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Peter Thiel on College and Credentialism

2 points| copacopab | 4 months ago |twitter.com

11 comments

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copacopab|4 months ago

Useful clip that clarifies PT's sincere position on the importance of college and elite credentialism.

techblueberry|4 months ago

What I get out of this is a sincere position that “we’re good and you’re bad and we’re smart and you’re dumb and not going to college is great if you agree with me, but if you don’t agree with me, that’s evidence you’re an idiot.”

It’s very weird because they’ll argue whatever they argue because it’s convenient. Either Trump is good because he’s a credentialed elite, or he’s good because he trusts his gut and common sense over intellectualism.

There is no part of this argument that I think is authentic, objectively applied or made in good faith, and actually, I’m not even sure he presents a cohesive argument in his own words here.

vjvjvjvjghv|4 months ago

I always find it interesting that people who went to elite schools like Stanford are telling others that this is not needed. Or CEOs who make multi million salaries explaining that work is about culture and fulfillment and you should not be after money.

Thiel’s philosophy and that of a lot of other Silicon Valley guys seems to condense to “ we are smart and right and everybody else is stupid”.

copacopab|4 months ago

Yeah, I actually think PT is sincere in his take that prestige actually does matter and so does school as a measure of IQ and ambition, even if you disagree with him -- but I think his larger posse has translated that message to "you shouldn't go to college and build a B2B SaaS instead. Like Patrick Collison!" Which is harmful and dumb.

Re CEOs: performative claptrap.