In this exclusive Sessions interview, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with Peter Thiel to discuss tyranny, suffering, the Girardian sense of how things fall apart, and the enduring lessons of “The Gulag Archipelago.”

Peter Thiel is a German-born entrepreneur, venture capitalist, activist, and billionaire who emigrated to the U.S. as a child, eventually settling in California after years of moving between countries. A Stanford Law graduate, he began his career as a clerk and derivatives trader before founding Thiel Capital with $1 million from friends and family. Despite early setbacks, he co-founded Confinity, which became PayPal, launching a streak of ventures including Palantir, Clarium Capital, and early investment in Facebook. Thiel is an openly gay supporter of the Republican party, advocating for both equal rights and certain conservative policies, making his political stance admirably nuanced.

This episode was filmed on March 31st, 2025.

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Read “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future” https://a.co/d/fAfeXm8