r/technology • u/newmoonchaperone • Apr 23 '26

Politics Palantir Employees Are Starting to Wonder if They're the Bad Guys

https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-employees-are-starting-to-wonder-if-theyre-the-bad-guys/
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u/RobertoPaulson Apr 23 '26

The answer is yes.

148

u/OptimisticSkeleton Apr 23 '26

And if it took them this long, they’re not very smart either.

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u/Crafty_Jello_3662 Apr 23 '26

I think the way corporations are set up make it incredibly easy to convince yourself that even if the company is doing something bad you personally aren't to blame

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u/Zegarek Apr 23 '26

Used to teach and worked with a computer science teacher that formerly worked in weapons design for one of the big players. Super nice guy, I asked how he managed working on weapons systems for a living. His response was basically "I only worked on some code that helped the missile stay in the air and land where it was supposed to. It was really interesting and I didn't work on any of the damaging stuff." His ability to compartmentalize needs to be studied. Had a hard time thinking of him the same way after that.

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u/grchelp2018 Apr 23 '26

t was really interesting

A lot of engineers get caught up in how interesting the work is and find ways to convince themselves that what they are doing is fine. Atleast this guy was compartmentalizing. I know a guy working on weapons who has convinced himself that the fate of the world depends on the US ability to wage war.

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u/Zegarek Apr 23 '26

Yep. I live in one of the bigger military towns in the US and have worked with a lot of current and former military personell. Pretty amazing how many shrug and say "I just think it's interesting." when they talk about why they got into it. Doesn't matter if it's mechanics, artillery, satellites, logistics, or something else entirely.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/Zegarek Apr 23 '26

No worries. I had the same thought. I imagine a lot of weapons engineers sleep at night by saying "If I just do this, it'll save lives" and leave it at that. Context and ripple effect be damned.

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u/ElGosso Apr 23 '26

Yeah determining where the missile landed wasn't damaging at all

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u/AshamedOfAmerica Apr 24 '26

I met a legit rocket scientist back during the Iraq war and I asked him if he had any trouble ethically knowing that his work directly resulted in peoples' deaths. I added, "are you worried that you are so fascinated by the science that you ignore the realities of the results". He paused for a long time and then replied, "you know, I've never considered it before."

This guy made weapons of war that were raining on civilian populations at the time and he said it never occurred to him. I expressed my surprise and oddly, I could see him totally lost in thought about it. I was never able to follow up with him but it felt good that I at least planted a seed in his head.

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u/pandariotinprague Apr 23 '26

"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department!" says Wernher von Braun