8 ms·

I was talking with my friends about Palantir the other day. We all basically agreed that we could never work there unless we were truly desperate. The role th

I was talking with my friends about Palantir the other day. We all basically agreed that we could never work there unless we were truly desperate. The role they have played in surveillance capitalism is just too slimy for us.

rtx 6y ago
I have been waiting for company like Palantir to come up. Imagine if we can catch child abusers before they can do too much damage.
- read_if_gay_ 6y ago
  Hello 1984
  - rtx 6y ago
    Since we already have read that it will be different. Imagine a world where we all have neural sims integrated with something like Palantir. So many criminals will be caught. Found a body dumped in a swamp, lets query who has been there. Don't we all love when criminals are caught from CCTV recordings. Is it scary, yes. We will need to be more involved in the democratic process.
    - ficklepickle 6y ago
      What is your obsession with catching criminals, and what makes you think that punishment reduces crime? Wouldn't it be a more efficient use of resources to target the socioeconomic factors that lead to crime?
      - rtx 6y ago
        Tools like these will also help with that. We will be directly able to measure a Childs nutrition and intervene if the parents are careless. I have watched many cases of child and elderly abuse which were not just due to lack of education. People have different passions mine is a criminal free world.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        non-entity 6y ago
        > People have different passions mine is a criminal free world. Is this a joke, or just naivety to the point of comedy? Mind you "criminals" can be anyone if its politically convenient.
        rtx 6y ago
        Lets make it politically inconvenient. We can outsource democracy to politicians, citizens need to be involved.
      - mdifrgechd 6y ago
        > Wouldn't it be a more efficient use of resources to target the socioeconomic factors that lead to crime? Nobody wants to vote for those things, you misunderstand what problem governments are trying to solve by being tough on crime.
        HugeAcumen 6y ago
        I want to vote for those things. I'm told by my blue friends that I'm naive. Reds call me a socialist. This is by design. It is intentional. Billions of dollars are spent giving people these 'views'. Sanders gave people an opportunity to vote for "those things", and he was the clear favorite to take out Trump - until Democrats pulled every dirty trick to scupper his campaign. Again. So people really do want to vote for these things, but massive effort is put into not giving them the option. Sanders is the most popular politician in America, every year - and instead of helping him, instead of boosting him, the Blue team stabbed him in the front, in the back, in the eye balls, etc.
        mrguyorama 6y ago
        >until Democrats pulled every dirty trick to scupper his campaign You mean it's the democrat's fault that 20 somethings didn't go vote? I liked Bernie, I voted for him, but the demographic he targeted apparently preferred swiping through tik tok to improving their world so he learned a hard lesson a second time.
        HugeAcumen 6y ago
        Looks like someone fell for the media narrative. Young people voted in record numbers for Bernie. And his demographic was everyone - the elderly had the most to gain in many ways.
      - qwertox 6y ago
        Come to think about how important it was to catch the "criminals" in Nazi-Germany. Who where the criminals again? Scary times.
- qtplatypus 6y ago
  Given the amount of abuse ICE has done to children they are most likely a net contributor to child abuse.
0xy 6y ago
You and your friends are a vanishingly small minority, given the size of Facebook and Google's ad teams.
- azangru 6y ago
  Really? That's not the impression that I'm getting from observing developer discussions on social media, including here, on HN. The impression I am getting is that an overwhelming majority of developers who are vocal online share left democratic values and thus resent Palantir. (They've recently started to be resentful of Facebook as well, although I haven't heard of a mass exodus of developers from there.) Do you have a sample of developers who express diametrically opposite views?
  - secondcoming 6y ago
    Nobody in their right mind would publically express these views in today's Cancel Culture witch-hunting climate. You're probably in a bubble of like-minded people, and mistakingly extrapolating the views expressed in that bubble to the whole developer community.
    - azangru 6y ago
      > You're probably in a bubble of like-minded people I don't think I'm IN it; I am observing it from the outside, and would love to find an opposite bubble to observe too, but just can't.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - 0xy 6y ago
        If you think that James Damore had universal disagreement among his peers then you're in a bubble. Ask yourself why they would bother to speak up when hundreds of thousands of dollars and their career is on the line.
      - SuoDuanDao 6y ago
samaxe 6y ago
Rarely is it someone diving into something questionable. It is typically either 1) a slow culture change, and one day find yourself sitting at your desk doing horrible things. 2) naivety and person is unaware going into the situation, but now they are in it. It is super easy to sit back from afar after the culture change, after the info is public, to say “I would never work there/do that”.
- greenduck 6y ago
  Certainly. To be clear, I'm not describing "how horrible" people are who originally joined it. I'm saying that today, with what we know and the problems we see growing around the world, especially the rise of authoritarianism, we have some reserves about working for a company like Palantir.
- machello13 6y ago
  I think you're giving engineers too much credit. I know a people who work at Palantir despite fully knowing what they do, and I know a lot of other engineers who, in 2020, would love to work there.

rtx 6y ago

I have been waiting for company like Palantir to come up. Imagine if we can catch child abusers before they can do too much damage.

read_if_gay_ 6y ago
Hello 1984
- rtx 6y ago
  Since we already have read that it will be different. Imagine a world where we all have neural sims integrated with something like Palantir. So many criminals will be caught. Found a body dumped in a swamp, lets query who has been there. Don't we all love when criminals are caught from CCTV recordings. Is it scary, yes. We will need to be more involved in the democratic process.
  - ficklepickle 6y ago
    What is your obsession with catching criminals, and what makes you think that punishment reduces crime? Wouldn't it be a more efficient use of resources to target the socioeconomic factors that lead to crime?
    - rtx 6y ago
      Tools like these will also help with that. We will be directly able to measure a Childs nutrition and intervene if the parents are careless. I have watched many cases of child and elderly abuse which were not just due to lack of education. People have different passions mine is a criminal free world.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - non-entity 6y ago
        > People have different passions mine is a criminal free world. Is this a joke, or just naivety to the point of comedy? Mind you "criminals" can be anyone if its politically convenient.
        rtx 6y ago
        Lets make it politically inconvenient. We can outsource democracy to politicians, citizens need to be involved.
    - mdifrgechd 6y ago
      > Wouldn't it be a more efficient use of resources to target the socioeconomic factors that lead to crime? Nobody wants to vote for those things, you misunderstand what problem governments are trying to solve by being tough on crime.
      - HugeAcumen 6y ago
        I want to vote for those things. I'm told by my blue friends that I'm naive. Reds call me a socialist. This is by design. It is intentional. Billions of dollars are spent giving people these 'views'. Sanders gave people an opportunity to vote for "those things", and he was the clear favorite to take out Trump - until Democrats pulled every dirty trick to scupper his campaign. Again. So people really do want to vote for these things, but massive effort is put into not giving them the option. Sanders is the most popular politician in America, every year - and instead of helping him, instead of boosting him, the Blue team stabbed him in the front, in the back, in the eye balls, etc.
        mrguyorama 6y ago
        >until Democrats pulled every dirty trick to scupper his campaign You mean it's the democrat's fault that 20 somethings didn't go vote? I liked Bernie, I voted for him, but the demographic he targeted apparently preferred swiping through tik tok to improving their world so he learned a hard lesson a second time.
        HugeAcumen 6y ago
        Looks like someone fell for the media narrative. Young people voted in record numbers for Bernie. And his demographic was everyone - the elderly had the most to gain in many ways.
    - qwertox 6y ago
      Come to think about how important it was to catch the "criminals" in Nazi-Germany. Who where the criminals again? Scary times.
qtplatypus 6y ago
Given the amount of abuse ICE has done to children they are most likely a net contributor to child abuse.

0xy 6y ago

You and your friends are a vanishingly small minority, given the size of Facebook and Google's ad teams.

azangru 6y ago
Really? That's not the impression that I'm getting from observing developer discussions on social media, including here, on HN. The impression I am getting is that an overwhelming majority of developers who are vocal online share left democratic values and thus resent Palantir. (They've recently started to be resentful of Facebook as well, although I haven't heard of a mass exodus of developers from there.) Do you have a sample of developers who express diametrically opposite views?
- secondcoming 6y ago
  Nobody in their right mind would publically express these views in today's Cancel Culture witch-hunting climate. You're probably in a bubble of like-minded people, and mistakingly extrapolating the views expressed in that bubble to the whole developer community.
  - azangru 6y ago
    > You're probably in a bubble of like-minded people I don't think I'm IN it; I am observing it from the outside, and would love to find an opposite bubble to observe too, but just can't.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - 0xy 6y ago
      If you think that James Damore had universal disagreement among his peers then you're in a bubble. Ask yourself why they would bother to speak up when hundreds of thousands of dollars and their career is on the line.
    - SuoDuanDao 6y ago

samaxe 6y ago

Rarely is it someone diving into something questionable. It is typically either 1) a slow culture change, and one day find yourself sitting at your desk doing horrible things. 2) naivety and person is unaware going into the situation, but now they are in it. It is super easy to sit back from afar after the culture change, after the info is public, to say “I would never work there/do that”.

greenduck 6y ago
Certainly. To be clear, I'm not describing "how horrible" people are who originally joined it. I'm saying that today, with what we know and the problems we see growing around the world, especially the rise of authoritarianism, we have some reserves about working for a company like Palantir.
machello13 6y ago
I think you're giving engineers too much credit. I know a people who work at Palantir despite fully knowing what they do, and I know a lot of other engineers who, in 2020, would love to work there.