Palantir summons specter of nuclear conflict as share price collapses

Palantir's CEO invoked the specter of nuclear war as the US spy-tech company posted net losses of $101 million and revenue guidance undershot market expectations. Disappointing investors, the company lost 21 percent of its stock market value before close yesterday. In its first-quarter results, revenue hit $446 million, 31 …

[James 51]

I always misread Peter Thiel as Peter Thief. Given the active harm this company has done, it can't go bust soon enough. Just when you think they can't go any lower, they throw in we're actually all more likeily to be nuked that you know, now give us some money.

[Anonymous Coward]

While I have nothing but happy fluffy feelings for a man that would fund multiple 3rd party lawsuits against media outlets that told the truth about him

[ComputerSays_noAbsolutelyNo]

"I always misread Peter Thiel as Peter Thief."

A Freudian slip?

[El Pulpo]

What harm have they done?

[MrDamage]

As the first outside investor of Faecesbook, he bears some responsibility for helping unleash that blight upon the world.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fascism Inc. will do well

Considering I expect Elon Musk to connect the Twitter backdoor to his friend's business Fascism Inc. Palantir to filter out non-human users, and with the renewed popularity of authoritarianism, I expect Palantir to have a bright future. This is just a blip.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

There's the SPECTRE of Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SMERSH in the rantings and ravings of Palantir CEO, Alex Karp, there ..... which would be problematical of course and easily explain the company's declining stock market value.

However, Anonymous Coward, as to ..... and with the renewed popularity of authoritarianism, I expect Palantir to have a bright future. This is just a blip. .... do you really honestly think so?

Do you think the wealthy, the healthy and the wise will think so and risk their fortunes, social credibility and sanity with continuing support and future succour? ’Tis a sour bitter sweet dessert indeed, methinks, more likely to be religiously favoured and flavoured and savoured by a sadomasochistic few in the search for expensive thrills filled with cheap tastes.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

If you want to read a tale of fascism not doing so well, look no further today than the Guardian which outs one of their plays, Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, being denied and scrapped from the rule book .......Section 40: government to repeal controversial media law

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

Hhmm...I wouldn't read too much into that. A lot of the influential sections of the UK press have made a pact with the UK government where they support the government whatever they do in return for low regulation regarding the damage these media do to society to make a quick buck. This fits right into it. Controlling the media is part and parcel of fascism.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

A lot of the influential sections of the UK press have made a pact with the UK government where they support the government whatever they do in return for low regulation regarding the damage these media do to society to make a quick buck. ..... Anonymous Coward

I’m just going to assume you also meant to say they support the government whatever they do in return for low regulation regardless the damage these media do to society to make a quick buck, AC. It makes a lot more sense, ....however, believe it or believe it not, mainstream media mogul barons are no longer kings and queens of the castles they make, and every move they take and make to return that privilege to themselves by seeking to thwart that which and/or those who have captured their crown jewels, increases the size of the audience seeing their follies and broadens the depths of their worthy despair.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

Terribly awful that law isn't it?

Either you set up (or join) an independent appeals scheme meeting certain requirements about allowing people to appeal what you write about them (in which case following the appeals process the costs of both defence and prosecution are carried by the person suing) or if you do not set up or join such an appeals process then should you write untruthful articles about somebody in the press then if they sue then the newspaper pays the cost of both the prosecution and defence.

The solution is to join an independent appeals scheme. If you don't like the existing one, start up your own. That is not a threat to the press; it merely curtails freedom to libel and provides consequences for the newspapers.

You can see why both left and right wing papers that have, shall we say "debatable" accuracy on their stories wanted shot of that.

[El Pulpo]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

Why are you calling them 'Fascism Inc'? Isn't Alex Karp a progressive Socialist?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

Welcome, Commentard!

Signed up specifically to comment on this thread, hmm?

[El Pulpo]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

Surely that's how everyone got started? You see an article you are interested in and you make an account to join the discussion? Or are there some other hidden benefits to signing up that I have missed that you and everyone else signed up for?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fascism Inc. will do well

Sure, Peter.

[Jim Mitchell]

"But a genuine discourse in this country has all but withered, in significant part because so few are either willing or able to say what they actually think."

This seems backwards. The internet has shown that plenty of people are willing and able to tell us what the actually think. Repeatedly. It is rather quite annoying. Discourse may have withered because people don't listen or are unwilling to countenance different thoughts.

[Denarius]

really ?

plenty pf people and bots echo current mob mantras, perhaps. Self censorship is now common because of the noise of some who make a virtue of intolerance and censorship. Got to the point that the old "dont discuss religion and politics" maxim has become default behavior aside from the marxist farms in education. That is a problem during elections such as the one in Oz where common response to any political advertising is to hit mute or change channel. Interesting to me is the number of people who in passing conversation state they have stopped watching any TV.

[Throgmorton Horatio III]

Re: really ?

I stopped watching TV more than 40 years ago when it was obvious to me that it was actively being used to shape the thinking of the British population.

My view was confirmed by the inception of the UK national lottery, where all sorts of people who had never previously been interested suddenly discovered an urge to buy scratchcards and all manner of money-wasting similar things. The change in behaviour of ordinary people was astonishing, and showed the power of TV to influence people.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

GDPR...

A single line in today's Queen's Speech...

"The United Kingdom’s data protection regime will be reformed [Data Reform Bill]."

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queens-speech-2022

That will be the government deviating for GDPR as implemented when UK was part of the EU.

That would no doubt leave the data slurpers of the IT world salivating at the orgy of data gathering that they will be allowed to get away with by consent of the government

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: GDPR...

And a lot of other businesses losing markets because we lose equivalence with the EU. But never mind, we've taken back control.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: GDPR...

Agreed. For a lot of UK tech companies this means that they will voluntarily need to maintain GDPR compliance if they don't want to lose a large chunk of their business.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: GDPR...

Does voluntary count if there's not GDPR to back it up?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: GDPR...

Sure. Most of GDPR is effectively voluntary anyway, governed by contractual clauses and overseen by toothless and underfunded information commissioners.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: GDPR...

The GDPR is not going away, the rules just don’t apply automatically to every UK business anymore if the UK govt gets its way. If, however, you’re a UK business that wishes to keep your customers from any country that surrounds GB you will still need to comply with the GDPR and you can still be fined for non-compliance.

Worst case scenario is if the UK legislation diversifies significantly from the EU and UK tech businesses suddenly have two sets of rules to comply with. That’s what’s currently happening with manufacturing companies and the UKCA shenanigans. Extra red tape.

[Howard Sway]

Palantir summons specter of nuclear conflict

I expected the story to announce that Peter Thiel had built his own private nuclear arsenal and had issued his ransom demands when I read that.

But no, he's blaming IT departments for foiling his dastardly plans, staffed as they are by people thoughtful enough to recoil from the potential consequences of his company's products. And able to spot an authoritarian wolf dressed up as a libertarian sheep.

[YetAnotherXyzzy]

I'm not a fan of what Palantir does, nor of the founder's politics. But this line...

"Palantir was co-founded by Peter Thiel who helped finance and support the political campaigns of former president Donald Trump, who was impeached twice and seems unable to avoid saying what he actually thinks."

...seems needlessly close to an ad hominem argument. Needless, because the rest of the article makes it clear that the company is underperforming and all the CEO is doing about it is trying to distract everyone.

[Danny 2]

Journalism includes background information. It's relevant that Theil supports Trump because Trump demonised journalists.

An ad hominem argument is only a logical fallacy if it is irrelevant. This was wholly relevant.

I refer you to Godwin's summary of Godwin's Law.

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/godwin-s-law-mike-godwin-internet-hitler-charlottesville-virginia-donald-trump-a7892171.html

https://xkcd.com/261/

[diodesign]

Correction

You're right. We could have done better. We should have said:

"... Donald Trump, who was impeached twice and continues to be unable to stop his inane thoughts from spilling out of his alleged brain."

We are happy to clarify the article.

C.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: Correction

Nice one, Lindsay. That’s your true colours well run up the mast. It feels better than just good, doesn’t it, emptying those lodes from your brain.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Correction

"... Donald Trump, who was impeached twice and continues to be unable to stop his inane thoughts from spilling out of his alleged brain."

Third time's a charm, right?

The first witch hunt was perhaps more interesting than the second. Dodgy dealings in Ukraine, naturally. A president on video boasting about how they got a Ukranian prosecutor fired in order to protect a relative. Suprised that impeachment didn't succeed,

Oh, wait, no impeachment or investigation into those events. Just a dodgy dossier prepared prior to Trump's election claiming he was a Russian puppet with secret links to the Kremlin. Subsequent investigations looks like the whole 'RussiaGate' thing was made up by Democrats to smear their opponent.

But such is politics. In 1972, Republicans organised wiretapping of Trump Towers.. I mean the Watergate Complex. That resulted in a bit of a scandal and got tricky for Dicky, who was forced to resign or be impeached. Fast forward, and Democrats arrange the bugging and surveillance of Trump Towers, the White House's DNS records, and campaign staff.

Parallels with Watergate should be pretty obvious, but the media developed a blind spot when it came to being critical of the far-left & Southern Democrat's politics. Perhaps more curious given Ukraine's been in the news again, not just for hacking, but potentially what influence they may hold over the Bidens. But that's always the problem with conflicts of interest. So either real, ie why Burisma hired a junky, or apparent, like what dirt & kompromat Ukraine may have over the Bidens.

Or just the politics behind using Ukraine as a puppet to attack Russia, and weaken the EU. Kinda curious at the moment if Ukraine's decision to block EU gas flows will change the EU's views on Ukraine, coming so soon after Macron announced Ukraine's accession to the EU wouldn't be an overnight process.

[disgruntled yank]

Re: In the News Again

"Perhaps more curious given Ukraine's been in the news again, not just for hacking, but potentially what influence they may hold over the Bidens."

I wondered what all those headlines referencing Ukraine were about.

"Or just the politics behind using Ukraine as a puppet to attack Russia, and weaken the EU."

Yes, the fighting around Smolensk says it all, doesn't it?

[Jellied Eel]

Re: In the News Again

Yes, the fighting around Smolensk says it all, doesn't it?

Give it time. Kinda curious where it'll stop. So one possibilty might be at the Dnieper and partitioning Ukraine along left/right bank lines. But all very messy, especially the propaganda war. Strangest thing I've seen recently is speculation around what's under the steelworks in Mariupol, ie the original DNC server, or a Novichok production facility. Conspiracy theories abound.

In an era of 'fake news' though, the background to 'Russiagate' or just Russia's invasion is curious. I'm not exactly a fan of Trump, but do think some of the dirty tricks used against him were worse than Watergate.

[MrDamage]

Re: Correction

Got any proof of your claims that are not 15 second out of context blipverts, or senile mutterings of the 600nm man.

[Doctor Syntax]

The world according to Karp.

[EricM]

War is "negotiation" ?

> The war is itself a protracted negotiation with a heavily armed opponent

The "bargaining model" of war ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bargaining_model_of_war ) is truly a product from a sick mindset, given what really happens in a war.

That said, this kind of thinking is quite a nice fit for a company like Palantir.

[lglethal]

So in his argument...

Is Palantir Russia? Are they threatening to unleash "nuclear war" against their "customers"? Is Karp Putin in this scenario? Or is that Thiel? And Karp is more the Foreign Department Spokesman, Lavrov?

I dont know too many businesses that imply that they go to war with their customers. Well at least not publicly...

[nematoad]

Re: So in his argument...

"I dont know too many businesses that imply that they go to war with their customers."

Oracle?

[SundogUK]

"Donald Trump, who was impeached twice and continues to be unable to stop his inane thoughts from spilling out of his alleged brain."

You can't get him out of your head, can you?

[Danny 2]

I'll get Trump out my head when you remove him from the next election preferably by putting him in prison with his pal Maxwell. Until then it is a godawful Wordle from Trump to Putin.

Scott Walker - The Old Man`s Back Again

[wolfetone]

I'm fairly confident that a country that can't afford to provide it's heavy trucks with tyres that can hold air, let alone not disintegrate standing still, will not have spent all that much money on making sure their nukes work either.

[Jedit]

"I'm fairly confident"

That's nice for you. I'd rather not have it put to the test, though.

[Peter2]

Re: "I'm fairly confident"

Exactly.

My personal feeling is that somewhere upwards of 90% of Russia's nuclear arsenal will not work in some form. That may vary from nothing happening when the button is pressed, to it blowing up in the silo, breaking up enroute, not hitting the target, the warhead not exploding or only getting a primary fission explosion of a few kilotons without the secondary fusion explosion which takes the warhead to hundreds of kilotons or even megatons.

However even if one assumes that 99% of Russia's ~6000 warheads don't work (which would appear to be exceptionally and foolishly optimistic) that still leaves a minimum of ~61 warheads that would go off.

Personally, i'd prefer not to find out.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: "I'm fairly confident"

And for those that don't work, many of the failure modes create a big ol' mess somewhere. I dare say most of us would rather that didn't happen.

[Fifth Horseman]

Whilst it is clearly true that maintenance has not been much of a priority for the Russian armed forces, they have a couple of thousand nuclear warheads. It doesn't make much difference if a lot of them don't work.

It's probably best not to test this theory.

[iron]

Oh what a shame, it couldn;t have happened to more evil cunts than Thiel.

[Binraider]

Gimmicky company with strong marketing unit and little substance results in losses.

Nope, nothing new to see here!

[Andy Landy]

Don't forget the NHS involvement

Palantir built its reputation creating bespoke solutions such as digital profiling tools for organizations like the CIA and controversial US immigration agency ICE.

Let us not forget their involvement with the NHS. I dread to think what data they have their grubby paws on :(