Billionaire PayPal co-founder backs doping-friendly Olympics — the ‘Enhanced Games’
Billionaire PayPal co-founder backs doping-friendly Olympics — the ‘Enhanced Games’
Billionaire PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel has invested in a drug-friendly sports contest styled as a “modern reinvention of the Olympic Games."
For folks like me that were curious, yes it's Peter Thiel.
75Of course it's him. All other billionaire sociopaths have the sense to stay silent about the dystopian future they dream of. But honestly, he doesn't get the negative attention he deserves.
36he should start by getting doping olympic gold in weightlifting and die to the drug cocktails he wants others to ruin their body with
8He’s a bizarre dude for sure
6
He's one letter away from being Thief
4
Cool if you want to see a man run 100m in 7 seconds before his heart explodes on the finish line.
Is this just bumfights with a higher budget?
48Based on the current level of aftercare and brain damage already in contact entertainment, it's all bum fights with a higher budget.
22Its Peter Thiel suggesting this, so for him it's exactly just bumfights.
12In a capitalist society these are your lords and ladies and kings and queens. So shut your pleb mouth and respect your betters!
8Reminder that Communist nations were the ones that drove the professionalization of sport and they were also using illegal substances as a standard practice, including on minors, in order to enhance their performance, consequences be damned. Kids were told the substances were "vitamins" and left in the dark about the long-term health effects.
In the end, it's absolutely power that corrupts, no matter if you're ruling from under the banner of a red star or serving the almighty dollar.
-1
God, I really hope this doesn't come to be. No offense to the people excited by it, and I totally get the appeal, but this would damage society so much. People taking performance enhancers, especially to extreme levels, put themselves insanely at risk medically. If this gets normalized, it'll only be a matter of time before it becomes mainstream to bet on blowouts, heart attacks, roid rage scandals, etc. At that point, it'll essentially be a tiny leap away from the game shows of Running Man, and then I'll lose all faith in humanity.
46Is it so much worse than existing, popular sports like boxing or American football which are known to cause brain damage to the athletes involved?
15It's got to be mathematically worse 'cause you can combine the two
11Yes, it is worse
6Probably not but that doesn't mean we need even more dangerous and deadly sports to add to the pile.
4That's a somewhat fair question except that we learned about the medical side effects over time after the sport was established. Now, if people started trying to specifically bet on the over/under on CTE or if UFC got rid of tap-outs, I'd equate it a bit more.
The fact that there has been growing concerns and increased societal pressure to do better regarding the health of athletes, anything that poses them more as sports-creatures who should be willing to die for their profession could lead to significant backsliding.
2
They really just see people as ants in a display, don't they.
28They are "people", while we are something lesser
6
The headline avoids mentioning that this is legendary douchebag Peter Thiel of Palantir fame.
27I didn't expect the unreal tournament dystopia, I've got to be honest
26Came here to say this...
I guess that's one way to shorten life expectancies while maximizing worker productivity...
3
This is something I'd like to see in like, some alternative reality just out of morbid curiosity however in real life the effects would be just too horrid. What a fucking psychopath
19As cool as I think the concept is I don't think it's worth the inevitable deaths
18This is why we need to push the banks to offer better payment services. Fucks like him got rich with paypal because of inefficiencies in our banking systems. They are basically taxing all e-commerce by 1-3%.
I was finally able to do an insta-wire transfer to an online shop last month for the first time. Just my bank, transfering money and instant reception. But I still need to log in to a janky ass mobile app and approve each payment with an password / pin that needs to be short ergo insecure. Banks are still not offering the use of fido2 authentication. And there is still no electronic standard where a shop can send a payment request to autofil the wire transfer. There are better payment processors now but they still gobble up ~1% of the transfer. It's a fucking racket.
16Somehow Canada had this figured out for ages. C'mon southern neighbours!
3Well I was talking Europe and SEPA. Hopefully we'll see more improvements so that the money faucet to these payment services dries up.
3
Can’t wait to watch tweakers dropping dead on live tv, trying to run a marathon.
14Wasn’t this a comedian’s bit like ten years ago?
14I think many comedians have made this joke over the years
4Or SNL from many years back
8Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Tommy Tiernan - The Drug And Steroid Olympics
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
1
Mutant League is a much better name
14In every way, but it’s probably trademark Hasbro
2
The Hunger Games.
11Instead I want sexiness competitions. The Thirst Games.
3
Bread and circuses
9something Bioshock something something Olympics
8Future replacement of BattleBots
4now do the same thing with baseball!!
4Anyone who would get enjoyment from watching this kind of event has a diseased soul. As has been said elsewhere: It's BumFights with a higher budget.
2Oh, hell yeah!
I've wanted this since I was a kid, many decades ago. Let's see what we are capable of and not worry about if the winner just won because his enhancements weren't caught.
-7what we are capable of
probably dying from the side effects
19It's not like pushing the limits of the human body without any doping doesn't have any risks or side effects.
Some types of drugs can improve body functions in ways that reduce strain on the body, not increase it. And even use of potentially dangerous drugs would be much safer, if it was done under guidance and monitoring of medical professionals.-1If it's not for you, then it's not for you. Here's an alternative for you.
-8
I guess you're in the wrong echo chamber in this one.
But I agree, if it can be done relatively safely, and in a controlled environment, then we should do it. Humanity is progressing, through science and technology, and we can do things now that we couldn't do before. Let's put that progress on display.
The low hanging fruit is steroids. But other augmentation is a reasonable option too. There was already the famous example of Oscar Pistorius (before he was a murderer) where people were complaining that his artificial legs gave him a physical advantage while running. What happens when people start reinforcing their shins at older ages to remain competitive? Or changing how their joints work. Or whatever.
We as a society have already accepted that people modify their bodies: cosmetically, through pharmaceuticals, and through elective surgeries. But for whatever reason, the Olympics has remained in the "eugenics" era.
4