The Rise of Palantir: The Watcher on the Wall

In 1587, Queen Elizabeth I’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham, achieved one of the great coups in the history of espionage. Using little more than intercepted letters, ciphers, and the occasional tortured confession, Walsingham exposed the Babington Plot, a conspiracy to assassinate Elizabeth and place Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne. Walsingham's reward? Eternal gratitude from the queen, the continued survival of Protestant England—and, one imagines, the sort of satisfaction that only comes from outwitting murderous aristocrats. His tools were crude, but his mission was clear: decode the enemy before they destroy you.

Fast forward a few centuries, and the tools have changed. Instead of parchments and code wheels, we have algorithms that can process data at speeds that would make Walsingham weep with envy. Enter Palantir Technologies: a company that, if not quite replacing spymasters, has certainly given them an upgrade. Founded in 2003, Palantir has become the modern embodiment of what Walsingham, or perhaps even George Orwell, might imagine if tasked with surveilling the labyrinthine complexities of our data-soaked world.

Palantir is, appropriately, named after the Palantíri of Tolkien lore: those eerie, all-seeing stones that could transmit images and information across vast distances. Like its literary counterpart, the company promises to illuminate the hidden—to sift through the noise of modern data and surface the signal. If that sounds a bit dramatic, well, it is. But then again, so is everything about Palantir.

The brainchild of Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and a team of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with more ambition than modesty, Palantir was conceived in the crucible of post-9/11 paranoia. Governments, particularly in the United States, were drowning in information but had little ability to connect it. Palantir offered them something tantalizing: software capable of making sense of chaos, spotting patterns that even the most gifted analyst might miss.

From its early days, Palantir’s software—particularly its Gotham platform—became a darling of the U.S. intelligence community. CIA funding through In-Q-Tel helped the company get off the ground, and soon its tools were being used to track terrorists, uncover criminal networks, and coordinate military operations. Foundry, Palantir’s platform for the private sector, followed suit, promising similar breakthroughs for corporations struggling to wrangle their own unwieldy datasets.

If the Gotham name evokes something out of a superhero comic, that’s no accident. Palantir thrives on the mystique of being the indispensable sidekick to the world’s most complex problems. Whether it’s hunting insurgents or optimizing vaccine distribution, the company has managed to position itself as a force multiplier for both governments and businesses.

Of course, with great power comes great... well, controversy. Palantir’s involvement with agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has made it a lightning rod for criticism. Civil liberties advocates have accused the company of enabling invasive surveillance and harsh enforcement measures. CEO Alex Karp, a man who looks and speaks like he’s wandered out of an art-house philosophy seminar, has defended Palantir as a reluctant participant in these contentious arenas. “If not us,” the company seems to ask, “then who?”

It’s a fair question, though not one that silences the skeptics. Palantir’s tools, for all their utility, raise uncomfortable questions about the balance between security and privacy, efficiency and accountability. But then again, was Walsingham’s interception of Mary, Queen of Scots’ letters any less invasive? History tends to favor those who prevent disaster, even if their methods make us squirm.

Palantir’s ambitions extend far beyond intelligence and law enforcement. The company is increasingly courting the private sector, helping corporations manage supply chains, predict market trends, and respond to crises. During the COVID-19 pandemic, its platforms were used to monitor outbreaks, allocate medical resources, and coordinate responses—a reminder that even controversial tools can be indispensable in moments of need.

Looking ahead, Palantir seems poised to play an even larger role on the global stage. It is expanding its reach into international markets, where its blend of analytical prowess and unflinching pragmatism appeals to governments and businesses alike. Whether this constitutes a triumph of modern ingenuity or a harbinger of dystopia likely depends on where you’re standing.

Palantir, for all its flaws and foibles, is undeniably a product of its time. In a world that generates more data than any human could hope to comprehend, it offers something tantalizing: clarity, albeit at a cost. Its story is not one of unmitigated heroism or villainy but of messy, imperfect progress—more Walsingham than Orwell.

And while I remain cautious about any company that wields this much power, I can’t deny its brilliance—or its potential. Which is why, after much deliberation, I picked up a few shares last night.