All posts tagged: Palantir

My New Life With the Palantir Chore Coat

My New Life With the Palantir Chore Coat

Published by Sam Flores

Nothing about the Palantir chore coat makes any sense. Mine is a size small, though it’s so oversize that I look like a teen wearing a hand-me-down. Then there’s the color: a piercing blue that’s nearing the shade of an iMessage bubble. The jacket is also the most comfortable and practical garment I own. It’s buttery soft and as heavy as a blanket, with three massive patch pockets that each can hold a paperback book. The coat’s plastic buttons—swirls of black and blue—are unlike any I have ever seen. The Palantir chore coat is made by the same Palantir named in homage to Lord of the Rings, the same Palantir that has developed a reputation as ruthlessly committed to any number of national-security imperatives, and, yes, the same Palantir that builds AI tools for the military and tracks migrants for ICE. The mysterious tech giant now also wants to sell you outerwear. Only a tiny Palantir logo is embroidered into the coat’s left breast pocket, but flip the coat inside out and you’ll find a …

Palantir Issues Ominous Corporate Manifesto

Palantir Issues Ominous Corporate Manifesto

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Military and intelligence contractor Palantir has long struggled to beat the allegations of enabling an Orwellian surveillance state on behalf of the Pentagon. The Alex Karp-led company has received huge sums in federal funding to build out a surveillance platform for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with countless other contracts for military operations, policing, and border enforcement — not just with the US, but the Israeli military and UK government as well. Just in case its broader mission to supercharge national security using cutting-edge spying was too opaque, Karp penned a 320-page tome titled “The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West.” While the book itself was released just over 14 months ago, a 22-point summary the company tweeted over the weekend put the firm and its controversial CEO’s ominous worldview in stark relief, drawing shocked reactions. Belgian philosopher of technology Mark Coeckelbergh described the manifesto as an “example of technofascism,” while Greek …

Palantir posts mini-manifesto denouncing inclusivity and ‘regressive’ cultures

Palantir posts mini-manifesto denouncing inclusivity and ‘regressive’ cultures

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Surveillance and analytics company Palantir recently posted what it called a “brief” 22-point summary of CEO Alexander Karp’s book “The Technological Republic.” Written by Karp and Palantir’s head of corporate affairs Nicholas Zamiska, “The Technological Republic” was published last year and described by its authors as “the beginnings of the articulation of the theory” behind Palantir’s work. (One critic said it was “not a book at all, but a piece of corporate sales material.”) The company’s ideological bent has come under more scrutiny since then, as tech industry figures have debated Palantir’s work with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and as the company has positioned itself as an organization working for the defense of “the West.” In fact, congressional Democrats recently sent a letter to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security demanding more information about how tools built by Palantir and “a range of surveillance companies” are being used in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation strategy. Palantir’s post doesn’t reference much of that context directly, simply saying that it’s providing the summary “because we …

Palantir Is Stocking the Wildest Imaginable Item in Its Vending Machines

Palantir Is Stocking the Wildest Imaginable Item in Its Vending Machines

Published by José Betancourt

Cigarette smoking in the United States has plummeted over the decades, reaching an 80-year low in 2024. But nicotine, the highly addictive stimulant found in tobacco, has turned into a weird new trend, with wellness influencers now pushing it as a way to prepare for a hard workout — or even boost productivity at work, as Stat News reports. Even the shadowy defense contractor Palantir is now offering its employees nicotine pouches in its vending machines. Startups like Lucy Nicotine and Sesh are marketing to users as a way to remain alert or awake longer. That’s despite the known health hazards of the stimulant, from its extremely addictive nature to higher blood pressure, which could put users at risk of heart attacks and strokes. Many of these products are also not authorized for sale by the Food and Drug Administration. As experts told Stat, the recreational use of nicotine pouches and gum, which were originally designed to help people quit smoking, could result in young people getting addicted in the first place, with the health …