The question

What important truth do very few people agree with you on?

Originally asked

Peter Thiel, to job candidates, Zero to One, chapter 1, 2014

Peter Thiel, Zero to One, chapter 1, where it is introduced as his job-interview question. Thiel supplies his own standard: a good answer takes the form "most people believe x, but the truth is the opposite of x."

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Amitav Ghosh

Writer

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
I think it is an approach that is very ill suited to this particular problem. This whole issue of presenting it as a moral issue to my mind that actually is a capitulation to a kind of neo-liberal ideology which tries to reduce all collective action to cases of individual choices.

Nitin Sethi, Business Standard, 20 July 2016 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 45 →
Jacqueline Novogratz Founder and chief executive of Acumen
That human beings are selfish. I don’t believe it. We have angels and monsters inside each of us. What we need to do better as a society is create systems and opportunities to bring out our most generous.
Recorded Acumen America, 22 May 2024 source ↗
Pete Rozelle Commissioner of the National Football League, 1960–1989
You can’t make decisions based upon whether it will be popular or not. You have to make decisions based on whether they’re right.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗
François Ozon Film director and screenwriter
I think they have no duty. But we do have the opportunity, not to change the world, but to make people think differently.
Recorded Mersa Auda, The Upcoming, 30 May 2018 source ↗
Blake Masters Venture capitalist; co-author of Zero to One; 2022 U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona
Well, I'd say that I'm actually optimistic about the future of our country. That's not a sentiment most people share today. Especially on the Right, it's increasingly common to feel pessimistic about America. You know, to be 'blackpilled', as they say online. And it's understandable – I too see all the chaos and destruction this Regime is inflicting on our country and the American people. But I really do believe that we can get the pendulum to swing back our way, that we can win this fight and rebuild America. That's why I'm running for office.
Recorded Mark Granza, IM—1776 interview, recorded via Zoom, 8 December 2021, 17 December 2021 source ↗

More from Amitav Ghosh

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Question How much rewriting or revision do you do? Craft & work
All of the above is the answer to that. I mean, I edit what I wrote yesterday before starting writing again today, so that’s the first sort of layer of editing. Then, suppose I have a chapter, then I’ll edit it again and again. Every word I publish has been through 30 edits. My first draft I do with a pencil. I just write freehand with a pencil. I do that for quite a while, and then I write with a pen. I make a draft with a pen. And then I get onto the computer. For me, it would be really kind of crippling if I were to go straight onto a computer. I would just freeze up. I think there’s a lot to be said for trying to find ways of not freezing up, of being able to be loose.
Recorded Maddie Crum, The Creative Independent interview, 20 August 2019 source ↗

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