I don't understand how cats meowing proves anything about dogs. But see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule#Loose_rhetorical_sense

I don't understand how cats meowing proves anything about dogs. But see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule#Loose_rhetorical_sense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule... The original sense is "No parking on sundays" proves that parking is allowed on other days. The colloquial sense is that if something is a surprising, it shows that its opposite was a useful rule of thumb, or at least one you'd established in your head. (E.g. if you are surprised by a dog that doesn't bark, this surprise is meaningful and says something about what you think about dogs and barking.) If palantir is shocking as a SV company, this says something interesting about what you think about SV companies.