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 7 of 7

673 claims, sorted by newest said. Choose a claim to read it in full.
VerdictKindSaidClaimTopic
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 But we now live in a world where the cat is out of the bag, at least to the extent that we know that the scapegoat really is not as guilty… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Since September 11, our peace has been broken. Not checkable · 2007
Mostly true Factual 2007 Leo Strauss believes there is a truth about human nature that can in principle be known to humanity. Factual · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 No new Alexander is in sight to cut the Gordian knot of our age. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 But also there cannot be a decision to avoid all decisions and to retreat into studying the Bible in anticipation of the Second Coming, for… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Indeed, there is little in Strauss that is more clear than the need for less transparency. Not checkable · 2007
Mostly true Factual 2007 For Girard, a post-Darwinian account of humanity must somehow combine the gradualism of Darwinian evolution with the essentialism of the pre-Darwinians. Factual · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The openly intellectual agenda of this essay is to suggest what that reexamination entails. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 the brute facts of September 11 demand a reexamination of the foundations of modern politics. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 the freedom of religion, for we cannot ever know what people are truly thinking in the temple of their minds; Not checkable · 2007
Unresolvable Prediction 2007 In the long run, power and prosperity may go to those who follow Locke's capitalist rules, leaving religious fanatics without the wealth and technology to threaten the nonreligious West. Prediction · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 For there remains another very important boundary whose existence the American people had forgotten. Not checkable · 2007
Mostly false Factual 2007 No real economic development took place through postwar wealth transfers, and even in the best cases the money returned to the West in Swiss accounts of Third World dictators. Factual · 2007 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Prediction 2007 One day all will be revealed, all injustices exposed, and perpetrators held to account. Prediction · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The new science of economics and the practice of capitalism filled the vacuum created by the abandonment of the older tradition. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 In a capitalist world, violent debates about truth Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 there exist in us no instinctual brakes that are strong enough to limit the scope of such rivalry. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 We need not heed Brecht’s call for more inspectors and inquisitors. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 In the debate between Strauss and Girard, perhaps the key issue of contention can be reduced to a question of time. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The awareness of the West’s vulnerability called for a new compromise, and this new compromise inexorably demanded more security at the… Not checkable · 2007
Unresolvable Prediction 2007 The postmodern world could differ from the modern world in a way that is much worse or much better. Prediction · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 If one agrees with Schmitt’s starting assumptions, then the West must lose the war or lose its identity. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Whatever its shortcomings, Schmitt’s account of politics captures the essential strangeness of the unfolding confrontation between the West… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Eventually, ambitious people would come to learn that there is little one can do in politics and that all merely political careers end in… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Inexorably, questions of virtue and religion became private questions Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 At the same time, this loss has rendered the West vulnerable. Not checkable · 2007
Mostly true Factual 2007 The United States became more secular and materialist over time, though most citizens continued to call themselves Christians. Factual · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 From a Girardian perspective, the current political debates remain inadequate for the contemporary world situation Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Had he been born in America, bin Laden could have been a Rockefeller. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 And if the French literary theorist René Girard is even partially correct in his extraordinary account of the history of the world, then… Not checkable · 2007
Unresolvable Factual 2007 After World War II, hundreds of billions of dollars in cheap loans or grants were channelled to Third World governments via the World Bank, IMF and other organizations to foster growth. Factual · 2007 Economics and markets
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Bin Laden would quote with approval the speeches of Cromwell and Urban I, requiring almost no changes at all. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Avarice is no longer a mortal sin, and there is nothing wrong with the infinite accumulation of wealth Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 1648 can be fixed as the single year that dates the birth of the modern era. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 But because the philosopher does not share all the theologian’s hopes and fears, there is more freedom in steering a middle course Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 that must be decided in every specific instance. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The world of the Enlightenment may have been based on certain misconceptions about the nature of humanity, but the full knowledge of these… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Again, there is no disagreement with Tennyson on ends, but only on means. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 For how could mere talking or even great force deter a handful of crazy, determined, and suicidal persons who seemingly operated outside of… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Indeed, the philosopher’s decision to write esoterically reminds us that even in America, the most liberal regime in history, there remain… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Of all the mortal sins of medieval Catholicism, envy is the one closest to mimetic rivalry Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 For as soon as the theoretical esotericism of the philosopher is combined with some sort of practical implementation, self-referential… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The modern West has lost faith in itself. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 In the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment period, this loss of faith liberated enormous commercial and creative forces. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Bin Laden is a passionate man of wealth and power, so that his personal example reminds us of the boundary cases Locke so readily dismissed. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The violence had failed to create a new unity. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 America’s antiquated military was not suited to fight such an enemy Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Locke’s argument proceeds in an understated manner; he does not wish to inflame passions by taking sides in the contentious debates of the… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 we no longer believe in the existence of a Gott mit uns in heaven. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The Islamic side retains a strong religious and political conception of reality; Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 There can be no worldwide political entity, but there is a possibility of a worldwide abandonment of politics. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 But the world has not yet come to an end, and there is no easy telling how long the twilight of the modern age will endure. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 This would be a Pyrrhic victory, for it would come at the price of doing away with everything that fundamentally distinguishes the modern… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 On the level of the individual, even at the end there will still remain a choice of sorts between Jerusalem and Athens. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The question of human nature was abandoned because it is too perilous a question to debate. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 That murder is the secret origin of all religious and political institutions, and is remembered and transfigured in the form of myth. Not checkable · 2007
Mostly true Factual 2007 In René Girard's theory, knowledge of the founding murder is driven by the historical working of the Judeo-Western revelation. Factual · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The successful popularization of such knowledge would be the only thing to fear Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 In helping to craft the post-World War II centrist economic policy consensus, the Rockefellers had forgotten their own family history. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Nevertheless, certain themes emerge and recur—the question of the city and humanity, the issues of founding and origins, and the relation… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 there is very little value in the state of nature, and most value has been added by human work or intellect. Not checkable · 2007
Mixed Factual 2007 The original expropriation of oil built as many as half of the greatest fortunes of the twentieth century. Factual · 2007 Economics and markets
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Schmitt’s solution to this impending defeat demands an affirmation of the political in the West. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 However, the new science of humanity must drive the idea of imitation, or mimesis, much further than it has in the past. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Because these founding myths also served the critical role of distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate violence, their unraveling… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Most new wealth will be created by the strong enforcement of property rights going forward and will be enjoyed by those who play by the… Not checkable · 2007
Mostly true Factual 2007 Thomas Hobbes boasted of having deserted and run away from fighting in a religious war. Factual · 2007 Philosophy, ethics and society
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 And in that world outside the West, questions of religion and the purpose of humanity remained central; Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The progress of the Enlightenment has occurred at different rates in different parts of the world. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Moreover, a direct path forward is prevented by America’s constitutional machinery. Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The world where everything seems to administer itself is the world of science fiction Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 The challenge of that task is reflected in the difficulty of Strauss’s own writings, which are prohibitively obscurantist to the… Not checkable · 2007
Not checkable Not checkable 2007 Moreover, there will come an hour when this truth is completely known Not checkable · 2007
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Peter Thiel

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Not checkable

“But we now live in a world where the cat is out of the bag, at least to the extent that we know that the scapegoat really is not as guilty as the persecuting community claims.”

Peter Thiel 2007 The Straussian Moment (gwern.net (PDF))

But we now live in a world where the cat is out of the bag, at least to the extent that we know that the scapegoat really is not as guilty…

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

Cite this claim

Peter Thiel, “But we now live in a world where the cat is out of the bag, at least to the extent that we know that the scapegoat really is not as guilty…” (said 2007). Verdict: not checkable. Reliability API, claim c_7236af2f7fd9, method 0.1.0+3e03e2df. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_7236af2f7fd9

Claims without a verdict

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