Palantir Technologies, or the Broligarchy is Upon Us

Oh, I wish I was making this up.

Have you ever used PayPal? Facebook? Well, then you've run into a company co-founded by (the former) and first invested in by (the latter) a dude named Peter Thiel. He also owns the company in the title of this topic, Palantir Technologies.

Thiel (in some ways like Clarence Thomas {due to the minority angle and not the sexuality angle} and Lindsay Graham {opposite for Graham}) is a gay conservative and, as such, is seriously supporting an ideology that, at its base, doesn't want him around. There, that's a nice way of putting it.

Thiel is also super-rich, currently ranking (per Wikipedia) something like 103d in wealth in the world. But his standing on the super-duper rich list (to use the technical term) is likely to rise. Why?

Because this is going to be the culmination of the 'work' (I use the term loosely; you'll see why in a moment, dear reader) done by DOGE.

How and why are the two connected? For a clue, let us return to, of all places, Middle Earth. The term Palantir, like many things created by JRR Tolkein, is of course a work of fiction. However, with data, something like it can actually be created. Which is essentially why Thiel gave the company this particular name.

Wait, what?

So, in the Tolkeinverse, the Palantir is essentially a way of seeing across long distances. The sights are true, but with selective omissions, the sights can give the looker a certain impression of what's about to happen. In the Peter Jackson movies, this happens a few times. Probably the most memorable occasion is when Pippin Took stares into one and sees what seems like despair. But he's only being shown a slice of the data pie, as it were.

Speaking of data.

While it's not magic, the concept here is the accumulation of data. Lots and lots of data. And then compiling it and being able to draw conclusions from it.

Lots of companies do something like this, although on a much less grand scale. No biggie, right?

Well, there's just one little, itty bitty fly in that ointment.

DOGE made its mission, all while telling everyone all about how they were supposedly cutting waste and improving efficiency, to grab the data that the US government has on its citizens, legal residents, green card holders, undocumented folks, etc.

And then put it all together. All of it? Yes, friends, all of it.



So, let's consider a fer-instance. You'll read stuff about this data probably becoming a big driver of the excuse engine for deporting all sorts of people who the current administration doesn't like. But let's look at something that feels less strident but no less personal.

Let's say a citizen (a woman, assigned female at birth) has had a few irregular mammograms in the last five years. No biopsies, but she's had a few ultrasounds. Plus one surgery, but that was to pull out a relatively large lump. The lump was tested and found to not be cancer.

Sounds good, right?

Not so fast.

Remember what I said about selection omissions? So, let's say our citizen is looking for a job. And with the whole Obamacare oh my God you people are such socialists to insure even people with preexisting conditions going, alas, the way of the dodo, our citizen has what looks like maybe, kinda, sorta, is a preexisting condition. Except it's not; it was proven scientifically that the irregular mammograms came from readings of a lump that turned out to not be cancerous.

But AI, in the absence of full information, has been known to (to use the technical term) just make **** up. And human clerks have been known to mis-code stuff, and even skilled professionals reviewing records can overlook something or other.

Our citizen may not ever be told about this preexisting condition that isn't a preexisting condition at all. Yet prospective employers, who buy a look into the enormous Palantir database, see a preexisting condition.

Too expensive to insure, they rule, and the citizen doesn't get a job there. AI might make the ruling. It may even be in the form of a lower score in a system the prospective employer uses to determine which resumes to have a human read at all—the ones who don't score high enough get AI auto-rejections. Or imagine LinkedIn buying a peek at Palantir, and its own AI deciding not to even serve the job listing to this citizen.

All for an odd medical condition that's harmless but sure as hell looks scary and expensive on the surface.

Now multiply this scenario by the 340 million people in the United States.

Yes, they're putting together every bit of info. And if you don't think they'll be able to tie it to Ring doorbell cameras, Siri, Alexa, and any number of other convenient yet oh so intrusive things we all use every day, then you're not paying attention to who's hanging out with whom.

Thiel and his pals Zuckerberg, Tim Cook (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), etc. etc. all went to a certain inauguration in January of this year. It wasn't just to cheer on 47. It was also to watch the installation of Thiel's hand-picked inside man.

Who just so happens to be named JD Vance.

Orwell only got the year wrong.

PS Why am I not linking directly to this stuff? Glad you asked, gentle reader.

You can find it all online, even in such scary dark web sources as the New York Times. But I'm not going to give Thiel and his pals any more clicks than they already get.

Be vigilant, folks. Because once the database is finished, that slippery slope will be greased.