I'm amazed there's no discussion in the article about Palantir's role in Gaza and their development of Lavender and "Where's Daddy". That goes beyond the gray areas that the author mentions.
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Reflections on Palantir
511–520 of 658 posts
Re: Reflections on Palantir
#512Earlier quoted context omitted.
he invested into the company (that is, funded the immoral work he was disgusted by and caused him to leave) by paying them for stock options while (or shortly after) working there.
He wasn't disgusted, argues most of the work was good not bad, and did not leave for moral reasons.
my bad i think i mixed comments
Re: Reflections on Palantir
#513Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given that it's a site run by a startup incubator with opaque moderation and a strong American bias, I would imagine that most things that make "line go up" are ok.
I don't even think it's always about "line go up". I've talked to real life engineers who evidently have no ethical bar whatsoever--if the technology is cool and complex and an interesting technical problem, they'll work on it, regardless of the real-world application. "Whether my code is used ethically is someone else's problem. I just love technical challenges!" You absolutely see this mentality on HN as well.
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Re: Reflections on Palantir
#514Earlier 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 palantir sets up their software on your infra and allows you the controls. So I don’t think it’s sharing - as in meta or instagram.
Re: Reflections on Palantir
#515Earlier quoted context omitted.
Either the lockdown policy before March 2022 was correct or the sudden "back to normal" after March 2022 was correct. The virus was still there and does not care about presidential edicts and speeches. Given the the world still exists, I think the pre-2022 policies were a gross overreach and the cancellations of the likes of Malone are an eternal shame for the U.S. that is comparable to what happened in the Soviet Un…
You should really take into account the advent of COVID vaccines, the evolution of the disease (it appears that less lethal variants), and how human immunology works (people create antibodies if they survive the first round of a disease). There's a tendency amongst folks who have strong opinions on covid measures to create false dichotomies and ignore how context changed over time. Lockdowns appear to have been a goo…
You would be right, except that the policy change was sudden. We went from hardliner measures like vaccine mandates (EUR 15,000 proposed fines in Austria), lockdowns, layoffs for the unvaccinated, gag orders for medical personnel up to December 2021 to almost complete freedom in March 2022.
You could watch consent manufacturing in real time as former hardliner outlets like the NYT and the Atlantic started to insert timid opinion pieces that questioned school lockdowns and masking of children.
The Ukraine invasion may also have played an additional role in getting Western leaders focus on important things again.
Re: Reflections on Palantir
#516Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am skeptical, let's run an experiment and see what the response is: Is feeding the homeless so they are not hungry "force"? Is lending a compassionate ear to someone suffering so they may feel a bit better "force"? Is making myself a nice sandwich and watching a movie because I find it pleasant "force"?
What's the opportunity cost on watching a movie with a sandwich over 'continuing research to help cure cancer?' You're forcing people to endure cancer while enjoying a sandwich and a movie.
Are you suggesting that I am a cancer researcher (I'm quite sure I'm not), or that a cure for cancer hasn't been found because researchers are lazy?
Re: Reflections on Palantir
#517I worked there in the weird era. A couple things. 1. As per usual, the things that make palantir well known not even close to being the most dubious things. 2. I agree that the rank and file of palantir is no different from typical sv talent. 3. The services -> product transition was cool, I didn't weigh it as much as should've, but I did purchase fomo insurance after they ipo'd 4. The shadow hierarchy was so bad, it…
The strangest thing for me were the article's first two paragraphs: > Palantir is hot now. The company recently joined the S&P 500. The stock is on a tear, and the company is nearing a $100bn market cap. VCs chase ex-Palantir founders asking to invest. [...] During the 2016-2020 era especially, telling people you worked at Palantir was unpopular. The company was seen as spy tech, NSA surveillance, or worse. There wer…
Why are they considered more morally repugnant than big tech or telcos. All these share data with the government. Palantir just provides the software by the way - based on the palantir installation where I work. They don’t share data. The software is installed on my companies infra - not on palantir.
Re: Reflections on Palantir
#518Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Is making myself a nice sandwich and watching a movie because I find it pleasant "force"? To the chicken, turkey, pig, or cow that died to make the meat in your sandwich, definitely yes.
the mental gymnastics it took to write this hot take must be "force" too
At least there is a logical path in that claim (if we ignore that I didn't specify that there was meat in the sandwich...I do eat a lot of plain tomato sandwiches, but not exclusively, so I do to some degree drive demand for animal slaughter)!
I think it's kind of neat that we got from Palantir to sandwiches... I wonder if Palantir's software supports mapping metaphysical causality like this, because bizarre metaphysical causality is the root cause of war in the first place!
Re: Reflections on Palantir
#519Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some other opinions go back even further and more criticize Great Britain for their mishandling of Mandatory Palestine. There are a lot of opinions that develop as both sides adjust their strategy and the borders of their theater. Writing off any development of opinion (particularly in the wake of Lavander) is a counterproductive and insular habit. If you don't want to discuss the behavior and morality of the IDF, no…
Going back just to the Mandate seems like a very arbitrary point. It forgets about Egyptian colonisation of Palestine in 19th century, as well as treatment of Jewish communities across the whole Arab world, which explains a lot about the conflict and it's history.
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Re: Reflections on Palantir
#520Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given that it's a site run by a startup incubator with opaque moderation and a strong American bias, I would imagine that most things that make "line go up" are ok.
I don't even think it's always about "line go up". I've talked to real life engineers who evidently have no ethical bar whatsoever--if the technology is cool and complex and an interesting technical problem, they'll work on it, regardless of the real-world application. "Whether my code is used ethically is someone else's problem. I just love technical challenges!" You absolutely see this mentality on HN as well.
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