Blogposts 017

Straussian Christ, early Microsoft, and Thiel on longevity

Hello,

It’s been a little while since I sent one of these, but that means I have three whole posts to share:

• Was Jesus Straussian? Commentary on Peter Thiel and Tyler Cowen’s discussion of Christ in the gospels, and why the parable of the sower is like venture capital.

• On Bill Gates and early Microsoft: Hard Drive. Gates’ work habits and Microsoft’s early economics feature as I review a book from 1992. Thanks to its early publishing date, the book doesn’t idolise Microsoft or interpret the company solely through its decline in the 2000s.

• Peter Thiel and Life Extension: O death, where is thy sting? Thiel debated a Stanford professor on whether ‘technology should treat death as an enemy’, and I wrote some comments. It’s particularly worth watching for the theological aspects (both men are Christians). If you think life extension is unChristian – Thiel convinced me it’s not!

I’m going to be in Washington DC and NYC over the next 10 days, so if you’re around and want to hang out, let me know.

Til next time,

Fergus