Peter Thiel: 'Diversity Myth' 30 Years Later

Nearly 30 years after publishing "The Diversity Myth," Peter Thiel sits down with Mike Solana to unpack what the book got right and wrong. Thiel argues that social distractions have stunted scientific progress, slowed economic growth and weakened our geopolitical standing. How did anti-Western rhetoric popularized on college campuses in the 90s morph into the culture wars that divide our country today? How can we move past this pessimistic, hyper-political moment and continue building the future?

"The Diversity Myth":

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Intro
0:15 - Part One: A retrospective
14:03 - Part Two: Science
28:39 - Part Three: Economics
39:27 - Part Four: Religion
54:11 - Part Five: Politics

[JonnyWisdom]

I did Electrical and Electronic engineering in the early 2000s and was an engineer for many years. The problem with EEE is that in order to make advancements you have to comply with ALOT of pre-existing standards, inevitably you end up becoming an engineer who makes small changes to some existing tech within a big corporation. I ended up giving it up and started my own software company and I find it much for fulfilling, I am able to be creative and more impactful changes at a faster rate.

[duccly]

I always love hearing from Thiel but I don't think any interview has ever gotten to the core of who he is, including this one. It's still all surface level stuff. I need to know what Thiel, if he was made emperor/dictator would do/demand of society. I want to know what his no-holds-barred vision is. I hope one day he just unleashes. Give it to us raw.

[ApplesOranges]

Peter’s brilliance shines through once again. This interview is a gift to thinkers everywhere. Much gratitude, Founders Fund!

[gtboard]

How did I miss Founders Funds YouTube Channel 🤯 Of course Thiel should be here.🎉

[awh]

5:27 - diversity should mean more than looks
8:00 - thesis of The DM
10:12 - 4 DEI distractions
13:14 - history of political correctness
27:31 - sending kids to elite colleges
28:56 - Starbucks union wants to put lgbtq banners up (Walmart)
31:51 - Georgist economic analysis
34:42 - how to grow an economy
36:33 - politics at work

[PaulSprangersCityLimits]

I mean, this is incredible. Incredible questions. Incredible answers. Practical philosophy. Deeply inspiring. Thank you both for this incredible interview. Game changer.

[mikeb.]

Excellent interview! Fantastic questions. Thiel is clearly an intellectual giant. The interviewer did a fantastic job to help open his thought processes to the rest of us. Outstanding!

[jumbojet]

I saw the beginnings of this insanity in the 90s in college. Sex, Gender, Race Studies majors began to grow.

[roberthumphreys]

As a bona fide senior citizen, I can remember the TV show "Walt Disney Presents" and the "Tomorrowland" segment. It was so full of optimism for our future. I look at the first two decades of the 21st century and I realize that Walt had it all wrong. Socially, we are regressing at an astounding rate and the pace of the decline is increasing. Walt, what happened?

[skyless]

30 years ahead of its time. True contrarian, independent thinker. Brilliance

[patrickdelgado]

Brilliant guy here. Been following him for many years now. Chess champions seem to see into the future

[johnbrown]

While Pete’s book was indeed foretelling, at this point he could no doubt benefit from catching up with James Lindsay…particularly his work on Gramsci, Marcuse and The Frankfurt School.

[thejasonsamuel]

😍👑 Babe wake up!!! New Peter Thiel Interview dropped.

[rolandvoss]

Thank you for this conversation! 👍 Very educational

[markhenrysaft]

Thought provoking and relevant interview. Thank you.

[ericdoheny]

Peter- people like you, myself and many others have a mind geared toward focus on problems (that we wish to seek solutions for). Some things just don’t deserve our attention- let’s stay solution-oriented.

Your old roughneckin taxi driver in Aspen/friend

-Eric

[strmrder]

I am generally a fan of Peter over many years, listened to dozens of his interviews and had the pleasure of meeting him 2 times.

What has started to disappoint me over the years is the complete lack of interviewers who:
1) ask hard questions
2) in good faith

It seems that your typical Thiel interview is some fan boy or employee of his, just gently nudging him towards a list of conversation topics.

I feel this does not do justice to either Peter or public dialogue over hard topics.

[bbsara]

I felt like my CS degree wasn't prestigious enough among my friends, they all considered engineering to be the hardest and top degree. But I think it may have been because where I grew up had only defense contractors and biomedical engineering. I guess peter thought the same thing in the 1990s, CS was seen as this non-rigorous backwater of a major. But now the CS department is the crown jewel of the college

[BamaHammer]

Peter Thiel is someone who can get this world to make sense. Him and Gilder are guys who need a much bigger audience. Great interview Mike. A complete eye opener and makes me thirst to hear him speak on anything. I hope Palantir can rival the mess Gates has made for us. I hope he realizes how important he really is.

[missywong]

A great talk, nice to see Peter comfortable speaking with Mike to express his ideas clearly.