Palantir published a mini manifesto calling some cultures ‘harmful and middling’ and said Silicon Valley has ‘a moral debt’ to the U.S.
· Fortune
Palantir published a mini manifesto over the weekend based on a book by its CEO that made the company’s position clear on a range of topics from reinstating the military draft to Silicon Valley’s moral duty to help the U.S. defend itself.
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In a post on the company’s X account that has racked up 32 million views, Palantir laid out a 22-point manifesto drawn from Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, co-authored by CEO Alex Karp and head of corporate affairs, Nicholas Zamiska.
One of the document’s core arguments is that Silicon Valley owes a “moral debt” to the country that made its rise possible. The “engineering elite,” the manifesto argues, has spent decades building obsession-driven apps and social media platforms while failing to contribute substantially to the defense industry that is essential “to preserve the enduring yet fragile geopolitical advantage that the United States and its allies in Europe and elsewhere have retained over their adversaries.”
The rise of the American software industry was built on a government-private sector partnership that Silicon Valley tends to forget, the authors claimed. This partnership funded the research behind pharmaceuticals, rockets, and satellites, still few in tech acknowledge that debt, opting to take on less risky endeavors today rather than contribute to advancing the country and improving the well being of its citizens.
“Why take the chance of entering into the moral morass of geopolitics and courting controversy when you can build another app?” the book asks.
The manifesto is equally blunt on the military. Karp and his co-author argue the U.S. should consider moving away from an all-volunteer force so that everyone shares in the risk of war. This idea pays homage to the late Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who believed the draft should be reinstated so every citizen pulls their weight in case of a necessary conflict. Without conscription, which ended in 1973, the authors claim “a generation of political elites has essentially enlisted others to fight their wars abroad.”
The manifesto also argues the atomic age is ending and the next era of deterrence will be built on AI. That makes it essential, the authors claim, that American tech companies build AI weapons and don’t give in to protestors, because America’s adversaries “will not pause to indulge in theatrical debates” about whether they should build advanced AI weapons.
The argument is aimed squarely at employee resistance that has troubled Palantir and others. Google declined to renew its Project Maven AI military contract in 2018 after employee protests; Palantir took it on. Last year, 13 former Palantir employees also wrote an open letter criticizing the company’s work with the Trump administration.
Other points made by Karp and his co-author focus on policies abroad and at home. The postwar disarmament of Germany, the manifesto argues, was an overcorrection that contributed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, similarly Japan’s commitment to pacifism has outlived its purpose. In the U.S., the the authors argue public servants including doctors, teachers, and government workers shouldn’t be expected to be “priests” working for a greater cause, and should be paid competitively so those roles attract the best talent, which helps society.
The point that drew the most scrutiny was the authors’ claim that some cultures have proven “middling, and worse, regressive and harmful.” Karp and Zamiska call for the U.S. to renew a shared culture for the “country’s continued survival and cohesion.”
“The old means of manufacturing a nation, the civic rituals of an educational system, mandatory service in national defense, religion, a shared language, and a thriving and free press have all but been dismantled or withered from neglect and abuse,” the authors wrote.
The statement about cultures stood out given that Palantir provides technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Palantir has been a contractor for ICE since 2011, but last year, it was also awarded a $30 million no-bid contract to build ImmigrationOS, an AI platform that identifies noncitizens and tracks deportations.
Karp, who calls himself a Democrat but has said he’d disown the party if its progressive wing takes over, has said he is an “immigration skeptic.” Karp, by his own admission, spent most of his adult life in Germany where he earned a Ph.D. in neoclassical social theory from Goethe University Frankfurt.
While the recently published manifesto could be seen by some as shifting its mission statement to more clearly align with the Trump administration’s opinions, with Democrats’ midterm chances rising and Congressional scrutiny of ICE’s use of Palantir’s tech growing, it remains to be seen whether the company’s candor helps or hurts its government business.
Either way, the manifesto proves Palantir is done being subtle about what it believes.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com