Christopher Marquis, Shin Yi Professor at Cambridge Judge Business School and author of The Profiteers, dives into the apocalyptic rhetoric of tech billionaires. He explores the paranoia driving figures like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, linking it to their insecurities and quest for control. The discussion covers Thiel’s fixation on the Antichrist and how his rivalry with Gates showcases deeper issues within billionaire culture. Marquis connects today's elite behavior to historical patterns, hinting at rising public backlash against their power.
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insights INSIGHT
Doomsday Rhetoric Protects Power
Tech billionaires frame existential threats to defend their power and business models.
Christopher Marquis argues this rhetoric protects wealth and cements control over society.
insights INSIGHT
Religious Language As PR And Defense
Peter Thiel weaponizes religious language (Antichrist) to target critics and reshape narratives.
Marquis and hosts see this as thin-skinned defensiveness masking business interests.
insights INSIGHT
Success Removes Honest Feedback
Billionaire cult dynamics appear when success removes honest feedback and surrounds leaders with sycophants.
Hosts argue that constant praise warps judgment and inflates perceived authority across domains.
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Why do tech oligarchs keep proclaiming that the end is nigh? From Elon Musk warning of the civilizational-level threat of the “woke mind virus,” to Marc Andreessen declaring that “any deceleration of AI will cost lives,” to Peter Thiel’s fixation with the Antichrist, billionaires are insistent that the stakes of their ventures are nothing less than apocalyptic.
To better understand the paranoia of Silicon Valley overlords, Travis, Jake, and Julian are joined by Chris Marquis, Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management at the University of Cambridge and author of the book The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Costs.
Christopher Marquis
https://chrismarquis.com/
Christopher Marquis at Jacobin
https://jacobin.com/author/christopher-marquis
The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Costs
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-profiteers-how-business-privatizes-profits-and-socializes-costs-christopher-marquis/ecaf3d412fe119c2
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SOURCES
Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/peter-thiel-lectures-antichrist
Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/10/peter-thiel-antichrist-lectures-leaked/
The Techno-Optimist Manifesto - Marc Andreessen
https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/
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