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Yes and let me remind you that the German branch of IBM supplied the punch card computers and programs for identifying jews in census data in the third reich wh

by tsss 7y ago

Yes and let me remind you that the German branch of IBM supplied the punch card computers and programs for identifying jews in census data in the third reich which enabled the holocaust. Palantir is doing exactly the same but with much more powerful tools. It is only a matter of time until some government will use their software to commit genocide, not to mention prosecution of political dissidents which is already happening. Of course Palantir will profit off this and get away with it just like IBM did. I get downvoted for this every time but someone has to say it. It's the truth whether you like it or not.

ng12 7y ago
Punchcards weren't the problem, Nazis were the problem. Should we be focused on ensuring that every data analysis vendor, worldwide, refuses to sell to our government or should we be focused on ensuring our government doesn't do bad things? The former is sisyphean, the latter is the most important thing we as a society can do.
- tsss 7y ago
  This software is a tool that is very easy to abuse, in fact I would go so far to say that its primary purpose is to be abused. Like a gun it has its place in society, but that doesn't absolve you from responsibility when you sell guns to a known dictator. IBM is definitely to blame when they sold their punchcard computers to nazi Germany, knowing that they would be used for genocide (which was not only common knowledge, they even wrote the damn programs!). You are conflating two separate issues here: The morality of Palantir and their employees and the practicality of stopping abuse. To get back to the weapons analogy: We may not be able to stop everyone from selling weapons to North Korea but we can surely condemn those who do, wouldn't you agree? > Punchcards weren't the problem, Nazis were the problem Nazis are inevitable. Even if you assume that the government actually acquired this software with good intent, you have to anticipate that someone will abuse it. Maybe not today but tomorrow.
  - ng12 7y ago
    > The morality of Palantir and their employees If the point you're making is that people who work for Palantir are morally akin to people working for the organizers of the Holocaust we'll have to agree to disagree.
    - tsss 7y ago
      If the tools they are making are used for the same purpose then obviously they are. We are not quite at that point yet, but it's not looking good.

by tsss 7y ago

ng12 7y ago

Punchcards weren't the problem, Nazis were the problem. Should we be focused on ensuring that every data analysis vendor, worldwide, refuses to sell to our government or should we be focused on ensuring our government doesn't do bad things? The former is sisyphean, the latter is the most important thing we as a society can do.

tsss 7y ago
This software is a tool that is very easy to abuse, in fact I would go so far to say that its primary purpose is to be abused. Like a gun it has its place in society, but that doesn't absolve you from responsibility when you sell guns to a known dictator. IBM is definitely to blame when they sold their punchcard computers to nazi Germany, knowing that they would be used for genocide (which was not only common knowledge, they even wrote the damn programs!). You are conflating two separate issues here: The morality of Palantir and their employees and the practicality of stopping abuse. To get back to the weapons analogy: We may not be able to stop everyone from selling weapons to North Korea but we can surely condemn those who do, wouldn't you agree? > Punchcards weren't the problem, Nazis were the problem Nazis are inevitable. Even if you assume that the government actually acquired this software with good intent, you have to anticipate that someone will abuse it. Maybe not today but tomorrow.
- ng12 7y ago
  > The morality of Palantir and their employees If the point you're making is that people who work for Palantir are morally akin to people working for the organizers of the Holocaust we'll have to agree to disagree.
  - tsss 7y ago
    If the tools they are making are used for the same purpose then obviously they are. We are not quite at that point yet, but it's not looking good.