Review: 'The Contrarian,' Max Chafkin's Biography of Peter Thiel - The Atlantic - 0 views
-
He came under the influence of the Stanford philosopher René Girard, who placed the imitative instinct at the center of human behavior.
-
In Girard’s telling, imitation generated conflict, as people fought for the same things—the same jobs, schools, and material possessions—even though such trophies would fail to make them happier. Life, Thiel eventually would come to realize, could be cast as a struggle to escape the false siren of copycat cravings. To be free, you had to carve your own path. You had to be a contrarian.
