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I Know What Musk is Up To [1]
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Date: 2025-02-04
The following headline appeared on my Google News feed this morning: “Palantir CEO Hails Musk’s DOGE Disruption: ‘Some People Are Going to Get Their Heads Cut Off’.” If you have not heard of Palantir, their, “Foundry software program operates at a company level, enabling companies to efficiently maximize their most valuable asset - their data – within a secure environment customized for their needs.” If you have been wondering over the past few days why Musk recently plugged an enterprise level hard drive into the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) computer systems, I believe the answer is that Palantir’s algorithms can help him shift the OPM’s functions under his own purview via a partnership with Palantir.
Alex Karp is the founder and CEO of Palantir. He previously supported Harris. But ever the opportunist, he now appears to be in full support of Elon’s efforts. Here’s how Karp closed his Monday morning call with investors,
“Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world. And, when it’s necessary, to scare enemies and on occasion kill them. And we hope you’re in favor of that.”
It does not take much imagination to figure out the kind of power such a partnership would lend Musk. Trump might be officially President now. But if Musk pulls this off without oversite, he will sit behind a virtual resolute desk with one hell of a hammer to wield against anyone who opposes him.
Think I am wrong? Ask yourself what happens when data thieves shut a hospital, school, or company out of their own computer systems. Is this so different beyond being on a much larger scale?
Money is unquestionably power. But the new coin of the realm in that department is data. As with the legendary Lord of the Rings orbs for which Palantir is named, the person who holds that data can see across time and space, perhaps even control the future, until the outcomes they desire and the outcomes that unfold become one in the same, at least of an institutional and national level. Wed it to AI and the possibilities become unimaginably scary.
I would say that if you have not already, it is time to call your congressional representatives. And if you have, then it is time to do it again. This is one post I sincerely hope I am wrong on. But I have this uneasy feeling that I am on the mark.
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