Vitalik revisits old news, criticizing Peter Thiel: not a Cypherpunk, conflicting with the spirit of encryption privacy.

Vitalik Buterin quoted a passage from Peter Thiel's 2007 article "The Straussian Moment" and reminded readers: "Let me remind you, Thiel is by no means a cyberpunk." This remark highlights the fundamental divergence between heavyweight Silicon Valley investor Thiel and the spirit of the encryption community.

Peter Thiel supports the "American peace" formed by intelligence agencies, rather than democratic representation.

In "The Straussian Moment," Peter Thiel cites the views of political philosopher Leo Strauss, arguing that a "most just society" cannot be sustained solely by democratic procedures or public debate, but must rely on secret intelligence and surveillance.

He wrote: "The most just society cannot exist without intelligence (espionage), and intelligence means that certain natural rights rules must be suspended."

Thiel thus believes that instead of relying on lengthy and ineffective United Nations meetings, it is better to use global intelligence networks like "Echelon" to allow major intelligence agencies around the world to coordinate in secret, in order to establish a true "American peace" ( pax Americana ). In this logic, transparent and public representative democracy appears weak and powerless; rather, a political structure dominated by elites and intelligence units, transcending democratic checks and balances, is what Thiel believes can protect the West.

Vitalik: Peter Thiel is definitely not cyberpunk.

Such a position is completely contrary to that of the cypherpunk movement. The cypherpunk movement of the 1990s emphasized:

Protecting personal privacy through encryption technology.

Limit the surveillance capabilities of countries and enterprises.

Decentralized, open and transparent system design

Resist authoritarian monopoly and strengthen personal freedom

Eric Hughes wrote in the "Cypherpunk Manifesto": "We cannot expect governments, corporations, or other large, anonymous organizations to grant us privacy out of goodwill. In discussing what is beneficial to us, we should also anticipate that they will discuss it. Attempting to stop them from discussing it is to fight against the reality of information. Information does not just want to be free; it longs to be free. We must unite to create systems that allow for anonymous transactions."

Vitalik wants to express that one should not misunderstand the relationship between Thiel and cypherpunk. Thiel's ideological framework is a "Straussian" political view centered on security, surveillance, and imperial order, rather than decentralized, anti-censorship digital libertarianism. Although Thiel invests in crypto, his values are not cypherpunk. He has supported Bitcoin through Founders Fund and invested in several Web3 companies, but his political philosophy is elitism and state intelligence systems, not the principle of privacy freedom above all.

In this article, Vitalik revisits old news, criticizing Peter Thiel: not a Cypherpunk, conflicting with the spirit of encryption privacy. Originally appeared in Chain News ABMedia.