By Jeffrey Dastin
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and early supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, has urged long-time associate Elon Musk to quit the Giving
Pledge under which signatories leave the majority of their wealth to charity.
In transcripts and audio of lectures given by Thiel and shared with Reuters, Thiel in September recalled how he recently warned Musk that his wealth would go "to left-wing nonprofits that will be chosen by Bill Gates."
Musk, now the world's richest man with an estimated $486 billion fortune, signed onto the Giving Pledge in 2012. Co-founded by Gates, the pledge asks signatories to give to charitable causes of their choosing, in their lifetime or in their wills. Gates has funded global health and gender equality initiatives, among other efforts.
Musk took the concerns seriously, Thiel said.
Spokespeople for Thiel, Musk and Gates did not immediately comment or respond to Reuters inquiries.
FEARS OF 'ANTICHRIST'
Thiel told the anecdote during a closed-door, four-part, eight-hour lecture series he gave during the past month in San Francisco, in which he discussed his concern that a figure he describes as an "Antichrist" could emerge on the global stage.
Though the German-American entrepreneur is famous as Vice President JD Vance's political benefactor and as a technology investor, betting early on Facebook and co-founding Palantir, he has recently devoted time to presenting his theological views.
In particular, Thiel says he has grown wary that an Antichrist will emerge who will create a one-world government on the promise of something like stopping nuclear, AI or climate-induced disaster.
That figure, who Thiel says is augured by the Christian bible, would curtail individual freedoms and halt humanity's shot at a future innovation that would avoid Armageddon, Thiel believes.
THIEL READS POEM
Thiel brought up Gates and Musk when discussing how an Antichrist figure could dominate in the short span of a lifetime.
After reading a 19th-century poem about how Jesus and Alexander the Great each died at 33, Thiel said in the present age the fastest means to power may be through wealth, noting that Gates became a billionaire at 31.
The world's richest, in his view, think too little about their identities as billionaires and what will become of their treasures after death.
That's how Thiel said he persuaded Musk. He said he looked up actuarial tables and found the probability of Musk's death in the coming year equated to giving $1.4 billion to Gates, who has long sparred with the Tesla CEO.
"What am I supposed to do—give it to my children?" Musk responded, in Thiel's telling. "You know, it would be much worse to give it to Bill Gates."
Such fortunes, Thiel said, could help counter an Antichrist, if global tax and sanctions machinery do not seize the money first.
Other hopefuls for restraining an Antichrist include the technology power center of San Francisco, though the Californian city is "godless" and "liberal," Thiel said. He and moderator Peter Robinson discussed if Trump could be a check on the Antichrist, too, acknowledging that liberals could see the president in a different light.
"Do you think Trump is the Antichrist?" Thiel mused at one point. "I will give you a hearing. And we should consider that."
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
