Overview

• The Times reviewed transcripts from a closed four-part lecture series in San Francisco hosted by the Acts 17 Collective, with no on-the-record corroboration from other figures named.
• Thiel warned that an Antichrist-like global payments system built on tax treaties, financial surveillance and sanctions could eliminate individual financial freedom.
• He assessed public figures through that lens, criticizing Bill Gates but calling him an ill fit, entertaining arguments about President Trump, and previously pointing to Greta Thunberg.
• He recounted urging Elon Musk to leave the Giving Pledge and quoted Musk making a remark about not giving money to his trans daughter.
• He encouraged continued scientific progress, estimated AI could add about 1% to annual GDP, and argued Silicon Valley has not thought through succession for vast fortunes.