Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome behind the bastards back to podcast people bad about tell all them you.
Chapter 2: What does Peter Thiel believe about the Antichrist?
I'm Robert Evans. And yeah, with me again for part two of our episode on what Peter Thiel thinks about the Antichrist. Um, I'm, I'm just, I'm, I'm sorry that that's, that's what we're, we're talking about right now. I love it. We're getting right to the heart of the matter, you know, because people are like, do you want to talk about the economy?
And I'm like, no, no, no, I don't, I don't want to talk about the economy. I'm tired of talking about the economy. Tell me about what these idiots think. Tell me what they believe. Absolutely. So here we are. Sarah Marshall, you got anything you want to plug here at the start before we dive back into it? Yeah. I have a new podcast about the satanic panic and the- Hell yeah.
wackadoo, horrible things that the fear of a Satan who never showed up to the party caused self-described good and law-abiding people to bring about.
And it's a sad show. It's a fun show. It's a show about history. It's a show about today. It's called The Devil You Know. It's all right now with CBC Podcasts. And of course, I also host a show called You're Wrong About, and you can listen to that too.
And it's a... You know, we have fun while trying to get to the bottom of things, much like you do. Right, right. We're talking today about Peter Thiel being wrong about something important. And we're also talking about the devil he knows, or at least who he thinks the devil might be. Yes, his fantasy devil, perhaps. His fantasy devil. I guarantee you're not going to see where this is building to.
My question is, Sarah, who is your fantasy devil?
Oh, yeah, there you go. Peter Cook in Bedazzled, of course. Oh, you know, Sarah, you could not have said anything that would have gotten me more on your side than that. I love the original Bedazzled. Right? He's the best Satan, easily, by a mile. Tell me why you think that is. And people haven't seen this movie enough. It's a delight. It's Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
I respect, both from a theological standpoint and from just an entertainment standpoint, the idea of a devil whose primary focus is not on acts of grand evil, but on acts of petty annoyance. That scene where he's just casually scratching records and then putting them in the mail is so funny to me. And there's a scene where he's ripping the last pages out of novels. Yes, yes.
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Chapter 3: How did Peter Thiel's views on technology and immortality develop?
And there's that, I mean, my favorite part, I guess spoilers for the film Bedazzled, which is half a century old. Yeah, you've had a long time to see it. And the devil gets up on top of, I think it's a mailbox or something. And he's like, okay, I'm going to walk you through what it was like back then. I'm God. Start praising me. And the guy goes around like, I praise you. Keep going.
Keep praising me. Keep praising me. And he goes on like this for a while. And eventually the guy's like, hey, can we take a break? And maybe I get up there for a minute. And the devil's like, that's exactly what I thought.
Yeah, exactly. Right. And it's good. It's a good devil.
The feeling that a lot of us have in Sunday school or equivalent that like, you know, that the character of God in the Bible is insufferable. And I don't know if that plays into our topic today, but I have always noticed it. And I also really love the Cartman Land episode of South Park where Kyle's faith is challenged and so his parents tell him the story of Job. That's a blast from the past.
And he's like, why would God do that to a good man? Why is he like this?
and it's like why would god do that because like satan you expect to like try and be a trickster but the fact that god is like hey yeah i should ruin this guy's life and see if he still praises me that's a good use of my time you're like yeah the date the devil comes out looking comparatively good in that story because it's less of a betrayal from him he's just an asshole Yeah. Yeah.
Anyway, watch the original Bedazzled. You don't need to watch the one made with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley. Yeah, you can watch that one. It's cute. It's fun. If you want. But yeah, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are one of the great comedy duos. And I do feel like the idea of just... The trickster devil is so beautifully embodied there.
And it's interesting to me that the devil is kind of the trickster character. And we took the trickster who's necessary in most cosmologies and made him evil. Crucial part of society, really. Yeah. A very different role to play. Yeah. So, I don't know, folks. Watch Bedazzled. It's more biblically accurate than Peter Thiel's lecture on the Antichrist.
I'll say that.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Thiel's beliefs on societal progress?
Is that the plot of Footloose?
I'm comedian Rory Scovel, and I'm here to tell you Josh Dean and I have a new podcast that celebrates the amazing creativity of the world's dumbest criminals. It's called Crimeless, a true crime comedy podcast.
Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm investigative journalist Melissa Jeltsin. My new podcast, What Happened in Nashville, tells the story of an IVF clinic's catastrophic collapse and the patients who banded together in the chaos that followed.
It doesn't matter how much I fight. It doesn't matter how much I cry over all of this. It doesn't matter how much justice we get. None of it's going to get me pregnant.
Listen to What Happened in Nashville on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey everybody, it's Michelle Williams, host of Checking In on the Black Effect Podcast Network. You know, we always say new year, new me, but real change starts on the inside. It starts with giving your mind and your spirit the same attention you give your goals. And on my podcast, we talk mental health, healing, growth, and everything you need to step into your next season whole and empowered.
New year, real you. Listen to Checking In with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I know he has a reputation, but it's going to catch up to him.
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Chapter 5: How does Thiel's perspective reflect on current political figures?
And this is bad because Peter is blaming basically the fact that we don't make scientific advancements anymore on this train of thinking that starts, you know, with this nuclear paranoia of this idea that like, well, technology is bad. And that's why we're not progressing technologically. Of course. And I feel like I've explained enough why this is all nonsense. Yeah.
Also, from a film history perspective, that's even wrong. Because, like, what do you call Metropolis, baby? Frankenstein. Yeah. Sure.
Seriously.
I mean, the movie and the book, but yeah. There's so much we could critique about this, but I need to read you this next line. Coincidentally, this is also when the Catholic Church stopped giving apocalyptic sermons. Did it? Is that true? I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Because I went to, like my dad was Catholic.
I didn't only go to Catholic church, but I went to Catholic church a good amount as a little kid. And I remember the priest talking about the end times and the second coming. It wasn't the only thing. There's certainly not as much of a focus in Catholicism as it is in a lot of like evangelical Christian sects. But it's not not talked about.
He's like Catholics aren't talking about it constantly and therefore they're not doing it at all. Yeah, like, I guess my citation here is like, I went to church as a kid, what the fuck are you basing this on, Peter? Like, that's just not true. And it's also like, well, Catholicism's just one chunk of Christianity, and a lot of Christian...
and priests and pastors over the last 75, 80 years have talked about the apocalypse in different ways. It's a common subject. I don't... This whole... This whole pillar of his belief system, which is that people don't really talk about the Antichrist or the apocalypse anymore outside of technology causing it. Right. Is like...
No, it's like in the 20th century, people talked about it, you know, an unbelievable amount and like pretty consistently. And, you know, it's right. It just feels like he's arguing whatever he feels like he needs to in order to justify his the point he wants to make thing by thing.
Yeah, his issue is that like all of the people who are pushing these secular apocalyptic fears about like fertility collapsing or bioweapons or AI are kind of playing into the real Antichrist because the Antichrist wants to stop technological progress, right? That's the argument he's making. Yes. Fascinating. The Antichrist is Amish. Yeah, or a Luddite, right?
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Chapter 6: What are the connections between Thiel and the concept of the Antichrist?
doing crimes against humanity that's not a one world state like the movie that he argues for is not advocating a one world state and neither are most people who want a stronger UN or ICC basically 0% of people including me who support a stronger ICC want a one world state you just want there to be punishments for genocide right Right.
And in this case, it feels like people, including Peter Thiel in this case, are betting themselves into pretzels to justify their desire to get to kill whoever they want and call it morally good. Yeah. And I think with Peter, because I don't think Peter's specifically all that motivated to kill specific groups of people, but I think Peter sees if there's an international criminal court
If there's a higher international law of any kind, then that means I'm bound by law somewhere. And that's wrong. That's fundamentally wrong for anyone to be able to punish me, Peter Thiel, or hold me accountable for any of my actions whatsoever. That's the worst thing that can happen. Because I'm baby, but I'm also the most powerful person in the world, or I should be.
And I should be because of how smart I am. But also, who will stop me? Someone please stop me. No, no one stop me. Yeah, fucking Peter. So this next paragraph is, I've said this several times, this is where things get really crazy, but this is where things get really crazy.
This is where things get really crazy? It's been really crazy.
It's been pretty crazy, but it's about to be crazier. Aww. I know, right? What the fu- are you- Wait! Peter! What? What are we saying? I- I think, let me tell you what I think he's arguing here. I think he's saying that atheists, obviously fundamentalists, believe that everything comes from God, so that includes all violence. Atheists blame all violence on religion.
Yeah, that makes sense when you put it that way. I was an angry atheist. I'm not an angry atheist anymore. I'm still more or less an atheist. I've never met an atheist who thinks all violence is caused by religion. Right, right. I've never met a one? That's a crazy thing to believe? There's certainly capitalism looking at you, kid. And a lot of other stuff.
Yeah, some dude murdering his wife because he doesn't want to pay alimony. That's not God. That kind of stuff happens. Like a fucking rapist committing rape. God didn't make him do that, right? Obviously, there's rapists who do it through their... Sorry. Of just sort of male entitlement. And just, you know, yeah, there's...
Anyway, but it's like this is the kind of writing where it's like you have to kind of simplify everything into an either or it feels like.
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Chapter 7: How does Peter Thiel view Greta Thunberg in relation to his beliefs?
Completely irrelevant. Instead, Peter now talks about two different, like, 80-year-old novels that
about the antichrist from like the early 20th century both of which he brings these i i i he summarizes them i don't think we even need to talk about the novels because what he's what he's pointing out is that both of these novels about the antichrist and most antichrist narratives all have a plot hole which is that they don't explain how the antichrist will actually seize power Ah.
Which is like a weird thing to care of. Anyway, whatever. Oppenheimer lamented, we need new knowledge like we need a hole in the head. Nick Bostrom has proposed preventative policing and global compute governance in his vulnerable world hypothesis. Eliezer Yudkowsky's latest book is, if anyone builds it, everyone dies.
And Peter is saying all three of these guys are potential antichrists or servants of the antichrist, right? Because they're spreading as he... gives this lecture series that's entirely about his apocalyptic beliefs.
He's saying these guys who are talking about Armageddon are all clearly agents of the Antichrist, if not the Antichrist themselves, because no one else would talk about the Antichrist or the apocalypse so much.
Except him, of course.
As he talks about the apocalypse.
Except him.
It's fine with him. And this whole thing is built on paradoxes because it's like, we have to avoid a one world government by giving all of our power to a dictator, right? Who will protect us from another dictator, question mark, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And it's the funniest thing to me. We'll get to his other antichrist. The fact that he's like Eliezer Yudkowsky, maybe an antichrist, right?
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Chapter 8: What criticisms does Thiel face regarding his views on AI and governance?
He very directly is clear about that. He thinks Greta Thunberg could be the Antichrist. What is it about her that so unnerves tyrants? I mean, I guess the fact that she's, you know, very smart and impossible to corrupt. Yeah, the truth.
She's speaking the truth to power.
She's proved to... I mean, honestly, like... I've been just shocked at how continually good her takes have been. Just because anytime someone gets famous, that famous, that young, you expect at some point they're going to either buy into a conspiracy theory or get something weird. And she's just really consistently got a great head on her shoulders. Yeah. And so that scares the hell out of them.
Yeah, great. And can't be convinced to look away. Which I do feel like, you know, everything you've been talking about, I mean, we've been joking about it, but so much of it is like, what in the world is that thing?
Look away.
Let me do a little sleight of hand over here. It's because parlor tricks. I think
fundamentally why they why he hates her and why she is hated by a lot of these guys so much is not that they're scared of the day because obviously she doesn't have any power right she's like somewhat influential but she can't she's not going to throw peter teal in prison or destroy she simply does not have the power she's not a corporation she's just a person with morals yeah
She's just a person with morals and basically zero real-world power. Yeah. But she is emblematic and embodies a fact, which is that I'm not a believer in, oh, justice will win out. The bark, the arc of history bends towards, like, I don't... I think that's a silly stance. But... Yeah.
Inevitably, in the future, if there are people, they will realize that Peter Thiel and all of his ilk during this period of time were deranged monsters who destroyed the environment and who fought viciously against any attempts. To reduce the harm humanity was doing to the biosphere in order to make themselves wealthier. And they will be hated as a result. That's just a fact.
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