By: Peter Thiel

Context: this was very educational and changed John's principles w/r/t economics & software businesses

Notes

Preface

• Only moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates won’t build an operating system.
• Building something new goes from 0-to-1;
  • Iterating on a pre-existing business takes the world from 1-to-n
• Technology is a form of leverage. Output is expanded for an input constant.

Chapter 1 – The Challenge of the Future

• Favorite interview question: “what important truth do very few people agree with you on?”
  • A good answer: “Most people believe in x, but the truth is the opposite of x.”
  • Peter’s: “most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization, but the truth is that technology matters more.”
• Two types of progress: vertical (0-to-1) and horizontal (1-to-n)
  • At macro level - the single word for horizontal progress is globalization – taking things that work somewhere and making them work everywhere
  • The single word for vertical, or 0-to-1, progress is technology
• Only computers and communications have improved dramatically since midcentury
• In business, small groups of people bound together by a sense of mission have changed the world for the better.