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CAMBRIDGE, CAMBRIDGESHIRE – MAY 08: Peter Thiel speaks at The Cambridge Union on May 08, 2024 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. (Photo by Nordin Catic\/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)<\/p>\n
Getty Images for The Cambridge Union <\/p>\n
Jacob Silverman\u2019s Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley <\/a>goes well beyond tracking the career and life arcs of Space-X founder Elon Musk, offering a rich history of the rise of Silicon Valley military tech firms and psychologies and ideologies on not just Musk but Palantir\u2019s Peter Thiel, its co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and the whole upper tier of leaders of the sharp turn of tech firms in the valley and beyond to military contracting and surveillance as their primary business lines.<\/p>\n Thiel, whose firm got its first government contract in 2003 from the CIA\u2019s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, is the elder statesman of the current group of military tech leaders in Silicon Valley. The CIA contract was premised on the idea that Palantir\u2019s software could help the U.S. government sort through its reams of intelligence data more efficiently, a top priority after the failure of the CIA and FBI to share data that might have given them the identities of the 9\/11 hijackers before they took action against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.<\/p>\n Crunching data and finding targets remains the bread and butter of Palantir\u2019s business, doing everything from helping Israel speed up its bombing in Gaza to helping ICE conduct surveillance of individuals, to helping the British Health Service better organize its operations through better data analysis.<\/p>\n Thiel\u2019s influence is far reaching. He provided early financing to Palmer Luckey when he established his up and coming military tech firm Anduril. Most importantly from an influence point of view was Thiel\u2019s employment and political backing of JD Vance well before he became Donald Trump\u2019s vice president.<\/p>\n Guided Rage recounts this history in lively fashion with insights into the career paths and world views of today\u2019s military tech moguls. The book\u2019s combination of profiles of these men alongside the growth of their companies makes fascinating reading.<\/p>\n The political influence of the Silicon Valley military tech firms has grown dramatically in the past decade, cemented by their provision of millions in support of Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 presidential bid. In addition to the vice president, dozens of other Trump administration personnel, at the Pentagon and beyond, come from the Silicon Valley military tech sector.<\/p>\n