This firm dodged DOGE and got more contracts. Guess what for?
Surveillance and corruption are just doing business after all
A little different and a little longer today as I try to blend together a Word Salad with a Special Dish. Who knows whether it will be tasty or not, but that is the risk of cooking. First the answer to the experimental recipe from Monday.
PRODUCT ANSWER
Each week we are getting more people making a guess at what each amazing new product really does. We have one winner again this week. The most popular guess though was a 3-D movie eye projector so budding entrepreneurs have a possible product idea with traction. But of course the mask was to stop your smart phone from falling on top of you in bed. What exactly are people doing with them to have this as a problem to be solved?
WORD SALAD - It’s Just Business
As a long time and proud business entrepreneur I have always loathed this cliché. And it’s close companion “It’s Only Business.” I also have a measure of antipathy towards the people that rely on it.
The phrase has a certainty finality to it, pushing aside values, ethics, and any other considerations yet expecting no blowback because, well couldn’t help it as business compelled this action or decision. Or whatever else needs a reason that should not be judged. It is the ultimate cop-out, implying nothing personal is intended but likely the consequences are deeply affecting to some people. As if business is the most important thing in the world.
As we become less religious it has replaced, “It’s God’s Will” in the ultimate excuse lexicon.
In my version of business values, beliefs, ethics, and various trade-offs all need to be considered. Not just the money. Here is an example.
I swap stock market tips and ideas with a number of my friends. I remember telling one person who was going on and on about Amazon that I would never invest in them. But I could make a fortune came the incredulous response. I replied at length that I disliked their labour and human resource practices, their major contribution to delivery culture with its nasty environmental and waste packaging problems, and their deeply unethical treatment of third party vendors. I added I also don’t use them for purchasing goods unless I have absolutely no other options. Another disbelieving look, as he muttered the phrase of the week.
Now on so many other issues - like healthcare for the elderly or development of virgin land - this person brings their morality with them as well as a range of issues to be reviewed and evaluated.
But not when “Its just business”.
SPECIAL DISH: Last year’s stock market winner wins more government contracts
Many of us have read about DOGE cancelling the government contracts of large consulting firms such as Accenture, Booz Allen and Deloittes. Some of us smiled or celebrated these cancellations, without knowing even what services were affected. We love taking down the big boys down a notch as they are likely to be fat boys or even bad boys. Such is the simplistic cartoon view of the world some have.
It would be nice for a few to graduate at least to serious science fiction, especially with dystopian viewpoints, to face our current reality. As this paywalled story outlines last year’s darling Palantir has actually been awarded more government contracts. What type of services could be so important to go against DOGE and its ruthless / mindless cost cutting measures?
More effective surveillance, that’s what.
Palantir has been working on expanding integration with other government databases and upgrading unique search capabilities across these databases in order for ICE to better round up immigrants.
Maybe I have it wrong. Let’s look at what the procurement paperwork says:
“This modification adds licenses, configuration, and engineering services for the Investigative Case Management system to deploy new Targeting and Enforcement Prioritization, Self-Deportation Tracking, and Immigration Lifecycle Process capabilities,”
Immigration Lifecycle Process: covering each new person from entry to exit. Emphasis on the exit.
For those of you unfamiliar with the word Palantir, it has two meanings: a business founded by Peter Thiel and others in 2003, and the critical stones from Lord of the Rings. Let’s take these in turn.
Palantir the company is focused on Big Data. This means collating and integrating massive amounts of data from disparate systems and then providing analytic tools for querying and business intelligence. The company’s stock price surged approximately 340% in 2024, driven by strong revenue growth of about 29%, with significant demand in defence and AI-related sectors. Now I’m a pretty good stock picker but their stock price increase doesn’t seem proportional to a good to very good but not exceptional revenue growth. Something seems fishy but that is another story.
Palantir’s flagship government product is called Gotham, which seems to allude to Batman and The Joker. But their company name is truly based on the palantíri stones from J.R.R. Tolkien. It was an odd choice of a name which should give us second thoughts. It is no laughing matter.
The palantíri are indestructible crystal balls used for “seeing” far-off places, communicating over great distances, and viewing events in other parts of the world or even in the past. But they also come with risks.Their visions can be misleading, and those with greater power can manipulate what others see. A palantir (as one stone is called) tempts users with the promise of secret knowledge and control, but without wisdom and self-mastery, even the well-intentioned can be led astray or destroyed by what they see.
I think that puts this story, and its just business, in a whole new light.
A LITTLE SPICE
There’s a point where no corruption can be a bad thing. It can mean that things are too boring.”
WHAT’S REALLY COOKING
What does it mean to be human in a world of change and uncertainty?
A question inspired by Tolkien himself
Not sure if this dish came out tasty but I’m now off to make Caribbean Ron Don soup inspired by our trip to Costa Rica. Thanks to all my readers. I appreciate feedback, comments, likes and restacks to help me grow as a writer. See you on Monday
Palantir naming itself after Tolkien's cursed surveillance orbs might be the most accidentally honest branding in tech history. The fact that their stock surge smells like speculative helium while they build ICE’s deportation tech? Peak ‘just business’ grotesquerie.
Also, regarding the smartphone bed mask - are people actually getting concussed by rogue iPhones, or is this just the logical endpoint of our tech-addled doomscrolling? Either way, I’d bet 3-to-1 that some VC just funded it. Also, you would love my article tomorrow, David.
Sad