[FRIAM] The whole story about Palantir

Tue Jun 24 05:36:35 EDT 2025

I enjoyed the article about Palantir’s shiny new super-database  (
https://beyondthefirewall.substack.com/p/palantirs-new-master-database-what?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true).
It raises serious concerns — privacy, surveillance, governments peeking
where they maybe shouldn’t. All very important stuff.

That said, a lot of the arguments feel like dot-connecting exercises where
not all the dots are actually dots. We should watch out for our own blind
spots — it’s easy to scream “Big Brother!” when sometimes it’s just a
confused uncle with a clipboard.

Yes, if misused, a system like this could go very wrong. It could profile
people unfairly, spy without oversight, or just drown in its own
complexity. But — and here’s my cautiously optimistic side talking — it
could also make government less clunky and a bit smarter. Which would be a
plot twist, right?

So, I’m not ready to say Palantir = evil. I get the fears, but I also see
potential. Of course, I say this with low confidence, because the facts are
messy and my inner optimist probably thinks Skynet just needs a good
therapist.

Bottom line: we shouldn't run from tech, but we do need strong rules,
watchdogs, and actual humans in charge — the kind that can tell the
difference between helping citizens and quietly tagging them for future
reference.

On Mon, 23 Jun 2025 at 22:47, steve smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:

> I watched Palantir come up from "nothing"... they were (from my limited
> perspective) just another "Beltway Bandit" like the ones I had to sit
> opposite in meetings in DC where they would A) Work 120 hour weeks to build
> their business; B) Spend half that week lobbying the decision makers
> overtly and covertly; C) lie through their teeth about their capabilities,
> their competitor's (including LANL, etc), and what was even conceptually
> (much less practically) possible.
>
> When I left LANL (2008), I was doing work with UNM (nod to Ed if he's
> watching for nods) for various DoD types (DTRA most notably) in the general
> field of intelligence fusion.  Palantir wasn't a *big* name yet but was "in
> the buzz" and represented (IMO) the worst of what I described above... I
> didn't know much about the PayPal Mafia or Peter Thiel then...
>
> The Netflix? series "Person of Interest" and Peter Finch offer a vague
> parallel but with Finch having a value set we might applaud, not just envy
> (greedy-bastard-billionare)?  The whole storyline reads (watches) very
> differently today than it did back when it was produced...  yet another bit
> of fictional prophecy come to fruition?
>
> I think glen has made reference to his "investment strategies" or maybe
> more to the point "aesthetic" in the past which I remember approving uf,
> even if I can't remember the details.   I suppose *all* investments are
> "rent seeking".  Noam Chomsky around 2002 visited UNM to give a public
> lecture and during the Q&A, NAFTA came up as well as the question of "what
> are some socially responsible investments?" and his answer was "socially
> responsible investing is an oxymoron".   The crowd, roughly half-students
> and half tenured academics and other professional-class gave out an equally
> loud sigh of relief/approval and of chagrin/disappointment.
>
> I didn't get off of Elno's coat-tails until he crawled into DJT's ugly
> circle last year...  I rode him "up" and "back down", feeling uncomfortable
> the whole time... I *knew* that if/when DJT took the White House with
> Elno's backing, TSLA would soar... and I predicted it would also eventually
> fall...  but either way, I didn't want to make money off his assholery but
> even more I didn't want to lose money over it either.   I also divested
> from Bezos and GoogleBois while taking them off my list for places to spend
> money.  I'd already avoided ZuckerSchmuck pretty well, so had less to do
> there (I do have an instagram and a Oculus account, but don't spend any
> money in their world, just let them mis-use my eyeballs regularly?)
>
> With the DumpsterFire administration we have now, I don't even want to do
> my "rent seeking" with Government instruments...  and the CryptoNonsense is
> as bad/worse (esp with Trump's dirty fingers in the pie).   I think Gold is
> a bad thing to hoard, but then *anything* is a bad thing to hoard!
> Besides US currency isn't that good of mattress filler anyway...
>
> Bah Humbuggery!
> On 6/23/25 1:30 PM, Tom Johnson wrote:
>
> Same thing for me, Frank. I had Palintir for a long time, but unloaded it
> a couple of weeks ago for, I hope, the correct ethical reasons.
> Tom
>
> On Mon, Jun 23, 2025 at 1:09 PM Frank Wimberly <wimberly3 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I read a little about Palantir last week and then I checked their stock
>> price.  I put in an order to buy 10 shares at 138.  Compared to other
>> holdings, that's trivial.  I told my wife about the order and she seemed
>> worried.  She usually doesn't care what I do regarding stocks but she
>> wanted to research PLTR.  She decided that I shouldn't buy it for moral and
>> ethical reasons.  I didn't quite understand but I canceled the order.
>> That's the first time she has ever gotten involved.  To be fair, most of
>> our investments that I manage are shares of the magnificent 7:  Amazon,
>> Apple, etc.
>>
>> Frank
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 23, 2025 at 10:07 AM Merle Lefkoff <merlelefkoff at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> https://beyondthefirewall.substack.com/p/palantirs-new-master-database-what?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true
>>>
>>> --
>>> Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D.
>>> Center for Emergent Diplomacy
>>> emergentdiplomacy.org
>>> Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
>>>
>>> mobile:  (303) 859-5609
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Frank Wimberly
>> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz
>> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>> 505 670-9918
>>
>> Research:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2
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>
>
> --
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
> +1 505 577 6482
> Santa Fe, New Mexico USA
>
> *New Mexico Writers <https://nmwriters.org/> *++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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