We share the main points from Alex Karp's book "The Technological Republic". The theses presented in the book are critically important for TOP managers, R&D leaders and architects of digital transformation in Kazakhstan, in the context of the formation of a national innovation ecosystem.

Who is Alex Karp? The CEO of Palantir is a "private CIA" with a capitalization of $273 billion and No.36 in the list of the largest companies in the world. A strong man, a philosopher in the service of algorithms. Its co—founder is Peter Thiel. Yes, that's the one. So, let's go.

The book is not just a critique of the Silicon Valley model. This is an act of intellectual attack on the minds of those who no longer remember that technology is not a business, but the infrastructure of tomorrow's world.

America is no longer an engineering project. The country has become a digital hypermarket where talents serve consumption rather than ambitious national development goals. And technological power has focused on creating profitable but superficial products instead of solving fundamental problems.

The main complaint of Karp (and his co—author) is not about what Silicon Valley is doing. It's about why she's not rebuilding her country anymore.The authors compare the current state of the technological elite with its historical mission to serve the nation. They record a loss: a generation of engineers is cut off from the idea of "we" and fixated on "I".The national project has been replaced by the application economy.Instead of bold engineering, it's a cozy interface design.

Instead of patriotism, there is cynicism with a venture assessment.The Manhattan project was not about uranium. It was about merging science and the state.The authors draw a direct parallel between the golden age of scientific and public partnership and the current lack of purpose. Unicorns are profitable but shallow companies that create glossy products and applications.

Intellectual capital is dispersed among startups engaged in consumer microboles — food delivery, taxi hailing, and the race for likes. And Big Tech has turned into a landscape of one-time solutions with a subscription revenue model.

America was already living in the era of engineering politics — when technology was a matter for the state, and the state was a technological project. It was a period of prosperity.

A gap has formed today. And Karp suggests eliminating it: through a tight alliance of the state and high-tech. Build a new axis. Not in the form of submission. But in the form of mutual and cross-reform.

In his opinion, technology needs to get out of a state of complacent autonomy. And the state is out of bureaucratic suspended animation. To design the next level of the game together.

Palantir is not just a business model. This is a symptom of the state of the country. His organizational culture is built on paradoxes: This is not a startup, but an operating system for the state.

The main national threat is not artificial intelligence. It's an artificially limited mindset.The AI in the book is a singularity, beyond which a new era of power begins. Karp calls it "an inspiring Manhattan project of the 21st century." The bottom line is the complete technological dominance of the United States in the coming digital wars.

We are not talking about GPT, but about brain-scale models — brain scale models with trillions of parameters. And they will appear not ever, but in the next 5 years.

Therefore, the technological elite can no longer hide behind a user-friendly UX. Because AI is not a chatbot. AI is a weapon. Military.And the civilizational fork: either control or chaos. Either America will assemble into a national digital construct, or it will lose its main battle before it even begins.

This book is not an analysis. It's an invitation. With a 4.9 rating on Amazon. An invitation to a future where technology strengthens democracy, not undermines it. Where intelligence does not stand idle, but works for the nation's engineering.

P.S. The full title of this technocratic manifesto is "The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Faith and the Future of the West"

The source is here