Reason.tv: Peter Thiel on Facebook, Technology, and the Higher Education Bubble

November 12, 2010

Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal, was an early investor in Facebook, and currently serves as president of the global macro hedge fund Clarium Capital. He recently announced the creation of the Thiel Fellowship, which will award $100,000 each to 20 people under 20 years old to "stop out" of college and create their own business ventures.

During the recent Libertopia festival in Hollywood, California, Thiel sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to talk about the new film The Social Network, technology, exit rights, and the higher education bubble.

Approximately 9 minutes. Interview by Tim Cavanaugh. Camera by Adam Jensen, Zach Weissmueller.

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Jen|11.12.10 @ 3:07PM|#

First! YES!

...I'm a little too excited about this, aren't I?

No|11.12.10 @ 3:56PM|#

It's what we've come to expect from intellects of your caliber.

Virginia|11.12.10 @ 3:23PM|#

which will award $100,000 each to 20 people under 20 years old to "stop out" of college and create their own business ventures.

Will they have to give it back after they quit in disgust at the number of local zoning regs and taxes they're smacked with?

Bruce Majors|11.13.10 @ 10:39AM|#

hey can always outsource themselves, their inventions, and their start-ups to someplace with no corporate income taxes.

Hugh Akston|11.12.10 @ 3:57PM|#

Nice interview, but I bet the line to get into the bathroom you recorded it in was pretty long by the end of it.

Paul|11.12.10 @ 6:25PM|#

Well played, sir... well played.

Kristen|11.12.10 @ 4:03PM|#

Fuck authoritarian dick-sucking Pay Pal

Fake Name|11.12.10 @ 4:30PM|#

Better sound quality please.

El Duderino|11.12.10 @ 4:42PM|#

Maybe we need Wiki Professors. I know that Wikipedia is not the most reliable source due to various issues pertaining to its rather open format for publishing articles, but they are constantly working to improve the quality of the content. I think that there should be MORE sites like wikipedia and I think that college professors should cash in their pensions and start doing online wiki colleges. Shit, they could sell ads and make more than most colleges do in a year and they would have unlimited classroom and dorm space.

I realize there are online colleges already, but this is not what I am talking about. I am saying take the tuition model and scrap it for an ad or donation supported business model.

|11.12.10 @ 9:07PM|#

Absolutely! And while we're at it, why do we still have to pay for lunch?

El Duderino|11.13.10 @ 3:52PM|#

You cannot transmit lunch over the internet, so it wont be covered by ad revenue.

Though I wonder why more restaurants don't contract to put ads in their restaurants and on their packaging. McDonalds makes some money putting pictures of Shrek on happy meals... I think they should advertise things for adults as well.

RyanXXX|11.12.10 @ 4:54PM|#

This guy's cool. Apparently he mailed Rand Paul a million dollar check or something for his campaign.

Troll|11.12.10 @ 5:11PM|#

"Politics becomes libertarian as an absolute last resort".

Troll|11.12.10 @ 5:12PM|#

Oh yeah, and DRINK!

|11.12.10 @ 6:47PM|#

Cheers.

|11.12.10 @ 11:31PM|#

Or maybe libertarianism rises in opposition to Democratic presidencies...don't forget all the religious folks and social conservatives who aren't ok with legalized pot (on moral grounds) and more porn.

They're watching the Obama presidency in disbelief.

Bruce Majors|11.13.10 @ 10:33AM|#

Great interview but Tim missed the most important issues.

Inquiring libertarian gays want to know: is he seeing anyone?

Libertarian gay|11.13.10 @ 2:30PM|#

I hope not.

Bruce Majors|11.16.10 @ 12:52PM|#

I'd even love to work for him with no socializing. He's great. I will have to track down his book on affirmative action in higher education.

Edwin|11.13.10 @ 10:36PM|#

Peter Thiel is the an example of the height of libertarian aspberger nerd-douche shittiness. If you read his articles, it turns out that this weirdo thinks humans can live forever ("... until the oppressiveness of the idea of the inevitability of death is conquered... " [that's my paraphrase]), and hates women. And with what he's done now, it seems he's even found a way to donate like a troglodyte backwards jackass. LULZ! Deep down a lot of libertarians are terrible terrible people. TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING LULZ!

Bruce Majors|11.16.10 @ 12:57PM|#

Why do you think you can make character assassination attempts with no references or evidence?

To do so exposes you as an MSNBC level intellect and undercuts any point you might want to make, even if you knew what you were talking about.

And smearing gay men as either pedophiles or woman haters (absent any evidence that the particular individual you are charging with these vices actually has them) is the moral equivalent of attacking a black man as a would be rapist because of his race.

Edwin|11.16.10 @ 6:02PM|#

how about you read some of what he wrote before making ass assumptions like I'm saying he hates women because he's gay?, ya ass

Tanya|11.14.10 @ 4:24PM|#

Why is he wearing the same color shirt and tie? Tim looks vaguely homeless. Yikes.

Deety|11.15.10 @ 3:12AM|#

"The goal has been to create some sort of space, outside of politics..."

That is a deeply silly goal.

Not that I don't get the appeal but hell, I STILL think that having a "frictionless plane" to play around with wouldn't be with cool as shit too..

Epoche*|11.15.10 @ 8:40AM|#

Peter Thiel doesnt hate women, he just thinks they are more inclined to socialism than men - a sentiment that I would agree with. Our society is becoming more feminized, and this is not exactly a boon for liberty.

Bruce Majors|11.16.10 @ 1:07PM|#

I do believe if one peruses 70s and 80s socialist and "liberal" feminist literature one will see gals asserting exactly that point. So whether it is true or not that women, or women in our culture, etc., are more likely to be socialist or not, it is a point that feminist writers have agreed with.

Julie Ershadi|2.22.12 @ 12:56PM|#

The fact that leftist feminist writers agree with a premise is one big reason to doubt it.

Bart|11.15.10 @ 12:23PM|#

It is funny how much he stresses silicon valley's "win-win" mentality and the importance of being able to leave California as making California better when PayPal is doing the exact opposite.

I have some small businesses that use PayPal and they are making it harder and harder on us to:

1. Withdraw our money (I have to wait 6 weeks)
2. Move it around between accounts (virtually impossible these days)
3. Use different funds to pay for different things. (They force you to use PayPal funds first - no excpetions.)

Just goes to show, when you have a huge share of the marketplace, the temptation to squeeze your income sources for every penny - even when you know it is a long term lose/lose situation is just too great - even for the "libertarian minded", forward thinking Peter Thiel.

Bruce Majors|11.16.10 @ 1:09PM|#

Hasn't the government imposed more and more restrictions on pay pal to keep people from gambling on line, moving money abroad, etc?

Are they responsible for the situation you describe?

|2.6.11 @ 10:10AM|#

at 3:13: lower and lower inflation! Really??? Women entered the workforce since 1980 to offet lowered man wages. Since the late 1980's the government has constantly changed the CPI and GDP so that it is meaningless. True inflation today using 1980 CPI formula is around 8%. See http://www.shadowstats.com/primers-and-reports

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