Quotation of the Day

We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters. - Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel, meet David Graeber.

Not surprisingly, The Baffler brought the two of them together:

Where Did the Future Go? David Graeber vs. Peter Thiel

Here is George Packer's informative 2011 profile of Thiel in the New Yorker:

No Death, No Taxes: The libertarian futurism of a Silicon Valley billionaire.

I disagree with Thiel on a lot - more than I disagree with Graeber - but the two men are certainly asking the right questions.

POSTSCRIPT: The Baffler's "debate" between the two men is not really much of one, because they agree on a lot. But one distinction between them is manifestly obvious. Graeber is entirely relaxed and transparent, and Thiel is not; he acts like a man with something to hide. Probably all billionaires do have quite a bit to hide (at the very least, where they keep their money). Thiel becomes noticeably uneasy on the subject of Palantir, his data analysis company that provides counter-terrorism services to the U.S. government. He can't jolly well engage when Graeber speaks disparagingly of the financialization of the economy, seeing as he is the president of a hedge fund (Clarium Capital). And Thiel is positively disingenuous on the subject of politics, claiming to be a "political atheist" when in fact he gives tons of money to politicians, mostly Republicans.