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WE WANTED FLYING CARS
Founders Fund's 'What happened to the future?' manifesto argued that internet-era novelty masked disappointing progress in fields like transport, aerospace and energy. The slogan spread far beyond Thiel's venture firm.
FIELD GUIDE · THE BELIEF FILES · PETER THIEL
DID THE FUTURE STOP IN 1970?
Peter Thiel made his fortune on the internet and keeps insisting the internet was not enough. Flying cars, Mars, AI, longevity and the meaning of progress — the other half of his worldview.
UPDATED 2026-10-22
TL;DR
THE STORY SO FAR
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HE WAS SAYING THIS IN 2011
The New Yorker profiled Thiel's belief that the iPhone compared poorly with the Apollo program as a marker of transformational progress. The argument predated today's generative-AI boom.
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DOUTHAT ASKED WHETHER HE STILL BELIEVED IT
In June 2025, Douthat asked if the stagnation diagnosis survived the rise of AI. Thiel said he still broadly believed it: progress had not stopped, but the pace of change outside computing had slowed.
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AI MAY MAKE US RICHER WITHOUT FIXING IT
Thiel told Douthat AI could be economically important while still falling short of the changes he wants in the physical world. He worried about a future of productive, conformist digital outputs rather than scientific transformation.
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THE QUESTION ENDS AT THE HUMAN BODY
The conversation turned to longevity, evolution and what it would mean to change humanity itself. This is the bridge between his demand for stronger technological progress and his apocalyptic religious language: he treats humanity's future as an open question, not an incremental product roadmap.
KEEP READING
NEXT FIELD GUIDE →IS THE U.S.-CHINA AI RACE MAKING ANYONE SAFER?Washington is trying to choke off China's AI — chip bans, blacklists, and now Taiwan making smuggling a crime. Beijing just returned the favor, locking down its own AI exports. Meanwhile the models keep getting cheaper, better, and closer together. A field guide to the argument over whether the race protects anyone, or just speeds everything up.MORE QUESTIONS
- WHY DOES PETER THIEL FEAR THE ANTICHRIST?
A billionaire who builds surveillance software fears a world government promising protection. Douthat pressed him in 2025. Then came the secret lectures, the pope, the AI safetyists — and an Iran-war break with Trump.
- CAN AN AI WORM EAT YOUR SMART HOME?
Anthropic's own researchers ran an AI across fifteen $55 TV boxes and say small models are months from copying themselves onto your gadgets. Nobody has seen one in the wild — but the argument over who owns the problem is already here.
- YOUR GADGETS ARE LISTENING. CAN YOU TRUST THEM?
Meta's glasses recorded people without the wake word. Amazon sells a $75 bracelet that hears your whole day. A kids' toy shipped 31,000 chats to unencrypted Chinese servers. The wearer consented. The room didn't.
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SOURCES
Original manifesto, the 2011 profile and the 2025 interview.
- WE WANTED FLYING CARSWhat happened to the future? (2017 edition of manifesto)Founders Fund
- HE WAS SAYING THIS IN 2011No Death, No Taxes — George Packer (November 20, 2011)The New Yorker
- DOUTHAT ASKED WHETHER HE STILL BELIEVED ITPeter Thiel and the Antichrist (June 26, 2025)The New York Times
- AI MAY MAKE US RICHER WITHOUT FIXING ITAI isn't a nothing burger but won't end stagnation, Thiel says (June 2025)Business Insider