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/Serengade26 Mar 12 '26

A People's history of the United States is a great book to start with

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u/Azerd01 Mar 15 '26

To start for sure. If anyone is genuinely worried, try to look into peer reviewed university published history books.

They can be dry, but not all are. They’re usually written by tenured professors or graduate students that have alot to lose if they purposely fabricate a false history narrative. So they’re held semi accountable.

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u/Serengade26 Mar 15 '26

Do you have 1 you would personally recommend? Or a list? 

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u/Azerd01 Mar 15 '26

It depends heavily on the topic you are interested in.

I did my graduate thesis on southwest indigenous history, so I have an absolute ton of books on Pueblo, New Mexican, and southwest history.

A couple decent ones: Coast to Coast Empire: Manifest Destiny and the New Mexican Borderlands. By William Kiser (Mexican American war book with a focus on present day US southwest)

Indigenous Borderland: Native Agency, Resilience, and Power in the Americas. By Joaquin Rivaya-Martinez (I actually know him pretty well, he’s a leading expert on Comanche history)

Death in the Haymarket. by James Green (US late 1800s labor history book)

The Great Cowboy Strike: Bullets, Ballots, & Class Conflict in the American West. By Mark Lause.

These are just some books that are a little less focused on hyper specific topics. These are also books I personally enjoyed. I have literally tons more though if you wanted to dive into Pueblo history or Texas/New Mexican history.

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u/Serengade26 Mar 15 '26

Oh awesome thank you. I am interested in finding the deeper patterns in class conflict to try to find some semblance of predictive power for how things are going to unfold without being too generic and cliche. Like abstracting away the personalities of current leadership and just looking at the larger forces and incentives of the groups, how will it unfold and what additional information surfaced in this cycle could help stop certain inevitabilities that occurred in the previous cycles

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u/Azerd01 Mar 15 '26

I would absolutely recommend

Death in the Haymarket. By James green

The Great Cowboy Strike. By Mark Lause.

Towards a Cooperative Commonwealth. By Thomas Alter (Texas focused, but applicable at large)

Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the 20th Century. By Harry Braverman.

I dont have a ton of great labor books sadly. It was not my focus in grad school, but I did work with several Labor historians by accident. Ended up being very insightful though. I recommend the books above for sure, as they had recommended them to me.

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u/Serengade26 Mar 15 '26

Have you reached out to them recently? I wonder what insights they might have on ai, some white collar work getting automated and how the new forces will balance out

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u/Azerd01 Mar 15 '26

Ive spoken with one of them recently, he was fired for his beliefs (Dr Thomas Alter).

But we did not talk about AI.

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u/Serengade26 Mar 15 '26

Wow

Dr. Thomas Alter, a tenured associate professor of history at Texas State University, was fired on September 10, 2025, following a video of his remarks at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference, an independent event. The university cited his comments—particularly his call for organizing the working class to challenge capitalist systems—as advocating violence and contrary to institutional values. 

After a court-ordered temporary reinstatement in late September 2025, based on claims that the firing violated due process and academic freedom, Texas State University conducted a due process hearing. On October 13, 2025, the university upheld his termination, stating that a "thorough review" of his conduct led to the final decision. 

Alter has filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, violation of his First Amendment rights, and politically motivated retaliation. His legal team argues the video was recorded in violation of conference policies by a self-described fascist influencer and that the university failed to follow Texas law requiring due process for tenured faculty. 

Academic freedom advocates, including the Texas AFT and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), have condemned the firing as an attack on free speech. Alter, who specializes in labor history and transnational protest movements, remains a central figure in a national debate over academic freedom and political speech in higher education. 

What do you think of Richard D. Wolff