Re: UNIX systems

Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
>

And now we have Peter Thiel highjacking the Tolkien world with
mil- and spook-tech Palantir (as well as Valar, Mithril, Lembas,
Rivendell and Arda.)
>
He's seems to have overlooked that in the story, it was a palantir
that Sauron used to totally corrupt Saruman and another to utterly
demoralize Denethor, Steward of Gondor.  It's not clear to me whether
Thiel thinks of himself as Sauron or as a more resilient Saruman.
>
       The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which
       one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920,
       the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of
       the franchise to women -- two constituencies that are
       notoriously tough for libertarians -- have rendered the notion
       of "capitalist democracy" into an oxymoron.
                            -- Peter Thiel, in CATO Unbound
>
       I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.
                                           -- Peter Thiel
>
Okay, Sauron it is.
>

>
Exactly so.  Thiel's use of the name 'Palantir' for his all-seeing eye
has always struck me as being in excruciatingly bad taste.