That same year, Epstein identified Thiel as someone to bring into his inner circle, according to the emails. At that time, Thiel was giving lectures on the singularity, a theoretical scenario in which technological growth evolves past human control. A friend of Epstein’s emailed him, saying he had seen Thiel speak at a Google event on singularity and “didn’t think he knew what he was talking about.” Nonetheless, Epstein wanted to meet him, according to the emails.