Peter Thiel

Technology has been reduced to meaning computers. And that tells you that – the structure of progress has been weird. There's been this narrow cone of very intense progress around the world of bits, around the world of computers, and then all the other areas have been relatively stagnant. We're not moving any faster. The Concorde got decommissioned in 2003 or whenever.

Technology has been reduced to meaning computers. And that tells you that – the structure of progress has been weird. There's been this narrow cone of very intense progress around the world of bits, around the world of computers, and then all the other areas have been relatively stagnant. We're not moving any faster. The Concorde got decommissioned in 2003 or whenever.

Technology has been reduced to meaning computers. And that tells you that – the structure of progress has been weird. There's been this narrow cone of very intense progress around the world of bits, around the world of computers, and then all the other areas have been relatively stagnant. We're not moving any faster. The Concorde got decommissioned in 2003 or whenever.

And then with all the low-tech airport security measures, it takes even longer to fly, to get through all of them from one city to the next. The highways have gone backwards because there are more traffic jams. We haven't figured out ways around those. So we're literally moving slower than we were 40 or 50 years ago. And then, yeah, and that's sort of the –

And then with all the low-tech airport security measures, it takes even longer to fly, to get through all of them from one city to the next. The highways have gone backwards because there are more traffic jams. We haven't figured out ways around those. So we're literally moving slower than we were 40 or 50 years ago. And then, yeah, and that's sort of the –

And then with all the low-tech airport security measures, it takes even longer to fly, to get through all of them from one city to the next. The highways have gone backwards because there are more traffic jams. We haven't figured out ways around those. So we're literally moving slower than we were 40 or 50 years ago. And then, yeah, and that's sort of the –

And then, of course, there's also a sense in which the screens and the devices have this effect of distracting us from this. So when you're riding a 100-year-old subway in New York City and you're looking at your iPhone, you can look at, wow, this is this cool new gadget. But you're also being distracted from the fact that your lived environment hasn't changed in 100 years. And...

And then, of course, there's also a sense in which the screens and the devices have this effect of distracting us from this. So when you're riding a 100-year-old subway in New York City and you're looking at your iPhone, you can look at, wow, this is this cool new gadget. But you're also being distracted from the fact that your lived environment hasn't changed in 100 years. And...

And then, of course, there's also a sense in which the screens and the devices have this effect of distracting us from this. So when you're riding a 100-year-old subway in New York City and you're looking at your iPhone, you can look at, wow, this is this cool new gadget. But you're also being distracted from the fact that your lived environment hasn't changed in 100 years. And...

And so there's a question how important is this world of bits versus the world of atoms. You know, I would say as human beings, we're physically embodied in a material world. And so I would always say this world of atoms is pretty important. And when that's pretty stagnant, you know, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense. I was an undergraduate at Stanford late 80s.

And so there's a question how important is this world of bits versus the world of atoms. You know, I would say as human beings, we're physically embodied in a material world. And so I would always say this world of atoms is pretty important. And when that's pretty stagnant, you know, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense. I was an undergraduate at Stanford late 80s.

And so there's a question how important is this world of bits versus the world of atoms. You know, I would say as human beings, we're physically embodied in a material world. And so I would always say this world of atoms is pretty important. And when that's pretty stagnant, you know, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense. I was an undergraduate at Stanford late 80s.

And at the time, in retrospect, every engineering area would have been a bad thing to go into. You know, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, all these engineering fields where you're tinkering and trying to do new things because these things turned out to be stuck. They were regulated. You couldn't come up with new things to do.

And at the time, in retrospect, every engineering area would have been a bad thing to go into. You know, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, all these engineering fields where you're tinkering and trying to do new things because these things turned out to be stuck. They were regulated. You couldn't come up with new things to do.

And at the time, in retrospect, every engineering area would have been a bad thing to go into. You know, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, all these engineering fields where you're tinkering and trying to do new things because these things turned out to be stuck. They were regulated. You couldn't come up with new things to do.

Nuclear engineering, aero-astroengineering, people already knew those were really bad ones to go into. They were outlawed. You weren't going to make any progress in nuclear reactor designs or stuff like that. Electrical engineering, which was the one that's sort of adjacent to making semiconductors, that one was still okay.

Nuclear engineering, aero-astroengineering, people already knew those were really bad ones to go into. They were outlawed. You weren't going to make any progress in nuclear reactor designs or stuff like that. Electrical engineering, which was the one that's sort of adjacent to making semiconductors, that one was still okay.

Nuclear engineering, aero-astroengineering, people already knew those were really bad ones to go into. They were outlawed. You weren't going to make any progress in nuclear reactor designs or stuff like that. Electrical engineering, which was the one that's sort of adjacent to making semiconductors, that one was still okay.

And then the only field that was actually going to progress a lot was computer science. And again, you know, it's been very powerful, but that was not the felt sense in the 1980s. In the 1980s, computer science was this ridiculous inferior subject. You know, I always the linguistic cut is always when people use the word science, I'm in favor of science. I'm not in favor of science in quotes.

And then the only field that was actually going to progress a lot was computer science. And again, you know, it's been very powerful, but that was not the felt sense in the 1980s. In the 1980s, computer science was this ridiculous inferior subject. You know, I always the linguistic cut is always when people use the word science, I'm in favor of science. I'm not in favor of science in quotes.