Reading Notes: The Republic of Technology

Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp released a new book in 2025 titled “The Republic of Technology,” which was also published in mainland China by the end of the year. I bought it immediately and read it. The viewpoints in the book represent the right-wing ideology of Silicon Valley, and its influence can be seen throughout American politics today. To understand this book, one must first understand Palantir and the Silicon Valley right-wing forces behind it.

Palantir

I first took notice of Palantir because of its stock, which rose from $6 in 2023 to $200 in 2025, earning it the nickname “MAGA Fortune Stock.” The current CEO is Alex Karp, and the chairman is Peter Thiel. The company specializes in big data intelligence services, with clients including the military, government, and major corporations. Notable cases include assisting in locating Bin Laden in 2011 and suing the U.S. Army in 2016 to secure a military contract, winning the case based on the FASA Act, which mandates that the military should prioritize existing market products over custom solutions to reduce costs, similar to China’s 2015 military-civil fusion strategy.

For more information on Palantir, Silicon Valley 101 has a detailed program that you might find interesting.

Peter Thiel and the PayPal Mafia

Stanford offers a course on entrepreneurship: How to Start a Startup. This course was launched ten years ago, and I watched all the videos online. The host is Sam Altman (current CEO of OpenAI), and the guests include many now-famous names: Paul Graham (YC founder), Brian Chesky (Airbnb founder), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder), Eric Schmidt (former CEO of Google), and Peter Thiel (founder of Founders Fund, core member of PayPal Mafia). Peter Thiel explained his business philosophy: pursuing monopoly rather than competition and published a classic book, Zero to One, stating that vertical research and innovation can not only bring monopoly profits but also drive continuous social innovation.

Peter Thiel’s career can be divided into several stages: studying philosophy and law at Stanford, briefly entering law firms and the financial industry before quickly exiting, co-founding PayPal in 1998, and successfully selling it to eBay in 2002. After PayPal, he built an influential investment portfolio through early investments in Facebook and founding Founders Fund (including ventures like SpaceX, Stripe, and Anduril). In 2004, he co-founded Palantir, applying technology directly to government and national security. He gradually transitioned from an entrepreneur to an investor and thought leader, continuously shaping Silicon Valley’s technological direction through capital, companies, and public discourse.

The early employees of PayPal have made a significant impact in the tech world, known as the PayPal Mafia: Elon Musk founded SpaceX, Tesla, and Neuralink, extending his reach into space and new energy; Reid Hoffman founded the world’s largest professional networking platform, LinkedIn. Additionally, this group gave rise to the video giant YouTube (co-founded by Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen), the review site pioneer Yelp (founded by Jeremy Stoppelman), and the enterprise social tool Yammer (founded by David Sacks). Tech genius Max Levchin went on to found Slide and fintech giant Affirm after leaving. In terms of capital operations, Roelof Botha and Keith Rabois hold key positions at Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund, respectively. This group not only founded companies with a total market value of trillions of dollars but also formed a powerful force shaping the global tech landscape through close mutual investments and collaborations.

Washington and the Silicon Valley Right

The relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley can be divided into several stages:

• 1970s - 1980s: Cold War-driven Incubation Period During this phase, the relationship was a “one-way dependency” contractor relationship. Washington injected the first capital into the nascent Silicon Valley through Department of Defense contracts and NASA projects, while Silicon Valley served as the technical “logistics department” for the Cold War defense system. Although their interests aligned, culturally they operated independently, with the government as an invisible patron and tech personnel as low-key suppliers.
• 1990s - 2000s: Arrogant Estrangement after the Internet Boom With the explosion of personal computers and commercial internet, Silicon Valley entered an era of extreme confidence in free competition. Tech elites believed in the omnipotence of technology and viewed Washington as a slow, bureaucratic “old world.” They maintained a distance until the “Microsoft antitrust case” made Silicon Valley feel the heavy hand of political regulation for the first time.
• 2010s: Obama Era Honeymoon and Turbulence The two sides entered a period of deep exchange with frequent “revolving doors.” The Obama administration viewed Silicon Valley as an engine of social progress, with many tech executives entering the White House to assist in digital governance, and tech moguls becoming policy advisors. However, the 2013 “Snowden incident” led to a severe trust crisis over privacy protection and national surveillance, with tech companies openly opposing intelligence agencies on encryption.
• 2020s - 2026: Power Integration amid Geopolitical Competition In the context of the AI arms race and global supply chain restructuring, the two sides formed an unprecedented “tech-political complex.” Silicon Valley no longer just provided tools but, through figures like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, directly entered the administrative system to participate in governance. Washington began to view computing power, energy, and capital as core to national sovereignty, completing the transformation from “partners” to “power co-owners” with tech giants.

Since Trump’s second term in the White House, the relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley has become increasingly close, forming a new Silicon Valley force: Peter Thiel’s former employee JD Vance became the U.S. Vice President; Elon Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency, slashing projects with a team of Palantir people using data methods; David Sacks became the White House AI and Cryptocurrency Czar; Anduril secured major contracts with the Department of Defense, and Grok and Gemini entered the Pentagon, among others.

Name	Silicon Valley Background	Government Role	Achievements
JD Vance	Partner at Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital	U.S. Vice President	Acts as Silicon Valley capital’s top agent in the White House, promoting tech acceleration and conservative policy integration.
Elon Musk	Leader of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI	Leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)	Leads a team of Palantir engineers to conduct “code audits” on federal agencies, cutting redundant budgets and projects through big data methods.
David Sacks	”PayPal Mafia,” founder of Craft Ventures	White House AI and Cryptocurrency Czar	Leads the drafting of a deregulation framework for AI, promotes cryptocurrency legalization and the Web3 national strategy.
Palmer Luckey	Founder of Oculus and Anduril	Core Supplier to the Department of Defense	Secured a $6 billion “virtual border wall” contract and provides AI-driven drones and submersible systems to the Pentagon.
Jacob Helberg	Senior Advisor to the CEO of Palantir	Assistant Secretary of State	Implements the “Silicon Valley Peace” plan, reorganizing the AI supply chain alliance globally, responsible for geopolitical tech competition.
Trae Stephens	Partner at Founders Fund, Palantir Veteran	Defense Department Restructuring Advisor	Enforces defense procurement reform, shifting traditional military budgets towards Silicon Valley’s “software-defined weapons” and unmanned clusters.
Brendan Carr	Senior Commissioner at the FCC (endorsed by Musk)	Chair of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)	Grants policy privileges to Starlink and pushes for legal changes to strip big tech companies of social media content review rights.
Chris Wright	CEO of Liberty Energy (Silicon Valley energy ally)	Secretary of Energy	Simplifies nuclear and shale gas approval processes to address the power supply crisis facing AI data centers.
Marc Andreessen	Founder of A16Z, internet pioneer	White House Technology Policy Advisor	Leads the repeal of Biden-era AI administrative restrictions, promoting open-source AI as a core of national strategic competition.
Sam Altman	CEO of OpenAI	National Computing Infrastructure Partner	Launches the “Stargate” project with a total investment of $500 billion, supported by government-provided electricity and land.

Post-Cold War Silicon Valley and the Hollowing of the American Spirit

The Decline of the Silicon Valley Spirit

The first two parts of the book describe a state of “decline.” The spirit of Silicon Valley, which once served the nation during the Cold War, has gradually faded, replaced by pursuits of consumerism and hedonism such as online advertising and social entertainment. Peter Thiel once famously said, “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.”

In the 1960s, America could achieve a manned moon landing within a decade, but in the following decades, technological progress in the “atomic world” such as aerospace, energy, and transportation fell far short of expectations. For example, flight speeds have stagnated, nuclear energy development has been hindered, and infrastructure updates have been slow. In contrast, the “bit world” of computers and the internet has continued to develop rapidly. Peter Thiel believes this is not because humanity has lost its capabilities, but because social, political, and capital structures favor low-risk, controllable incremental improvements, systematically suppressing high-risk, long-term, breakthrough technological projects like the Apollo program.

Meanwhile, Alex Karp notes that China is advancing rapidly, citing examples such as Guangzhou CloudWalk Technology’s facial recognition and Zhejiang University’s autonomous drone swarms, which are cutting-edge technologies applicable in military fields. In contrast, America is indulging in past victories, with many Silicon Valley elites protected by the nation but refusing to serve it, even openly opposing the use of their technologies in military applications. For instance, Google’s Maven project was canceled after being opposed by over 3,000 people, and Microsoft’s virtual headset project for the U.S. Army faced internal employee resistance.

The Hollowing of the American Spirit

As the pioneering spirit of Silicon Valley declines, the American spirit and Western culture are also becoming hollow. Society pursues freedom of speech, openness, and political correctness, while ruthlessly scrutinizing public figures. Leaders have become cautious, no longer daring to take responsibility, and are indifferent, cautious, and emotionless.

When asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews constitutes harassment, University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill used “chilling legal terms.” Magill responded, “It depends on the context.”

Tech workers also strive to maintain a neutral stance, clearly protected by the state machinery but selectively ignoring this fact, unwilling to engage in politics and public governance, and keeping their distance from administrative bureaucracy and politics.

The pursuit of openness and diversity has led to a fracture in American culture. The connection between America and Europe is like a balloon tied to the ground, but “The History of Western Civilization,” once a mandatory course in American universities, was abolished in the late 1970s. Some even advocate abandoning the concept of “Western Civilization.” With the disconnection between American and European history, it is like a balloon that has lost its tether, and people have lost their sense of community belonging. Silicon Valley elites are immersed in the consumer internet, and the nation has lost its sense of national identity.

Engineering Thinking and Organizational Forms

The book discusses two organizational forms: swarms and improvisational actors. In a swarm, scout bees explore when searching for a new home, then quickly convey information to the group through dance, and finally decide on the next home through a democratic voting-like mechanism, conducting large-scale organizational activities efficiently. Improvisational actors, on the other hand, have a dynamic status relationship, using small gestures like nods and eye contact to dynamically confirm status and effectively organize the next steps. Status relationships are essentially tools serving the goal, rather than rigid roles and selfish interest distribution. Silicon Valley is filled with “exiles” escaping traditional bureaucratic organizations.

In organizational relationships, people instinctively conform to the collective will, and the pursuit of conformity often overrides independent thinking. This is a self-preservation strategy evolved over time (and has indeed been useful for many years). Under collective pressure, people may even do clearly wrong things. This is especially common in China, where people are driven by the frenzy of social media, often acting in unison, buying houses, speculating in stocks, or pushing their children to excel, often for conformity rather than genuine personal needs. Silicon Valley’s engineering mindset is the opposite: resisting conformity and craving creation.

In complex systems, we need to acknowledge that mistakes are inevitable (complex systems are more like unpredictable clouds than precise clocks). What we need to do is find the fundamental structural causes rather than scapegoating individuals. Toyota has a “Five Whys” approach, drilling down five layers of “why?” until the root cause is found. In contrast, many organizations in China, when encountering problems, will scapegoat someone, pretend the issue is resolved, and continue moving forward without addressing the fundamental structural contradictions.

The book also discusses two ways of thinking: foxes and hedgehogs. Foxes are flexible, pursue different goals, know many small things, and see the world as complex and contradictory, possessing strong observational and adaptive abilities. Hedgehogs tend to explain all phenomena with one theory, oversimplifying and abstracting the world, with strong focus and resistance to interference.

Rebuilding the Republic of Technology

There is a “technological escapism” in Silicon Valley. The public is highly resistant to using technology to combat crime, unwilling for military systems to be applied in their cities for crime-fighting. The left labels a wide range of political views—from national security, immigration, and abortion to law enforcement—as vulgar and crude, causing Silicon Valley and progressives to lose their voice.

Currently, American officials have low salaries but significant power. For example, the Federal Reserve Chairman’s salary is $190,000 per year, encouraging them to accumulate enough wealth before working for the government or monetize their influence after retirement, which is an unreasonable incentive structure. People encourage officials to take low salaries but turn a blind eye to the wealthy dominating elections, which is self-deception. Lee Kuan Yew provided high salaries for Singapore’s government officials, and people worried this would make them work for money and lose their ideals. However, Lee Kuan Yew argued that officials are human and not everyone can be a devout priest.

Rickover, who led the development of the U.S. nuclear submarine, made outstanding contributions to the U.S.-Soviet Cold War victory but was criticized for accepting small gifts from General Dynamics, with few defending him. Overemphasis on rules has led to rigidity in problem-solving, with leaders no longer taking responsibility and risks, and no longer sharing the rewards of decision-making, hindering deep reforms. This incentive mechanism needs to be reshaped.

Reflections

I found many reflections of China in this book. National identity, technology empowering national security, and public governance are advancing without hesitation in China, without ideological obstruction from left-wing parties and with broad social consensus. China motivates government officials with generous retirement benefits, comprehensive life care, and long promotion channels at low cost, a creative and cost-effective incentive mechanism that avoids high administrative costs of high salaries and reduces the motivation for officials to seek personal gain.

However, China also faces similar issues: leadership’s reluctance to take responsibility and bureaucratic rigidity in organizations. Many leaders use ambiguous instructions to centralize power while passing responsibility downward, leaving the execution level to interpret “higher intentions,” which is an irresponsible approach. Organizational rigidity is also widespread in large companies and tech giants, where many middle management levels become compilers of weekly reports and PowerPoint presentations, passing problems downward, resulting in high workloads but poor overall output.

Recently, I also read another book comparing Chinese and American systems, “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future,” which is also new and provides a detailed comparison of the differences and pros and cons of “engineering governance” and “lawyer governance” in China and the U.S. I’ll share more about it when I have time.