Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir.<\/p>\n
Photographer | CNBC <\/p>\n
Facebook board member and Presidential Donald Trump supporter Peter Thiel called Elon Musk a \"negative role model\" because his many innovations make him difficult to emulate.<\/p>\n
Thiel, who called himself a \"good friend\" of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, made the comment during a debate on stage at UCLA's Internet50 event Tuesday. Thiel was debating Robert Metcalfe, a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin, on the question, \"Has true innovation stalled?\"<\/p>\n
Thiel argued in the positive, while Metcalfe took the other side.<\/p>\n
\"Elon is the counterexample\" to the argument that true innovation has stalled, Thiel said, comparing him to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs as a singular great innovator.<\/p>\n
\"It's a very weird thing where that the go-to story is we have one person who helped develop electric cars and reusable rockets,\" Thiel said. \"But if you tell a young person, 'Why don't you be like Elon?' it's a negative role model where the basic response is, 'Well that's too hard, I can't do that.'\"<\/p>\n
Thiel said it may be easier to suggest that a young person \"start a computer internet company from your college dorm room,\" which could be an allusion to Facebook's origin story.<\/p>\n
Thiel and Musk go way back: Thiel is the co-founder of PayPal, which later merged with Musk's financial services company.<\/p>\n
WATCH: Elon Musk's new underground tunnel project will transport cars at 125 mph<\/p>\n
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Peter Thiel says Elon Musk is a 'negative role model' because he's too hard to emulate - CNBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir. Photographer | CNBC Facebook board member and Presidential Donald Trump supporter Peter Thiel called Elon Musk a \"negative role model\" because his many innovations make him difficult to emulate. Thiel, who called himself a \"good friend\" of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, made the comment during a debate on stage at UCLA's Internet50 event Tuesday. Continue reading