Palantir published a mini manifesto calling some cultures ‘harmful and middling’ and said Silicon Valley has ‘a moral debt’ to the U.S.

Palantir published a mini manifesto over the weekend based on a book by its CEO that made the company’s position clear on a range of topics from reinstating the military draft to Silicon Valley’s moral duty to help the U.S. defend itself. In a post on the company’s X account that has racked up 32 million views, Palantir laid out a 22-point manifesto drawn from Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West , co-authored by CEO Alex Karp and head of corporate affairs, Nicholas Zamiska. One of the document’s core arguments is that Silicon Valley owes a “moral debt” to the country that made its rise possible. The “engineering elite,” the manifesto argues, has spent decades building obsession-driven apps and social media platforms while failing to contribute substantially to the defense industry that is essential “to preserve the enduring yet fragile geopolitical advantage that the United States and its allies in Europe and elsewhere have retained over their adversaries.” The rise of the American software industry was built on a government-private sector partnership that Silicon Valley tends to forget, the authors claimed. This partnership funded the research behind pharmaceuticals, rockets, and satellites, still few in tech acknowledge that debt, opting to take on less risky endeavors today rather than contribute to advancing the country and improving the well being of its citizens. “Why take the chance of entering into the moral morass of geopolitics and courting controversy when you can build another app?” the book asks. The manifesto is equally blunt on the military. Karp and his co-author argue the U.S. should consider moving away from an all-volunteer force so that everyone shares in the risk of war. This idea pays homage to the late Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who believed the draft should be reinstated so every citizen pulls their weight in case of a necessary conflict. Without conscription, which ended in 1973, the authors claim …