palantir (funny what a wiki can reveal)

[DonCoquixote]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantír

A major theme of palantír usage is that while the stones show real objects or events, those using the stones had to "possess great strength of will and of mind" to direct the stone's gaze to its full capability.[T 2] The stones were an unreliable guide to action, since what was not shown could be more important than what was selectively presented. A risk lay in the fact that users with sufficient power could choose what to show and what to conceal to other stones: in The Lord of the Rings, a palantír has fallen into the Enemy's hands, making the usefulness of all other existing stones questionable.

Now t says a lot that lot of our lives are being put into question not just by an an old book, but that it is obvious the owners of Palantir did NOT understand the book. The point of that book was that devices can deceive you and be misapplied in the wrong hands. Never mind that this comes from the same story where Sauron the red mage makes "one ring to rule them all", which causes destruction. The sad thing is, these goys think they are Gandalf, but really, they are Sauron. They forget that Tolkein, a veteran off world war one, wrote this as a warning about letting too much power get into the hands of a few.

[RockRaven]

1. It is a common thing in RW circles to really miss the point of various pop culture things

from music to literature to cinema. They often adopt a superficial aspect as a totem or touchstone, while simultaneously demonstrating that they really don't understand the lore or lesson or moral.

This is just as true for the nerds/geeks as it is for the bros/chuds. The supposed smart ones are not any more sophisticated in this regard than the acknowledged dumbasses.

It ought not surprise anyone that Palantir is not the only MIC company name stolen from Tolkien's work.