The Technological Republic

Karp's argument, that Silicon Valley traded civic ambition for consumer trivia and needs to re-arm itself, literally, alongside the state, lands differently depending on how much you trust the messenger, and reviewers have split hard along exactly that line. The Financial Times found real substance in its account of hard power's return; other critics have read the same pages as an extended advertisement for Palantir dressed in philosophy, noting the book grows more brazenly self-referential as it goes. What's genuinely interesting is the diagnosis of a cultural mood, engineers retreating from anything resembling national purpose, even for readers unconvinced that Karp's own company is the proof of concept he thinks it is.