

Francis Fukuyama: A Conversation with Peter Thiel  - cwan
http://the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1187

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SkyMarshal
Salient points:

1\. _"In the history of the modern world, inequality has only been ended
through communist revolution, war or deflationary economic collapse. It’s a
disturbing question which of these three is going to happen today, or if
there’s a fourth way out."_

2\. The left wants income inequality decreased via taxation, the right wants
reduced taxes because government spends its tax revenue wastefully,
inefficiently (Thiel gives examples). Both are correct assessments of a
problem, but both propose solutions that solve only one of the problems -
these are the 'Blind Spots' of the Left and Right. Need a solution that solves
both problems.

3\. Technological deceleration is a blindspot common to both the left and
right. While Internet and Finance are seeing technological acceleration, other
big areas of the economy are seeing technological deceleration -
transportation, energy the two main ones.

4\. " _There has been a tremendous [technological] slowdown everywhere else,
however. Look at transportation, for example: Literally, we haven’t been
moving any faster. The energy shock has broadened to a commodity crisis. In
many other areas the present has not lived up to the lofty expectations we
had. I think the advanced economies of the world fundamentally grow through
technological progress, and as their rate of progress slows, they will have
less growth. This creates incredible pressures on our political systems. I
think the political system at its core works when it crafts compromises in
which most people benefit most of the time. When there’s no growth, politics
becomes a zero-sum game in which there’s a loser for every winner. Most of the
losers will come to suspect that the winners are involved in some kind of
racket. So I think there’s a close link between technological deceleration and
increasing cynicism and pessimism about politics and economics."_

5\. ... I give up, ran out of time. This is only covers the first ~25% of it.
Just read the whole thing, awesome interview, probably one of Thiel's best and
most thorough.

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carsongross
This should make fair-minded Thiel-haters reconsider: he treats government
intervention very fairly and is open and thoughtful, even considering the idea
of tariffs as a potential policy approach.

Excellent interview.

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tylee78
wow! that was a very insightful interview. the idea of technological
stagnation is something which I discussed with friends over the last 10 years.
really deserves some more attention.

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stringerbell
Peter Thiel is awesome. This is a long read, but well worth it.

