5 ms·
YC founder points out that jobs exist outside of working for police state
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- minimaxir 1y agoThe replies to the tweet itself (https://x.com/paulg/status/1913338841068404903 https://x.com/paulg/status/1913338841068404903 ) are pretty much what you'd expect for modern Twitter/X.
- guerrilla 1y agoThat's creepy. I'm glad he's defending himself though.
- va1a 1y agoEvery now and then since deleting my account I click on a link to an X post and am reminded I can't read the replies, and then I am thankful again to my past self for deleting my account. I urge everyone to delete the app and their accounts, realistically there are just much better sources of information nowadays. It's not worth the mental headache to get your news from X, which recently honestly hasn't even been good at delivering it.
- spacemadness 1y ago[flagged]
- tim333 1y agoActually I followed the thread a bit and it wasn't quite what I expected. Paul got into a debate with Ted Mabrey, Global Head of Commercial at Palantir saying he'd delete his tweet if Ted would say Palantir won't help the US government violate the US constitution but he was unwilling to say that. Part of it: https://x.com/paulg/status/1913729703447241087 https://x.com/paulg/status/1913729703447241087
- jmyeet 1y agoBlue check reply guys are generally awful and almost always reactionary. I found this reply noteworthy [1]. For context, Gerry actively blocks many, many people on Twitter using some bot. This came up he became the CEO of YC as mahy people discovered they had seemingly been blocked [2]. Their crimes? Seemingly being in any way pro-affordable housing in California in general or San Francisco in particular. So this reply is definitely on brand but it's also reactionary in a way than many of the purveyors of such opinions don't think is reactionary. In fact, you'll often find they view themselves as "apolitical" or talk about "common sense" solutions to problems. The "common sense" here is just concentration camps and stripping both citizens and non-citizens of due process. Migrants haven't caused the houselessness problems in San Francisco: unaffordable housing has.. [1]: https://x.com/garrytan/status/1913345684872548676 https://x.com/garrytan/status/1913345684872548676 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32641557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32641557
- analognoise 1y agoI’d rather have hundreds of drug dealers over one fascist. One is a threat to freedom, the other isn’t. What a clown.
- ujkhsjkdhf234 1y agoWhat is he saying in this reply? He wants ICE to use this to track drug dealers and send them to the concentration camp in El Salvador?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bbqfog 1y ago[flagged]
- tehjoker 1y agolink? very good of him to speak out against genocide
- bbqfog 1y agohttps://x.com/search?q=From%3Apaulg%20israel&src=typed_query&f=live https://x.com/search?q=From%3Apaulg%20israel&src=typed_query... He also retweets a lot of information about Israel’s war crimes.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- nsxwolf 1y ago[flagged]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bbqfog 1y ago[flagged]
- nsxwolf 1y agoIf the goal is to kill every Palestinian, don’t they have faster and more efficient methods? Also, why are they leaving the West Bank alone? They’re Palestinians too, aren’t they?
- ujkhsjkdhf234 1y agoIsrael is not leaving the West Bank alone. The media has been focused on the Gaza strip because that is where most of the destruction is but Israel has operations in the West Bank[0]. You can't claim the moral high ground of just wanting to defeat Hamas if you use these faster more efficient methods. Israel is still trying to play the victim in the global narrative.
- d1str0 1y agoWho would you prefer filling the ranks at a company like Palantir? 1. People who are sympathetic to these concerns, and more likely to change thinking from within or whistleblow if needed. 2. Everyone left over who are pro police state and fascism? OP’s post would only fill Palantir with the second group. This seems more dangerous than to fill it with a diverse crowd.
- croes 1y agoIt’s like with the military. A pacifist with a gun is likely to shoot. So pacifists should join in great numbers.
- misnome 1y agoHas (1) ever worked?
- derektank 1y agoEdward Snowden didn't work for the NSA, he worked for Booz Allen Hamilton
- d1str0 1y agoIs “worked” a pass/fail metric? Or just a way to improve a situation?
- ujkhsjkdhf234 1y agoHas 1 ever in tech actually put a stop to harmful behavior?
- bbqfog 1y agoPalantir is the police state. They are not redeemable, as they are fulfilling their original mission. I urge people to see what the founders say on X, chilling.
- croes 1y agoBut we need whistleblowers inside.
- tehjoker 1y agoi guess relations between pg and thiel have soured
- 1oooqooq 1y agoor they just want you to talk about them.
- gsibble 1y ago[flagged]
- tough 1y agoTed's reply? https://x.com/MabreyTed/status/1913746605473423651 https://x.com/MabreyTed/status/1913746605473423651
- gsibble 1y agoYep! That was the one I was thinking of. Thanks.
- Osmose 1y agoYou're right, pg should have spoken out against Palantir when Biden was in charge too. Just because he's right about them now doesn't mean he was always right about them and we should keep that in mind.
- jmyeet 1y agoThere is no ethical consumption under capitalism. And since labor is coercive, there is no ethical labor under capitalism either. 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. But you’re largely fooling yourself if you work in tech and think you’re removed from this. Big tech are defense contractors. Working on AI? You’re directly or indirectly working on the surveillance state. Or maybe you’re working on the US healthcare and insurance sector.
- ujkhsjkdhf234 1y agoPeople tell themselves this to make themselves feel better about the horrible consequences of the choices they make but like you said, there are degrees, many more degrees than you might think. You should understand what the work you are putting out into the world is doing no matter where you work but I would not feel good working for Palantir or any company that directly aides them.
- praptak 1y agoI draw the line at working for a US company. I am aware that it still doesn't make me "removed from this". My guess is that I'm not more than 4 invoices away from Palantir-alikes but at least I'm not directly propping up the economy of US.
- ujkhsjkdhf234 1y agoPalantir 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.
- gsibble 1y ago[flagged]
- spacemadness 1y agoIt is relevant. There are a lot of folks trying to control all narratives regarding MAGA and the US move toward fascism and reactionary right wing populism, even if loosely affiliated, on here by eliminating content. That’s what fascists do after all. It’s not difficult in it being an open forum. Tech is intertwined with politics as it turns out, and a post by PG calling out Thiel is incredibly relevant to HN for obvious reasons.
- afavour 1y ago[flagged]
- ChrisArchitect 1y agoSome discussion earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43757977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43757977
- xqcgrek2 1y ago[flagged]
- gsibble 1y ago[flagged]
- rich_sasha 1y agoAsking 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. 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. 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. But maybe I got it all wrong, happy to be corrected.
- jmyeet 1y agoConsider these examples [1]. There's absolutely no way to spin this: > As an example of the evil nature of Palantir’s work, it appears that Palantir has been working with the Israeli military in so-called ‘targeted killings’. Reports have suggested such that these murders, probably in the thousands or tens of thousands, utilised social media information and cellphone tracking. According to a range of sources, over 150 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza and in numerous cases they appear to have been directly targeted. Using social media information to murder journalists using drone strikes is already dystopic, but this is likely to just be the beginning of the evil Palantir will facilitate. More on Lavender [2]. [1]: https://politicaleconomist.substack.com/p/palantir-the-worlds-most-evil-company https://politicaleconomist.substack.com/p/palantir-the-world... [2]: https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/ https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
- ujkhsjkdhf234 1y agoThis is not entirely right. Palantir is a company that pitches surveillance and AI everywhere in government. From their own product page, they want "AI-Powered automation for every decision." I think this is a poor idea in general but especially in policing and government. Palantir has been caught creating a "pre-crime" algorithm[0], because they seem to have thought Minority Report was an inspiring movie. You can read a former Palantir employee talk about all of the delightfully fun stuff they get involved in like using AI in autonomous warfare[2]. On top of that I have a severe distaste for the founders. Peter Thiel is a psycho who, among other things, is a big fan of Curtis Yarvin and wants to bring monarchy to the US. Creator of smash hits like "I no longer think freedom and democracy are compatible."[1] You may be familiar with his protege, JD Vance. I wouldn't want this person running a police state company. Do not mistake Palantir as Tableau but for government. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predictive-policing-tool-new-orleans-nopd https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predict... [1] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-steve-bannon-peter-thiel-214490/ https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump... [2] https://zigguratmag.substack.com/p/the-guernica-of-ai-c4b?triedRedirect=true https://zigguratmag.substack.com/p/the-guernica-of-ai-c4b?tr...
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 1y agoThe subject Twitter thread, no Javascript required: https://nitter.poast.org/paulg/status/1913338841068404903 https://nitter.poast.org/paulg/status/1913338841068404903