Palantir Might Control the World

Digital infrastructure, concentrated power, and Palantir symbolism

Speaker 1: 0:00 I'm not saying that a digital ID is automatically evil. A digital ID is really convenient. I've lost my ID so many times before; it'd be nice just to have it on my phone. Programmable money could lower the risk of fraud—that's also nice—and cameras can make neighborhoods safer. These are all genuinely true and good reasons, but they're all being built together at the same time by connected institutions that'll be managed by a system that has never existed before. And it's the combination of them that allows for the centralization of power in a way that was never possible in human history.

One of the main companies that's going to be building the surveillance and data infrastructure for this system is called Palantir. Palantir is a data analytics company. What you might not have known is what Palantir means. The name comes from J. R. Tolkien's *Lord of the Rings*, and in that story the Palantiri are ancient seeing stones. They let whoever holds them see anything, anywhere, at any time. Sauron uses them not just to watch, but to manipulate Middle-earth.

What is that in the modern day? That's the algorithm. To make people believe things that aren't necessarily true. It feeds people their worst impulses and fears. I'm not saying this is a prophecy of the Bible, but I am saying that symbolism like this doesn't happen by accident.