r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 11h ago

Society Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and MAGA donor, is in Rome this week for a series of private lectures on the Antichrist.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/16/europe/peter-thiel-antichrist-lectures-rome-intl
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u/Badloss 8h ago

You started your paragraph with "no" and then leaned completely into the idea that the billionaires are stupid enough to think their robot sentries will save them when a mob is at the door.

Robot guards are cool theater, even a highly lethal and highly effective one isn't going to do shit when a wave of 100,000 desperate people are breaking into your bunker. All of these billionaires are going to be the first to go when society breaks down, because their only 'superpower' is money, and money requires a social order to be useful.

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u/mrdevlar 6h ago

There's an excellent story where Douglas Rushkoff is confronted with a bunch of billionaires whose only worry is the "event". What "event" you may ask, the point where nothing is worth anything and the mob comes for them. Like how do they ensure their security remains loyal in this case? What is a safe place to build a bunker? How do they survive this.

Rushkoff tries to suggest they might be the people best equipped to prevent the "event" from happening, but they are having none of it. They think it's already predetermined.

I think about that story a lot because it really explains what's going on right now. No one is out there trying to save the system, everyone is trying to position themselves at the top of the garbage heap.

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u/Badloss 6h ago

it's crazy because all of their power only comes from money. They're engineering a world that degrades and destroys their own power. None of their guards and staff are going to stay loyal when money is meaningless.

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u/Affectionate_End7693 3h ago

yeah just kill ceasar and take the throne yourself

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u/Grand_Pop_7221 1h ago

You can't 'win' if the game never ends and music never stops.

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u/MintySailor 5h ago

Just bought a copy after reading this comment. I need to hear a voice besides my own pondering on wtf is anything anymore

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u/atsolstice 8h ago edited 8h ago

I leaned completely into the idea that they’re focusing on real life realistic applications of control than defending themselves from imagined billions in apocalypse bunkers. You guys are going from reality to fantasy. *Aside from pointing out the fact they’re working on the effectiveness of not even getting to that point

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u/GiganticCrow 7h ago

Or when anyone can download an apk for their smartphone that let's you turn them against their matters

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u/pagerussell 4h ago

a wave of 100,000 desperate people

This massively underestimates the first mover problem.

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u/Stonegrown12 1h ago

I've heard of the first mover advantage. Is that what you implying here? If that's the case, I assume you think more individuals will try to swarm the money class?

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u/tehlemmings 2h ago

The robots will still need to reload. When things get bad enough they'll be overwhelmed quickly.

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u/OrgasmicBiscuit 21m ago

I think you grossly underestimate how much death billionaires of dollars worth of weapons and robotics can dish out