Peter Thiel

There's some sort of radical difference between a human and a, let's say, a pre-human world.

There's some sort of radical difference between a human and a, let's say, a pre-human world.

There's some sort of radical difference between a human and a, let's say, a pre-human world.

Yeah, so I find all of that quite plausible, but I think— Both of us can be correct. So there's some... The true story of hominization, of how we became humans, there's a way to tell it where it's continuous with our animal past and where it's just, you know, there's things like this with the chimpanzees or the baboons or, you know, other primates.

Yeah, so I find all of that quite plausible, but I think— Both of us can be correct. So there's some... The true story of hominization, of how we became humans, there's a way to tell it where it's continuous with our animal past and where it's just, you know, there's things like this with the chimpanzees or the baboons or, you know, other primates.

Yeah, so I find all of that quite plausible, but I think— Both of us can be correct. So there's some... The true story of hominization, of how we became humans, there's a way to tell it where it's continuous with our animal past and where it's just, you know, there's things like this with the chimpanzees or the baboons or, you know, other primates.

And then there is a part of the story that I think is also more discontinuous. And, you know, my judgment is we probably... You know, in a Darwinian context, we always stress the continuity. You know, I'm always a little bit the contrarian. And so I believe in Darwin's theory. But I think we should also be skeptical of ways it's too dogmatic.

And then there is a part of the story that I think is also more discontinuous. And, you know, my judgment is we probably... You know, in a Darwinian context, we always stress the continuity. You know, I'm always a little bit the contrarian. And so I believe in Darwin's theory. But I think we should also be skeptical of ways it's too dogmatic.

And then there is a part of the story that I think is also more discontinuous. And, you know, my judgment is we probably... You know, in a Darwinian context, we always stress the continuity. You know, I'm always a little bit the contrarian. And so I believe in Darwin's theory. But I think we should also be skeptical of ways it's too dogmatic.

And Darwin's theories make us gloss over the discontinuities. You know, the one type of, and this is going to happen overnight, but one type of fairly dramatic discontinuity is that, you know, is that humans have something like language. And even though, you know, chimpanzees probably, I don't know, they have an IQ of 80 or they're pretty smart.

And Darwin's theories make us gloss over the discontinuities. You know, the one type of, and this is going to happen overnight, but one type of fairly dramatic discontinuity is that, you know, is that humans have something like language. And even though, you know, chimpanzees probably, I don't know, they have an IQ of 80 or they're pretty smart.

And Darwin's theories make us gloss over the discontinuities. You know, the one type of, and this is going to happen overnight, but one type of fairly dramatic discontinuity is that, you know, is that humans have something like language. And even though, you know, chimpanzees probably, I don't know, they have an IQ of 80 or they're pretty smart.

But when you don't have a rich symbolic system, that leads to sort of a very, very different kind of structure. And there's something about language.

But when you don't have a rich symbolic system, that leads to sort of a very, very different kind of structure. And there's something about language.

But when you don't have a rich symbolic system, that leads to sort of a very, very different kind of structure. And there's something about language.

uh language and the kind of coordination that allows and the ways that it forces you to it enables you to coordinate on violence and then it encourages you to channel violence in certain sacred religious directions um uh i think uh creates a you know something radically different about human society we're you know we differ you know we we tell humans tell each other stories

uh language and the kind of coordination that allows and the ways that it forces you to it enables you to coordinate on violence and then it encourages you to channel violence in certain sacred religious directions um uh i think uh creates a you know something radically different about human society we're you know we differ you know we we tell humans tell each other stories

uh language and the kind of coordination that allows and the ways that it forces you to it enables you to coordinate on violence and then it encourages you to channel violence in certain sacred religious directions um uh i think uh creates a you know something radically different about human society we're you know we differ you know we we tell humans tell each other stories

A lot of the stories are not true. They're myths. But I think that's some sort of a very important difference from even our closest primate relatives. But this is, again, this is sort of like another way of getting at what's so crazy about chat GPT and passing the Turing test. Because if we had sat here two years ago and you asked me, you know, what is the distinctive feature of a human being?

A lot of the stories are not true. They're myths. But I think that's some sort of a very important difference from even our closest primate relatives. But this is, again, this is sort of like another way of getting at what's so crazy about chat GPT and passing the Turing test. Because if we had sat here two years ago and you asked me, you know, what is the distinctive feature of a human being?