The Palantir Problem

The tech bros really do want to take over the world.

Government tech and surveillance contractor, Palantir, has always projected a certain ominous self-confidence, but its recent 22-point manifesto—distilled from co-founder Alex Karp’s The Technological Republic—drops any remaining pretense of neutrality. What the company presents as a “brief” summary reads less like a corporate philosophy and more like the manifesto of a far-right Orwellian cyber hacker.

This isn’t accidental. Palantir Technologies has spent years positioning itself as the indispensable bridge between Silicon Valley and the national security state. Professional dystopian and faux intellectual Peter Thiel is also a co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Its software powers intelligence analysis, military logistics, and surveillance systems used by agencies ranging from the Pentagon to immigration enforcement. So when Palantir declares that Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the nation—and that building consumer products is insufficient—it is not offering cultural commentary so much as advancing an anti-democratic worldview that conveniently aligns with its own revenue streams.