Military and intelligence contractor Palantir has long struggled to beat the allegations of enabling an Orwellian surveillance state on behalf of the Pentagon.
The Alex Karp-led company has received huge sums in federal funding to build out a surveillance platform for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with countless other contracts for military operations, policing, and border enforcement — not just with the US, but the Israeli military and UK government as well.
Just in case its broader mission to supercharge national security using cutting-edge spying was too opaque, Karp penned a 320-page tome titled “The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West.” While the book itself was released just over 14 months ago, a 22-point summary the company tweeted over the weekend put the firm and its controversial CEO’s ominous worldview in stark relief, drawing shocked reactions.
Belgian philosopher of technology Mark Coeckelbergh described the manifesto as an “example of technofascism,” while Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis warned that “AI-powered killer robots are coming” in his reading of Palantir’s “hideous ideology.” Engadget pointed out that the summary “reads like the ramblings of a comic book villain” — and we can’t help but agree.
It doesn’t take long for the red flags to shoot up. Karp calls for national service to be a “universal duty,” and for the undoing of the “postwar neutering of Germany and Japan.” He also calls for “hard power” at the expense of “moral appeal,” and opines that people shouldn’t “look to the political arena to nourish their soul and sense of self.”
Meanwhile, it calls for the “West” to shed any sense of “inclusivity,” by resisting the “shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism,” closely echoing the far-right’s repeated calls to end what it calls “woke” — essentially inclusive and anti-discriminatory — beliefs. (As such, Karp told investors in November that Palantir is the “first company to be completely anti-woke.”)
The book also argues that the new world order will inevitably be determined by software and AI-driven warfare, and that “violent crime” needs to be solved by Silicon Valley itself. (In reality, violent crime has been falling for decades.)
It’s a terrifyingly unambiguous rendition of Karp’s worldview that, given his reputation as the “scariest CEO in the world,” shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. From supporting deportations carried out by ICE to developing software for autonomous strike drones that’s being used in Iran to select targets, he and his company have long been shrouded in controversy.
Meanwhile, even former employees often struggle to explain what the Peter Thiel-cofounded software firm actually does, as Wired reported last year.
In an open letter published last year, several months after Karp’s book was released, a group of former workers warned that “Palantir’s leadership has abandoned its founding ideals” and that its original promises of protecting against discrimination and disinformation “have now been violated, and are rapidly being dismantled at Palantir Technologies and across Silicon Valley.”
Protesters also recently staged a “die-in” by collapsing on the pavement in front of Palantir’s offices, while brandishing signs with slogans, such as “Palantir: ICE and war enabler and profiteer.”
Karp’s inscrutable personality has also drawn plenty of attention. Earlier this year, he acted erratically and notably struggled to stay seated during an interview, kicking off rumors that he was under the influence of drugs. (The billionaire has previously joked that working at Palantir can feel like a “cult” except with “no sex and very little drugs.”)
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