That's creepy. I'm glad he's defending himself though.

Every now and then since deleting my account I click on a link to an X post and am reminded I can't read the replies, and then I am thankful again to my past self for deleting my account. I urge everyone to delete the app and their accounts, realistically there are just much better sources of information nowadays. It's not worth the mental headache to get your news from X, which recently honestly hasn't even been good at delivering it.

Actually I followed the thread a bit and it wasn't quite what I expected.

Paul got into a debate with Ted Mabrey, Global Head of Commercial at Palantir saying he'd delete his tweet if Ted would say Palantir won't help the US government violate the US constitution but he was unwilling to say that. Part of it: https://x.com/paulg/status/1913729703447241087

Blue check reply guys are generally awful and almost always reactionary.

I found this reply noteworthy [1]. For context, Gerry actively blocks many, many people on Twitter using some bot. This came up he became the CEO of YC as mahy people discovered they had seemingly been blocked [2]. Their crimes? Seemingly being in any way pro-affordable housing in California in general or San Francisco in particular.

So this reply is definitely on brand but it's also reactionary in a way than many of the purveyors of such opinions don't think is reactionary. In fact, you'll often find they view themselves as "apolitical" or talk about "common sense" solutions to problems. The "common sense" here is just concentration camps and stripping both citizens and non-citizens of due process.

Migrants haven't caused the houselessness problems in San Francisco: unaffordable housing has..

[1]: https://x.com/garrytan/status/1913345684872548676

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32641557

Palantir is the police state. They are not redeemable, as they are fulfilling their original mission. I urge people to see what the founders say on X, chilling.

It’s like with the military.

A pacifist with a gun is likely to shoot.

So pacifists should join in great numbers.

Has (1) ever worked?

It’s not as if Palantir is a co-op or something. If you work there you’re working on the things the bosses want.

They’re not going to turn around and say “gosh, you’re right, the tech we’re making is going to enable a police state, I never thought!”. They know. They’re fine with it.

Nobody. A company like Palantir doesn't need to exist and people don't need to work for it.

You think these tactics work at a company like Palantir? Or even most companies? That’s not how these power structures work. These companies tend to already filter for people who align with the built in politics and ethics of the product being produced.

I would encourage anyone to familiarize themselves with the "banality of evil" [1]. Interestingly, there's this quote that's very apropos today:

> “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule,” she also says, “is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction no longer holds”

Anyway, the idea of this is "evil" is an accumulation of small, otherwise inocuous actions.

Consider the recent movie "Zone of Interest" that was set outside Auschwitz and never showed any of the atrocities. The whole point was that even on the steps of mass murder, life still appeared in many ways "normal" [2].

[1]: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/hannah-arendts-less...

[2]: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/12/18/the-zone-of-in...

or they just want you to talk about them.

People tell themselves this to make themselves feel better about the horrible consequences of the choices they make but like you said, there are degrees, many more degrees than you might think. You should understand what the work you are putting out into the world is doing no matter where you work but I would not feel good working for Palantir or any company that directly aides them.

I draw the line at working for a US company. I am aware that it still doesn't make me "removed from this". My guess is that I'm not more than 4 invoices away from Palantir-alikes but at least I'm not directly propping up the economy of US.

It is relevant. There are a lot of folks trying to control all narratives regarding MAGA and the US move toward fascism and reactionary right wing populism, even if loosely affiliated, on here by eliminating content. That’s what fascists do after all. It’s not difficult in it being an open forum. Tech is intertwined with politics as it turns out, and a post by PG calling out Thiel is incredibly relevant to HN for obvious reasons.

Consider these examples [1]. There's absolutely no way to spin this:

> As an example of the evil nature of Palantir’s work, it appears that Palantir has been working with the Israeli military in so-called ‘targeted killings’. Reports have suggested such that these murders, probably in the thousands or tens of thousands, utilised social media information and cellphone tracking. According to a range of sources, over 150 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza and in numerous cases they appear to have been directly targeted. Using social media information to murder journalists using drone strikes is already dystopic, but this is likely to just be the beginning of the evil Palantir will facilitate.

More on Lavender [2].

[1]: https://politicaleconomist.substack.com/p/palantir-the-world...

[2]: https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

This is not entirely right. Palantir is a company that pitches surveillance and AI everywhere in government. From their own product page, they want "AI-Powered automation for every decision." I think this is a poor idea in general but especially in policing and government. Palantir has been caught creating a "pre-crime" algorithm[0], because they seem to have thought Minority Report was an inspiring movie. You can read a former Palantir employee talk about all of the delightfully fun stuff they get involved in like using AI in autonomous warfare[2].

On top of that I have a severe distaste for the founders. Peter Thiel is a psycho who, among other things, is a big fan of Curtis Yarvin and wants to bring monarchy to the US. Creator of smash hits like "I no longer think freedom and democracy are compatible."[1] You may be familiar with his protege, JD Vance. I wouldn't want this person running a police state company. Do not mistake Palantir as Tableau but for government.

[0] https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predict...

[1] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump...

[2] https://zigguratmag.substack.com/p/the-guernica-of-ai-c4b?tr...

Well, for one, they saw the Slaughterbots[1] video and thought it was a great idea instead of a cautionary tale: https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/comments/1hexwjc/slaughterbo...

Alex Karp also tends to publish some extremely disturbing polemics about how 'The West' needs to remain dominant at all costs. For example: https://www.palantir.com/q4-2024-letter/en/

> We are still in the earliest stages, the beginning of the first act, of a revolution that will play out over years and decades... The unfortunate thing, either in business or politics, is that many of one’s adversaries and antagonists will never respond to anything but strength—that crude form of power that does not ask for but which requires compliance and deference... As Samuel Huntington has written, the rise of the West was not made possible “by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion . . . but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence.”

And that's an official letter to the shareholders. Like, what the fuck is that? You could tell people that these quotes came from a military dictator and they would not bat an eye.

Karp has a palpable savior complex and seems to relish the idea of applying violence against enemies of his desired world order.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterbots