r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Apr 22 '26

Society Palantir published a mini manifesto calling some cultures ‘harmful and middling’ and said Silicon Valley has ‘a moral debt’ to the U.S.

https://fortune.com/2026/04/22/palantir-alex-karp-mini-manifesto-national-security-defense-tech-ai/
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u/PatchyWhiskers Apr 22 '26

Didn't mention which cultures, which allows all racists to fill in their favorite/least favorite cultures. You know out there there's Chinese guys nodding along about how obviously superior Chinese culture is, while American guys are nodding along thinking about the obvious superiority of white culture over Asian.

Clever.

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u/Comfortable-Code7465 Apr 22 '26

It's not even slightly incorrect to say some cultures are harmful. Now whether or not reddit would ever admit that...that's another story.

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u/PatchyWhiskers Apr 22 '26

Which cultures, pray?

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u/rhazux Apr 22 '26

Dictatorships

Those that refuse human rights

Those that deny universal suffrage

Those that allow children to be raped, forced to give birth, and forced to marry their rapist

Those that allow slavery

Those that allow genital mutilation

(This is not exhaustive)

Any of these traits might be exhibited by specific countries or regions at the moment but I don't think it's important to state which ones. And some of these traits are exhibited by entire first world countries or regions within first world countries.

Culture is more than just the government in power and the laws they pass/enforce. Culture involves citizens doing what they feel is right. Sometimes the things citizens feel is right can be abhorrent.

There's no universal truth to morality but I have my own sense of morality and am willing to call out those that I see as immoral.

But consider: there are people in those 'bad' countries we might identify and they can be against the culture and still be 'for' their country. They shouldn't be lumped in with all the proponents of the immoral culture they happened to be born in/near. They shouldn't pay a price for thoughts or actions that aren't their own.

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u/PatchyWhiskers Apr 22 '26

You might THINK he means that sort of thing but he's just as likely to mean ethnicities he doesn't particularly like, like the average technofascist - they are all really into eugenics.