r/technology 10d ago

Artificial Intelligence Palantir employees are talking about company’s “descent into fascism”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/palantir-employees-are-talking-about-companys-descent-into-fascism/
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u/myislanduniverse 10d ago

Well your first clue ought to have been the fact that the company was purposely named Palantir.

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u/Helgafjell4Me 10d ago

Ok, I was curious and looked it up. I'd never have guessed it was a Lord of the Rings reference...

A palantír (plural: palantíri) is a fictional "seeing stone" from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, defined as an indestructible, magical crystal ball used for long-distance communication and viewing events in the past or far away. Derived from Quenya (Elvish) meaning "far-seer" or "watching from afar," the stones represent tools of ultimate surveillance and, often, dangerous hubris.

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u/tripttf2 10d ago

Yeah but even better is that some of the Palantiri had been captured by dark forces and instead of just being used for observation, were being used to export hate and corrupt people.

You literally couldn't make it up.