Thiel in addition to being pro-surveillance state is also transhumanism. He was interested in Clavicular of the looksmaxxing community for similar reasons.

something that would lead to huge swelling of the hands and feet might be good for increasing how much water they can push against.

HGH does that.

I don’t think Americans quite appreciate how few guns one encounters when you are practically anywhere else in the world.

How often you see guns varies wildly in the US too.