John,
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, a “palantir” is a seeing stone — something like a crystal ball — that can be used to spy on people and distort the truth.
Palantir is also the name of arguably the most dangerous corporation in America. Founded by anti-democracy billionaire Peter Thiel, it sells AI-based data platforms that could enable Donald Trump and his allies to quickly process and analyze massive amounts of your personal data.
Early in his current term, Trump signed an executive order requiring government agencies to consolidate all of their information about you into one giant database. To help process this massive amount of information, Trump chose Palantir.
Now, billions of your tax dollars are going to Palantir for, as one Silicon Valley investor described it, “building the infrastructure of the police state.”
I hope you’ll join us for this week’s video, as we explore how a tyrant can use massive amounts of government data to intimidate or silence opponents.
Imagine if Trump could punish or deny services to individual Americans based on their political affiliation, whether they’ve attended a protest, or even posted an unflattering picture of him online.
Palantir could be giving Trump the power to do just this.
Tolkien’s palantir fell under the control of the evil Sauron. Thiel’s Palantir is falling under the control of Trump. How this story ends is up to all of us.
And thank you for spreading the word by sharing this video!
Robert Reich
Inequality Media
