After five days of voting and tens of thousands of ballots cast, 32 candidates were narrowed down to two PayPal billionaires. Now, in a very tight race that came down to the wire, the votes are in and a winner has been chosen.
2022’s Worst Person in Tech is…
🔮 PETER THIEL 🩸
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk have a long history, starting at PayPal. But there was bad blood: Thiel ousted Musk as CEO during his honeymoon in 2000.
More recently, it was reported that Thiel considers Musk a fraud and braggart, while Musk sees Thiel as a sociopath.
Thiel doesn’t have Musk’s public profile, but he’s very influential. He founded Palantir, which pushes big-data surveillance. He’s also a funder of far-right causes and candidates, including Trump, and the case that killed Gawker.
Of course, one of the wildest stories about Peter Thiel was that he wanted young people’s blood to slow his aging.
When Malcolm X said, “You show me a capitalist, I'll show you a bloodsucker,” he probably didn’t know it would become so literal.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/peter-thiel-wants-to-inject-himself-with-young-peoples-blood
In March, I spoke to Moira Weigel for an episode of #TechWontSaveUs where we discussed Peter Thiel’s history, the politics he represents in Silicon Valley, and how those politics are becoming more mainstream. That’s only become clearer in the past few months.
You can listen to it here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1004689/10221795-how-peter-thiel-wields-his-power-in-silicon-valley-w-moira-weigel
If you hate the tech billionaires enough to vote in these polls, I think you’d enjoy the conversations I have with expert critics every single week on the show.
Paris Marx is joined by Moira Weigel to discuss Peter Thiel’s history, how the network he cultivated has influenced Silicon Valley, and his recent move into funding Republican candidates.Moira Weigel is an assistant professor at Northeastern Unive...
Paris Marx
Heterodox This
Paul Biggar