> I think Mr. Thiel will regret his place in history. But it's very hard to blame him or Palantir. It's like blaming the sharpness of a knife when someone stabs you.
If Thiel actually wanted to help the problem, there are surely much better ways than making Palantir. I think the "someone else will" logic is a thinly veiled excuse to justify what he wants to do, for other reasons. I think he 100% made the world worse with what was done here, and deserves according blame for that.
To replace your analogy, I would say he saw a stabbing about to happen and instead of attempting to stop it, he decided to stab the person with a slightly blunter knife. The analogy breaks here, but this could have been thought on for years, and he couldn't think up any other solution to it, or spend his time somewhere more worthwhile instead? Even a failed attempt to stop the stabbing would have at least been understandable.