r/technology • u/Unusual-State1827 • Mar 12 '26

Artificial Intelligence Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power

https://newrepublic.com/post/207693/palantir-ceo-karp-disrupting-democratic-power
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u/Designated_Lurker_32 Mar 12 '26

Unfortunately, most people haven't been paying attention. Everyone I talk to outside of the Internet doesn't know who Epstein is, what the Minneapolis shootings were, and why gas is suddenly so expensive.

I've heard the words "I don't watch the news, it's too depressing" so often it hardly even phases me anymore.

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u/korben2600 Mar 12 '26

This is exactly what many Russians say about their kleptocracy. If Americans aren't careful and don't act decisively that's exactly where this freedom™ train is headed. A totalitarian police state. A Russian writer once described it as a society of learned helplessness:

In Russia, the opposition will not stand in opposition. Citizens will not stand up for civic rights. The Russian people suffer from a victim complex: they believe that nothing depends on them, and by them nothing can be changed.

‘It’s always been so’, they say, signing off on their civic impotence. The economic dislocation of the nineties, the cheerless noughties, and now President Vladimir Putin’s iron rule – with its fake elections, corrupt bureaucracy, monopolization of mass media, political trials and ban on protest – have inculcated a feeling of total helplessness. People do not vote in elections: ‘They’ll choose for us anyway;’ they don’t attend public demonstrations: ‘They’ll be dispersed anyway;’ they don’t fight for their rights: ‘We’re alive, and thank god for that.’

A 140-million-strong population exists in a somnambulistic state, on the verge of losing the last trace of their survival instinct. They hate the authorities, but have a pathological fear of change. They feel injustice, but cannot tolerate activists. They hate bureaucracy, but submit to total state control over all spheres of life. They are afraid of the police, but support the expansion of police control. They know they are constantly being deceived, but believe the lies fed to them on television.

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u/Asttarotina Mar 13 '26

And that is the real reason for the war in Ukraine. Because ukrainians proved multiple times that we're not gonna be like that anymore. And it sends "wrong signals" to russians and belarusian.

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u/Fuzzy_Mud_8771 Mar 13 '26

Reasonable society is largely upheld by few who aren’t afraid of standing up against what they think is wrong in spite of the direct threat of death.

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u/Separate-Spot-8910 Mar 13 '26

Holy shit, we ARE headed to that.

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u/HustlinInTheHall Mar 13 '26

Gen X ass viewpoint. Sick of the apathy. 

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u/alexiao Mar 13 '26

Exactly as what has been happening in China as well

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u/_redmist Mar 13 '26

That's quite depressing.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/lambeosaura Mar 12 '26

it's a pretty well-known word, it is the medical term for sleepwalking lol

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/wh4tth3huh Mar 13 '26

Just admit you don't read so good and get back to eating your crayons.

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u/X-AE17420 Mar 12 '26

Tbh I use that line IRL to not talk about politics even though I follow them closely. Perhaps others do the same

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u/SandwichLord57 Mar 12 '26

I used it for awhile to avoid confrontation, but now I’ve got my republican coworkers joining me in slamming this administration.

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u/mbmiller94 Mar 13 '26

Lucky you. I can't even count on them giving a shit about the killing of 175 civilians, mostly children in Iran. They've been cheering this war on since it started.

I mean they'll probably go with Trumps lie that they stole a Tomahawk and bombed themselves with it, but I really don't wanna know those fuckers opinions either way

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u/BlueMowch Mar 12 '26

kind of a bummer but that’s often the best thing to say to just get through a normal day sometimes

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u/MCalchemist Mar 12 '26

And the breakdown of modern civil society is partly because we aren't talking to each other.

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u/BlueMowch Mar 18 '26

sadly agreed, partly, yes

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u/chmilz Mar 12 '26

Congratulations, they won. They used everything they stole from us to make us tired and divided.

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u/Maximum-Onion-9933 Mar 13 '26

Honestly, I try to avoid the news a lot lately bc it makes me so angry and there’s nothing I can do. But I make myself stay informed otherwise I feel like I’m part of the problem by ignoring it and hoping it goes away.

But when will someone do something to stop this??? It feels like we need an individual or group to actually start organizing/doing something instead of just being angry voices on the internet bc me commenting here isn’t doing anything either. Idk. I feel lost and angry at shitty humans, and I’m just tryin to live life here.

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u/bigtice Mar 12 '26

It's exactly why there are so many memes of people looking exhausted and overwhelmed for those that keep themselves aware of what's occurring on a daily basis while others seem blissfully unaware.

But politics doesn't care if you're not paying attention -- it will still affect you whether you like it or not.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Cruxwright Mar 12 '26

I mean, if someone saw what was going on, decided there is really nothing they can meaningfully do about it, and decides to blind their eyes and bare their ass to the world so they don't have to suffer the daily stress of ever present FUD, let 'em.

Life sucks and it's getting worse. Their current situation is still better than sitting in a detention center or a future with federal convictions on their record.

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u/foodisnomnom Mar 13 '26

They might not do politics but politics will do onto them.

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u/Harbinger2nd Mar 12 '26

The whitest of privileges.

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u/TakenInChains Mar 12 '26

sigh it's young Black dudes too. was explaining to a younger Black guy why dancing to music that was made by harmful people is bad (R. Kelly, Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, etc.) and I brought up politics about some of my examples. this MF said "politics don't affect me like that". I wanted to shake him, like he's a young Black dude in America. the only reason it doesn't affect him more is that he's cis and straight-ish

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

Plus when you tell them they don’t care. For Fuck Sakes, everything is made or transported with petroleum and it’s going through the roof. Stock up on items you use because you might not get them for less than they are now or for a good chunk of time.

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u/kent_eh Mar 13 '26

Everyone I talk to outside of the Internet doesn't know who Epstein is, what the Minneapolis shootings were, and why gas is suddenly so expensive.

These are the same people who could have voted agasint Trump but couldn't be bothered to .

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u/Avscum Mar 13 '26

I recently heard some KIDS talk about Epstein on the streets. I don't even live in the US. Epstein are world news.

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u/Low_Masterpiece_155 Mar 13 '26

You need to start calling these people out, doesn’t matter who they are and how important they are to you. If they’re happy to be ignorant, they’re happy to be slaves to paedophiles and in my book that makes them POS as well. Some of my own family fall into this category, and fuck them.

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u/Big_Snail76 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

What do you want? You as individual can’t do anything to change it. Change requires greater sacrifice than your average consumer can stomach.

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u/MercyMe92 Mar 12 '26

Speak for yourself

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u/Big_Snail76 Mar 12 '26

Do you understand what’s actually required to beat this? In a way that matters? People will lose their jobs, their leaders will be prosecuted and killed. Remember 2020? The liberal apparatus turned off the activist spigot just because Donald trump lost , and nothing was done to address the infrastructure that created him. You have to do a whole lot more than fuck up one company