Slate – Peter Thiel, the Facebook investor and current hedge fund manager who wants to build lawless floating communes, has attracted lots of admiration for his ability to seemingly predict the future: He “forecast the collapse of the U.S. housing market,” correctly predicted that oil prices would rise and deflation would threaten the economy.
Thiel is so confident he knows what the future will bring—and what’s best for other people—that he offered $100,000 grants to young entrepreneurs who agreed to drop out of college and launch tech companies before they were old enough to drink.