Peter Thiel offers a dated version of Silicon Valley.
On Monday, when he went to Washington to explain his support of Donald Trump, he was a stereotype that I thought had faded away: the successful techie who has all the answers to the world’s problems. He played the heroic outsider who sees clearly while the insiders make a mess of things. Which is of course Trump’s sales point as well.
Many problems are the result of group think by the elite, in Thiel’s view. Kind of the way Silicon Valley was caught up in a bubble, thinking that the dot-com boom would last forever, said Thiel, who co-founded PayPal during that period.
As I watched the live stream of Thiel’s speech Monday at the National Press Club, I had to remind myself that Thiel matters, of course.
As a venture capitalist, he is connected and influential like few others in Silicon Valley. He’s part of the founding PayPal team, and an early investor in Facebook, where he sits on the board. He is also the co-founder of Palantir, the secretive big data firm. His firm, Founders Fund, has invested in successes such as Airbnb, Spotify and Lyft.
More importantly, unlike many of his tech brethren who keep their heads down, Thiel appears to not only enjoy dabbling in politics by making large political contributions. He also writes books, gives speeches that delve into politics, and this year, attended the GOP convention, where he declared he was gay.
Thiel’s recent speech came on the heels of his $1.25 million contribution to support Trump’s presidential bid. That set off a firestorm in Silicon Valley over whether companies associated with Thiel should cut ties with him.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended Thiel as a symbol of the firm’s commitment to the diversity of opinion. Sam Altman, the president of Y Combinator, where Thiel is a part time partner, also defended Thiel.
6) Diversity of opinion is painful but critical to the health of a democratic society. We can't start purging people for political support.
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 17, 2016
On Monday, Thiel took a few swipes at Silicon Valley’s response to his Trump support. “It’s more polarized than I realize,” he said in answer to questions after his speech. “I didn’t think it was going to be this sort of visceral reaction.”
But he said he hasn’t received blowback from his tech pals in “any meaningful way.” I assume that means the reaction from people such as Ellen Pao — and others who severed ties with those who do business with Thiel — didn’t affect his bottom line.
“I’m not Trump, the founders of the companies I invest in are not me, their employees are not the founders,” he said. “Perhaps we should be partially responsible for people one degree of separation from us, but holding people two degrees or three degrees of separation…that way lies insanity.”
I agree.
But tech needs to do more to update its image. Thiel represents a Silicon Valley of the past — before diversity of race, ethnicity, class and gender began to matter to the industry and its bottom line.
The tech billionaire spoke up for the Everyman, the little guy tired of politics as usual who has not enjoyed the prosperity of the last economic recovery. He didn’t mention those who feel Trump’s candidacy represents an existential threat.
Trump’s comments about women? “You support candidates normally because of the things you like about them, not the things you dislike.”
Trump’s comments about banning Muslims as a test for people coming into this country? “I don’t support a religious test. I certainly don’t support the specific language Trump has used in every instance,” Thiel said.
But the problem with the press, he said, is that it takes Trump literally, not seriously. Many of Trump’s supporters know better, Thiel suggested. They understand that the real estate mogul will do something to change things, including immigration.
It was a contorted way to defend the indefensible. Thiel affords himself the luxury many can’t, of brushing past Trump’s words to get to an essence. And that essence somehow conforms with Thiel’s own world view that the country is in a terrible state because of the kind of bubble thinking that only an outsider can see through.
Thiel sees this election in bubbles, where the elites are caught up in “the trade bubble,” “the war bubble” and “the immigration bubble.”
Talk about a bubble man.
Silicon Valley has long valued its outsiders, the disruptive free-thinkers, the crazy ones, as an Apple ad once evoked.
But increasingly, its leaders have put forth an inclusive vision of technology as an industry that has to do more to make the world a better place for everyone, “giving everyone the power to share our experiences, so we can understand each other a bit better and and connect us a little closer together,” as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said.
Yes, tech falls way short of that goal. But its leaders are trying. If they want to try harder, they need to do more to attack Thiel as not what they represent.
