Alex Karp Wants Silicon Valley to Fight for America
21 points by makerdiety 4 months ago | 50 comments- inverted_flag 4 months agoHe should ensure that we have an America worth fighting for, first.
- mieses 4 months agoThere are at least 2 ways to solve this problem of subjectivity. The process is sometimes called "politics".
- talldayo 4 months agoAmericans are appropriately disenfranchised with Silicon Valley thanks to efforts like Karp's.
- decimalenough 4 months agoFor others wondering who the hell Karp is, he's CEO and a co-founder of Palantir, Thiel's notorious big data/AI company for military and spooks. "Fighting for America" thus means joining outfits like his.
- mgh2 4 months agoThey became "AI" after the hype, before they were just another data company - both during covid and now, they capitalize on retail investor euphoria.
- mgh2 4 months ago
- austinwade 4 months ago[flagged]
- talldayo 4 months agoHis product and company can kiss my ass if it depends on surveillance to make money. Silicon Valley won't fight for a future where leaders like him get promoted. If you think I'm wrong, watch darlings like Palantir and Anduril become the next Oracle and Lockheed of the government contracting world.
Silicon Valley is just a marketplace of ideas. And it's a marketplace where we've already lost to China.
- talldayo 4 months ago
- decimalenough 4 months ago
- mieses 4 months ago
- seneca 4 months agoTech is rapidly polarizing, following the American public. There is very little middle ground anymore for Americans, and it seems our tech companies are doomed to follow that trend. There will be nationalist companies, and those that think nationalism is a dirty word, which is which will shift with administrations.
This feels dangerous, as our largest geopolitical adversary, China, outright owns its companies. They have no choice but to be nationalistic. It's one of America's great contradictions that one of our greatest strengths, our right to believe as we wish and act accordingly, leaves us significantly weakened as our population becomes less and less aligned.
It would be a massive failure to try to force Americans to go against their own conscience. So we're left forced to ask ourselves why so many Americans think fighting for their country is a bad thing, and what we can do about that.
- tcoff91 4 months agoI think that having the richest guy in the world throw up 3 nazi salutes at the inauguration and basically be the puppet master of the new administration certainly isn’t helping Americans want to sign up to help the military industrial complex.
- senordevnyc 4 months agoI served in the military two decades ago, and I was proud to do so. I had mixed feelings on the GWOT, even though I was a conservative then. But the country’s political leadership felt at least somewhat stable, competent, and loyal to America.
Things look different twenty years later. I wouldn’t be eager to fight for America now because it feels like I’d be fighting for Trump’s ego more than anything else.
- tcoff91 4 months ago
- quantified 4 months agoIt'll feel a lot more worthwhile when so many of its citizens don't feel like America is fighting them.
- DLA 4 months agoKarp’s new book “The Technological Republic” https://www.amazon.com/Technological-Republic-Power-Belief-F...
- gremgoth 4 months agoIn Tolkien's Silmarillion, the creator of the palantiri had a great foe, Morgoth. Join the resistance side of the Lord of the Rigs meme war at http://silmarils.tech
- tcoff91 4 months agoIt seems like people like Alex Karp and Thiel want to make Snow Crash a reality and chop America into corporate city states run by tech billionaires is more like it.
- abctx 4 months ago
- blackeyeblitzar 4 months agoKarp is exactly correct. America has ideals and values that are worth fighting for, such as free speech, civil rights, (mostly) free markets, and so on. We are seeing a revival of more substantial companies that can help uphold those values, after wasting two decades on social media or whatever.
The comments here on HN are disappointingly shallow and suggest people aren’t reading the article or are taking the most uncharitable interpretations to support an attack on Karp or what he’s saying.
- Ozzie_osman 4 months ago> America has ideals and values that are worth fighting for, such as free speech, civil rights, (mostly) free markets, and so on.
"I say the whole world must learn of our peaceful ways... by force!"
- inemesitaffia 4 months agoAlways fascinating that the people with anti-police politics never go into policing (even in areas that strongly share their political leanings) but expect different outcomes magically
- soganess 4 months agomagically = "group action driven by a shared understanding of the common good. Buttressed by clear through-line that connects what each individual has to give up in terms of time/freedom/autonomy to the benefit of themselves and their community."
It's always fascinating when folks see the stick as the only vehicle for change. But hey, there is a weird honesty to it. The only way we can keep people 'in line' when their lot in life is all lemons ...is naked force.
- soganess 4 months ago
- corimaith 4 months agoYou either change the world, or the world changes you. Those ideals didn't emerge out of nowhere with no rivals either, whether it was Conservatism, Communism or Fascism, Liberals very much did play dirty to win in the end.
Perhaps you might call them hypocrites as such, and they might agree with you on that, but the outcomes are different. Freedom entails Responsibility, so don't get too childish in taking the rights you enjoy today for granted.
- inemesitaffia 4 months ago
- insane_dreamer 4 months ago> help uphold those values
sorry, but the way to uphold those values is by 1) setting an example of a prosperous nation that is a good example of those values (something we're failing at miserably right now, unfortunately), and 2) creating incentives and motivating other countries to adopt those same values
the absolutely worst way to uphold those values is through military force, which is what Palantir is all about. So I quite strongly disagree with Karp.
(That being said, I do agree with the point that much talent and money is wasted on frivolous social entertainment instead of things that could truly benefit humanity.)
- corimaith 4 months ago>sorry, but the way to uphold those values is by 1) setting an example of a prosperous nation that is a good example of those values (something we're failing at miserably right now, unfortunately), and 2) creating incentives and motivating other countries to adopt those same values
How do you know this? America is far more despondent today than during the Cold War where they were willing to play those dirty tricks in force and propaganda to win, and they did. Current America's predicaments are precisely tracked down to their risk aversion to force that Russia, China and Iran are quite apt to capitalize on. The dove policy is arguably an even greater failure than the neocons.
Even domestically, foreigners aren't laughing at Texas or the Deep South, they're laughing at progressive cities like San Francisco or Portland or LA that are the bastions of this no-force mentality you are speaking about.
- corimaith 4 months ago
- archagon 4 months ago"Palantir CEO Alex Karp Jokes About Drone-Striking Rivals, Suggests Sending Protesters To North Korea At Capitol Hill Forum" (https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/05/38571263/palantir-ceo-al...)
"Palantir CEO signs off year with nod to West's 'organised violence'" (https://www.thestack.technology/palantir-ceo-signs-off-year-...)
Karp cares fuck all about the things that make America actually great. I do not consent to living in his AI-surveilled, Slaughterbot-policed[1] hellscape version of America.
[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1hexvat/slaugh...
- Ozzie_osman 4 months ago
- rickydroll 4 months agoI'd be happy if the rest of America fought for America.
- FpUser 4 months ago>"Alex Karp Wants Silicon Valley to Fight for America"
Translation: helping government and big businesses to turn people into cattle.
- abetusk 4 months agoI think it's more that Alex Karp wants Silicon Valley to fight for control of America [0].
I realize I'm either on the edge or crossing the guidelines of HN but considering how SV, YC, A16Z and others are intertwined with the Trump administration, I don't know how these types of discussions can be avoided.
[0] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/palantir-alex-k...
- mindslight 4 months agoThese discussions cannot be avoided because America is not intended to be an autocracy, yet the neofascists keep on shrouding themselves in the flag. At this point the only sensible reading of "fight for America" means working to separate the current administration from the levers of power before they finish breaking down and selling off our entire country (ultimately to China).
- neilv 4 months agoThanks; that's an alarming article.
Remember when the most obviously questionable company to which new college grads flocked was Facebook?
This one is giving off much more obviously bad vibes.
- senordevnyc 4 months agoIs it fair to lump YC in there as well? It might be, genuinely not sure.
- abetusk 4 months agoThough no longer affiliated with YC, Sam Altman is stumping for Trump [0] [1].
Andreessen is also no longer affiliated with YC but has been a very vocal advocate for Trump lately [2] [3] [4].
I don't follow YC's current administration or board very closely but I would be surprised if the current lineup weren't in lock step with Altman, Andreessen, Thiel, Musk and others. Please let me know if I'm jumping to conclusions incorrectly.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_LLC
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaZrLDMA56E
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHWnPOKh_S0
- senordevnyc 4 months agoSo the answer is no, it’s not fair to lump YC in there. You don’t have any evidence or knowledge at all, you’re just jumping to conclusions.
- senordevnyc 4 months ago
- abetusk 4 months ago
- mindslight 4 months ago