I almost wish I would have bought Palantir when all those congresspeople were before this administration took office. I'm just so unsure of it all though.
@GratefulPoke any thoughts on them? Is Alex Karp full of crap? I can't tell if it's scary that I kind of agree with him on some things. Mainly that the "West" (the liberal world order) needs to start believing in itself and its values again but I don't know he and Thiel give me the creeps still. And I know you've spoken out against the data harvesting they did with DOGE.
I will separate out my thoughts on this into two parts, one part business, one part political.
Business - In a strictly business sense, Palantir has a lot of room to run. It has significantly expanded its government contracts increased its responsibility, and even has had
an exec recently sworn in as a Lt. Colonel. It is getting rapidly integrated with our military, ICE, in addition to with the IDF. With the latter, it is being increasingly relied upon for targeting and has been since the
outset. Its role is only going to grow as it continues to gain access to disparate and what used to be closely guarded datasets. It will be one of the biggest defense contractors within 20 years IMO.
Political - Theil and Karp are more than creeps, and their "patriotism" and commitment to "western values" is just another way to say white culture and neocolonialism. Theil has been on record numerous times criticizing democracy and advocating for Curtis Yarvin's technomonarchy with city states.
Karp is actually scarier, as he has
spoken out against self-critique of western ideas (watch this interview, it is a telling one) and sees violence as the only means to continue hegemony:
The rise of the West,” Karp
wrote, “was not made possible ‘by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion … but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence.’” He continued, still quoting Huntington: “Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”
Another incredibly telling quote:
Americans are the most loving God-fearing, fair, least discriminatory people on the planet. And they want to know that if you’re waking up and thinking about harming American citizens or if American citizens are taken hostage and kept in dungeons, or if you’re a foreign power sending fentanyl to poison our people, something really bad is going to happen to you and your friends and your cousins and your bank account and your mistress and whoever was involved.
So to answer your question, is Alex Karp full of crap? In a business sense, no, Palantir will likely deliver on most of what it is promising. But in an ethical and values sense, absolutely yes he is full of crap. His belief system is might equals right and even has said so in plain terms. He is building the architecture of oppression with no oversight, and he has already said what he plans to do with it and who he plans to use it on. Hell--he is already doing this in Gaza and with ICE here in the US. His enemies are not just foreign, but domestic.
I would not walk, but run away from Palantir for this reason. Long term, they are a much bigger threat than the Trump administration will ever be.
