Palantir is one of the worst companies that exist right now and I despise them. And this thread getting flagged is very disappointing, I would think "Paul Graham speaks about opportunities in tech" would be very relevant to HN.
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YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
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Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#42Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#43The replies to the tweet itself ( https://x.com/paulg/status/1913338841068404903 ) are pretty much what you'd expect for modern Twitter/X.
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Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#44Who would you prefer filling the ranks at a company like Palantir? 1. People who are sympathetic to these concerns, and more likely to change thinking from within or whistleblow if needed. 2. Everyone left over who are pro police state and fascism? OP’s post would only fill Palantir with the second group. This seems more dangerous than to fill it with a diverse crowd.
You think these tactics work at a company like Palantir? Or even most companies? That’s not how these power structures work. These companies tend to already filter for people who align with the built in politics and ethics of the product being produced.
Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#45Palantir is one of the worst companies that exist right now and I despise them. And this thread getting flagged is very disappointing, I would think "Paul Graham speaks about opportunities in tech" would be very relevant to HN.
It is relevant. There are a lot of folks trying to control all narratives regarding MAGA and the US move toward fascism and reactionary right wing populism, even if loosely affiliated, on here by eliminating content. That’s what fascists do after all. It’s not difficult in it being an open forum. Tech is intertwined with politics as it turns out, and a post by PG calling out Thiel is incredibly relevant to HN for obvious reasons.
Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#46i guess relations between pg and thiel have soured
or they just want you to talk about them.
Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#47Asking honestly, eli5 please: what does Palantir make that is so bad? They make software for the police (and military etc.). I get that maybe the police does horrible things with it (not an American, don't want to argue either way). And sure, you can't say "hey I only make the software that optimises waterboarding, I don't do it myself" - that would very much be complicity.
My understanding of Palantir is it does things like, kinda boring CRUD/CRM type things, but for law enforcement. Like, the police got the warrant and data for mobile phone location, Palantir will plot it for you, provide some pretty basic analytics, but ultimately it integrates lots of different data types into something easy to read.
Is that so bad? I mean, again, I don't live in the US, but this, if I got it right, is exactly the kind of thing I'd hope the police do use. And if this is misused, that's very much a problem with the police, not the software. You shouldn't fix police excess by only providing them with insufficient tools. Just as you don't fix police brutality by taking away their guns and giving them water pistols instead.
But maybe I got it all wrong, happy to be corrected.
Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#48The replies to the tweet itself ( https://x.com/paulg/status/1913338841068404903 ) are pretty much what you'd expect for modern Twitter/X.
Actually I followed the thread a bit and it wasn't quite what I expected.
Paul got into a debate with Ted Mabrey, Global Head of Commercial at Palantir saying he'd delete his tweet if Ted would say Palantir won't help the US government violate the US constitution but he was unwilling to say that. Part of it: https://x.com/paulg/status/1913729703447241087
Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does everyone in the country agree with this sentiment? I have a feeling people might still apply. :/
If 50% of engineers choose not to work for Palantir for ethical reasons, they have to hire from a reduced talent pool. The company will have to pay more for talented engineers but can probably still succeed. If 90%-99% of engineers refuse to work for them, they're going to have a much harder time of it.
I would assume maybe 1% have read this tweet and maybe 20% would refuse to with them
Re: YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
#50The replies to the tweet itself ( https://x.com/paulg/status/1913338841068404903 ) are pretty much what you'd expect for modern Twitter/X.
Blue check reply guys are generally awful and almost always reactionary.
I found this reply noteworthy [1]. For context, Gerry actively blocks many, many people on Twitter using some bot. This came up he became the CEO of YC as mahy people discovered they had seemingly been blocked [2]. Their crimes? Seemingly being in any way pro-affordable housing in California in general or San Francisco in particular.
So this reply is definitely on brand but it's also reactionary in a way than many of the purveyors of such opinions don't think is reactionary. In fact, you'll often find they view themselves as "apolitical" or talk about "common sense" solutions to problems. The "common sense" here is just concentration camps and stripping both citizens and non-citizens of due process.
Migrants haven't caused the houselessness problems in San Francisco: unaffordable housing has..