How Peter Thiel Wields His Power in Silicon Valley

Paris Marx is joined by Moira Weigel to discuss Peter Thiel’s history, how the network he cultivated has influenced Silicon Valley, and his recent move into funding Republican candidates.

Moira Weigel is an assistant professor at Northeastern University, a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School, and a founding editor of Logic magazine. She also co-edited Voices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk about What They Do--And How They Do It. Follow Moira on Twitter at @moiragweigel.

• Moira wrote about Peter Thiel and the importance of his network in The New Republic.
• Paris wrote about why Peter Thiel isn’t an outlier in Silicon Valley.
• Reason Magazine asked “wasn’t Peter Thiel supposed to be a libertarian?”
• In February 2020, Peter Thiel stepped down from Facebook’s board.
• Books mentioned: The Contrarian by Max Chafkin, From Counterculture to Cyberculture by Fred Turner, Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters, The PayPal Wars by Eric Jackson, Predict and Surveil by Sarah Brayne.

• The Dangerous Ideology of the Tech Elite w/ Phil Torres
• The Sunset of the Californian Ideology? w/ Richard Barbrook
• How YouTube Normalizes Right-Wing Extremism w/ Becca Lewis
• Silicon Valley is Embracing Anti-China Nationalism w/ JS Tan