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.

Andy Murray

British professional tennis player, 2005–2024

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
People pity me for being around in this era, but I believe it has made me a better player, because each year the bar is raised. It’s like being Real Madrid or Manchester United behind Barcelona. Maybe the teams that come second won’t be remembered, but what can they do but try their hardest?

N/A, N/A, SI.com, 15 November 2011 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 48 →
Yvon Chouinard Founder of Patagonia
Everything man does creates more harm than good. We have to accept that fact and not delude ourselves into thinking something is sustainable.
Recorded Jeff Beer, interview, Fast Company, 16 October 2019 source ↗
Ada Yonath Structural biologist; Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 2009
First of all, I believe that the results of science should be fully given to the community. Fully. Absolutely. And all types of competition such as who did it first and “I cannot tell him because he will copy me” and so on – these are not arguments. Society financed this science, if not directly, then the education and the way I got there, so society should get back what I found. It is not my finding. In this, I am not very popular, I must say.
Recorded LW, Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings source ↗
Alan Dale New Zealand actor
Their clothes' lines. The oil crisis could be solved if people didn't use dryers.
Recorded Jennifer Clark, The 5-minute Interview, The Independent, 16 April 2008 source ↗
Peter Thiel Co-founder of PayPal and Palantir; venture capitalist
My own answer to the contrarian question is that most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization, but the truth is that technology matters more. Without technological change, if China doubles its energy production over the next two decades, it will also double its air pollution. If every one of India's hundreds of millions of households were to live the way Americans already do — using only today's tools — the result would be environmentally catastrophic. Spreading old ways to create wealth around the world will result in devastation, not riches. In a world of scarce resources, globalization without new technology is unsustainable.
Recorded Excerpt from Zero to One (2014), reproduced by Quartz, Quartz (quoting Zero to One), 2018 source ↗

More from Andy Murray

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Question What is the worst job you have done? Craft & work
I used to be more. No, I don't. The problem with having superstitions is, you know, you become very sort of attached to them. Then, you know, if you always go in the same shower and then you finish your practice and you go to have a shower and someone's in it, you're not obviously going to jump in there. Well, you could, but I choose not to. (Smiling.) So, yeah, I try not to have any superstitions.
Recorded N/A, N/A, ASAP Sports Transcripts, 27 June 2011 source ↗

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