This is a real thing Peter Thiel told a group of tech professionals recently.

In a four-part series of religious lectures in San Francisco, Peter Thiel — yes, that Peter Thiel — has argued that the End Times are nigh and that a biblical Antichrist — yes, that Antichrist — will come to Earth in the form of onerous government regulations placed on science, technology, and AI.

These are, incidentally, areas where the tech billionaire, venture capitalist, and cofounder of Palantir has a vested financial interest. […]


Note: source uses a two-headline system; the submission uses the shorter of the two

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250925211248/https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/785407/peter-thiel-antichrist-tech-regulation

  • Formfiller@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    If I went around telling people Greta Turmberg was the anti christ and that I needed to wield supreme executive surveillance power to stop it they’d lock me away. They’d say I was mad. Look psychotic billionaires ranting about biblical scripture is no basis for a system of government…supreme executive rule should come from the will of the masses not some pedofile oligarch having a mental break

  • stinky@redlemmy.com
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    8 hours ago

    THAT’S all we had to do?? jesus christ i’ve been slaughtering lambs for the last decade

  • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Peter Thiel who hung out with notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and convicted child sex twice Ghislaine Maxwell? That Peter Thiel?

  • Etterra
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    6 hours ago

    Too late dipshit, he’s already in the White House.

  • Formfiller@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Peter Thiel is building Palantir and wants to dominate with a global AI driven mass surveillance state. His comic book rantings should terrify everyone because he is aiding Israel in its genocide and literally wants to destroy democracy around the world. If anyone is building a mythological evil bible beast it him.

  • markovs_gun@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    So as someone who grew up very much immersed in “end times” focused Christianity I have never really understood something- why do so many end times Christians view end times prophecies like the Antichrist or the Mark of the Beast as things to be prevented or avoided? Even growing up I didn’t understand this because in the Bible it’s very clear that all that stuff will happen (or is happening, depending on whether you believe Revelation was meant to be a metaphor for current events at the time of writing) because God is explicitly allowing it to, and that these things are necessary for Christ’s ultimate victory over Death and Evil. So why would you try to prevent the rise of the Antichrist? In the “best case” you’re just kicking the can down the road and delaying the Return of Jesus a little. In New Testament apocalyptic writing, believers are described as resisting the Antichrist’s persecution, but not in having anything to do with its arrival one way or another. If humans are able to prevent, delay, or hinder the rise of the Antichrist, then God is not in charge and the whole point of these prophecies is kind of invalidated. The whole point of apocalyptic literature is that these bad things are happening and it seems like evil is winning over good, but in reality God is still all powerful and is still in control of all of it, and wins in the end.

    • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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      10 hours ago

      why do so many end times Christians view end times prophecies like the Antichrist or the Mark of the Beast as things to be prevented or avoided?

      wasn’t raised Christian, but this kind of dissonance is what made me 1) question the faith of so-called believers around me, and 2) question the validity of my own faith / the teachings.

      When it comes to most hardline religious people, If they really believed the teachings they claimed are true, they would behave in a completely different manner.

      To live in literal accordance with most conservative religious teachings you basically have to act like an unhinged crazy person.

    • moondoggie@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      I’m guessing it’s all down to sports. “I’m a Christian, so that means I’m on Christ’s team. Obviously Christ’s biggest rival is Antichrist, so I have to be against him too. Booooo Antichrist!”

        • moondoggie@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          I think a little more like Yankees/Red Sox in baseball. Two things that basically seem the same to outsiders but which have their own devoted/crazy followings.

    • tomkatt@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      in the Bible it’s very clear that all that stuff will happen… and that these things are necessary for Christ’s ultimate victory over Death and Evil. So why would you try to prevent the rise of the Antichrist? In the “best case” you’re just kicking the can down the road and delaying the Return of Jesus a little.

      You’ve put a lot more thought and consideration into it than these folks. That’s why they’re all “this bad, that bad, oh no Anti-Christ!”

      To be fair, the end times isn’t likely to be good for most. God’s people for salvation number only a few:

      Revelation 7:4 - Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

      That ain’t much. There are billions of people on the planet. At the end, the Christian God will only protect a small number from the events of the end times. The rest of us will have to just suck it up and live and suffer through the apocalypse, as it were.

      I’m not a believer so I can only guess. But my guess is, despite being “Christian” (in really big finger quotes), I think deep down, a lot of these folks know they are Hell-bound (according to their own system of belief), or at the very least, hell-on-Earth-bound. They’re far from Christ-like in their behavior and existence, and I can’t see why they’d be among the chosen few of God’s protection in the end days. Especially since many of them aren’t Jewish, and actively despise Jews (despite also supporting Israel? I dunno, these people confuse the hell out of me). So postponing the end serves to postpone their own damnation.

      • MBech@feddit.dk
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        11 hours ago

        That is a pretty specific number. Any chance they reconsidered it at some point within the last 2000-ish years though? Like at some point, was god like “We gotta update those abduction rapture numbers guys. They’re super outdated”.

        Maybe they had a total capacity of 150.000 at the time, due to fire regulations and stuff, and then you have the staff and a bit of headroom in case a few people sneak in. But who knows, maybe the counsel has reconsidered fire code? Or did they at any point consider building an extension to heaven?

        • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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          10 hours ago

          Any chance they reconsidered it at some point within the last 2000-ish years though?

          You’re right, these numbers should be updated.

          Since the world population increased from roughly 200 million people on earth at the time these texts were written to closely 8 billion today, that’s a roughly 40x increase in total population. So if we assume the same relative percentage, that’s gonna be 6 million people to be saved in total. xD

  • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    These people are genuinely, certifiably insane, and they’re in charge.

    People who believe in fairy tales, demons, and other childish nonsense as adults should be referred to mental health services, not be given the keys to the economy and governance.

    How can so many grown adults think this is okay? It’s complete madness. They’re dooming us with their psychopathy and people are nodding along like this is normal. Fucking hell.

    • ArmchairAce1944
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      12 hours ago

      And they also want total control over us and know every single minute detail on us while keeping most things about themselves highly secretive.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 hours ago

      Nah all myths are abstract descriptions of systems and processes. They were never meant to be detailed.

      The real madness is not updating these myths to today’s standards and taking everything that was written literally thousands of years ago as inarguably correct.

      • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        Which antichrist?

        I think manipulating an emperor into adopting your kid as an heir worked once. Another time, tricking people into thinking you’re socialist then backstabbing them worked. Or perhaps whitewashing your record of abject failure by becoming a reality television star.

      • 0x0@lemmy.zip
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        1 day ago

        Dripping a pentagram in blood over your keyboard and typing Ctr+Alt+Del of course…
        Just ask Scary Spice, he’ll know.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      The Christofascist, but Zionazi first, Ted Cruz appeal to both this legislation and Israel supremacy for all actions is a ploy that has been working.

      Just because it sounds non-sensical to you, the pastors on the payroll, will get MAGA to lobby congress to prevent summoning the anti-christ, and then, is successful corruption of America insane? Or is it Trump circling finger around forehead smart?

      • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        I don’t disagree that it works. That’s what I mean – a disturbing number of people buy this obvious bullshit, mostly because they were indoctrinated into it, so their critical thinking was compromised before they had the chance to discern fiction from reality.

        It’s sad, and tantamount to child abuse, and now we all have to deal with the shitshow caused by people who believe in fairy tales and will make us all pay for it.

        • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          Very few human brains see a moral line between pride and supremacism. Religious adherence is a proud act. The appeal of christofacism means it is easy to deliver souls thinking they are given to god, to any and all demonic gaslighting that pays the religious order/pastor to gaslight their flock. The business of religion is to gaslight people into giving you their souls for your power and profit.

          • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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            1 day ago

            Okay, but no gods exist, so all belief, no matter how seemingly benign, is delusional and harmful.

            It’s only a small step from seemingly benign belief to this dangerous delusion, and it only takes a charismatic leader saying the right words to turn that belief into violent fanaticism. Otherwise good people will commit or support atrocities based on these delusions.

            People don’t support horrific things because they’re moustache-twirling villains – they think they’re good people supporting good things, and these beliefs convince people to do horrific things by twisting their minds.

            That’s been the case for thousands of years.

            • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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              1 day ago

              no gods exist, so all belief, no matter how seemingly benign, is delusional and harmful.

              I can’t prove god, but am sure that if there is one, it is humanist and idealist. It’s possible to see Jesus as trying to empahsize this, unlike Hasbara Moses declaring there is no god above insignificant minor Canaanite god, and commanding his followers to go kill everyone else and destroy their idols.

              The point is not that humanism and idealism is delusional and harmful, whether or not it comes from God. It is that “idealism as a sales pitch” to steal your soul for megalomania profits is too easy. It’s not Jesus’s fault that fanaticism makes us want to go kill everyone who “doesn’t believe in thou shalt not murder” as much as our powerful in-group.

              • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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                1 day ago

                I strongly disagree. All incarnations of Abrahamic gods have been vengeful and cruel, including Jesus.

                Believe it if you like, but a loving god is a retcon, and your own texts prove that.

                Humanism is the absence of an authoritarian deity. The reason humanism exists is because we are a cooperative species that’s helped and fostered each other for millions of years. We have archaeological evidence of this that far predates any notion of modern gods.

                • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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                  11 hours ago

                  Modern humans haven’t been around for millions of years, you seem to have replaced one faith with another.