The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State

An acclaimed New York Times Magazine writer brings us into the world of the controversial technology firm Palantir and its very colorful and outspoken CEO, Alex Karp, tracing the ascent of Big Data, the rise of surveillance technology, and the shifting global balance of power in the 21st century.

No company embodies the promise and perils of Big Data more than Palantir. Cofounded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp in 2003 to help the US government in the war on terrorism—an early investor was the CIA—Palantir builds software that ingests vast quantities of data and rapidly identifies patterns, trends, and connections that might elude the human eye. It is now a $40 billion global colossus whose technology is used by the CIA and the Mossad, by every branch of the US military, by dozens of federal agencies, and by major international corporations like Airbus and British Petroleum. Its software has played a critical war in the war in Ukraine and is now at the vanguard of the AI revolution. From terrorism to climate change to immigration to pandemic response to the future of warfare, Palantir is at the nexus of the most critical issues of the 21st century.

The company’s CEO, Alex Karp, is perhaps the most distinctive and charismatic figure on the global business scene. A biracial Jew who is also severely dyslexic, Karp has built Palantir into a tech giant despite having no background in either business or computer science. Instead, he holds a law degree from Stanford and a doctorate in social theory from Germany’s Goethe University. But it is not just his training in the humanities that makes Karp a rarity among Silicon Valley billionaires; in contrast to the techno utopianism of many of his peers, Karp is willing to candidly grapple with the moral and ethical implications of his company’s work—questions made more urgent by the political activism of his close friend and cofounder Thiel, whose support for Donald Trump sewed deep mistrust of Palantir.

In The Philosopher in the Valley, journalist Michael Steinberger explores the world of Alex Karp and Palantir and the future that they are leading us towards. It is an urgent and illuminating work about one of Silicon Valley’s most secretive and powerful companies, whose technology is the leading edge of the surveillance state.

About the Author

Michael Steinberger is a longtime journalist who writes primarily for The New York Times Magazine. He has written cover stories for the magazine about Joe Biden, George Soros, and Roger Federer. Before becoming a journalist, Steinberger spent several years working on Wall Street. He is the author of Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine, and the End of France and The Wine Savant: A Guide to the New Wine Culture. Follow him on X at @WineDiarist.