6 ms·

Mountain home near Aspen, built for monks, sold to Palantir CEO for $120M

75 points by mooreds 11mo ago

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
sallveburrpi 11mo ago
In some (more catholic) regions in Germany you spend a (voluntary) week in a monastery during school - called Besinnungstage (loosely translated as “mindfulness days”). I went and thought I would hate it at the time - mostly because I really really hated the narrow catholic mindset i grew up in at that time - but it actually was a really profound experience that I think back to often. The life the monks led was simple, almost primitive, but it radiated a contentment and mindfulness that was inspiring. Also the brotherhood and love they had for each other. Of course I only saw the surface and as a teenager I didn’t appreciate a lot of the lessons, but looking back it was one of the better parts of being in a heavily catholic coded school. Edit: also my religion teacher told the story how we was a monk in his early life and then left everything behind when he fell in love with a woman - which immensely increased my respect for him. I though he was this dried up, humourless pendant, so finding out he had this great passion in his life was a great surprise to me
Noaidi 11mo ago
[flagged]
- estearum 11mo ago
  You’re thinking of Peter Thiel, who is not the CEO of Palantir.
  - Noaidi 11mo ago
    I know who I was thinking of. Theil is looking fro the Antichrist, and the antichrist is Karp. Signs of the antichrist: 1. He will exalt himself. 2. He will heed his inner voice above others. 3. He will be hostile toward the true God. 4. He will exalt human logic above faith. 5. He will prosper for a season and be loved. 6. He will not desire women. 7. He will not follow the faith of his fathers. 8. He will viciously persecute Jews and Christians. 9. He will think of himself as greater than God. 10. He will become increasingly lawless. 11. He will honour military power above faith. 12. He will love wealth. 13. He will hoard precious things. 14. He will become a man of war. 15. He will wage a war on all people of faith. 16. He will force Israel to ratify a treaty. 17. He will divide Israel and Jerusalem. 18. He will invade Jerusalem. 19. He will enter the restored Temple. 20. He will declare himself above God.
    - krautburglar 11mo ago
      selah
    - alchemist1e9 11mo ago
      This list is all heavily extrapolated and there are good reasons to reject any antichrist is well defined or even prophesied as lists like this claim. The Bible warns of escalating deception and a future opponent of Christ through passages like John’s letters, Paul’s “man of lawlessness,” and Daniel’s prophecies, but the highly detailed profile of a singular Antichrist, complete with global empire, mark of the beast, and dramatic persecutions all depends heavily on the Book of Revelation’s vivid imagery. Without Revelation, these elements largely vanish, leaving a more restrained and debated concept focused on blasphemy and false teaching rather than an itemized checklist of traits and events. Moreover, Revelation itself faced significant controversy in the early church, with doubts about its authorship and theology leading some fathers and Eastern churches to reject or marginalize it for centuries before its eventual acceptance around the 4th–5th centuries. Thus, claims of precise, comprehensive biblical knowledge about one ultimate Antichrist figure are overstated, as the most elaborate details stem from a book whose canonical status was far from immediate or unanimous.
      - Noaidi 11mo ago
        I wish more people HN could recognize sarcasm or a joke or just an analogy or just something fun to say that mimics the ridiculousness of the people we have ruling our culture right now in this weird cult that they think they know everything and think they’re hubris is not gonna land them face first in the mud.
        alchemist1e9 11mo ago
        Yeah my bad I somehow thought you were serious and so I wanted to explain why even if you’re religious Christian that this antichrist concept isn’t really so well justified at all.
        estearum 11mo ago
        I mean… people literally do believe this and there’s literally zero indication you’re not among them.
dataviz1000 11mo ago
> landed a $10 billion software contract with the U.S. Army The United States has ~$38,000,000,000,000 in debt which means a baby born in the US will get $1000 in Trump Bucks to invest in S&P 500 along with a $111,000 share of that debt with its $3,000 a year interest per person. Can someone explain to me how long this will be sustainable? I'm a little sad that I'm not getting any free borrowed money in order to funnel it into $100M mountain properties. However, I'm trying to be objective. Given this situation what is the investment with the little bit of wealth that I have acquired? Do I need to worry about this not being sustainable and crashing?
- oldpersonintx2 11mo ago
  [dead]
- malux85 11mo ago
  Don’t worry about it - you know why? Because if the entire thing crashes, then everyone crashes with it, and there’s a million people (or more) that have a lot more skin in the game, a lot more power, and therefore a lot more incentive to make sure this doesn’t crash. This is not your battle alone, so don’t worry like it is.
  - whatshisface 11mo ago
    They're going to issue a bailout that saves themselves via your paying for it all.
    - Simulacra 11mo ago
      That happens a lot... Too Big to Fail should never be a concept.
- gotezk 11mo ago
  [flagged]
  - rightbyte 11mo ago
rboyd 11mo ago
I donno. Seems like a maintenance nightmare made easier only when you got a cenobium living on the grounds.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- nkrisc 11mo ago
  > made easier only when you got a cenobium living on the grounds or being a billionaire.
- bigstrat2003 11mo ago
  The unfortunate fact of the matter is that religious vocations in the Catholic Church are way more rare than they used to be. The church sometimes struggles to have enough priests to meet the needs of the parishes, let alone having enough monks to keep up all the monasteries. Since there aren't enough monks, the church would have to pay people to come in and maintain the place - but they can't really afford that. So, either they let these beautiful places crumble and decay, or they sell them to someone who will hopefully be able to take care of it. Between the two, the latter seems like the least bad option to me. I certainly wish that these places could stay as part of the church and not be some billionaire's home, but I would rather they be a billionaire's home than go to ruin.
jmyeet 11mo ago
I thought this was going to be Peter Thiel but if he's on brand, he's living under or in a volcano on a tropical island somewhere. Plus he probably can't stand on previously consecrated ground. Honestly, Palantir is one of those companies where I think I'd rather be homeless than work there. The amount of direct evil Palantir is responsible for is hard to overstate (eg [1]). The rich are just trading assets with Monopoly money at this point. None of it's real. I have to wonder how far we are from the richest 10,000 owning literaly everything where the rest of us are just living in worker housing on grand estates, in debt that'll never be paid off, the latest incarnation of South Asian brick kilns. [1]: https://www.business-humanrights.org/es/%C3%BAltimas-noticias/palantir-allegedly-enables-israels-ai-targeting-amid-israels-war-in-gaza-raising-concerns-over-war-crimes/ https://www.business-humanrights.org/es/%C3%BAltimas-noticia...
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
krautburglar 11mo ago
It is probably for the best that Alex Karp is kept in isolation.
- LargoLasskhyfv 11mo ago
  It's not that isolated, temporarily during a snowstorm, sometimes. Otherwise it's neither off-grid, nor at the end of the world. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=St.+Benedict%E2%80%99s+Monastery+in+Old+Snowmass&iaxm=maps&source=places https://duckduckgo.com/?q=St.+Benedict%E2%80%99s+Monastery+i... Several bizjet-capable airports near there. And that's all that counts :)
2OEH8eoCRo0 11mo ago
The ego of these people is humorous.
- bogwog 11mo ago
  Do not laugh at the billionaire. Laughing at billionaires is the antichrist.
  - therobots927 11mo ago
    I am trying to figure out why you’re getting downvoted. Maybe not enough people are picking up on your sarcasm?
    - sam_lowry_ 11mo ago
      I guess he is referring to Peter Tiel, but the reference is too subtle even for HN public.
      - therobots927 11mo ago
        More people need to be informed that Peter Thiel fancies himself a theologian. Or this is all just a sick joke to him, to pretend like he is the “solution” to the antichrist. It would be quite on brand for his personality - poor delivery with an overly complex premise.
pbreit 11mo ago
How are people irate about this?
- verdverm 11mo ago
  People see the rich getting richer while they struggle. This is your daily reminder we live in a segregated society
  - pbreit 11mo ago
    Why does this bother people? Who cares? There's always going to be stratification. Has literally no impact on anyone. Is it just jealousy?
    - verdverm 11mo ago
      This is the CEO of Palentir, one of the more dubious or evil companies out there The stratification has become much worse the last few decades and the trend is not showing signs of slowing. This cannot be taken out of context of the larger going ons in the US and the world. People see the kleptocracy because they are so brazen they do it right out in the open
    - therobots927 11mo ago
      Because their riches come directly at the expense of 95-99% of people. Stop pretending like you don’t understand this.
    - arretevad 11mo ago
      > literally no impact on anyone How does this make any sense in any context? An individuals actions can never have zero impact on others. The mass concentration of wealth in the hands of a few has an enormous impact on the rest of the population.
- Y-bar 11mo ago
  The man who fancies himself a modern-day Sauron (yes! [1]), who says “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." and who wants to assemble a neo-theocracy by a wealthy elite does something. Some people: “we do not like this” Random internet guy: “stop disliking this guy!” [1] https://bsky.app/profile/takedemocracyback.org/post/3lk4u55ahqc2r https://bsky.app/profile/takedemocracyback.org/post/3lk4u55a...
therobots927 11mo ago
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” - Mark 8:6 Enjoy your mountain fortress Karp. The afterlife won’t be kind to you.
- 7e 11mo ago
  The afterlife does not exist. Ask Santa Claus if you don't believe me. Unless you mean how future lives will judge Karp, which is valid.
  - cheikhcheikh 11mo ago
    how are you so sure the afterlife does not exist
    - therobots927 11mo ago
      Science, math, Darwin, etc etc. None of which are incompatible with a soul or afterlife.
  - raxxorraxor 11mo ago
    If the universe is an ever repeating pattern and time is meaningless in death, Karp will soon * endoftime^∞ buy that mansion again and again and again. Perhaps with in between variants where you buy that mansion or the mansion turns out to be a mountain goat.
  - therobots927 11mo ago
    And how exactly did you figure this out?
jamesfmilne 11mo ago
Life imitates art The Mountainhead https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35396529/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35396529/
- willmarch 11mo ago
  This movie isn’t getting nearly enough attention
hulitu 11mo ago
> Mountain home near Aspen, built for monks, sold to Palantir CEO for $120M So the God's envoy on Earth, bought a house. Really sweet.
xnx 11mo ago
Property appreciates for 75 years without paying property taxes. Seems like a huge giveaway to the church.

75 points by mooreds 11mo ago

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

In some (more catholic) regions in Germany you spend a (voluntary) week in a monastery during school - called Besinnungstage (loosely translated as “mindfulness days”). I went and thought I would hate it at the time - mostly because I really really hated the narrow catholic mindset i grew up in at that time - but it actually was a really profound experience that I think back to often. The life the monks led was simple, almost primitive, but it radiated a contentment and mindfulness that was inspiring. Also the brotherhood and love they had for each other. Of course I only saw the surface and as a teenager I didn’t appreciate a lot of the lessons, but looking back it was one of the better parts of being in a heavily catholic coded school. Edit: also my religion teacher told the story how we was a monk in his early life and then left everything behind when he fell in love with a woman - which immensely increased my respect for him. I though he was this dried up, humourless pendant, so finding out he had this great passion in his life was a great surprise to me

Noaidi 11mo ago

[flagged]

estearum 11mo ago
You’re thinking of Peter Thiel, who is not the CEO of Palantir.
- Noaidi 11mo ago
  I know who I was thinking of. Theil is looking fro the Antichrist, and the antichrist is Karp. Signs of the antichrist: 1. He will exalt himself. 2. He will heed his inner voice above others. 3. He will be hostile toward the true God. 4. He will exalt human logic above faith. 5. He will prosper for a season and be loved. 6. He will not desire women. 7. He will not follow the faith of his fathers. 8. He will viciously persecute Jews and Christians. 9. He will think of himself as greater than God. 10. He will become increasingly lawless. 11. He will honour military power above faith. 12. He will love wealth. 13. He will hoard precious things. 14. He will become a man of war. 15. He will wage a war on all people of faith. 16. He will force Israel to ratify a treaty. 17. He will divide Israel and Jerusalem. 18. He will invade Jerusalem. 19. He will enter the restored Temple. 20. He will declare himself above God.
  - krautburglar 11mo ago
    selah
  - alchemist1e9 11mo ago
    This list is all heavily extrapolated and there are good reasons to reject any antichrist is well defined or even prophesied as lists like this claim. The Bible warns of escalating deception and a future opponent of Christ through passages like John’s letters, Paul’s “man of lawlessness,” and Daniel’s prophecies, but the highly detailed profile of a singular Antichrist, complete with global empire, mark of the beast, and dramatic persecutions all depends heavily on the Book of Revelation’s vivid imagery. Without Revelation, these elements largely vanish, leaving a more restrained and debated concept focused on blasphemy and false teaching rather than an itemized checklist of traits and events. Moreover, Revelation itself faced significant controversy in the early church, with doubts about its authorship and theology leading some fathers and Eastern churches to reject or marginalize it for centuries before its eventual acceptance around the 4th–5th centuries. Thus, claims of precise, comprehensive biblical knowledge about one ultimate Antichrist figure are overstated, as the most elaborate details stem from a book whose canonical status was far from immediate or unanimous.
    - Noaidi 11mo ago
      I wish more people HN could recognize sarcasm or a joke or just an analogy or just something fun to say that mimics the ridiculousness of the people we have ruling our culture right now in this weird cult that they think they know everything and think they’re hubris is not gonna land them face first in the mud.
      - alchemist1e9 11mo ago
        Yeah my bad I somehow thought you were serious and so I wanted to explain why even if you’re religious Christian that this antichrist concept isn’t really so well justified at all.
      - estearum 11mo ago
        I mean… people literally do believe this and there’s literally zero indication you’re not among them.

dataviz1000 11mo ago

> landed a $10 billion software contract with the U.S. Army The United States has ~$38,000,000,000,000 in debt which means a baby born in the US will get $1000 in Trump Bucks to invest in S&P 500 along with a $111,000 share of that debt with its $3,000 a year interest per person. Can someone explain to me how long this will be sustainable? I'm a little sad that I'm not getting any free borrowed money in order to funnel it into $100M mountain properties. However, I'm trying to be objective. Given this situation what is the investment with the little bit of wealth that I have acquired? Do I need to worry about this not being sustainable and crashing?

oldpersonintx2 11mo ago
[dead]
malux85 11mo ago
Don’t worry about it - you know why? Because if the entire thing crashes, then everyone crashes with it, and there’s a million people (or more) that have a lot more skin in the game, a lot more power, and therefore a lot more incentive to make sure this doesn’t crash. This is not your battle alone, so don’t worry like it is.
- whatshisface 11mo ago
  They're going to issue a bailout that saves themselves via your paying for it all.
  - Simulacra 11mo ago
    That happens a lot... Too Big to Fail should never be a concept.
gotezk 11mo ago
[flagged]
- rightbyte 11mo ago

rboyd 11mo ago

I donno. Seems like a maintenance nightmare made easier only when you got a cenobium living on the grounds.

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
nkrisc 11mo ago
> made easier only when you got a cenobium living on the grounds or being a billionaire.
bigstrat2003 11mo ago
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that religious vocations in the Catholic Church are way more rare than they used to be. The church sometimes struggles to have enough priests to meet the needs of the parishes, let alone having enough monks to keep up all the monasteries. Since there aren't enough monks, the church would have to pay people to come in and maintain the place - but they can't really afford that. So, either they let these beautiful places crumble and decay, or they sell them to someone who will hopefully be able to take care of it. Between the two, the latter seems like the least bad option to me. I certainly wish that these places could stay as part of the church and not be some billionaire's home, but I would rather they be a billionaire's home than go to ruin.

jmyeet 11mo ago

I thought this was going to be Peter Thiel but if he's on brand, he's living under or in a volcano on a tropical island somewhere. Plus he probably can't stand on previously consecrated ground. Honestly, Palantir is one of those companies where I think I'd rather be homeless than work there. The amount of direct evil Palantir is responsible for is hard to overstate (eg [1]). The rich are just trading assets with Monopoly money at this point. None of it's real. I have to wonder how far we are from the richest 10,000 owning literaly everything where the rest of us are just living in worker housing on grand estates, in debt that'll never be paid off, the latest incarnation of South Asian brick kilns. [1]: https://www.business-humanrights.org/es/%C3%BAltimas-noticias/palantir-allegedly-enables-israels-ai-targeting-amid-israels-war-in-gaza-raising-concerns-over-war-crimes/ https://www.business-humanrights.org/es/%C3%BAltimas-noticia...

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

krautburglar 11mo ago

It is probably for the best that Alex Karp is kept in isolation.

LargoLasskhyfv 11mo ago
It's not that isolated, temporarily during a snowstorm, sometimes. Otherwise it's neither off-grid, nor at the end of the world. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=St.+Benedict%E2%80%99s+Monastery+in+Old+Snowmass&iaxm=maps&source=places https://duckduckgo.com/?q=St.+Benedict%E2%80%99s+Monastery+i... Several bizjet-capable airports near there. And that's all that counts :)

2OEH8eoCRo0 11mo ago

The ego of these people is humorous.

bogwog 11mo ago
Do not laugh at the billionaire. Laughing at billionaires is the antichrist.
- therobots927 11mo ago
  I am trying to figure out why you’re getting downvoted. Maybe not enough people are picking up on your sarcasm?
  - sam_lowry_ 11mo ago
    I guess he is referring to Peter Tiel, but the reference is too subtle even for HN public.
    - therobots927 11mo ago
      More people need to be informed that Peter Thiel fancies himself a theologian. Or this is all just a sick joke to him, to pretend like he is the “solution” to the antichrist. It would be quite on brand for his personality - poor delivery with an overly complex premise.

pbreit 11mo ago

How are people irate about this?

verdverm 11mo ago
People see the rich getting richer while they struggle. This is your daily reminder we live in a segregated society
- pbreit 11mo ago
  Why does this bother people? Who cares? There's always going to be stratification. Has literally no impact on anyone. Is it just jealousy?
  - verdverm 11mo ago
    This is the CEO of Palentir, one of the more dubious or evil companies out there The stratification has become much worse the last few decades and the trend is not showing signs of slowing. This cannot be taken out of context of the larger going ons in the US and the world. People see the kleptocracy because they are so brazen they do it right out in the open
  - therobots927 11mo ago
    Because their riches come directly at the expense of 95-99% of people. Stop pretending like you don’t understand this.
  - arretevad 11mo ago
    > literally no impact on anyone How does this make any sense in any context? An individuals actions can never have zero impact on others. The mass concentration of wealth in the hands of a few has an enormous impact on the rest of the population.
Y-bar 11mo ago
The man who fancies himself a modern-day Sauron (yes! [1]), who says “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." and who wants to assemble a neo-theocracy by a wealthy elite does something. Some people: “we do not like this” Random internet guy: “stop disliking this guy!” [1] https://bsky.app/profile/takedemocracyback.org/post/3lk4u55ahqc2r https://bsky.app/profile/takedemocracyback.org/post/3lk4u55a...

therobots927 11mo ago

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” - Mark 8:6 Enjoy your mountain fortress Karp. The afterlife won’t be kind to you.

7e 11mo ago
The afterlife does not exist. Ask Santa Claus if you don't believe me. Unless you mean how future lives will judge Karp, which is valid.
- cheikhcheikh 11mo ago
  how are you so sure the afterlife does not exist
  - therobots927 11mo ago
    Science, math, Darwin, etc etc. None of which are incompatible with a soul or afterlife.
- raxxorraxor 11mo ago
  If the universe is an ever repeating pattern and time is meaningless in death, Karp will soon * endoftime^∞ buy that mansion again and again and again. Perhaps with in between variants where you buy that mansion or the mansion turns out to be a mountain goat.
- therobots927 11mo ago
  And how exactly did you figure this out?

jamesfmilne 11mo ago

Life imitates art The Mountainhead https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35396529/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35396529/

willmarch 11mo ago
This movie isn’t getting nearly enough attention

hulitu 11mo ago

> Mountain home near Aspen, built for monks, sold to Palantir CEO for $120M So the God's envoy on Earth, bought a house. Really sweet.

xnx 11mo ago

Property appreciates for 75 years without paying property taxes. Seems like a huge giveaway to the church.