Great read. These dystopian tech CEOS grew up as bullied nerds, now planning to take their pain out on the entire world.

https://www.asomo.co/p/the-scouring-of-middle-earth-palantir

Anduril’s other co-founder is Palmer Luckey, a virtual reality entrepreneur and Trump fundraiser, who is on record for saying “Societies have always needed a warrior class that is enthused and excited about enacting violence on others in pursuit of good aims.”

I am the son of a special forces soldier who would very much disagree with that characterisation of the warrior class, but Luckey’s larpy gamer vibe is also exploited by Trump’s Department of War, which uses Call of Duty imagery in social media posts about Iranian strikes. The net effect of this strategy is to liken Iranians to NPC forces of fantasy evil. You, American Soldier, are the hero who gets a new high score by using Palantir-powered Anduril drones to blow the head off a 19-year old orc from the slums of Isfahan.

Both companies have gone all-in on promoting an America-First AI-Military-Industrial Complex to Make America Great Again. They position Trump as an Aragorn character wielding their products. Anduril’s Luckey and Stephens are full MAGA, as is Palantir’s Lonsdale, Thiel and CEO Alex Karp. The latter used to oppose Trump, but now harangues the last remaining liberals of Silicon Valley.

They play into rhetoric of an existential war to protect Western Civilization against China, Islam, Globalists and Leftists who dilute the vigour of the American Warrior Ethos.