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Eric Schmidt and Peter Thiel - Fortune Debate, 2012

kykeon · 207.7K views · 2015-03-11 · 37:16

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Overview

A 2012 Fortune dinner debate between Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt over whether technological progress is healthy or stalling and whether Google can still innovate.

On Hacker News

HN recalls it as one of the most interesting debates between two contrasting worldviews on progress.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2016–2020

Topics

Futurism & technology and societyTech industry & business modelsTech pioneers & interviews
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peter thieleric schmidtinnovationdebategoogle

What people said

SoylentOrange · 2020-05 · Strong recommendation

I used to watch some of these IQ debates in college, they can be really good. The longer format and strong moderation really lend themselves to interesting discussions, and you can learn a lot. One of my favourite debates of this format (though not IQ) is Peter Thiel vs Eric Schmidt (then executive chairman of Google) arguing about whether Google was still capable of innovation [2012]: [VIDEO]

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jamiesonbecker · 2017-12 · Recommendation

One of the most interesting debates was between Eric Schmidt and Peter Thiel back in 2012, especially in the positions that Eric staked out: [VIDEO]

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wesammikhail · 2019-07 · Reference

It can really be seen as another form of dividend (or payout) depending on how you look at it. And yes it is fairly common when capital is available especially when no major re-investment opportunities present themselves that would utilize the capital in more efficient ways than mere buybacks. Edit: a bit off topic but this "discussion" between Theil and Schmidt in my opinion highlights why companies are buying back their stock [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by kykeon, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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