I would unhumorously vote "humans", myself, but even without that, Trump is high on the list. Demagoguery without let or hindrance, addressing a demographic without shame (and now we're back to humans).
"You're attacking the person who's protecting you – idiot. [..] You may hate this, but there's one person protecting your rights to be a conspiracy theorist that actually has a seat at the table, and that person is me. [..] You may not want to hear that truth, but it's fucking true."
The way Alex Karp views himself is scary; he gives himself (and his company) carte blanche when it comes to morality. He's basically become the Jack Nicholson character from A Few Good Men.
Yes, America needs technology to succeed. But it can't be unchecked.
Not trying to be contrarian here, but I don’t get the problem. What’s wrong with Palantir producing weapons or military intelligence? How is it different from making guns?
Is the problem what those things are used for, or is it the way Palantir does it?
Well, as the saying goes, guns don't kill people, people kill people. But now, thanks to companies like Palantir, we can essentially make guns that actually do kill people.
It's because there's a built-in conflict of interest in most for-profit companies.
It's in a business' best interest to maximize demand for its products. Which is mostly fine for society, country, and the world by large if you're selling paper cups.
However, if you want to sell more weapons you are interested in lobbying for events that increase the consumption of weapons, in other words: wars.
You don't see a problem with a private company selling software as a service to spy on and bomb people? Guys I know we've known about this shit at least since Snowden, but this is not normal and not how things should be run. When you accept these problems as normal modus operandi, you are actually enabling it.
There are always companies profiting from war. When ypu sre one of those, take the money, work silently. But being loud about being proud to be part of a war… this is just disgusting.
Sad to see this flagged. Articles like these are exactly why I come to HN. Technology does not exist in a moral vacuum! You cannot reasonably keep "politics" away from this site when large tech companies are actively involved in killing people and destroying democracy.
Poor sod. Just imagine the inferiority complexes he must have to be afraid of liberal, democratic women. He’s also a prime example of how a supposedly solid education (Haverford, Stanford, Habermas) or DEI parents don’t necessarily guarantee a well-rounded upbringing.
He said that before he went to Germany, he had underestimated just how German his upbringing had been. I dare not ask what exactly that means.
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[ 5179 ms ] story [ 1901 ms ] threadThe way Alex Karp views himself is scary; he gives himself (and his company) carte blanche when it comes to morality. He's basically become the Jack Nicholson character from A Few Good Men.
Yes, America needs technology to succeed. But it can't be unchecked.
Is the problem what those things are used for, or is it the way Palantir does it?
It's in a business' best interest to maximize demand for its products. Which is mostly fine for society, country, and the world by large if you're selling paper cups.
However, if you want to sell more weapons you are interested in lobbying for events that increase the consumption of weapons, in other words: wars.
See the problem yet?