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points by crmd 2 days ago | 0 comments

This capability virtually guarantees that the next generation of Nelson Mandellas, Julian Assanges, <insert national activist of your choice>, etc. gets nipped in the bud long before they become an actual headache to the ruling class. This is why the owners of every country come together to support these technologies, without exception and regardless of political coalition membership.

[–] asdff 2 days ago

Going all the way back to lenin these guys were often controlled by third party states anyhow with the goal of destabilizing power structures. Almost like a virus you unleash. That is why lenin was shipped via railcar by germany to the russian empire in 1917 at the height of war. The plan worked and the third rome fell apart shortly thereafter.

[–] HWR_14 2 days ago

Lenin was supported by Germany, but I don't think anyone credible would say he wa controlled by Germany.

[–] asdff 2 days ago

He was akin to a molotov cocktail they could toss at any oppressed populace in europe and have non small odds of civil war. It might be more fair to say they controlled him the same way an incendiary bomber controls fire.

[–] HWR_14 2 days ago

They waited until there was a civil war in Russia to send him back.

[–] red-iron-pine 2 days ago

he accomplished their aims, however, and that is enough.

[–] sdsd 2 days ago

You're right, a genuine activist used by the state for cynical motives is called a Useful Idiot. Ironically, this turn of phrase was traditionally said to be coined by Lenin, although modern scholarship no longer espouses this view.

[–] laylower 2 days ago

They are only doing it for the children.

[–] DoingIsLearning 2 days ago

> This capability virtually guarantees that the next generation of Nelson Mandellas [..] gets nipped in the bud long before they become an actual headache to the ruling class.

They are way ahead of you. The intent is not just to monitor, it's also to predict/preempt and to shape.

The whole sales pitch of Palantir is effectively marketing talk for pre-crime. And if we see what the russians and the chinese are doing online to shape our opinions I can only imagine what the US capabilities are in this realm.

This is not just about stopping the next Mandela. This is about knowing who the next Mandela is before future Mandela even knows it. And this about shaping the opinion of all potential future Mandela's into a neutered state.