Mike Solana on Peter Thiel, the Ideal Presidential Candidate, and Culture War Losers

Mike Solana joins Erik, Dan, and Antonio to track the rise and ‘vibe shift’ away from the woke industrial complex, Peter Thiel's core economic, political, and religious ideas and his future legacy. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen

Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

CHECK OUT RELATED EPISODES:
Erik's Upstream interview with David Sacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_fVQHuxiZ8

TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode Preview
(05:25) Behind the scenes of Mike’s Peter Thiel interview
(13:00) Mike’s hypothesis behind the waves of woke culture dominance since 1995 until today
(15:36) Sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite
(17:41) What explains the vibe shift away from identity politics today, if it is actually in decline.
(25:51) Substack materially changed the discourse, i.e. Richard Hanania
(29:32) The Feminist Critique of Snow White discourse on TikTok
(31:50) Anon accounts
(33:37) Has culture changed or are we just more siloed?
(36:00) Hunter Biden discredits mainstream culture on the left and the right
(39:27) The rise and (maybe?) fall of DEI in tech
(41:47) Thiel's stance on economics, science and technology, politics, and faith
(45:33) Is Thiel's religious argument based on a misread of the bible?
(52:43) Do the neo-Nietzscheans actually have a constituency?
(55:18) Which GOP nominees, if any, are influenced by intellectual movements?
(1:01:31) How do intellectual ideas actually drive political power in the US?
(1:03:31) What do people want in a political candidate
(1:05:13) Autoerotic self-pardoning
(1:08:00) Is Thiel backing away from the anti-woke cause
(1:14:35) World War meme
(1:15:30) Thiel's legacy

LINKS:
Peter Thiel: The Diversity Myth, A Retrospective, Pirate Wires https://www.piratewires.com/p/peter-thiel-the-diversity-myth-a

Peter Thiel, The New Criterion
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2023/6/the-diversity-myth

René Gerard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning
https://www.amazon.com.au/See-Satan-Falling-Like-Lightning/dp/1570753199

X:
@micsolana (Mike)
@antoniogm (Antonio)
@dwr (Dan)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@MOZ_Podcast

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