Submitted 6 months ago by AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works to technology@lemmy.world
The irony that the firm is called “Palantir”.
How can you be nerd enough to name your surveillance firm Palantir, and not be nerd enough to have actually read what it did in the books?
Sauron fed Denethor false information when he used Palantir to scry the kingdom he was a stuert of. Or at least, Sauron twisted what Denethor could see through Palantir, only showing him the bad stuff or things in a bad light.
Palantir was completely compromised, and it’s what ended up driving Denethor mad.
The idea, I think, is that the US with the Internet and, as a little part of it, Thiel’s company, is analogous to Sauron.
And us all around, who think it’s a common medium everyone can use to all-human good, are analogous to Denethor or at least Saruman.
And also American conservatives are weird, despite everyone trying to explain them they are monkeys, they tend to look for some “white culture” in Europe and in Tolkien’s writing not in the least.
What matters is that, the same way as evolution or even their ML-based latest toy, societies react to poison. You don’t have to direct the reaction or to muster resources for it. The best way it happens is by them fulfilling their plan to its full possible extent and then seeing that they are out of potential, and their adversity is now immune.
It’s like with warfare, smarts and discipline, resilience and maneuver, sophistication and simplicity, - these all are good or bad in their fitting places, there’s no rule than one is better than the other ever. In our world the worst a hypothetical adversary to the USA could do is to make an antidote. This poison is not deadly and building immunity is the best way at approaching it.
Same with Metaverse.
Tolkien would be turning in his grave, and he didn’t even know about digital mass surveillance when he created the Palantir plot detail.
So media manipulation and systematic disinformation to achieve political goals… What’s unclear about the company’s mission? Am i missing something?
So that’s why its being shoved down our throats!
That and … checks notes … feedom!
“It’s the opposite of the picture of Baconian science from the 17th, 18th century, where the Antichrist is like some evil tech genius, evil scientist who invents this machine to take over the world,” Thiel told the New York Times’ Ross Douthat on a podcast. “In our world, it’s far more likely to be Greta Thunberg.”
“I feel like that Antichrist would maybe be using the tools that you are building,” replied Douthat.
Douthat was referring to Palantir, the government contractor that Thiel co-founded in 2003 during the height of the war on terror. Today, Palantir is “in the white-hot center of the latest trend reshaping the global order,” according to The Wall Street Journal, receiving more than $322 million from government contracts in the first half of 2025.
It’s equipping the government with tools to sift through massive data troves to identify patterns and hunt down illegal immigrants. It’s helping the Feds deploy facial recognition technology, and has created AI tools to “predict” where crimes might happen in advance.
“Like, wouldn’t the Antichrist be like: Great, we’re not going to have any more technological progress, but I really like what Palantir has done so far,” Douthat asked Thiel. "Isn’t that a concern? Wouldn’t that be the irony of history, that the man publicly worrying about the Antichrist accidentally hastens his or her arrival?"
When Thiel replied that hastening the Antichrist’s arrival is “obviously” not what he thinks he’s doing, Douthat agreed that it was unlikely but pressed, “I’m just interested in how you get to a world willing to submit to permanent authoritarian rule.”
No I totally don’t think that’s what I’m doing. Why would you even suggest that. You’re crazy! Somebody sue this guy!
Oh boy. Minority Report, but with hallucinations.
Well, actually… the ladies in the milk were kinda having hallucinations too……
ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
So much trolling and memes online, I can’t wait for this shit show to fall face first
hansolo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
When it’s the db being used to persecute Americans as some nebulous “the enemy,” they will have as much shit data as they please and still scoop you up until you or a Republican donor come to collect you.
When TF have these people ever cared about accuracy?