A garden party on a chic, secluded estate in Malibu. A glowing Ferris wheel, a giant chessboard, and 230 handpicked guests. On November 4, 2021, they gathered to hear from Peter Thiel – entrepreneur, investor, and Silicon Valley icon. He was the guest of honor at the Atlas Society, an organization devoted to the work of Ayn Rand (1905-1982), whose dystopian tale of a nation plagued with bureaucracy in her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged is the bible of American libertarians.
Thiel, tall, vibrant and in his fifties, arrived in the typical uniform of a Silicon Valley venture capitalist – open-collared white shirt and dark suit – to the sound of ABBA’s “Money, Money, Money.” The Atlas Society awarded him a prize for his political work, but the group’s president made clear the real reason he was there: “To warn us that we are in a deadly race between politics and technology.” Unsurprisingly, Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal, had chosen his side – technology.
In a world not known for intellectualism, Thiel stands out as something of a philosopher. Back in the 1980s, as a student at Stanford, he once had to describe himself in a single word. He chose “intelligent.” He might just as well have added “elitist.” Born in Germany, Thiel spent much of his childhood in apartheid-era South Africa – an experience that, according to those close to him, cemented a belief that some people are simply meant to rule. He has long expressed a visceral distaste for multiculturalism and progressive politics, and a deep skepticism toward democracy. Like many in the audience that gave him a standing ovation that night, Thiel has positioned himself as a staunch opponent of government.
Between guru and entrepreneur
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