It's good to test yourself and develop your talents and ambitions as fully as you can and achieve greater success; but I think success is the feeling you get from a job well done, and the key thing is to do the work.
Peter ThielRead
We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects disappointment over the slow progress of technological advancements compared to our high expectations.
Peter Thiel's quote highlights the gap between the ambitious dreams of technological innovation, such as flying cars, and the reality of what has been achieved thus far, which, in this case, is limited to short social media updates. It suggests a critique of how our expectations for progress have not been met, leading to a sense of dissatisfaction with the current state of technology.
Themes
TechnologyExpectationsProgressInnovationDisappointment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a technology conference to emphasize the need for greater innovation.
More from Peter Thiel
All quotes βThe first question we would ask if aliens landed on this planet is not, 'What does this mean for the economy or jobs?' It would be, 'Are they friendly or unfriendly?'
Peter ThielRead
People working on bigger ideas on a more protracted timeline will be more on the stealth side. They arenβt releasing new PR announcements every day. The bigger the secret and the likelier it is that you alone have it, the more time you have to execute. There may be far more people going after hard secrets than we think.
Peter ThielRead
What is it about our society where anyone who does not have Asperger's gets talked out of their heterodox ideas?
Peter ThielRead
Every time you write an email, it is in the public domain. There are all these ways where security is not as good as people believe.
Peter ThielRead
Creating value isn't enough - you also need to capture some of the value you create.
Peter ThielRead
Similar quotes
If the Internet teaches us anything, it is that great value comes from leaving core resources in a commons, where they're free for people to build upon as they see fit.
Lawrence LessigRead
The marketplace judges technologies by their practical effectiveness, by whether they succeed or fail to do the job they are designed to do.
Freeman DysonRead
Hackers are becoming more sophisticated in conjuring up new ways to hijack your system by exploiting technical vulnerabilities or human nature. Don't become the next victim of unscrupulous cyberspace intruders.
Kevin MitnickRead
These four policy prescriptions - strengthening educational opportunities, revamping immigration rules for highly skilled workers, increasing federal funding for basic scientific research, and providing incentives for private-sector R&D - should in my view be top priorities as Congress and the Administration consider how to maintain the nation's leadership in science, technology, and innovation.
Bill GatesRead
When I climb into my car, I enter my destination into a GPS device, whose spatial memory supplants my own. I have photographs to store the images I want to remember, books to store knowledge and now, thanks to Google, I rarely have to remember anything more than the right set of search terms to access humankind's collective memory.
Joshua FoerRead
The Internet was supposed to be the greatest tool of global communications and means of sharing knowledge in human history. And it is. But it has also become the most effective instrument of mass surveillance and potentially one of the greatest instruments of totalitarianism in the history of the world.
Trevor PaglenRead