The Technological Republic - Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West

The Technological Republic is about culture in Silicon Valley and broader America. The book is an argument from Karp that Silicon Valley has shirked its responsibilities and has been drifting away from making things that truly aid America. The focus on apps for the last 15 years was to the detriment of real world tools and technology that keep the U.S. at the peak of power in the world. He also sees himself and Palantir as driving innovation by bringing the Silicon Valley mindset to the Defense Department. He describes Soldiers in Afghanistan facing roadsided IEDs asking for better tech to help them, but being unable to get it due to outdated and overly bureaucratic methods in the D.O.D. and this is the kind of waste that he wants the tech elite to slash. I would describe the book as philosophical, Karp and Zamiska see the U.S. as a continuation of western culture following in the footsteps of Greece and Rome, and see a kind of decadence in modern society, where Engineers and Computer Scientists would rather get rich making feckless software than provide something that helps America survive and thrive.