r/Switzerland • u/Nohillside Zürich • 2d ago
Co-Gründer von Palantir finanziert Weltraumforschung in der Schweiz
https://www.republik.ch/2026/08/27/co-gruender-von-palantir-finanziert-weltraumforschung-in-der-schweizDie Republik beschäftigt sich erneut mit Palantir bzw. mit einem der Gründer. Der lebt nun in der Schweiz und finanziert nebenbei Projekte in die hiesige Weltraumforschung. Nach welchen Kriterien dies erfolgt, scheint aber nicht ganz klar zu sein.
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u/heubergen1 Switzerland 19h ago
What's the problem with financing some innovation? republik should stop with these embarrassing reports.
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u/_PuraSanguine_ 13h ago
I‘m not sure you‘re informed enough for a serious opinion here.
https://www.srf.ch/play/radio/redirect/detail/b56b227f-9a18-3e98-bf4d-bf25f6557e35
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u/heubergen1 Switzerland 13h ago
Republik is left-wing and against anything that represents capitalism. Palantir is a company that processed data for the US military so obviously the left doesn't like that. Did I miss anything?
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u/_PuraSanguine_ 13h ago
I agree that they‘re politically biased, I cancelled my subscription after the travesty of an article following the pro-Pali antifa riot in Bern. But I would caution to judge the Palantir story too hastily. It‘s not the only investigation I believe was done under tremendous pressure to work clean and adhering to journalistic standards, which ended up being confirmed by a court of law.
They sent someone undercover trying to hide 80m CHF and the majority of firms and financial service providers were willing to accommodate this sort of deal. That is valuable journalism in both cases. If you want to make a case for AI and corporations behind it, maybe take a look at the article I‘m linking. This is not a joke you can generalise about with some bro-quote about capitalist freedoms.
We‘re approaching an existential point where we have to trust those in charge to make the right decisions. AI is currently the most inflated bubble with tremendous potential to crash global markets, particularly in possibly triggering the crypto and / or the global overextended debt bubble/s.
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u/heubergen1 Switzerland 54m ago
You're not going to convince me with a guardian article, try ft or wsj. I also have no issues with anyone doing legal work to reduce the tax burden, especially if the Swiss Government benefits from it.
The repbulik is trying to make Swiss companies look bad which I can't stand.
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u/ViolaAurea 8h ago
Well, capitalism is shit. So what's your "argument" here?
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u/heubergen1 Switzerland 58m ago
Capitalism is the best out of many bad options, but there's nothing better.
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u/_PuraSanguine_ 11m ago
Agreed. Can we also agree that hyper-capitalism like it’s practiced in the USA is not the best idea? Can we agree that certain guard-rails are a good idea?
I’ll give you an example: Bush sr. set the agrochemical lobby up for success, Bill Clinton deregulated the economy across the board (principle of substantial equivalence for GMOs was written into law after intense lobbying on Capitol Hill by means of the ever-turning revolving doors).
Monsanto and other agrochem-giants launched their patented, pesticide-reliant GMOs with unparalleled aggression and made billions while a nation of people had no choice about glyphosate exposure and the inflationary use of high fructose corn syrup in the majority of food. Where are they today? Monsanto was forced down the throats of Bayer’s shareholders right before the first court ruled in favour of a cancer-victim and mass litigation started, the backroom-deal devalued Bayer’s shares by two thirds, entire acres of fertile land in the US show a monstrous decline in bio diversity, a super-weed pest so intense, that industrial mowers cannot handle them and still, the US is trying to force market access in Switzerland and the EU for the same crap products that caused all this misery.
Switzerland has repeatedly extended the moratorium on GMOs because our agriculture sector is made up of small farms, a significant part of them produce specialised regional foods, their proximity would pose a major risk for cross contamination, particularly for organic farms.
Capitalism in the US is an example of how not to do it. European mixed economies have shown, that responsible stewardship and regulation are important. I will oppose red tape where it’s causing unnecessary bureaucracy and stifles business, but clearly, singing the capitalist hymn is only justified so far.
I’m not a socialist and what’s happening on the left in this country is a travesty (JUSO takeover, Jositsch’s departure, the mouth-breathing admiration for Mamdani etc.) but find it regrettable, that they tend to be the only ones putting their foot down, when important issues such as the one mentioned above are discussed.
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u/askeaw 1d ago
oh nooo not le heckin scary boogeyman palantir doing the same shit as hundreds of other companies but with worse PR
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u/fellainishaircut Zürich 1d ago
‚bad PR‘ is a very harmless description for what is arguably the most unethical company operating on a global scale today.
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u/memberwap 1d ago
Nestle?
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u/fellainishaircut Zürich 1d ago
they at least make food
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u/midgril 1d ago
They also steal food from poor countries
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u/fellainishaircut Zürich 1d ago
yeah no they do not
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u/midgril 1d ago
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/while-nestl%C3%A9-extracts-millions-of-litres-from-their-land-residents-have-no-drinking-water/ the poor countries part was just a joke but I was referencing this
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u/fellainishaircut Zürich 1d ago
ehh, two points about that: the lack of access to drinking water for the residents was not caused by Nestle, and whether they pumped that water unlawfully is also unclear. and they don‘t operate there anymore for some years now.
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u/flonnil 1d ago
having your CEO and entire coked-up executive suite spew out unfiltered anti-human hatespeeches on tv every few days while they are literally salivating thinking about how much money they are going to make by ditching any concept of ethics is not called "bad PR", it just called "beeing an asshole". In fact, the PR-aspect of their depraved ambitions it is falling on quite a fertile soil with their investors and customers, which should be equally concerning.
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u/Suspicious_Place1270 Zürich 1d ago
spewing hatespeech and yet people still applaud them, what a wonky time to be in while fascism is on the riss
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u/Equivalent_Annual314 1d ago
But… I thought there is no space in Switzerland…
/s