Thiel, Musk, Meta and Canada: a Rickety Outline of the Technocratic Takeover

Listen, I'm not a journalist. I'm an anxiously-wired overthinky-type with a lightweight gift for zooming out. In the various rabbits holes I've recently found myself in while trying to make sense of what's happening, I've come across some pieces that are starting to form a picture I didn't understand before. And since I've had a few "aha" moments, I thought I'd share them.

These will be simple, quick facts with limited commentary. They are a few joints that connect the bigger pieces. Feel free to add them to the crazy detective boards in your minds.

1. Peter Thiel was Zuckerberg's first investor. Who is Peter Thiel? He's this guy, and he's important in all this. And yes him and Zuck are still tight.

2. Since 2011, Thiel has run a fellowship for young people under the age of 22, encouraging tech-types to drop out of school and "build things". The fellowships last two years and many graduates go on to work for Thiel's company Palantir, a major government contractor that specializes in surveillance and pattern analysis. At least two fellowship/Palantir alumni have been identified as Musk's DOGE boys who have "demanded, and secured, access to all or part of data from several [US] federal agencies and administrations". 

3. Thiel isn't MAGA, but he is part of the "New Right"; a modified spawn of far-right conservatism that, in its current wave, centres on tech supremacy. He financially backed JD Vance and is tight with Curtis Yarvin. Yarvin is another important person in this. This Vanity Fair article from 2022 is an essential read in understanding how these figures connect.

4. Curtis Yarvin is the original Red Pill guy. He's explicitly anti-democratic and revered by the New Right movement. His manifesto includes takes like, "the best humane alternative to genocide is to "virtualize" these people: Imprison them in "permanent solitary confinement". His theories spawned the acronym "RAGE—Retire All Government Employees" which is currently being played out by Trump and Musk. He also argues that Hitler acted in self defence.

Here's a recent New York Times article about him, where Thiel called him a "powerful historian". Apparently Yarvin enjoys trolling Elon Musk, and has never met him. So there's that.

Yarvin founded the philosophy of the Dark Enlightenment, which was later elaborated and expanded on by tech philosopher Nick Land. This is another important name.

5. Nick Land is known as "the Godfather of accelerationism". Okay. This is where a picture starts to form. Here's a chunky Wikipedia citation:

""Effective accelerationism, a portmanteau of "effective altruism" and "accelerationism",^[4] is a fundamentally techno-optimist movement.^[11] According to Guillaume Verdon, one of the movement's founders, its aim is for human civilization to "clim[b] the Kardashev gradient", meaning its purpose is for human civilization to rise to next levels on the Kardashev scale by maximizing energy usage.^[11]

To achieve this goal, effective accelerationism wants to accelerate technological progress. It is strongly focused on artificial general intelligence (AGI), because it sees AGI as fundamental for climbing the Kardashev scale.^[11] The movement therefore advocates for unrestricted development and deployment of artificial intelligence.^[12] Regulation of artificial intelligence and government intervention in markets more generally is met with opposition. Many of its proponents have libertarian views and think that AGI will be most aligned if many AGIs compete against each other on the marketplace.^[11]"

This all feels familiar, no?

Land cites Peter Thiel frequently in his work. So now we have Thiel, Yarvin, and Land. And guess what, the three of them have created an entire school of thought that a culture of neoreactionaries is now building a new world order around.

6. Musk orbits around all these people, but for the most part he appears generally disliked and just obsessively focused on the "woke-mind virus" and anti-DEI policies. My best read on it all is that he's dumb enough and vain enough that he makes a great human shield while the rest roll their "effective accelerationist" vision forward.

7. Meta has been forwarding accelerationism since launching the "Metaverse" in 2021. I guess Zuck thought he'd see if it might work without the whole authoritarian coup thing. It didn't, but Meta still holds most of the globe's social media users captive, and they all know it. Meta is now a critical tool for their movement.

8. And where is Trump in all this? He's the cult leader. He's in it for the vast wealth and status to be gained from dictatorship. His role is to confuse, distract and entertain. 

And what is the glue that holds all of these horrifying visionaries together? What is it that allies them with fundamentalist Christians, Zionists and Nazi's alike? Why is the ruling class not stepping in to stop them? Where are the Democrats? What could possibly unify all these cretins? Why, white supremacy of course. That's it. That's their unifying value.

This rabbit hole inevitably led to me searching for connections between Poilievre and Thiel, Yarvin, or Land. I couldn't find any associations. Make no mistake, Poilievre is a power-hungry populist obsessed with "wokeism", but he seems to be out of the loop when it comes to the technocrats' accelerationalist plans for the West's future. I honestly don't know whether this is a good or bad thing, considering Canada's comms are overwhelmingly controlled by American technocrats. 

Likewise for Danielle Smith and the UCP. I can't find any ties between them and Thiel's ilk, but admittedly I am not a journalist and as soon as I hit a news article paywall I bail. But according to Google search results, there aren't any direct connections. Just your typical run-of-the-mill conservative-capitalist cronies. 

But can you imagine my surprise when I just now discovered the Canadian Federal government does appear to be a close client of Thiel's Palantir. Whomp whomp. 

A 2019 article on opencanada.org details "Palantir's big push into Canada", specifically within the realm of surveillance services. They name Calgary Police Services as an active client. The article goes on, "Company co-founder (and outspoken Trump supporter) Peter Thiel himself met with then-Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in California in 2014, though it’s unclear exactly why. More recently, Palantir has been added to a list of trusted vendors for artificial intelligence software by Public Services and Procurement Canada. And earlier this year, the company won a $1 million contract with the Department of National Defence to provide data analytics software for the Canadian Forces Special Operations Command."

Gulp.

We've also got this: 2020 Lobbying Efforts on Behalf of Palantir Technologies Canada

"Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion ruled that MacNaughton broke lobbying rules when he arranged multiple meetings earlier this year between senior government officials, ministers and Palantir Technologies Canada. MacNaughton was appointed president of the data-analytics company in August 2019, shortly before he stepped down as ambassador at the end of that month. He arranged meetings to offer pro bono help on behalf of Palantir to assist the federal government in its COVID-19 response. Dion has ordered nine officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance, to have no official dealings with MacNaughton for one year."

From this January 2024 media release: Palantir and Carahsoft Expand Partnership to Deliver Mission-Critical Software to the Canadian Public Sector

"Palantir Technologies Canada Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Palantir Technologies Inc. (“Palantir,” NYSE: PLTR) and Carahsoft Canada, have partnered to expand and accelerate delivery of Palantir’s operating systems across the Canadian Public Sector."

And this from Canadian Government Executive, April 2024: Unlocking the Power of AI: Oracle and Palantir Forge a Dynamic Partnership

"In a move poised to revolutionize decision-making on a global scale, Oracle and Palantir have announced a strategic alliance aimed at delivering cutting-edge cloud and AI solutions. This collaborative effort signals a pivotal moment in the tech industry, as two giants join forces to empower governments and businesses worldwide."

There are a lot of other instances of Thiel's influence on Canadian businesses and systems.

So yeah. Haha. Fuck!