by mattkevan
2 subcomments
- Behind the Bastards did a good two-parter on Thiel's lectures. He sounds dangerously insane.
It'd be bad enough if he was just some random crank, but the fact he's got the level of power and influence needed to actually make his beliefs happen makes it exponentially worse.
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtR7ny9TuCY
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXhyx-vVG_Y
by seanalltogether
7 subcomments
- I grew up in a pretty religious household and my parents fully believed that Armageddon would happen in our lifetime. It wasn't until I was older that I realized there were a lot of American Christians that secretly held this belief, and that it has a meaningful influence on how voters want American politicians to deal with Israel and the Middle East in general.
by rokkamokka
3 subcomments
- This is an attempt at a reverse Streisand effect, right? He didn't like people memeing that he was the antichrist, so he did all this so any searches would turn up his lectures rather than the memes/accusations.
- The thing that really worries me about these kinds of beliefs in some kind of a god or gods is that they can provide a get-out clause for existential risks to humanity. If this physical universe is just one manifestation of existence, then there's less to worry about because there will be some kind of existence afterwards if you screw it up. But in my view the universe is all there is, and it very definitely doesn't "care" if humanity cooks the planet in a way that makes human life impossible. If that's your view, the first priority of every single person should be to work towards stabilising the climate and reduce our impact on the enviromnent, but instead we have shiny-eyed millenarians piling billions of dollars into things like AI that could be much more productively used in funding an energy transition. (And don't get me started on the idea that AI will help that transition - we already know what we need to do, that isn't complicated, even if the route is complex).
- If he was on a park bench covered in his own piss no one would pay any attention to the same words.
by 1vuio0pswjnm7
0 subcomment
- Actual title: "Thiel brings his Antichrist lectures to the Vatican's doorstep, and Catholic institutions back away"
- So many believe that rupture or antichrist arrives in their generation, because it would make them feel special. If they die before, it makes them unimportant.
by 2001-wville
0 subcomment
- Initial reporting about the Catholic prayer app, Hallow, identified the involvement of JD Vance in its founding. Hallow app is sponsoring Tucker Carlson’s program during Lent 2026. The timing of JD Vance’s conversion to Catholic (2019) was similar to his political opportunism in Ohio.
by thinkingemote
0 subcomment
- I'm still trying to find the correct term for this, maybe you can help?
I think it's built into our selves that we think this way, or it's a common fallacy or thinking error or perhaps conscious decision to state that the present is the most important time ever and so that position brings a sense of urgency and force to ones argument. We see it on every political side left, right and centre and I think it's more easily seen in environmentalism which uses it as a central point. It doesn't mean that the arguments are necessarily wrong, more like it's a (potentially manipulative) way to spur action.
Looking at history and considering the past might be an antidote to manipulation. I'm still trying to find what the term is properly, Presentism and Chronocentrism seems to be on the right track?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(historical_analysi... Chronocentrism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronocentrism
Anyhow these lectures feel to me to be ultimately based on this - to motivate change according to some desired end. To think of the end of the world happening soon, so you better get motivated.
Like the Bene Gesserit in the Dune novels, long running institutions like the Church, I believe at its best understand humanity and measure time and weigh the present on a more universal scale.
If you've gotten this far and are still puzzled, consider this thought experiment: "Today is the closest we are to nuclear Armageddon, we must do something!" Many would agree with this statement. Now, think of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 - its likely that was actually the closest we got to it, and so the statement about today is false and so the urgency to do something now is weakened. One can understand therefore that to counter this inherent bias or fallacy is not something that we generally want to do.
- Are these lectures available for anyone to look over or is it only for paying customers? I feel like if it was public it probably has the same weight as the Left Behind books did in the early 2000s.
- I've listened to several of his antichrist talks and remain confused by his stance. He's imprecise and rambles, but IMO it boils down to one of a few options:
1) These are actual good faith views that are inspired by his own piety
2) This is some chess game he thinks he's playing in which he erects the world government/ totalitarian state as signals of the antichrist, with Thunberg and other "woke" leaders as candidates, because they pose a risk to his business interests. "Peace and safety" is a guise and a front, but conveniently, are just bad for Palantir.
3) He is too disconnected for too long and has disappeared up his own ass
For anyone considering investigating, I wouldn't advise it. He's given huge liberties by interviewers to give vague non-answers and is never (rarely) pressed about reconciling his actions as an investor with his alleged concern for humanity.
- There were a few news outlets (I think maybe the Washington Post?) that got copies of recordings of these insane lectures when Peter Thiel did them in San Francisco. I think it would be in the public interest for them to release the lectures in full.
Maybe people should put some pressure on these outlets to do so.
by lo_zamoyski
0 subcomment
- “has proven so controversial that the Catholic universities initially associated with it have all denied official involvement”
Journalists have a real knack for warping banal things into sensational, ominous nonsense. The implication here is that universities are monolithic coordinated machines with a single voice where all things are organized top-down. Some club here is hosting this event. That’s it. We had clubs at university that did the same thing. The quoted passages read like factual answers to questions posed by journalists to the Angelicum’s and CUA’s communications offices, not some frantic “distancing” or gotchas. They probably don’t care one way or another.
“the Catholic magazine First Things”
Not officially Catholic. Ecumenical is perhaps a better term. Even that word is not accurate, as there are plenty of contributions from Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, etc writers.
“an ancient Christian concept of the order of love, received a famous slapdown from Pope Francis […] Prevost shared an article […] with the headline, ‘JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.’”
Charitably, Francis and then-Prevost were critical of what they privately perceived as a misapplication or misunderstanding of this principle, not the principle itself. Prevost’s own Augustinian order draws heavily from St. Augustine who expounded the concept of ordo amoris/ordo caritatis. The concept isn’t an endorsement of national chauvinism, but merely that our love must be prioritized and ordered. It is a moral obligation and is simply part of and entailed by the natural law.
In any case, I don’t see any relevance to the article. It’s like some mish-mash of disconnected propositions held together by dubious or meaningless associations to imply something significant has taken place. It would have sufficed to say “Peter Thiel lecturing on the Antichrist in Rome”.
by 11101010010001
0 subcomment
- So reasoning from first principles is equivalent to doing it for the money?
by donkey_brains
2 subcomments
- “Who was the Antichrist? When would he arrive? What would he preach? What kind of SaaS offerings will he want to invest in?”
- lecture is doing a lot of lifting.
- It is disconcerting to see that quite a few of the well-known billionaires seem to have just outright insane beliefs. And those are people with real power and the ability to influence events on a larger scale.
- South Park season 28 has Peter Thiel as an exorcist trying to cure Cartman's devilish obsession with 6-7.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_season_28
- “Christians debated these prophecies for millennia. Who was the Antichrist? When would he arrive? What would he preach?”
Maybe that we all need to surrender all our data to an intransparent global surveillance tool, that gets more and more connected to automatic killer drones?
Oh and also despise democracy of course. Jesus Christ was on the side if the poor, so the antichrist would be on the side of the rich.
Any ideas who the new antichrist might be?
by salad-tycoon
0 subcomment
- Anyone got a bootleg?
- He’s appealing to the largest maga faction, fundamentalist christians because they are the kingmakers after Trump decays.
by RickJWagner
0 subcomment
- It is interesting the article doesn’t mention that Thiel is gay. It’s especially relevant because the article is largely about Catholic interactions.
It’s a natural point of interest. Very interesting they didn’t pick it up.
by 2001-wville
0 subcomment
- Rome is of interest to Republican power brokers because church-going White Catholics increased their voting for Trump by 5% (57-62%) from 2020-2024.
Taxes for private schools is a right wing religious plan aimed at making the country conservative, “On a mission from God: inside the movement to redirect billions in taxpayer dollars to religious schools,” ProPublica, 1-13-2025.
Reportedly, 80% of private school parents choose religious schools.
- Knowing what kind of business Peter Thiel is engaged in, it is not a big surprise that he does not like the religion started by a guy who was crucified for telling others that it would be great if people were nice to each others.
by DonHopkins
0 subcomment
- Takes one to know one.
by Hikikomori
0 subcomment
- Just a reminder that Garry Tan attends the dame church where Thiel held his anti christ lecture.
- Some reporting on the contents of the speech from last year:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/peter-thiel-...
It's suitably insane rambling nonsense. It actually seems to dovetail pretty well with Andreesen's manifesto in that evil is portrayed as anyone who opposed relentless technological progress at any cost. If you worry about the economic or human effects of tech oligarchs (Grete Thunberg is named as a candidate) then you are preparing your evil army for the final battle. Seeking to regulate AI also makes you a candidate.
by itsthecourier
0 subcomment
- there was a Catholic reason for this, the Fatima Sheppards. there was an "apparition" of Virgin Mary and some "Prophecies" that were really imprinted on all Catholics over 50 years old. pretty much anti-russian propaganda. they silently pedal back from them in the last 25 years. but last time I visited sn important catholic monument internationally, most of the people in the bus knew about them, how they talk about the end of the world but never realized the Vatican already made them public all and it was a sham.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Secrets_of_F%C3%A1tima
also end of the world prophecies are a Catholic meme
my favorite is Pope Sylvester II in 1000 AD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_ap...
- AI is the Antichrist.
by DaedalusII
1 subcomments
- the old saying goes that every entrepreneur wishes they were a philosopher, and every philosopher wishes they were an entrepreneur
generally holds true
soros
marc rich
bill gates
musk
thiel
nassim taleb
epstein
etc
by josefritzishere
0 subcomment
- There are some good studies out there about the rates of Sociopathy among executives. But even among that group, Theil seems particularly deranged.
by buttlove69
0 subcomment
- [flagged]
by edgyquant
3 subcomments
- [flagged]
- > It's me, hi,
> I'm the problem, it's me
- Taylor Swift, 2022
by tim-projects
0 subcomment
- It seems to me that the idea of Armageddon without clear evidence, is the lizard brain taking over.
My point is that it's not crazy, it's survival. It's a feature not a bug.
In other words this looks dangerous, but it's really just every day normality for all of us.
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