ClaimsPeople

Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal and Palantir Technologies and founded Founders Fund.

673 claims collected, 107 researched, 55 resolved. Report of 30 October 2026, method 0.1.0+3e03e2df.

Scores by kind of claim

Each kind of claim is scored on its own, out of 100: the share that held up, with the range it likely falls in. Fewer resolved claims give a wider range.

  • Factual claims

    Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

    71 64 78

    Medium confidence, 55 factual claims resolved. From 11 documents, 2007 to 2026; 15 documents sampled from 29 candidates found.

    Not scored: 24 unresolvable, 1 checkable only against their own records.

    See the factual claims

  • Predictions

    Statements about events outside the person's control, checked once they fell due: did they come true?

    Insufficient record: 0 predictions resolved, 5 needed for a score.

    Not scored: 23 unresolvable. 4 more fall due later.

    Does not yet allow for how likely each prediction was when made.

    See the predictions

All types combined: 71 (likely 64 to 78, medium confidence), from 55 claims: 55 factual claims. It mixes kinds of claim in different proportions for different people, so compare people kind by kind.

Peter Thiel's claims

673 claims · page 5 of 7

673 claims, sorted by newest said. Choose a claim to read it in full.
VerdictKindSaidClaimTopic
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 I would say that there is a question how much innovation is actually happening that I always come back to Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 it's not like 2020 is like 1951, or like, you know, 1989. Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 I'm gonna give you my speculative conspiracy theory on how the Chinese communists are trying to psychologically undermine the West Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 I now think the answer is roughly that most big corporate institutions are very political, they're very slow, they're not actually good at… Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 if through a series of urban zoning laws and bad planning and impossibility of building things, it has become impossible for people to get… Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 I think we should not be dogmatic on the other side and assume that it automatically will Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 Japan is back firmly on the side of the US. Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 denial is extreme optimism, acceptance is extreme pessimism, but extreme optimism and extreme pessimism converge to doing nothing. Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 Those are the three options. Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 there's a generational problem where it is difficult for young people to acquire capital Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 maybe the more education you have the more brainwashed you are Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 I'm always uncomfortable with saying it's a simple template though. Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 these are sort of the ever-narrower communities of sub-experts, the string theorists, the cancer researchers, telling us how great the… Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 somehow the range of intellectual debate has gotten more and more narrow Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable 7 Feb 2020 I'm somewhat on the sort of side that we've had generally limited progress in technology and science the last 50 years. Not checkable · 7 Feb 2020
Not checkable Not checkable Sep 2019 the Enlightenment undertook a major strategic retreat Not checkable · Sep 2019
Not checkable Not checkable Sep 2019 The question of human nature was abandoned. Not checkable · Sep 2019
Not checkable Not checkable Sep 2019 if the only way to stop people from killing one another about religious questions involved a world where nobody thought about it too much… Not checkable · Sep 2019
Mostly true Factual 11 Jan 2017 Thiel said he had watched the first season of HBO's Silicon Valley, that the character based on him died, and that he liked the character. Factual · 11 Jan 2017 Their own work or organisation
Resolved true Factual 21 Jul 2016 Thiel does not agree with every plan in the Republican Party's platform. Factual · 21 Jul 2016 Their own work or organisation
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 When Donald Trump asked us make America great again, he's not suggesting a return to the past. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Unresolvable Factual 21 Jul 2016 Among candidates in the 2016 race, only Donald Trump is being honest about America's economic decline. Factual · 21 Jul 2016 Economics and markets
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 He is a builder, and it's time to rebuild America. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 But today, our government is broken. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 Of course, every American has a unique identity. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 Tonight I urge all of my fellow Americans to stand up and vote for Donald Trump. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 But most of all, I am proud to be an American. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Unresolvable Factual 21 Jul 2016 In Thiel's childhood the great national debate was about defeating the Soviet Union, whereas now the great debate is said to be about who gets to use which bathroom. Factual · 21 Jul 2016 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 He's running to lead us back to that bright future. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 This is a distraction from our real problems. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 I am proud to be a Republican. Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Resolved true Factual 21 Jul 2016 Neither Peter Thiel nor Donald Trump is a politician. Factual · 21 Jul 2016 Their own work or organisation
Not checkable Not checkable 21 Jul 2016 fake culture words only distract us from our economic decline Not checkable · 21 Jul 2016
Resolved true Factual 21 Jul 2016 Peter Thiel builds companies and supports people building new things, from social networks to rocket ships. Factual · 21 Jul 2016 Their own work or organisation
Not checkable Not checkable 2016 strong bias for outsiders. Not checkable · 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 2016 Trump is the only outsider left in the race. Not checkable · 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 2016 because we judge the leadership of our country to have failed. Not checkable · 2016
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Suppose it’s just a small cabal of tech people that drives it. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 That would be paddling way to far in advance of the wave. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 That’s three different opinions on who makes the future: a top-down bottom-up combo, social opinion molders, and tribes. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 By their nature, singular events are hard to teach or generalize about. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 So do it. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 So while we don’t know exactly when radical technology of the future will come to be, the timing does make a great deal of difference. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 You are a statistic. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 There are still many large white spaces on the map of human knowledge. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 If we don’t take charge and usher in the future—if you don’t take charge of your life—there is the sense that no one else will. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 You’re the best disguised Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 So go find a frontier and go for it. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 You can go discover them. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Use your power to shape your own life and go and do new things. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 There is a mini singularity whenever you start a company or make a key life decision. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 No one was or should have been working on supersonic flight in the Middle Ages. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 In a sense, the singularity is happening regardless of what individual people actually do to make it happen. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Mostly false Factual 15 Jun 2012 A Chinese man tried to launch a rocket into space in the 11th century. Factual · 15 Jun 2012 Technology
Not researched Citation 15 Jun 2012 In Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near, technological progress follows an exponential growth curve that is presented as a law of nature. Citation · 15 Jun 2012 Technology
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 In a very real sense, the life of every person is a singularity. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Unresolvable Prediction 15 Jun 2012 There is a compelling case that extraordinary or accelerated technological progress will very likely occur in the decades ahead. Prediction · 15 Jun 2012 Technology
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Every single moment is a possibility to go to these new places and explore them. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Statistical processes, the law of large numbers, and globalization—these things are timeless, probabilistic, and maybe random. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 There is perhaps no specific time that is necessarily right to start your company or start your life. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 But, like technology, your life is a story of one-time events. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 That is selling yourself short. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 The future, we are told, is just probabilities and statistics. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 You are constantly encouraged to play it safe and be conventional. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 The obvious answer, unfortunately, has been to follow the well-trodden path. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 The problem there is that too many milestones make the achievability of the end goal rather speculative. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 There is something importantly singular about each new thing in the world. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 The assumption was that there will always be enough people who try things, so you, as an individual, don’t actually have to do anything and… Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Don’t be deterred by notions of luck, impossibility, or futility. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 But the obvious answer is wrong. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 This course has largely been about going from 0 to 1. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Now is such a moment. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Let’s run with some version of Michael’s tribe theory. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 But the big secret is that there are many secrets left to uncover. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 If it’s all crazy science fiction that’s barely plausible, it might not make sense to work on it now. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 But some times and some moments seem more auspicious than others. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 We know that, in practice, timing is very important. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 So perhaps a 20-year goal with lot of milestones along the way would be a good approach. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Get out there and fill in the blank spaces. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 We’ve talked a lot about how to create new technology, and how radically better technology may build toward singularity. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 Choose to do something important and different. Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 15 Jun 2012 you’re supposed to be motivating the people in this class Not checkable · 15 Jun 2012
Not checkable Not checkable 1 May 2009 Thus, I advocate focusing energy elsewhere, onto peaceful projects that some consider utopian. Not checkable · 1 May 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 1 May 2009 Politics is about interfering with other people’s lives without their consent. Not checkable · 1 May 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 1 May 2009 It would be absurd to suggest that women’s votes will be taken away or that this would solve the political problems that vex us. Not checkable · 1 May 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 1 May 2009 Politics gets people angry, destroys relationships, and polarizes peoples’ vision: the world is us versus them; good people versus the… Not checkable · 1 May 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 1 May 2009 That’s why I’m a libertarian. Not checkable · 1 May 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 1 May 2009 While I don’t think any class of people should be disenfranchised, I have little hope that voting will make things better. Not checkable · 1 May 2009
Unresolvable Factual 1 May 2009 In the past, libertarians have made little progress in the political sphere. Factual · 1 May 2009 Philosophy, ethics and society
Mostly true Factual 1 May 2009 In America, people are imprisoned for using mild drugs, tortured by the government, and forced to bail out reckless financial companies. Factual · 1 May 2009 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 1 May 2009 I believe that politics is way too intense. Not checkable · 1 May 2009
Unresolvable Factual 1 May 2009 Thiel had hoped his essay on the limits of politics would provoke reactions, and it did. Factual · 1 May 2009 Their own work or organisation
Unresolvable Factual 1 May 2009 Voting is not under siege in America, but many other rights are. Factual · 1 May 2009 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 13 Apr 2009 I do not despair because I no longer believe that politics encompasses all possible futures of our world. Not checkable · 13 Apr 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 13 Apr 2009 By starting a new Internet business, an entrepreneur may create a new world. Not checkable · 13 Apr 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 13 Apr 2009 The fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world… Not checkable · 13 Apr 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 13 Apr 2009 We must redouble the efforts to commercialize space, but we also must be realistic about the time horizons involved. Not checkable · 13 Apr 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 13 Apr 2009 In our time, the great task for libertarians is to find an escape from politics in all its forms Not checkable · 13 Apr 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 13 Apr 2009 Politics is about interfering with other people’s lives without their consent. Not checkable · 13 Apr 2009
Not checkable Not checkable 13 Apr 2009 Thus, I advocate focusing energy elsewhere, onto peaceful projects that some consider utopian. Not checkable · 13 Apr 2009
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Peter Thiel

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“I would say that there is a question how much innovation is actually happening that I always come back to”

Peter Thiel 7 February 2020 The World According to Thiel (Hoover Institution)

I would say that there is a question how much innovation is actually happening that I always come back to

Not checkable An opinion, value judgement or statement with nothing to check.

Cite this claim

Peter Thiel, “I would say that there is a question how much innovation is actually happening that I always come back to” (said 7 February 2020). Verdict: not checkable. Reliability API, claim c_caa9f66a11b5, method 0.1.0+3e03e2df. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_caa9f66a11b5

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