The manifesto of "Palantir" is a fairy tale about Koshchei. Are we waiting for Prince Ivan?

The manifesto of one of the leading US technology companies, Palantira, published at the end of April— caused a stir. American activism in the public sphere is always well thought out, theatrical and dramatic. Let's try to consider the manifesto from this point of view: let's imagine that we are dealing with a work of art, Peter Trenin-Strausov, deputy director of the Federal Center for Humanitarian Practices of the Russian State University, writes in Profile magazine.

The appearance of a new hero

The "collective Silicon Valley" declares itself as the new elite of the USA. It opposes itself — on the one hand and quite openly — to civil servants, and on the other — more covertly — to political parties. The external motivation of the protagonist is a rather abstract "moral duty" of the new force to the country. Under the guise of debt, the rationale for the active and drastic intervention of private technology companies in the public and political life of the country is postulated. It should be noted that no one from the political class and the state demanded that Silicon Valley pay any moral debt. Everything she owes to the state, she gives, regularly paying taxes. But the new protagonist wants to please the public and skillfully hides his true motivation. However, it is in the manifesto that he exposes himself, as should happen in good dramas.

Silicon Valley slyly asks a rhetorical question: can the iPhone with its applications be the greatest invention of mankind? An attentive viewer will be surprised how quickly and imperceptibly for the main character himself he has changed. After all, recently the iPhone was called a revolutionary invention, and Steve Jobs was almost a prophet. Humanity, they say, thanks to its product has become different and has changed the way almost all goods and services are consumed. And now gloria mundi has already, it turns out, passed.

The main character says that he has something more valuable and important. This is not a "toy", not a life—simplifying gadget, but a new (and more powerful than nuclear) weapon - artificial intelligence (AI). The main character openly says that, unlike nuclear weapons, he owns the new weapon, not the state. Nuclear weapons are outdated, the protagonist assures. He says it convincingly and with aplomb. But it is necessary to treat his theses with skepticism, since the rhetoric of the protagonist is not a statement of fact, but a convenient rhetoric, a verbal screen. From his words, nuclear weapons did not lose their terrible power, and the states from the nuclear club did not attach less importance to these weapons. Moreover, the list of reasons for which nuclear weapons can be used, thanks to just The AI has expanded. Further — more. Silicon Valley claims that the soft power on which the American state relied so much and which has been skillfully developed over the past 50 years has also become obsolete. It was soft power that attracted millions of specialists and active people from different parts of the world to the USA, who participated in the creation of the intellectual, scientific and economic potential of the country.

At this moment, the real intrigue manifests itself. We are beginning to guess who is really the antagonist of Silicon Valley. It challenges the modern American state and its ruling class. The main character no longer hides his intentions. The only thing that could justify the modern ruling class, says Silicon Valley, is economic growth and security. However, today the state does not provide this, but, on the contrary, has brought the country's culture to decline.

A beautiful lady

Further on, according to the canons of the genre, the protagonist must make his proposal to a beautiful lady — American society — in order to win her favor. To prove his usefulness, the hero acts rather unpretentiously — he begins to frighten a beautiful lady. It turns out that she has enemies, bloodthirsty inhumans. Other knights (that is, the state) only have enough gunpowder to fight these villains in "theatrical debates." The main character, on the contrary, is able to act. He knows that you can defeat enemies only with hard power. The old recipes of the state are not suitable for this — neither a voluntary army nor soft power. The current civil servants cannot cope with the enemies. Silicon Valley even scoffs at the discrepancy between civil servants and new threats: if such specialists worked in business, the business would have gone bankrupt long ago.

The Trap

Of course, after such statements, I want to say: criticize everyone a lot, and let's try to do it right yourself. The main character has foreseen this and very thoughtfully declares the new rules according to which the updated leadership of the country should act — obviously with the participation of Silicon Valley. The rules are as follows.

First, the culture of cancellation and intolerance towards civil servants must be changed, because it leads to negative selection. Instead, they should be treated with leniency.

Secondly, excessive psychologization leads only to a weakening of the state system and pushes up narcissists who want to realize their ambitions at the expense of the destinies of other people. Instead of human psychologization, inhuman technologization and the use of unnatural intelligence are proposed.

Thirdly, caution in publicity and ostentatious life prevent politicians from showing their best qualities. They have to try to please the people, and therefore they are afraid to speak sincerely and honestly. It is necessary to let them live a private life away from prying eyes.

Fourth, the rejection of religiosity creates an intellectually limited environment and hinders development. At the same time, no religion is specifically named, but it refers to the irrational conviction of people in the correctness of certain maxims that are binding. In the USA, almost any cult, including technological, can be recognized as a religion.

The main character is revealed

The main character talks about his worldview, and then we realize that his world is a real Looking Glass. Our hero is from there. In this Looking Glass, after the victory, there is no feeling of satisfaction and a peaceful pause, but the search for new enemies begins. In this world, American power has guaranteed the absence of wars from 1945 to the present. Through the Looking Glass don't know (don't want to know?) that stability during the Cold War was ensured by the presence of two equal poles, and 30 years of corrupting permissiveness to America was ensured by the voluntary refusal of the USSR to continue the struggle.

Through the Looking Glass, it is believed that the ideological exclusivity of the United States is based on the fact that it provides more opportunities for development to those who do not belong to the hereditary elites. The hero ignores the fact that the main opponents of the United States over the past 100 years have repeatedly experienced existential cataclysms and fundamentally changed their social structures. Russia, for example, has changed its management elites three times. China became communist and experienced a cultural revolution, cutting off several millennia of its tradition. Iran has changed from a secular system to a theocracy. The DPRK has built its statehood on a fundamentally new foundation. In fact, the hereditary elites, who have concentrated wealth and power in their hands, having blocked the opportunity to break into the upper echelon of society, are holding the reins of the Western world — Europe and the USA.

Silicon Valley refuses to recognize the equal value of subcultures and nationalities, instead it proposes to divide them into good and bad, constructive and destructive. However, it does not provide clear parameters for this. The famous American "melting pot" — commitment to a single society in which people of different cultures and nationalities are "fused" is directly called empty pluralism. The motto written on the coat of arms, coins and banknotes, e pluribus unum (out of many — one) Silicon Valley considers its obsolete.

Secondary characters are the main character's assistants

Silicon Valley is confident that the time has come to free its friends, Germany and Japan, from their shackles. She thinks that both countries are fully imbued with the American spirit, have realized this connection and will never betray the United States. This is also quite a literary move. The main character, according to the canons of the genre, should be mistaken in this assumption. His friends, whom he expects to use in the fight against enemies, will turn their sword against the protagonist. There are enough reasons for this.

The German revival will not necessarily be directed against Russia or other opponents of the West. On the contrary, there are forces in Germany that have a more open-minded view of the world. If the United States "allows" Germany to be guided by national interests, then Russia will have good opportunities. After removing the shackles, first of all I want to deal with the jailer, who still keeps tens of thousands of his military on your territory, forced you to buy gas at exorbitant prices and lose a colossal and loyal market.

Also and Japan, freed from vassalage from the United States, may well remember who bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The national interests of the former empire of the Sun require maintaining a balance in the region and seeking benefits. Cooperation with Russia in this sense looks more promising than a confrontation that threatens to turn into a nuclear armageddon.

***

Such is the exposition. The characters are declared, placed and ready for action. There are three following internal conflicts from it.

The first is that Silicon Valley realizes that it has to confront and prove its worth to some more important force. Who has the real power in the USA? Who controls the crowd? Until now, we thought that the tech giants were something behind the scenes and overbearing, but it turns out that there is a more powerful actor. This is not an American state, not civil servants and not political parties — Silicon Valley freely attacks them. It is unlikely that she considers the American people to be the source and bearer of supreme power. Until now, this secret octopus has not appeared in public space, but only left behind sticky and disgusting traces. Epstein's Island. Frightening rumors about the global governance measures being taken. Now, watching Silicon Valley fight with this "shadow", it will be possible to better understand this force. Now Silicon Valley has approached her with a manifesto proposal. And waiting for an answer. We will most likely not see the answer itself, but by the behavior of Palantir and Co. we will be able to restore some provisions.

The second is autoimmune: the American body has generated and is fueling an infection that destroys it. Almost all the main points of the "Palantir" contradict the spirit, and sometimes the letter of the main American shrines — the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution with all its amendments. Publicity, pluralism, inclusiveness, equal value of human cultures, soft power, voluntary army — all this is denied. The irony is that the United States has achieved the position of a leading world power precisely because of what the manifesto denies. From the point of view of the "Palantir", today American culture has fulfilled its task by creating Silicon Valley. Now she can "rest" — it's time for perestroika. Then they will act AI and "software" that will ensure US military dominance.

If the advanced class wants to revise and destroy the foundations of their country, they should not be hindered. This means that either he does not correspond to his country and its cultural foundations, or the foundations no longer work. Both are a good sign for all those who are perceived by the United States as an enemy. Imbalance and potential weakness of the internal structure have always led to the collapse of empires.

The third is ideological. In the manifesto there is a bright dream application, an image of the future. Silicon Valley wants to create something big and bright — a dream — that cannot be created with market tools. She wants to dream not just about big projects, but about epically big projects motivated not by business, but by human intentions. In a country that has always adhered to the principles of market efficiency and competition, where efficiency and lack of sentiment are considered valor. Nothing personal.

This is a belated testimony and recognition of the significance of such impulses that are inherent in Russian culture. Apple trees on Mars. World peace. Free education and medicine. To each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities. The respectful interest of Elon Musk in our technical and ideological developments is by no means accidental. What we used to laugh at since the 1990s, trampling into the mud the pennants of the production leaders, the badges of inventors and innovators, it turns out, is not so funny. It turns out that for 30 years after the collapse of the USSR, humanity has not created another innovative and progressive culture. It turns out that efficiency and payback are not the means and not the paradigm that can open up the real future for humanity. Such a confession, albeit unconscious, is worth a lot.

However, all this is not a reason to relax. On the contrary, it's time to sober up and figure out how to deal with this situation. It is difficult and hardly possible to resist the technical power of the United States. To resist economically, too. The best answer to the Palantir manifesto can only be another manifesto. Metatechnological. With the basics of what will be the intellectual and emotional fuel for the engineering and business thought of mankind. A worldview and humanitarian manifesto that will put at the center exactly what is not and cannot be in the affirmation of the highest value of technological and military dominance. Dominance itself — for what?

The answer to this question is an egg with a needle from Silicon Koshchei. It's up to Prince Ivan. It seems, however, that he is still only looking for an oak tree among the pines in order to break it and get a casket from which a hare will run out, which…