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Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

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Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#41

Post by chance_state »

zarathustraa wrote: post #8
chance_state wrote: post #2

What motivates extremely talented tech workers to devote their limited working years to making the world a worse place to live in?

It's making it worse until something bad happens to someone you value. If Obama's daughters (or Trump's if you are on the other side) were killed in some horrific racist incident, wouldn't you approve the usage of such software if it was the only hope of getting the perpetrator? Or would you say "as much as I am saddened, I cannot approve such massive invasion of privacy".

>If Obama's daughters (or Trump's if you are on the other side) were killed in some horrific racist incident, wouldn't you approve the usage of such software if it was the only hope of getting the perpetrator? Or would you say "as much as I am saddened, I cannot approve such massive invasion of privacy".

The latter, every time. The nature of principles is that they do not change with changing circumstances. I find your example extremely unpersuasive.

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#42

Post by overthemoon »

m-p-3 wrote: post #34
overthemoon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't accept this. This is shirking responsibility for what one has brought into the world. Technology has a moral component that can't be ignored in the name of progressive idealism. It's both/and.

Still, if someone crafts a knife and someone uses it to hurt another I'll blame the user, not the crafter.

The time has passed to blame the knife maker, unfortunately. I'd like to give him a piece of my mind. Kidding aside, I see where you're coming from. I'm not trying to excuse lawmakers or the people who fire the gun, operate the drone, etc. I'm just saying the knife inventor is a part of the chain, he or she is not a neutral party.

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#43

Post by [deleted] »

pm90 wrote: post #27
_iyig wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you alleging that Palantir enables or encourages "horrific racist incidents"? Could you be more specific? EDIT: I see what you mean. I had mistaken the meaning of OP. Please ignore this comment.

I think the reference here is to the problem of fatal shooting of minorities by police in the US. The OP is attempting to draw attention to the problem by an exaggerated situation in which the former first daughters are involved in such an incodent.

[deleted]

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#44

Post by mulmen »

m-p-3 wrote: post #34
overthemoon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't accept this. This is shirking responsibility for what one has brought into the world. Technology has a moral component that can't be ignored in the name of progressive idealism. It's both/and.

Still, if someone crafts a knife and someone uses it to hurt another I'll blame the user, not the crafter.

That’s not compelling. Knives have practical and constructive uses outside harming people. Palantir is being used as designed.

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#45

Post by convolvatron »

m-p-3 wrote: post #34
overthemoon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't accept this. This is shirking responsibility for what one has brought into the world. Technology has a moral component that can't be ignored in the name of progressive idealism. It's both/and.

Still, if someone crafts a knife and someone uses it to hurt another I'll blame the user, not the crafter.

sure. but I sell you a knife and you come back and ask for a bunch of features that make it easier to hide, and a special curve to make it easier to get underneath the human ribcage, and a wider blade that makes wounds heal more slowly, etc....at some point you have to accept your complicity

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#47

Post by 49531 »

m-p-3 wrote: post #34
overthemoon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't accept this. This is shirking responsibility for what one has brought into the world. Technology has a moral component that can't be ignored in the name of progressive idealism. It's both/and.

Still, if someone crafts a knife and someone uses it to hurt another I'll blame the user, not the crafter.

There is a difference between crafting a knife and crafting a tool specifically for harmful purposes. The IBM engineers who helped Germany facilitate the holocaust are probably a bit more involved in evil than a knife crafter.

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#48

Post by ajna91 »

m-p-3 wrote: post #34
overthemoon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't accept this. This is shirking responsibility for what one has brought into the world. Technology has a moral component that can't be ignored in the name of progressive idealism. It's both/and.

Still, if someone crafts a knife and someone uses it to hurt another I'll blame the user, not the crafter.

What if somebody discovers two feuding tribes in the jungle and decides to sell them deadly knives by advertising their killing ability?

Note: My comment is responding to the general idea of disclaiming responsibility. I don't know enough about this company to judge.

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#49

Post by wmf »

strooper wrote: post #22

> "Palantir software is instrumental to the operations of ICE, which is planning one of the largest-ever targeted immigration enforcement raids this weekend on thousands of undocumented families. Activists argue raids of this scale would be impossible without software like Palantir." Once and for all, it is the policy makers, not the tech industry, who are responsible for these operations. Tech enables people doing t…

Let us remember that Peter Thiel founded Palantir to give himself backdoor influence on policy.

Re: Palantir’s User Manual for Cops

#50

Post by arnvald »

strooper wrote: post #22

> "Palantir software is instrumental to the operations of ICE, which is planning one of the largest-ever targeted immigration enforcement raids this weekend on thousands of undocumented families. Activists argue raids of this scale would be impossible without software like Palantir." Once and for all, it is the policy makers, not the tech industry, who are responsible for these operations. Tech enables people doing t…

Someone in the tech industry decides to build such product for the lawmakers. These people in the tech industry know how this software is being used and they continue supporting it.

Yes, lawmakers are responsible for it, too. But let's not justify the "we just built and sold a weapon, we didn't fire it" mentality.

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