Author: Rodrigo Granda (Phaneinthymos)
Publication year: 2026
Language: English
Edition: English edition
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Format: PDF · 33 pages
Subject areas: Intelligence Studies, Geopolitics, History, Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, Political Philosophy, Science Fiction and Ethics.

What connects an Aztec obsidian mirror, the Renaissance magus John Dee, the seeing-stones of J. R. R. Tolkien and the predictive intelligence systems of Palantir Technologies?

From the Obsidian Mirror to Palantir explores the historical, literary and technological evolution of instruments designed to extend the boundaries of human perception, gather intelligence and anticipate the movements of political adversaries.

Beginning with the Mesoamerican origins of John Dee’s celebrated obsidian mirror, Rodrigo Granda traces a provocative intellectual genealogy through Elizabethan espionage, the Society of Jesus, the Chevalier d’Éon, Francisco de Miranda, the dystopian visions of Vladimir Odoyevsky and Yevgeny Zamyatin, and Tolkien’s mythological palantíri. The investigation then moves into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, examining the legacy of the OSS, the establishment of the CIA, DARPA and the rise of Palantir Technologies.

At its centre lies a fundamental question: who is entitled to see, and to see first?

The essay examines the growing strategic importance of artificial intelligence, big data, cyber-defence and predictive analysis within the geopolitical competition between the United States and China, whilst considering the position of Russia and the challenges posed by transnational organised crime, violent extremism and institutional corruption.

Yet the capacity to anticipate threats comes at a price. The expansion of surveillance technologies raises difficult questions concerning privacy, civil liberties, democratic accountability and the privatisation of state power. Can a society defend its freedoms without gradually surrendering the very liberties it seeks to preserve?

Drawing upon historical research, political analysis and the imaginative traditions of science fiction, this work presents an explicitly argued interpretation rather than a neutral survey. Its central analogy connects the symbolic power of the obsidian mirror with the computational reach of contemporary intelligence platforms, inviting readers to consider both the strategic advantages and the ethical dangers of technological hegemony.

The mirror has become an algorithm. The question of power remains.

1. Rationale for the Text

2. Background

   • John Dee’s Obsidian Mirror and Its Mesoamerican Origins

   • John Dee and the Origins of British Intelligence

   • The Society of Jesus as a Structure of Intelligence and Influence

   • The Chevalier d’Éon: The First Trans Spy in History

   • Francisco de Miranda: Precursor of the Transatlantic Conspiracy

   • The Anticipated Dystopia: Vladimir Odoyevsky’s The Year 4338

   • Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We: The Matrix of Digital Totalitarianism

   • The Palantíri in the Work of J. R. R. Tolkien

   • The CIA and the Legacy of the OSS

   • DARPA and American Defence Technology

   • Palantir Technologies and the Military–Technological Complex

3. Central Analysis: Intelligence, Hegemony and the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century

4. Final Conclusions

5. Glossary

6. References

7. APA-Style Citation Record

Readers interested in intelligence history, geopolitical strategy, artificial intelligence, surveillance technologies, political philosophy, dystopian literature and the ethical dilemmas of contemporary defence systems.

This essay advances the author’s own interpretation of the relationship between intelligence, technological power and Western strategic interests. Its arguments should be read critically alongside the cited references and the counter-arguments discussed in the text. Historical analogies are used as analytical frameworks, not as proof that institutions separated by centuries are identical.

Granda, R. (2026). From the obsidian mirror of John Dee to Palantir as instruments of intelligence for the defence of the West: Towards the creation of the twenty-first-century dystopia based on science fiction [Unpublished manuscript]. Mexico City, Mexico.

Original Spanish title: Del espejo de obsidiana de John Dee a Palantir como instrumentos de inteligencia para la defensa de Occidente: Hacia la creación de la distopía del siglo XXI basada en la ciencia ficción.

This British English edition is a translation of the Spanish original.

Author’s pen name: Phaneinthymos.

John Dee; obsidian mirror; Mesoamerica; Aztec civilisation; Palantir Technologies; intelligence studies; espionage; CIA; OSS; DARPA; artificial intelligence; big data; predictive surveillance; cybersecurity; geopolitics; Western defence; military–technological complex; Tolkien; palantíri; dystopian literature; Yevgeny Zamyatin; civil liberties; privacy; political philosophy; science fiction.

Archive collection: History · Politics · Technology · Artificial Intelligence · Science Fiction Studies