MAN OF THE PEOPLE 11:03 A.M.

Peter Thiel Makes a Nakedly Political Play in the New York Times

By Brian Feldman@bafeldman

Silicon Valley billionaire/enemy of the free press Peter Thiel published an op-ed in the New York Times yesterday, warning about the danger of developing AI in China. The primary target of his attack is Google, which has committed the unpatriotic act of “starting an A.I. lab in China while ending an A.I. contract with the Pentagon.”

Thiel argues that AI is military technology, useful “to gain an intelligence advantage, for example, or to penetrate defenses in the relatively new theater of cyberwarfare, where we are already living amid the equivalent of a multinational shooting war.”

For Thiel, Google’s decision to work within China, but not work for the Pentagon, is naïve. The idea of a “borderless” world supported by the foundation of the internet is a pipe dream for elites in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. He calls this idea parochial, “that of fortunate enclaves isolated from the problems of other places.” He adds:

In the 1950s, the cliché was that “what’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” Google makes no such claim for itself; it would be too obviously false. Instead, Google says it is “committed to significantly improving the lives of as many people as possible” — a standard so vague as to defy any challenge.

Maybe there’s some truth to what Thiel is saying about the Silicon Valley bubble, but it all comes across as pretty rich coming from a guy who is using his Silicon Valley billions to help the country by promoting seasteading, suing journalists he doesn’t like into bankruptcy, supporting the presidency of Donald Trump (I guess they have false populism in common), harvesting the blood of the young to stave off death (allegedly), and buying himself New Zealand citizenship (just in case things go south!) and swearing allegiance to the Queen. Thiel, as far as I know, hasn’t spoken at length to any press outlet except for the New York Times in years.

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