The Ethics of Private Military Contractors in Conflict

Key Takeaways 

• Advice for Young Innovators: Work on the things that you are genuinely interested in and do not rely on other people to tell you what you should be working on 
• The term “conspiracy theorist” was invented by the CIA and used to discredit anyone who questioned the original results of the JFK assassination investigation
  • “It’s pretty extraordinary that “conspiracy theory” and “conspiracy theorists” are themselves literally born of a government conspiracy.” – Palmer 
• “I’m a big pronatalist. I definitely believe that you need to have kids. If you don’t have 2.1 kids minimum, then you’re a traitor to the nation and our ideals because you’re basically outsourcing responsibility for the continued existence of our nation to other people – which seems like a super-elitist attitude.” – Palmer Luckey, father 
• Preparing for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan
  • In simulated war games, in a hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the United States runs outs of missiles in less than eight days
  • China has 350x the ship-building capacity of the United States (!)
  • Taiwan is not the end state for China: The Chinese believe that the Philippines, Korea, and most of Japan belong to them; this won’t stop with Taiwan
• “Trump understand that if we don’t manufacture in America, we’re just everyone else’s b*tch.” – Palmer 
• “Trump instinctively understands this in a way that the globalist elites do not. They thought outsourcing everything was great. They’re against tariffs – why would you produce in a less efficient economy when you can manufacture wherever it’s cheapest according to global market dynamics? The problem is, they forgot that once you stop making things and your companies no longer produce anything, you lose all leverage – you’ve handed it away to everyone else.” – Palmer Luckey 
• How to take advantage of Xi’s mistake:The US should make the Big Tech companies so integrated with national security that they cannot change their minds about supporting our interests in the future 
• Bring back Defector Visas: Offer special visas to high-value defectors from adversarial nations (like China or Russia), particularly scientists, engineers, or officials, to weaken rival governments while boosting U.S. innovation and security
• “My belief is that the United States should stop being the world police. We need to stop sending our people all over the world to fight everyone’s wars for them, and we need to become the world’s gun store. We need to just sell them the guns that they need to defend themselves and we need to make sure that we actually keep those shelves stocked.” – Palmer Luckey

Palmer Luckey is an entrepreneur and innovator best known for founding Oculus VR and Anduril Industries. In 2012, he launched Oculus VR and developed the Oculus Rift, a groundbreaking virtual reality headset that redefined a wide array of industries. The company was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion, where Luckey subsequently worked until 2017.

Following his departure, he founded Anduril Industries - a defense technology company specializing in autonomous systems including drones, surveillance towers, and aircraft. Anduril has secured major contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and international allies. The company has raised significant funding, including $1.5 billion in 2022, valuing it at $8.5 billion.

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