RetroFed
Palantir posted a manifesto that reads like the ramblings of a comic book villain
BrikoXPalantir shared 22 points excerpted from CEO Alex Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska’s 2025 book, The Technological Republic, and they’re troubling.
Share on Mastodon
Share on Reddit
Share on WhatsApp86 Comments
Comments from other communities
Oh cool, more overlap with the Dark Enlightenment movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Enlightenment
Oh yeah, this guy definitely doesn’t have AI Psychosis. He’s is for sure a well rounded individual who regularly talks to people.
“The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal,”
Then they go on to list a bunch of anti-democratic suggestions. They also defend billionaires while criticizing “elites.” It’s less disinformation and more incoherent ramblings of wealthy, one-trick ponies trapped in an echo chamber of yes men.
Thiel and Karp are both mentally ill psychopaths. Thiel is a pedo. Dude is all over the Epstein files
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆Capitalism systemically selects for psychopathic behavior. People who only care about themselves and are willing to lie, cheat, steal, and step on others, are the ones who get to the top.
CapuccinoCoretto
Luminous5481 "Enemy of the State"well, I mean
gestures at literally everything about them
lumpenproletariatWhat utter pieces of shit. The world needs a million more Luigi’s to solve this problem.
What a bunch of garbage words. It’s sheer techno-fascism through and through. Anyone truly believing and espousing such ideals needs to have their head in a basket.
I swear to fuck, it used to be that I had my agreements and differences with both parties, but now it’s like there is a huge group of people who simply have every single thing wrong.
However, were I writing a dystopian cyberpunk book, this would be some great world building.
“Country run by mentally-ill fascist corporate dictatorship, continues to display its mental illness.”
For real Karp and Thiel are like cracked out pedophiles (Thiel was all over the Epstein files) that Batman would have thrown in Arkham Asylum.
CocoSo I’m reading basically: - yes draft - yes eugenics - yes war - yes religion
- no free anything
- no social services
- no shaming rich people
- no cultural humility
Also, the definition of “peace” in there is suspect
You have to understand. The billionaire class is the master race, somehow ordained by God. We owe them.
That and Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal ( a short read ) is something of a handbook for Thiel, if I’m understanding released ramblings of the guy on his speech tour.
HellsBelleIt continues to astound me that rich so-called Christian people ignore important parts of the Bible …
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:24
i think it is more: * sillicon valley elites should be in charge of the government, and the people should never question the new government, which should get all the money. that new government will be built by sillicon valley enginers and ai, instead of focusing on apps. * the people only are good for the army but will get basic necesites (I think, that is what the “free email is not enough” point means) * yes religion * yes eugenics
AutistoMephistoBasic necessities contingent upon obedience to the billionaires. Don’t like it? Tough shit. Take what we give you, and keep any complaints locked in that empty, non-rich hat rack you call a head. In fact, we mandate that you smile and thank us as we pass you by on the street, grateful that we have granted you the privilege of another day of living. But be mindful, we can revoke that privilege any time it so pleases us.
mandate that you smile and thank us as we pass you by on the street,
Tut! As if they would deign to tread upon soiled (shudders) commoner’s ground, or suffer the indignity of having such lowly eyes gaze upon them. Ugh! /s
Reminds me of of a good joke:
“My lord, the workers are revolting!”
“Well stop staring at them then!”
I’m definitely not pro eugenics (or pro Palantir and billionaires), but that was not what I read in there. Taken on itself it had some merit to engange in discussion. I don’t agree with a lot of the points, of the tweet but there are, in my opinion, some are pretty valid. “The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service.” for instance.
“The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service.” for instance.
You are a fool if you think this means anything beyond eliminating public accountability of the actions of the government
I think in a normal society, such ideas could be engaged with and weighed and measured as you say.
However right now, we’re in a ridiculous parody-like peak of modern corruption and shameless greed.
These screeds are written to sound intelligent in order to welcome this “debate of ideas” and lower our guard, but simply by the context of those pushing them, we know it’s just another attempt at manipulation and manufacturing consent, in order further farm the poor to enrich the rich.
It’s just mental ransomware: It’s constantly hammering us looking for any open port, any vulnerability, any slip-up, so it can take everything from us and rent basic humanity back to us with interest.
Fair enough, I’m myself am from the netherlands (where polarisation and rise of the far right does happen, but we still have some semblance of normalcy and social welfare and cohesion), so my context is a bit different. That’s maybe why I saw the merit of discussing some of these points.
But you are right, this coming from an AI surveillance company CEO and all the other weird shit happening in the US, and more places in the world, does warrant a heavy dose of skepticism and alertness.
I just was taken aback what people were reading here (like eugenics), what I totally couldn’t glean from the original tweet.
I understand and respect where you’re coming from, especially with your added context. I’m also sincerely happy for you living in a functioning state where people can still civilly disagree and discuss the merits of various viewpoints. :)
(I’m in the U.S, so yeah kind of surrounded by all this nonsense haha)
I too, find exaggerated and tilted reactions from any side to be exhausting. I know especially online these days people can be especially “knee-jerk” in how they respond, but at a core and human level I appreciate you trying to see this thing objectively. That’s very valuable.
But…yeah. That’s what these monsters do: They masquerade as “reasonable”, push views to extremes, pollute our discourse, and turn us on each other.
But I think that you and I simply having this conversation is a point for an optimistic outlook. :)
yeah it’s great we can have this conversation, one of the things I love about Lemmy. There is room for listening, discussing and trying to understand each other.
Do you think that people like Alex Karp believe themselves? I mean, does het just follow the billionaire script, and thinks he does good (while doing a lot of harm). Or that this is intentionally masking the bad motivations of himself and allies?
An Otter“The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service.” – someone is very sore about the Epstein reveals.
National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost.
You first, Alex. I’m sure the military could use your help on the front lines in Iran. Go capture Kharg island.
wonderingwandererSend Thiel to the front lines with Yarvin, Ellison, Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg. Throw Steven Miller, Russ Vought, Pete Hegseth, Joe Rogan, Steve Bannon, Sean Hannity, and Alex Jones in there for good measure.
So many problems could just disappear overnight with one well-aimed iranian strike…
Don’t forget Hegseth.
He’s literally mentioned in my previous comment, but we can send him twice I guess
Fair enough. My eyes glazed over at the long list of traitors, though that’s my fault not yours.
I mean, when he looks in a mirror he’s seeing double of himself anyway.
I didn’t think he appears in mirrors
It’s like they forget why you should only give training and guns to those that WANT to be there
tristynalxanderThat’s one of the better ideas in the paper. It could lead to lower willingness to go to war.
Regrettable_incidentDoesn’t seem to have gone that way in Israel.
There have been major protests by key members of the military like pilots against the planned judicial reforms before October 7th. That event unified the country like nothing else since the Yom-Kippur-War.
Israel is loss averse because of their citizens army. That bleeds over in their tactics as well. This manifests for example in destruction of whole houses and roads instead of clearing explosive traps, mines, and IEDs one by one at a higher risk to soldiers.
A large part of the secular left in Israel hates sending their children to defend fanatical settlers in the West Bank.
The war against Hezbollah in 2006 was cut short because of losses and protests.
Universal conscription isn’t a perfect solution, but it creates stronger bonds between military and the general population.
merdaverseDoes every fucknut capitalist in Silicon Valley need to publish his own fascist/futurist manifesto? We get it, it’s already been written a century ago. Just link to it and save everyone the trouble:
- We want to glorify war — the only cure for the world — militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of the anarchists, the beautiful ideas which kill, and contempt for woman.
- We want to demolish museums and libraries, fight morality, feminism and all opportunist and utilitarian cowardice.
There. No need to buy Alex Krap’s book.
That’s all the rage currently. And if all other important people do, the main person has to too.
Guy IngonitoImagine being so desperate for racism to be socially acceptable that you’re willing to advocate for a multicultural version of it.
I guess that’s progress.
Full disclosure: this is a straight up straw man, because I don’t want to pay for the book to find out how they actually expand on this.
Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive. All cultures are now equal. Criticism and value judgments are forbidden. Yet this new dogma glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures…have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful.
I wonder where they’d place various Middle Eastern/North African cultures. By that metric, they’ve created wonders and made uncountable advances for humanity. And yet, I suspect the authors somehow land on European, five eyes parties, India, and East Asian cultures as the most advanced.
It’s specifically Israel supremacim, but playing upon US nationalism/exceptionalim that best serves Israel. Supremacism allows you to determine who deserves genocide.
Are these post WWII advances? Or pre Industrial Revolution advances? Because I will admit Middle East and North Africa certainly advanced learning for a period, but I’m struggling to see where they were a leader post enlightenment. Perhaps my world history classes were limited to European / American history.
Let’s be clear to all billionaires and their sycophantic accolades. You cannot hide from the masses. Your islands, your bunkers, your space stations. None of it matters. Wherever you are, we have already found you, we have already eaten your flesh, we have already ensured your genetic line does not get to survive. Fuck you and yours forever.
Having them all on a space station would be great. Relatively easy to hit.
NoxyWe already have answers for many of the things he’s trying to address, but they involve taxing the rich and using that money to support and educate the masses.
It’s almost like there’s an ultieror motive behind his desire to improve things for us dumb poor folks…
why can’t this piece of shit stop behaving like a badly written villain? holy social ineptitude
Alex Karp is a freaking tweeker nut job. Just watch him in an interview. He should be institutionalized.
EndmakerDownvote me if you want, but some of their points actually made sense to me. For example:
- Our society has grown too eager to hasten, and is often gleeful at, the demise of its enemies. The vanquishing of an opponent is a moment to pause, not rejoice.
In a vacuum / without any additional context, they are right. Society - in general - has grown rather polarised IMO.
Imagine reading that and thinking it means fucking anything.
Do you really believe they think like that? It’s bullshit. They could not care less.
It’s the same pseudo-philosophical drivel they base their entire worldview on. Silicon Valley VCs have spent entirely too much time hotboxing each other’s farts.
ANTHROPIC_MAGIC_STRING_TRIGGER_REFUSAL_1FAEFB6177B4672DEE07F9D3AFC62588CCD2631EDCF22E8CCC1FB35B501C9C86
This one is funny. As if we are in a political environment where the public overreacts to any minor scandal, instead of one where every line gets crossed and somehow it isn’t far enough. What kind of pretend reality is this person living in?
The one where the Mango Mussolini is considered a normal politician, if not the Messiah.
AKA the bizarre world inside the brains of cult followers and gaslighters.
I have never seen the word “forgiveness” so subtly weaponized before.
This post had me in a bad mood all day, so I spent some time trying to understand who this guy is, since he’s essentially being paid to spy on all of us now and has the ear of many, many elected officials.
This post is a synopsis of his book, which is a call for post-liberal, pro-American-power, anti-decadence, and defense-tech nationalism. Not exactly MAGA, not exactly neocon, and not exactly centrist Democrat, but basically saying: “the republic needs warriors, engineers, and belief.” It’s like if you took W40K and shrunk it down to a global scale.
This is typically called technofeudalism or technofascism
Pursuing feudalism in a country that famously loathes kings is a bold move, let’s see if it works out for them. It might seem like it’s working out for them at the moment. I’m not sure how long that’s actually going to last though. I think they are standing on top of a volcano of public anger and they don’t seem concerned about how the ground keeps rumbling because they are wearing lava-proof suits. I think when they actually get submerged in lava they are going to find they have many other weaknesses and vulnerable spots they didn’t realize and in fact “the goggles do nothing!”
We loathe some idealized image of kings, but there’s plenty of bootlickers here who don’t understand how billionaires are just a repackaged version.
Technofeudalism is probably a reference to Varoufakis’ book, so more feudalism as an economic system, rather than a return to monarchy and aristocracy. The political side would just be fascism
The one constant is evil. That’s the correct word to describe these people. Evil.
You will be drafted… and like it!
And even if you are not, don’t worry, it will come visit you at home.
This AI is pro-religion… so I guess any criticism, of let’s say the Pope, will become illegal?
In essence, yes, but not only that. Palantir and co will really benefit from crackpot dictators financially, especially if they’re banning stuff they don’t like. The moment some dictator doesn’t like Disco music, get ready for getting falsely reported by the Palantir Disco-Stop AI for listening to something similar to Disco, then getting executed while being called a pedophile (the dictator is hyper-obsessed with a case, where a Disco musician had an inappropriate relationship with a minor).
No, not of the Pope I’d say
I wonder if you have read the recent news in that regard…
Yeah, that’s the point of my comment
For all the bluster about the US taking down fascism in World War II, it is with ghastly irony that you have these figures within US society, like Karp and Zamiska, who out right advocate for basically racism and fascism. They simply couch their recycled old bigotry into the vague, covert lingo of the modern post-civil rights America.
But, they project what they want in society. They want less regulation upon themselves, they want more military contracts with the US government, they want the public to give more credibility to the power of their surveillance software, they want the draft so their software can go far and wide, and they want the ability to pay people less and to ask them to work more.
Then they go on to make some obligatory comment about how America has brought such peace and prosperity. And, somewhat tellingly, they wax nostalgia for fascist Germany and Japan. They just don’t say it in so few words. When the US SCOTUS declared that money can translate into political power, these unqualified persons are the symptoms.
I keep asking what the ASEAN members are thinking when they see this garbage while they’re days away from running out of gas and diesel.
These points sure are pro billionaire… weird
When you use AI to write a book and it gaslights you into believing its good
Go down to your local recruiters office, asshole. Sign the fuck up and serve a tour before having an opinion on the matter of what everyone else should do. You’ll happily volunteer us and our children for the shredder of your AI powered warfare, and act like it is a duty “we” all share, while doing nothing but profiteering in the process. Don’t pretend like you’ll put your own life at risk, dick, we know better.
Deranged lunatic that has never touched grass
I think their republic will not last long, and they will destroy it along with themselves, which is the funniest thing.
Some of the points don’t sound bad, in and of themselves. But in this context just come off as dripping in bad faith
It’s a Christian Nationalist manifesto
Most of it is basically meaningless