JL
Tariffs, DOGE & Fixing America: Peter Thiel's Skeptic Solutions
@ Joe Lonsdale
04/17/25
Takeaways
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
I'm into winning and into ideas. I like both winning and ideas.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
If you don't pull off University of Austin, creating a successful university at this time is like an absolutely hopeless thing to do.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The caliber of the people at University of Austin is surprisingly high, especially compared to other elite colleges where students often feel lost once they get there.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
Many elite institutions have broken down and are no longer elite, leading to a generation of students who are really lost and unclear about what to do.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
For the last 25 to 30 years, tech has been the one vector of progress in our society where you can build new companies and do new things.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
In the context of government and defense, we had very low-tech and privacy-violating solutions for the terrorism problem, which needed to be addressed with more effective technologies.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The military procurement process is set up to maintain its broken nature, making it difficult to implement new solutions, as seen with Palantir's experience.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
Both extreme optimism and extreme pessimism converge on laziness, leading to inaction. Moderate optimism is the correct approach to take.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
In the mid-2000s, starting a military-related software startup like Palantir was seen as insane, but it led to a decade of having no competition in that space.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The two areas where I've had the least success in software investments are educational software and healthcare IT companies, as both sectors are very challenging to reform.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
In healthcare, many reform ideas sound good in theory, but the complexity of payment systems makes actual change very difficult.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
I'm skeptical of investments in healthcare and education startups because they often rely on conventional ideas that don't address the brokenness of these sectors.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The current administration presents a unique opportunity for change, as the opposition seems exhausted and out of ideas, reminiscent of the early Reagan era.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The U.S. trade deficit is significantly influenced by China, accounting for about half of the problem, which complicates the geopolitical landscape.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
To strengthen the Western alliance, we need to radically change our relationship with China and encourage other countries to do the same.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
There are opportunities in manufacturing that can be brought back to the U.S. with advancements in AI, but it requires addressing existing anti-industrial policies.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The stagnation in scientific advancement since the 1970s may stem from cultural factors, including a risk-averse mindset and a lack of new ideas.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
Opportunities arise in broken systems where conventional thinking fails, such as in tunneling projects that could alleviate urban traffic issues. If we can push through the political blockers, we can achieve significant advancements, even reaching the efficiency levels of Paris.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
It's crucial to pick the right battles when trying to fix societal issues; not every fight is worth engaging in.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
In the nuclear technology sector, despite the potential for innovation, the regulatory environment has not approved a new reactor design in over 50 years, making it difficult to implement better solutions.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
Cities like Los Angeles face structural challenges that make reform very difficult, as evidenced by the recent catastrophic fires and the various systemic failures that contributed to them.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The political landscape in Austin, Texas, is complicated by its government and university structures, which may hinder effective reform despite the potential for improvement.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The shift in Silicon Valley's vibe is significant, moving away from a monolithic center-left perspective towards a more diverse and potentially optimistic outlook.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The collapse of certain societal structures in recent years has made it safer for people to admit that previous approaches were not working, especially in the context of the Trump administration.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
The government often grows without accountability, but recent experiences suggest that remote work inefficiencies in federal agencies could lead to a reevaluation of their roles and possibly their replacement with more effective solutions.
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Peter Thiel
04/17/25
@ Joe Lonsdale
There's a possibility that we can improve government efficiency significantly, potentially even replacing ineffective roles with AI or other solutions.