The irony of Palantir being called... Palantir is also not lost on me.
Consider: The Palantiri, those Big Glass Orbs you can look through and See Some Shit, are not evil in and of themselves. However, like any other "machine" they will reflect the intent and character of their user.
(For context: They also expose you to the wills of the person on the other end if they're also looking at you through a palantir of their own.)
Saruman overused the one he found when he moved into Isengard's Orthanc tower. He became corrupted through his own lack of self control and his arrogance thinking he could go toe to toe with Sauron.
He ultimately used his for control, deceit, and power, and it got his bitch ass brought to ruin, then stabbed by Wormtongue in the Shire. He died, bitter, alone, and his spirit forever left to linger impotent and unable to return to his home in the West.
Denethor overused his palantir to the point that, even though he was able to resist Sauron's will - a very impressive feat - Sauron was able to deceive him into despair. He continued to use it, further obsessed with control in his grief over Boromir, and his paranoia and jealousy of Aragorn. Eventually, when he saw the ships of the Corsairs coming up the river, he gave in to despair entirely - not realizing that the Corsair ships were in fact Aragorn coming with reinforcements.
Peter Thiel, coward that he is, naming his investment firm 'Valar Ventures', and his surveillance/AI bullshit 'Palantir' is in my opinion an unprecedented and stupifying level of billionaires' lack of self-awareness.
The sheer arrogance, the hubris of it, is fucking astounding.
One of the MAIN THEMES in Tolkien's ENTIRE body of work is that those who seek power will inevitably be corrupted by it; that the intent to seek power, control, dominance, is in itself a corrupting force and nought but a blight upon the world. And finally, that those who have power, ought to use it to PROTECT and STEWARD the world and those living within it; to be willing to give that power up when the time comes to do so.
Billionaires are sniveling little cowards who turn tail and run at the first whiff of danger to themselves and their power. But if Tolkien is right, and if we all do our damnedest to make the world a better, more just and equitable one, the natural order of things will have these freaks destroy themselves by drinking the poison of their own avarice.
