Flesh Is Flawed: Immortality as the Religion of the 21st Century
Peter Thiel doesn't just fear death — he rejects it.
He once called death a “bug in the program,” a biological glitch we can and must fix. Unlike philosophers who contemplate the end of life, Thiel chooses to fund its cancellation.
He’s invested millions in:
- Methuselah Foundation and SENS, organizations promising to “unlock longevity.”
- Unity Biotechnology, which targets cellular aging.
- Aubrey de Grey, the gerontologist who believes the first person to live 1,000 years is already alive.
- And even cryonics — reportedly, Thiel has already paid to be frozen after death.
But this isn’t just investor curiosity. It’s a quasi-religious mission, a desire to win the ultimate battle: not against disease, but against human limitation itself.
In an interview, Thiel once said:
“I don’t understand why people aren’t more upset about death. It’s a scandal.”
For him, death isn’t inevitable — it’s an error. And if death is a bug, then aging, fragility, and even moral decay become fixable defects in the human code.
The deeper meaning?
This isn’t just biotech. It’s a worldview where “old” = obsolete. Old bodies, old systems, old values — all up for deletion.
Democracy as a Glitch: Techno-States and Sovereign Cities of the Elite
Peter Thiel has said it plainly:
“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
To some, it's shocking. But to Thiel, it's logical:
- Democracy is compromise.
- Compromise is slow.
- In an age of AI, quantum leaps, and climate collapse — slowness kills.
- He doesn’t want to destroy the state. He wants to refactor it.
- What he supports:
- City-states, like a privatized version of Singapore.
- Seasteading — floating communities in international waters, free from national law.
- Technocratic leadership, where corporations are sovereign entities.
- Root-access elites, who “deserve to lead” not by popularity, but by competence.
Thiel co-funded The Seasteading Institute with Patri Friedman (Milton Friedman's grandson), envisioning modular, off-shore cities with their own governance — like startups with flags.
This isn’t tyranny — it’s optimization.
Governments shouldn’t be voted in; they should be installed like software.
In Thiel’s mind, power should not be distributed equally — it should be earned, as a function of insight, boldness, and technical ability.
A New Class of Humans: Tech Aristocrats and Historical Echoes
Perhaps the most disturbing — and least visible — aspect of Thiel’s project is the quiet engineering of a new ruling class. Not politicians. Not monarchs. But a hybrid of philosopher-investor-engineer.
He builds them, funds them, mentors them:
- J.D. Vance and Blake Masters, post-liberal protégés backed by his millions.
- Elon Musk, his finest product — volatile, visionary, and system-defying.
- And himself — Thiel as a modern-day Seneca, whispering to emperors of code and capital.
Historical resonance:
You might think of Francis Bacon and his dream of Solomon’s House — a technocratic elite governing through knowledge. Or Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” where the gifted flee society to build their own utopia.
But darker parallels arise:
From Soviet "New Man" ideology to eugenics-fueled visions of posthuman elites, the dream of an “improved” species often leads to selection, exclusion, and experimentation.
Thiel doesn’t say, “the weak must die.”
He says, “The future belongs to those who build it.”
But the effect is similar: a curated civilization, by and for the exceptional.
Why Should We Pay Attention to Thiel?
Because he is real — and already influencing policy, surveillance, biotech, and geopolitics.
Because he is ahead — envisioning futures we haven’t yet imagined.
Because his ideas — however radical or dangerous — are shaping our reality.
He is no cartoon villain. He is a signal.
Thiel’s world asks us to choose:
Breakthrough or control?
Immortality or exclusion?
A new kind of human — or the end of the old?
