Imagine accumulating more wealth and power than even the kings of old would know what to do with, waiting for your invitation to the Illuminati and learning that it will never come because it doesn’t exist? Something similar seems to be what happened to PayPal founder Peter Thiel, who reached the top of the totem pole only to discover that there was no secret clubhouse.
He was not the only person who seemed to regret this fact. in a 2016 email sent to Jeffrey EpsteinJoi Ito, former director of the MIT Media Lab, told the convicted child sex offender, “peter Thiel LOVED the idea of the secret society (sic). He’s done a lot of work on the concept,” although, as Ito noted at the time, “everything has failed so far.”
It is unknown if the idea discussed in Ito’s email ever took off, but it appears that Thiel has been running his own secret society. On Tuesday, Wired reported on a trove of Dialog related logsan invitation-only club founded by Thiel, first revealed by the Swiss hacktivist Maia crime of arson. The group’s members have never been revealed, but documents leaked online appear to give a list of figures (notable names in politics, finance, technology and other major industries) who have participated in the group’s clandestine meetings and, even more damning, have willingly spent time with Peter Thiel.
The list is a real who’s who of people in power and people who can influence public narratives. According to Wired, a list of 222 people on a registration list for Dialog’s 2026 includes several active members of the Trump administration, elected officials, and international influencers. Some of the powerful names include General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe and head of the US European Command, current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Ted Cruz. Perhaps most surprisingly, Democratic Senator Corey Booker and Maryland Governor Wes Moore also appear.
These officials, with significant influence over government policies, share a group with the heads of companies they would be expected to regulate. The world’s most annoying venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman are listed as members. So are notable members of the media: Author and podcaster Tim Ferriss and Sam Harris are on the list, as are New York Times columnist Ezra Klein and former Wired editor-in-chief and current CEO of The Atlantic Nicholas Thompson.
The list of members really seems to span the entire ideological divide (well, at least to the extent that is acceptable to Peter Thiel, meaning it ranges from “centrist liberals” to “fascist authoritarians”), which might lead one to wonder: what are these guys (and they are mostly men) talking about, other than asking each other why Joseph Gordon-Levitt is at the meeting?
Well, Wired has an idea about that, thanks to a leak of a 2026 retreat scheduled for August 12-16 at the Powerscourt Hotel outside Dublin, Ireland (there’s still time to register!). Sessions scheduled for the multi-day getaway include topics such as “Does Money (Buy?) Happiness,” “Navigating World War III,” and “Bringing Back Nuclear Power.” Other talks include “Build-a-Cult” and “Build-a-Party,” for the more leadership-inclined.
There is also a session called “How’s your sex life going?” which probably pairs well with any attendee who marks that they are “looking for love” on their registration form, a real option they have. Wired also reported that there is a dating portal on the Dialog website to help facilitate “meaningful connections for exceptional people,” basically as if Raya were only for annoying people.
Also, aside from the joke about Epstein and Thiel talking about secret societies, it seems like Epstein actually kind of hated Dialog. Although he appeared as a group participant in a email forwarded to him by Lisa Randallwho was invited to a Diálogo event in 2014, other emails reveal that he and others speak poorly of the operation. Tech investor Ian Osborne complained to Epstein that Thiel doesn’t even show up to events. stating in a 2012 email“Peter isn’t even attending. I’ll tell him he should stop them from using his name.” Even when Epstein told Randall to attendIt wasn’t because the event was good but because the location of the event, in Sundance, Utah, was nice.
It seems that Dialog is a group of people in positions of power who meet to discuss things behind closed doors. But it seems much closer to something like Davos for curious fascists than to the Illuminati. It’s good to know that even the ultra-rich and powerful seem to think that many of their meetings could just be emails.
