@br00t4c this explains... A LOT. how did i miss this.
@inthehands @br00t4c it's interesting that there's very little about the family and provenance of a lot of these techbros. the Google guys and Zuck are the exception not the rule.
in researching his background, i hit an interesting wall. the only prominent Thiels i found were associated with Operation Paper Clip. so, you know, Nazis.
him working for the FBI could be related to that.
remember that social media was 'born' the day after the Total Information Awareness program was shut down.
This was hinted in the Atlantic write-up last fall, too: https://mastodon.world/@paninid/111383494612228728