Peter Thiel on "Back to the Future" at Singularity Summit 2011

[libertarianjury]

Yeah, Pete, politics makes people angry: It makes the political parasites angry when you try to avoid being parasitized by them. It makes the hosts/victims angry when you are morally neutral in situations of injustice, by default, you've then chosen the side of the aggressor. TJ Rodgers is working on solar energy, because he can afford to make it cheaper. He also defends capitalism consistently. I'd like to see you work together with him towards social tolerance. Great remarks on that.

[libertarianjury]

I'm really disappointed that Peter Thiel didn't defend capitalism and oppose socialism on moral grounds. If that's a defense of capitalism, and a denunciation of mindless counterproductive brutality, then we're 100% screwed.

[libertarianjury]

Identifying unreason is not enough. Also, most rational people can easily do that. That's not the value of Peter Thiel. Peter is a pioneer, because he's a doer. I'd like to see him finance organized jury rights activism, such as that advocated by FIJA. If he wants to do that, he can call me at 312.730.4037. Toward enlightenment values. -Jake Witmer

[libertarianjury]

What coercion kills, you never see. Most people can't imagine what they don't see. So, government brutality holds us back. The answer is obvious: attack and eliminate the grossly sub-optimal, theocratic, brutal, and valueless. The FDA, DEA, AMA, ATF, IRS all serve no purpose. And what about the prosecutor who persecuted Bernard von Nothaus? Holding back all of humanity with her irrational government-enforced brutality.

[MrAdvancedAtheist]

The other day, while making my weekly shopping to trip, I chuckled at how banal life looks in our mysterious, far-future year 2012. I don't see flying cars, robotic servants, armies of clones, nuclear powered flashlights for sale or any of the other things that the last century's "futurists" and science fiction writers thought we might have by now. Oh, my iPad might have looked science-fictional to me in my childhood in Tulsa back in the 1960's and 1970's; but I drive a 1989 model car.

[MrAdvancedAtheist]

More evidence of stagnation and diminishing returns: "I've spent all this money on Eliezer Yudkowsky, and instead of 'Friendly AI,' I got Harry Potter fan fiction."

[smb123211]

The low viewing numbers for quality videos is, alas, quite common. I recall the incredible "Seven Wonders" by Dawkins. Those (bat's radar, pianist's hands, parabolic lens, spider's web, DNA, embryo and David Attenborough) cover a good portion of the scientific world. A semester of science devoted to their explanation would be revolutionary, compelling & evocative.

But educators & their unions are like You Tube viewers - stick with the old whether it works or not.

[MrAdvancedAtheist]

Thiel has a point. I remember what we used to call stories, movies & TV shows set in years like 2012. We called them "science fiction." In the real 2012, by contrast, we still live like our parents or grandparents did in a of ways.

[LunchAnderson]

Another great talk from the SS -11. I wish a similar conference could be held in my country.

[johncdavi]

You can see this video "Streamlined" for click-navigation (including links to the Neal Stephenson article) at tech.streamliner.co (Week of October 31)

[brianrsify]

Can someone give me a link to the Neal Stephenson essay he refers to?

[MrClampants]

@brianrsify I believe this is the referenced essay (or at least this what came to mind when he mentioned that) - Google: Innovation Starvation by Neal Stephenson (World Policy Institute)

[ThisOneIsTaken]

Little more than 500 views for this video and videos about a kid playing jedy are seen from everyone in the world...

This man really made me think, especially the bit about how apple technology is designed not to be seen as technology at all and the way people try to ignore death... it could explain a lot.

Maybe the shift transhumanism proposes is simply too radical to be accepted by most people.