A billionaire transhumanist from Silicon Valley who wants to teach California tech elites about the Antichrist.
Hoo boy.
Anyone who has paid attention to Thiel's thoughts on the Bible and the Antichrist probably has some questions right now.
From his most recent NYT interview with columnist Ross Douthat:
Thiel believes the development of technology is important because he has ideas that AI and tech could lead to the rise of the real Antichrist.
The event is being sponsored by the Acts 17 Collective, which aims to discuss faith and culture in the tech world. A Q&A for the series will be hosted by Peter Robinson of Stanford's Hoover Institute.
Here's part of the description to the event, which will be off the record.
His remarks will be anchored on science and technology, and will comment on the theology, history, literature, and politics of the Antichrist. Religious thinkers upon whom Peter will draw include René Girard, Francis Bacon, Jonathan Swift, Carl Schmitt, and John Henry Newman.
Lots of big-brain activity there, but one has to wonder if a bunch of extremely wealthy elites meeting to discuss the manifestation of the Antichrist through technology might just be hubris at its finest.
Thiel was one of the co-founders of Paypal alongside Elon Musk and is heavily invested in tech and military startups like Palantir and Anduril. He is also a major backer of Trump and JD Vance, who worked as a partner at his capital venture firm, Mithril Capital (Thiel is a major Lord of the Rings fan). Vance described hearing Thiel give a speech in 2011 as "the most significant moment" of his time at Yale.
Anyway, I'm just going to leave you with a few reactions.
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