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Reflections on Palantir

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Re: Reflections on Palantir

#381

Post by bborud »

ktagh wrote: post #341
worstspotgain wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's hypothesize that a would-be administration in a Western country would like to accomplish full Russian-style autocracy relatively quickly. Let's say they have stated publicly that their plan is to go after immigrants first, opposition leaders second. Numerically, these are two small categories, relatively speaking. The first question is, what about the third and fourth categories? Would they be dissenters in gen…

[flagged]

> The Biden administration had authoritarian, Russian style COVID policies.

During the pandemic I read various descriptions of what disease outbreaks were like during various times. Including descriptions of the plague of 1665. What is interesting is that the approach to managing outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases hasn't really changed that much. Because we discovered relatively early on what helps. (Though we no longer nail houses shut with infected people inside them and post armed guards outside).

What policies would you suggest to manage outbreaks of infectious diseases? How many deaths do you think is acceptable? Can you pick a number?

It will be interesting to see what happens during the next pandemic. Because there will be pandemics in the future. Do you think that a population disinclined to act cautiously in a situation where correct information will be scarce for months, possibly years, is a good thing or do you think it might represent a problem.

The most sinister thing a government could possibly do would be to do as little as possible and just accept loss of human life.

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#382

Post by guappa »

> Throughout the conversation, he kept chewing pieces of ice. (Apparently there are cognitive benefits to this.)

Ah, now believing to pseudoscience is a sign of great intelligence?

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#383

Post by nxobject »

yks wrote: post #161
nxobject wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's some clarification that needs to happen, though: what would it mean for "China to dictate the terms", and does that necessarily happen if the US "steps back" (and what does that mean?) In a charitable interpretation, the US remains an important trading, industrial, technological, and educational world power. Perhaps it might even keep the spending on worldwide surveillance (e.g. spy satellites). Geopo…

Stepping back from enforcing post-WW2 world order means letting China, Russia, Iran to freely install their satellite and unfriendly-to-the-US regimes around the world, by force if needed. Which means access to the foreign markets will be curtailed for the US or otherwise "dictated" by other powers. It's hard to see how that leads to more prosperity for Americans, especially since the political forces trying to bring…

What do you mean by "post-WW2 world order", in this case? Without that, it's hard to even make claims about what happens when the US stops "enforcing it" with. Does the US simply stop pouring in development aid into countries? Does it stop attracting world-class talent into research institutions, and eventually industries? Does it stop having significant heft in trade negotiations because of that?

On one hand, there are specific things that the US _could_ stop doing: not selling arms left and right, and bombing third countries. Maybe you might not call that a meaningful change in the "post-WW2 world order" – but we'd argue that's the case, since it has been a consistent feature of the post-WW2 world order.

It's also a very big leap to assume that the middle class of any country would suffer after whatever is assumed here happens. Why would you assume that Russia and China not be interested in that? Moreover, why would you assume that Russia and China would _not_ want "trading, industry, technology and education" in the absence of great power competition?

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#384

Post by scott_w »

Aeolun wrote: post #360
okasaki wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Palantir’s clients also include the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency who rely on Palantir’s products for their ethnic cleansing..." And don't forget the UK National Health Service

Are you trying to say that working for the NHS is bad? I’d choose the NHS over a great many other things if given the option.

The discussion of Palantir in the NHS is not a question of whether "Palantir are good/bad for taking NHS work," it's actually "should the NHS contract out to (and share sensitive patient data with) a company with a reputation like Palantir?"

The first question makes no sense at all. The latter question, however, is an important one for democratic governments to tackle.

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#385

Post by razakel »

staticvoidstar wrote: post #354
lmz wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I think Darryl Cooper's take is interesting. It's actually original sin from the Holocaust put on all conservatives, not just Germans

So why do about 60% of people who consider themselves left or far left oppose immigration?

Cooper also claims that the Holocaust happened by mistake, so I wouldn't pay too much attention to him.

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#386

Post by crimsoneer »

scott_w wrote: post #384
Aeolun wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you trying to say that working for the NHS is bad? I’d choose the NHS over a great many other things if given the option.

The discussion of Palantir in the NHS is not a question of whether "Palantir are good/bad for taking NHS work," it's actually "should the NHS contract out to (and share sensitive patient data with) a company with a reputation like Palantir?" The first question makes no sense at all. The latter question, however, is an important one for democratic governments to tackle.

I think the challenging question here is that while palantir obviously have a reputation, they're practically not that different to any of the big consultancies.

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#387

Post by yoz »

ArtixFox wrote: post #296
monkaiju wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think the goal of defeating Hamas justifies this amount of civilian killing yiu have no moral basis to argue with.

What is the other solution? create a separate state for palestine under the control of hamas would only legitimise them, allow them to easily get more weapons and go on another oct 7, which will again lead to the bombings currently happening. Bombing them to death would lead to deaths of many, many women and children cuz gaza is 75% children. You cannot have peace with hamas, only ceasefire, and even then they havnt…

My solution, if I was in charge of Israel, would simply be to NOT order the army to destroy most of Gaza and kill tens of thousands of people, and to instead just focus on preventing incursions into Israel. I would also focus on stopping Hamas missiles by using the hugely effective anti-missile system that, conveniently, already exists.

I realise that this is not a perfect solution to the Israel/Palestine problem. It has many flaws in the long term and ignores a bunch of pressing issues. But it does have the benefit of not killing tens of thousands of people, and in that way is a hell of a lot better than the bloodthirsty rampage currently happening.

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#388

Post by cambaceres »

clircle wrote: post #374
austinjp wrote: post #330

The article reveals depressing reasons why someone might choose to work for the lines of Palantir: lots of talented people working on hard problems. That's pretty much it. No problem with the business model, just intellectual hunger. I'm sure the pay didn't hurt. We need to teach our students that the employment they take doesn't exist in a vacuum. Your choice of employee can impact not only yourself but the wider wo…

> We need to teach our students... Teach your values to your own kids, man

The perfect response to this kind of preaching.

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#389

Post by kettleballroll »

yoaviram wrote: post #377
austinjp wrote: post #330

The article reveals depressing reasons why someone might choose to work for the lines of Palantir: lots of talented people working on hard problems. That's pretty much it. No problem with the business model, just intellectual hunger. I'm sure the pay didn't hurt. We need to teach our students that the employment they take doesn't exist in a vacuum. Your choice of employee can impact not only yourself but the wider wo…

What a brilliant example of self-righteous post-rationalization. Maybe we all need to recalibrate our moral compasses. Yes, ethics is nuanced, but not in the case of Palantir, who directly enables the abuse of human rights on a massive scale. They are not in the grey, they are pitch black - arms dealers selling to the highest bidder[1][2]. Same as NSO but with better PR. The minimal standard we should teach our stude…

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how your sources are relevant. [1] is written by a science fiction author, and while it outlines how palantir is trying to get into a contract with the NHS (apparently mostly by acquiring companies that already have such contracts), it doesn't say _anything_ about what palantir did (or has planned to do) that would be detrimental to the NHS. [2] merely speculated how palantir might help Ukraine defend itself from Russia. Which... Uhh... I don't see as a bad thing?

Re: Reflections on Palantir

#390

Post by 1oooqooq »

serguzest wrote: post #267
avmich wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would also be interesting to hear thoughts on the company of somebody like Cory Doctorow. Edit: aha, found. https://doctorow.medium.com/how-palantir-will-steal-the-nhs-... "Palantir is one of the most sinister companies on the global stage, a company whose pitch is to sell humans rights abuses as a service. The customers for this turnkey service include America’s most corrupt police departments, who use Palantir’s…

I think things are getting worse, JD Vance is Peter Thiel's high-rank implant to possible upcoming Trump administration. Will evil techno-cons replace neocons?

you're some 12yrs late on that. the academic term is hyper imperialism... a tech globalist update on the interwar term ultra imperialism (which predicted, or suggested, the current pax americana).
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