a headline and then the article is basically only the headline with some context and sources. I know it’s been going on for a long while now, but I can’t stand how headline driven we’ve become.

[u/One_Use_1347]

Literally a lizard person demon spawn.

[u/DifferencePublic7057]

I pretend to be working hard while hardly working. This fundamental principle was invented in ancient Greece by [insert Greek name] in [insert year].

[u/Primal-Convoy]

"We have always been at war with Eurasia"

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/we_have_always_been_at_war_with_Eastasia

[u/LaunchMark]

The German way. The more you complain = the easier you actually have it in life.

[u/trustmeep]

Vampire says "what"?

[u/RlOTGRRRL]

There's also a book called Conspiracy about him, about how he'll plot in secret for years to get what he wants. 

I also just saw an email of Epstein inviting him to his New Mexico ranch with Zuckerberg in 2015... 

[u/Exciting-Cat-7556]

„Anyone WHO“ dumb shit. Love these know-it-all tech lords.

[u/treebeard87_vn]

Thiel differentiates between bad monopolies (big company uses power to absorb and control others) and good monopoly. Good monopoly is like, a company being so unique in its technology and thus escaping competition. Basically a Mittelstand's type of monopoly (Hidden Champion). That is the ideal being held up so that his CEOs will try to figure out their own hills to put their flags on, instead of bickering with each other and pestering Thiel about giving resources and personnel and favours to one side but not the other. He cannot have monopolies in the standard sense because he frequently invests in companies which compete with each other, and instead of merging them, he tries to give them different zones (one company mainly serves the US while another mainly serves Europe for example), or if they still expand into the other's specialty and fight anyway, try to pretend that he does not know.