Palantir defends its role in the kill chain • Hacker News Board

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#41

Post by jjj123 » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

bibimsz wrote: post #27

iammjm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what? I don't really care if you are proud of your work if I think you work is objectively evil. I imagine the designers of the Auschwitz's gas chambers were also proud of their "good" work. Yeah I ain't empathizing with them either and you can call that a "blind spot"

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Where in the parent comment do you see them saying they are objectively “right”?

I read it as honestly subjective: “I see morality this way, you see it another way. If you act in a way that my morality deems evil, I will judge you for it regardless of how it fits into your belief system.”

That seems non-contradictory to me.

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#42

Post by mingus88 » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 5:33 PM UTC

smegma2 wrote: post #7

Not trying to be contrarian here, but I don’t get the problem. What’s wrong with Palantir producing weapons or military intelligence? How is it different from making guns? Is the problem what those things are used for, or is it the way Palantir does it?

There is a straight line from Eisenhower’s farewell speech about the perils of the military industrial complex to where we are right now.

Read that speech. Read “War is a racket” by Smedly Butler.

Do you think it’s a good thing that Palantir execs (Shankar and Bob Mcgrew, now at openAI) have been made Lt Cols of the U.S. Army?

They aren’t just making guns or information systems. They’re running the show and profiting on it.

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/03/1255164460/1a-army-07-03-2025

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#43

Post by EPWN3D » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

smegma2 wrote: post #7

Not trying to be contrarian here, but I don’t get the problem. What’s wrong with Palantir producing weapons or military intelligence? How is it different from making guns? Is the problem what those things are used for, or is it the way Palantir does it?

He shows no remorse for any innocent lives lost during these operations. He emphasizes that the "minimum" number of innocent deaths has been achieved, and for him, that's job done.

You can accept that warfare is sometimes necessary and that innocent lives are sometimes lost. But necessity shouldn't be enough to wipe away any semblance of remorse if you have a functioning moral conscience.

Karp may be right on the merits right now, but he's clearly a broken human being. This is not someone I want involved in our country's warfare apparatus for the long term, because eventually his sociopathy will kill people who didn't need to die.

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#44

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

bcrosby95 wrote: post #21

avazhi wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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You're misreading the hesitation about going into places like Iran. It's not because we think the regime is/was good, but rather because of the completely predictable next 10-50 years of shit we're going to experience as a result. Regime change is hard and oftentimes has the opposite effect of what you want. For example, see the current Iran regime.

[deleted]

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#45

Post by GuinansEyebrows » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

smegma2 wrote: post #7

Not trying to be contrarian here, but I don’t get the problem. What’s wrong with Palantir producing weapons or military intelligence? How is it different from making guns? Is the problem what those things are used for, or is it the way Palantir does it?

Allowing private-sector warfare manufacturers creates a profit motive for warfare, surveillance etc. It’s in palantir’s (or Raytheon, or Northrop, or BAH…), and their stockholders’, economic interest to promote and extend conflict. Many people think this is bad (including me).

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#46

Post by bibimsz » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 6:03 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #40

bibimsz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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If you can conclusively prove that liberals are evil, be my guest. Give me your rhetorical coup-de-grace that annihilates half of America's voting bloc. Even the Nazis retained the ability to judge their opponents when WWII ended. Pity that their opponents were hangmen that wanted them to answer for murder.

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Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#47

Post by JumpinJack_Cash » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 6:22 PM UTC

astrashe2 wrote: post #25

stavros wrote: post #2

It must be nice to live in a world where your country is always morally right just because it's your country. It's much simpler that way.

It doesn't change the reality of what's happening, so I don't think this is worth much, but most people here don't think that.

> > It doesn't change the reality of what's happening, so I don't think this is worth much, but most people here don't think that.

Where are the ginormous protests that happened during the Iraq invasion?

Me thinks it was not about right or wrong but fear of a new Vietnam type draft.

Now that war has changed there are not similar type of protests because it's the missiles and drones doing the killing

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#48

Post by JumpinJack_Cash » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

smegma2 wrote: post #7

Not trying to be contrarian here, but I don’t get the problem. What’s wrong with Palantir producing weapons or military intelligence? How is it different from making guns? Is the problem what those things are used for, or is it the way Palantir does it?

> > What’s wrong with Palantir producing weapons or military intelligence? How is it different from making guns?

Palantir leadership has a long history of needing to be cruel and antisocial in a very loud way in order to feel alive .

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#49

Post by tastyface » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 7:06 PM UTC

some_random wrote: post #5

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I could empathize with someone who relishes and jokes about killing people outside their ideology; these feelings are certainly familiar to me. But as a Christian, the thought of willfully doing so makes me feel ill, since I make great efforts to get those sadistic feelings *out* of my head. Someone who treats death with such cheery indifference is willingly forfeiting part of their humanity. To me, that's the definition of evil.

Most evil people don't see themselves as evil and do not feel shame about what they do. In fact, they often frame their actions as a crusade.

Re: Palantir defends its role in the kill chain

#50

Post by brendoelfrendo » Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 7:07 PM UTC

smegma2 wrote: post #7

Not trying to be contrarian here, but I don’t get the problem. What’s wrong with Palantir producing weapons or military intelligence? How is it different from making guns? Is the problem what those things are used for, or is it the way Palantir does it?

> How is it different from making guns?

It doesn't have to be! Being an arms dealer is also a moral failing.