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Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

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Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#111

Post by yosito »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #24
yosito wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I'm not sure there are very many people who believe in US democracy right now.

I don't believe this is true. The idea that the US should be non-democratic is very fringe. It's frequently expressed online, but a lot of that is not from human Americans. If you know of a high quality poll showing a majority of people support turning the US into a non-Democratic form of government I'd be very interested to see it and I would be legitimately surprised. The polls I see have at least 70-80% endorsemen…

I'm not saying that people don't think that the US should be a democracy. I'm saying that people don't think the US is a democracy. When the president of the country is a criminal and blatantly ignores the constitution and the courts, what does democracy even mean?

Edit: I'm not here to debate this or to defend that view, it's simply my observation of what people think these days, from my perspective here in Thailand.

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#112

Post by woodrowbarlow »

rayiner wrote: post #44
ants_everywhere wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palantir is unique in that one of its founders has publicly stated he doesn't believe in democracy, the bedrock of the American system.

Hostility to democracy is literally the bedrock of the 20th century american federal government. We live in the nation Woodrow Wilson created: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-study-of-ad...

hmm. i read the whole thing and i'm not sure the point you're making. in the first paper, Wilson points out:

* it is better for government to own its own infrastructure than to depend on private business -- and if the government must depend on business, he stresses the government should be in a position to exert control over the business.

* it is easier for a monarchy to initiate administrative efficiencies than a democracy, therefore great care must be taken to design administrative policies without inadvertently introducing popular sovereignty.

and the rest mostly pontificates and the distinction between a bureaucrat and a legislator. care to connect the dots between this and a "hostility to democracy"?

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#113

Post by indoordin0saur »

jelder wrote: post #9
newsclues wrote: post #8

If government doesn’t want to be replaced by corporations, then government has to not suck so hard.

Worst possible take. The government sucks _because_ of decades of slip into corporate control and manufactured consent.

Your take and his take are not incompatible.

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#115

Post by ethbr1 »

FergusArgyll wrote: post #83
TrackerFF wrote: post #45

We received a presentation/demo of their products when I worked in the gov (not the US gov. though) a couple of years ago. They seemed, okay? I mean nothing seemed mind-blowing. I worked on surveillance in a specific sector, where interagency collaboration is important. Hence why Palantir pitched their tools. I'm not sure how they've managed to blow up like that. Do they have some extensive network with gov. official…

This was an article that really helped me understand it https://sarahconstantin.substack.com/p/the-great-data-integr...

That's a great summary, especially the part about Palantir's strategic customer approach being the middle squeeze (high + low buy-in being used to override middle manager blockers).

The problem as enunciated also 100% tracks with my time as a consultant -- delivering solutions was 40% people-fixing and 60% code-fixing.

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#116

Post by grafmax »

anonfordays wrote: post #96
grafmax wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, he’s not wrong. Libertarianism is freedom - for the rich. And concentrated wealth is antithetical to democracy because it’s concentrated power. He’s just taking libertarianism to its logical extreme by repudiating democracy. Is it any wonder that he has helped fund our decline into authoritarianism? We now have concentration camps, abrogation of the constitution, judicial capture, and the military turned incr…

> We now have concentration camps Immigration detention facilities are not concentration camps.

They’re not death camps. But mass detention without due process - that’s a concentration camp.

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#117

Post by rayiner »

guelo wrote: post #97
rayiner wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hostility to democracy is literally the bedrock of the 20th century american federal government. We live in the nation Woodrow Wilson created: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-study-of-ad...

The Great MAGA Cultural Revolution has shifted the overton window enough among right wing elite that anti democracy propaganda is now strong and spreading. But it's still our foundation, "we the people" and all that. If the right keeps pushing dictators I see a civil war in our future.

The MAGA cultural revolution fundamentally is an opposition to Wilsonianism and liberal universalism. That's why MAGA's authoritarian impulses are directed to the organs of Wilsonianism--such as executive agencies permanently captured by one party--rather than the public at large.

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#118

Post by anonfordays »

grafmax wrote: post #116
anonfordays wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We now have concentration camps Immigration detention facilities are not concentration camps.

They’re not death camps. But mass detention without due process - that’s a concentration camp.

[flagged]

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#119

Post by ilikehurdles »

hnhg wrote: post #34
giancarlostoro wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its really easy to read this and be scared without being given any context, not everyone in the room knows who you are referring to and if your reading of their remarks are accurate. You got a name and a raw source?

You can also sign up to Curtis Yarvin's Substack and read the kind of thinking that Thiel likes to surround himself with: https://graymirror.substack.com/

You can just listen to or read thiel directly.

Re: Palantir is extending its reach even further into government

#120

Post by hollerith »

grafmax wrote: post #116
anonfordays wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We now have concentration camps Immigration detention facilities are not concentration camps.

They’re not death camps. But mass detention without due process - that’s a concentration camp.

That definition would make most refugee camps concentration camps.
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