THE PHILOSOPHER IN THE VALLEY

The evolution of a self-described “batshit-crazy CEO.”

Alex Karp, the subject of Haverford College classmate Steinberger’s engrossing biography, fell into the orbit of libertarian and far-right activist Peter Thiel and became the CEO of Palantir Technologies, a data analytics giant. Indeed, although “an outlier in the tech industry” by any measure, in 2020 he was the highest-paid CEO of a publicly traded company, bringing down $1.1 billion in compensation, a level of wealth made possible by a nonstop string of huge post-9/11 government contracts. Granted, some of Palantir’s efforts have had broadly beneficial results: One of its software packages was used to develop new drugs, track foodborne illnesses, and help deliver food to refugees. But more, Palantir’s fortunes were closely linked to the U.S. intelligence community and military, even though, at the company’s start, writes Steinberger, “neither Thiel nor his associates had ever worked with the government…and had no clue as to how counterterrorism analysts wanted information presented.” Good engineering made up for that. And while at first Karp held out for privacy controls by which, in the case of one program, “users were able to access only information that they were authorized to view,” those niceties fell by the wayside in time: “Palantir landed contracts with a number of federal agencies, including the FBI, the IRS, the SEC, the Department of Homeland Security,” writes the author. As for Karp? Despite having been a biracial student of the German social philosopher Jürgen Habermas who “had written his dissertation on the rhetoric of fascism”—and who indeed once told Steinberger, “My biggest fear is fascism”—the former “neo-socialist” is all in for Trump, denouncing the Democratic Party as “woke, pagan ideology.” But as MAGA champion Nick Fuentes said, “If Palantir isn’t the Deep State, then what is?”

A chilling portrait of genius in the yoke of authoritarianism.