People horrified after hearing tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s ‘sociopathic’ response about the future of humanity

People are feeling seriously unsettled after watching a recent interview with tech billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal. During the conversation, Thiel was asked a very basic question: “You would prefer the human race to endure, right?” For most people, that would be a quick and obvious “yes.” But Thiel’s response was anything but.

Instead of answering immediately, he paused awkwardly, mumbled a bit, and even said “I don’t know” before eventually saying yes—but with a twist. The clip of this moment quickly made the rounds on social media, and many who watched it were left disturbed. It wasn’t just the hesitation that caught people off guard, but the strange direction his answer took afterward.

Thiel went on to talk about the idea of transforming the human body beyond its natural state. He brought up transhumanism—the idea that technology could be used to dramatically change or even improve the human body. He talked about making humans immortal, moving beyond just gender or physical identity changes and toward altering the heart, the mind, and even replacing the entire body. His phrasing made people even more uneasy when he described humanity as “pathetically little,” implying that what we are now simply isn’t good enough.

The way Thiel described all this gave many the impression that he sees the future of humanity not in terms of survival, compassion, or shared well-being, but more like a science experiment with no clear ethical limits. People online didn’t hold back. Some called him a “sociopath,” saying he sounded like someone who would be okay with wiping out most of humanity if it meant achieving his version of a better world. One Reddit user suggested Thiel might want to play god, deciding who lives or dies in the future. Another joked grimly that he looks like a “reptilian.”

Others noted that this wasn’t the first time Thiel has backed futuristic—and sometimes creepy—ideas. He’s known to fund research into things like life extension, consciousness transfer, anti-aging technologies, and even cloning. So when he talks about humanity needing to “radically solve problems,” people worry what kind of solutions he actually has in mind—and who gets to decide what those solutions are.

A few people did try to give Thiel the benefit of the doubt. One commenter suggested he might have just been confused because multiple questions were being asked at once, and that the pause in his answer wasn’t as sinister as it seemed. They noted he did eventually say yes, though by that point the moment had already felt awkward and off-putting to many viewers.

In the end, what could’ve been a simple, reassuring answer instead turned into a moment that left people feeling creeped out and even afraid of the kind of future some billionaires are imagining—and trying to build.