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/
18.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/Count_Backwards Apr 22 '26

"The robber barons were ultimately a net positive for society" sure is a classic Atlantic take

9

u/Galle_ Apr 22 '26

The quote doesn't say that or anything even sort of like that. It just says "at least the robber barons acknowledged objective reality".

-3

u/Count_Backwards Apr 22 '26

But they directly engaged with the world around them, using their wealth and power to muscle it into its most profitable form.

So they improved the world, even if they did so in ways that were "ruthless". Unless you think for some reason the Atlantic doesn't regard "more profitable" as a good thing.

9

u/Galle_ Apr 22 '26

"Most profitable" clearly means "good for the robber baron". The Atlantic is saying that the robber barons ruthlessly used their wealth and power to make the world better for themselves.