I was watching an interview featuring Peter Thiel where he describes this as a question almost always asked to people interviewing for his companies. He also said that most of the responses are very bad and are either a conventional truth that is even more true than people think "People aren't worried about X enough" or trivial, i.e. something unusual that is true but is also completely unimportant.
So, how would you answer the question?
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We are doomed as a species and it's not worth struggling against our downfall.
.
We are speeding up the process of the sixth extinction and pretending that it's all natural
Don't worry, gentleman. Jesus will save us. The Republicans told me so.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRDcgmfYasNb0b2IVK…
Tough question, likely to either be controversial, bigoted or downright depressing.
There are some people that aren't worth allowing to live.
(Specifically, murderers, rapists, etc.)
I'm cool with murder for convenience, both the death penalty and abortion
You mean killing for convenience. Murder by definition is unlawful killing.
Both acts are classified as murder under the laws of my home country. However, in the case of abortion, there is a common law defense which more or less equates to convenience available.
You are not a special snowflake
Your kids are as annoying to me as my kids are to you
Nobody really wants to hear about the dream you had last night
The Sun will eventually expand and annihilate our planet
Doing the 'safe' thing is not as safe as most people think
The U.S. Isn't going broke
Luck plays an important role in success
DickFuld would know the last one better than most
I think South University, ICPI, University of Pheonix and other For-Profit universities have created a platform that will become the standard for elite private education.
Trump and Obama are BFFs who giggle over all the current news stories.
Emotions are central to good rational thinking
David Hume, is that you?
Antonio Damasio
History hasn't ended- it is not only possible for world wars, holocausts or plagues to occur again, it is very likely.
the worst type of extra-terrestrial species that could 'discover' us is one that:
because historically and even today advanced civilizations simply dominate the less advanced one..
It's been a while since I last read From Zero to One by Peter Thiel, but this is one of the answers he gives to the questions isn't it?
It's a very good book.
People are commodities.
Global warming is a man-made problem AND GMOs are harmless.
In what world do you live in, where few people would agree with this?
The majority believe one or another but its not by that much ( http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/article/american-opin… http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/11/amid-debate-over-labeli…) and the groups of people who believe in one usually don't believe the other.
GMOs ARE harmless. Not only that, being "anti-GMO" directly harms farmers, disadvantaged people, third world countries, etc.
That people who ask these types of interview questions are fucktards.
Or that a self described hard core libertarian whose biggest success, Palantir, produces products that helps the CIA and NSA spy on the American people is a hypocrit fucktard.
So what you're saying is you're a big fan of Peter Thiel?
I've only tangentially come across him in business but no, not really. I admire some of the things he's done but he's kind of a dick when you meet him. And he's no more a dick than a lot of senior finance people, but I don't really like too many PE execs either because they're, well, dicks also.
And while I know the stated goal of an interview question like that is to see how people think and react, asking an epistemological/alethiological question is really only going to spur political or religious opinion and not reveal a great missing truth because most absolute truths we acknowledge today are proven by science, or at least widely accepted by a vast majority of the scientific community (and I'm not evoking global warming, more like physics, chemistry, etc). So when it's asked by a guy who is very open about his more extreme political beliefs, I think it just sets someone to incorrectly answer the question and allows him to get around laws that don't allow for discrimination based on political affiliation (at least in California where I'd wager he makes the vast majority of his hires) and religion (Federal). Or at least it leaves him with the impression that this person isn't a libertarian like me and therefore is not qualified for this job, which unless you're interviewing for the Cato Institute shouldn't be a consideration. Leaving aside any political debate on the merits and detractions of libertarianism (because I really don't want this to turn political), if the exec asking the question had a "Feel the Bern" sticker on his Prius sitting in a parking lot on Hamilton Avenue in PA and the person answered something that revealed his love of limited government, it's doing the same thing. If I were asking the question and someone said that the Truth was that the earth was created 6000 years ago and that the little baby Jesus played with Dino the dinosaur, I'd have a really hard time ever hiring that person, even though they may be the best investor on the planet but I just found out that they summer at The Creation Museum.
With regard to Thiel himself, he is a very vocal libertarian, and that's his opinion and right. However, and I don't know his personal political beliefs so I may be incorrect, most libertarians I know want extremely limited government and little to no government intrusion on personal liberties. But the company that he's personally co-founded with the largest valuation, Palantir, not only is tech that the NSA and every other letter agency uses to comb through data to spy on not only foreign terrorists but US citizens, another main client is the government division that oversees/oversaw the Stimulus Act of 09 and a large percentage of their revenue is from government, but one of its early and continued investors is In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with what Palantir is or has done but I think it's similar to a Wall Street PE or HF exec saying they're a far left liberal and then being staunchly against taxing carried interest as ordinary income.
The U.S. health care system has the highest rates of cancer survival, survival from infectious disease, shortest wait time to see a physician, most MRIs per 1000 and the highest rates of customer satisfaction.
The WHO rates the U.S. system low because, rather than measuring the actual efficacy of the system itself, it measures the health of the general population.
American's live very unhealthy lifestyles but their healthcare system is extremely advanced (probably, in part, precisely because they live such unhealthy lifestyles).
To be fair the short waits may due to a decent number of people not willing and/or able to go see a physician. I've always believed the way the American healthcare system was by far and away the best as long as you could afford it.
This thread has the makings to be a goldmine. Gold, Jerry!
People don't actually give a shit about diversity in the work place and they shouldn't because it can never be fully realized (ie where do you draw the line white,black, women, single mother, under 5'4,?????). Organizations should focus on maximizing fairness in their hiring process.
The Coal industry isn't disappearing!!
Cloud Peak Energy is going to be up 600% with 18 months
Allied Resource Partners is a better bet!
Def Leppard is the greatest band of all time and Styx never got their proper due.
Online education will replace the traditional college experience.
you really hit the nose on the nail man
Social issues have a larger pool of people with an opposing view. You look smarter if you're right about something and the opposition is in the millions vice three people.
Ultimate power move..tell them: that I'm smarter than them.
You're not above average
Peter Thiel: "Tell me something that you believe to be true that few people would agree with you on."
Me: "If you'd been born just five years later, you wouldn't have nearly as much money, nobody would know who you are, and I wouldn't be sitting here right now answering this stupid question."
we have way too many nukes on this planet to not worry about that stuff..
this was kind of a fun exercise. curious to see how much MS gets thrown around or how many people get butthurt about this...
your life doesn't matter, you're just space dust
liberals refuse to acknowledge that global temperatures cycle, that we're in a warm period, and think climate change is all due to the industrial age and pollution. republicans refuse to believe that humans have caused any damage, and think it's all BS from Al Gore. the reality is that by the time we enter the next ice age, your great great great great great grandchildren will have been dead for a while, so bickering about it doesn't do any good
health insurance & life insurance premiums should be directly tied to a person's body fat index, diet, and exercise
every religion has potential to be a vehicle for peace, or an excuse for war (not just Islam), and extremism is never good
most people are stupid and shouldn't be allowed to vote (or run for election for that matter)
crossfit is a crock of shit
barry bonds, mark mcgwire, roger clemens, and pete rose should all be in the baseball hall of fame
I am so offended..
What if i am the next Einstein? Or the next Bruce/Caitlin Jenner? And I am not space dust; I am a collection of space dust (incl. water) so I am a lump of space mud..
I have arrived at the conclusion that global warming (or at least global climate change) is a thing and we humans are playing a noticeable part in it... If you visit industrialized parts of BRICS countries you can actually see the particulate in air.. and weather patterns in such places have shown a trend of greater degree of change compared to pollution-free areas on the planet..
decent idea but there have to be a max or a min % variation from the mean, e.g. +/- 20% or something like that.. enough to make people feel the pinch without pricing certain people out of the insurance mkt. I feel that most folks don't get the basic idea behind insurance. You have to have a big enough & diverse pool of population in it for it to benefit the participants..
what did buddhism ever do to you? (kidding)
totally disagree. It should be legally required to vote (or else your driving license gets suspended for a month or something like that). Only then you get true representation of the people. I thought we all liked democracy. What happened? Who decides who is stupid? The folks in power, right.. why not just go straight to a monarchy?
It looks like you got your butt kicked by a cross fitter..
who?
Han shot first
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