Some discussion earlier: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43757977">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43757977</a>
The subject Twitter thread, no Javascript required:<p><a href="https://nitter.poast.org/paulg/status/1913338841068404903" rel="nofollow">https://nitter.poast.org/paulg/status/1913338841068404903</a>
The replies to the tweet itself (<a href="https://x.com/paulg/status/1913338841068404903" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/paulg/status/1913338841068404903</a> ) are pretty much what you'd expect for modern Twitter/X.
Who would you prefer filling the ranks at a company like Palantir?<p>1. People who are sympathetic to these concerns, and more likely to change thinking from within or whistleblow if needed.<p>2. Everyone left over who are pro police state and fascism?<p>OP’s post would only fill Palantir with the second group. This seems more dangerous than to fill it with a diverse crowd.
Asking honestly, eli5 please: what does Palantir make that is so bad? They make software for the police (and military etc.). I get that maybe the police does horrible things with it (not an American, don't want to argue either way). And sure, you can't say "hey I only make the software that optimises waterboarding, I don't do it myself" - that would very much be complicity.<p>My understanding of Palantir is it does things like, kinda boring CRUD/CRM type things, but for law enforcement. Like, the police got the warrant and data for mobile phone location, Palantir will plot it for you, provide some pretty basic analytics, but ultimately it integrates lots of different data types into something easy to read.<p>Is that so bad? I mean, again, I don't live in the US, but this, if I got it right, is exactly the kind of thing I'd hope the police do use. And if this is misused, that's very much a problem with the police, not the software. You shouldn't fix police excess by only providing them with insufficient tools. Just as you don't fix police brutality by taking away their guns and giving them water pistols instead.<p>But maybe I got it all wrong, happy to be corrected.
Palantir is one of the worst companies that exist right now and I despise them. And this thread getting flagged is very disappointing, I would think "Paul Graham speaks about opportunities in tech" would be very relevant to HN.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. And since labor is coercive, there is no ethical labor under capitalism either.<p>There are degrees and Palantir is not a great one. Working on the Project Auschwitz is not something I’d want on my conscience or resume.<p>But you’re largely fooling yourself if you work in tech and think you’re removed from this. Big tech are defense contractors.<p>Working on AI? You’re directly or indirectly working on the surveillance state.<p>Or maybe you’re working on the US healthcare and insurance sector.