‘I’m a Propagandist’: Palmer Luckey on the Future of Warfare

On Tuesday, Pepperdine University livestreamed a speech betwixt billionaire weapons merchant Palmer Luckey and assemblage president Jim Gash. It began with a trailer for Anduril, Luckey’s defence firm, and ended with Luckey declining the acquisition of a leather-bound acceptable of Lord of the Rings books. Between those 2 moments, Luckey talked astir war.

Dressed successful a Neon Genesis Evangelion overgarment draped implicit a agleam yellowish Hawaiian shirt, Luckey explained wherefore wars happen. “War lone starts betwixt federation states erstwhile 1 oregon some sides misunderstand who is going to triumph the conflict,” helium said. “If some sides recognize who is going to win, it’s precise uncommon for things to proceed to violence. Because the weaker nation, knowing afloat good that they’re going to suffer says ‘OK, I’m going to capitulate, I’m going to springiness you what you want.’”

“And that’s why, by the way, it’s important to person bid done strength,” helium said arsenic an aside.

Luckey is preaching Game Theory here, a mathematical and logical presumption of the beingness that underpins a batch of modern defence thinking. Game Theory is, successful part, the crushed America volition walk astir 2 trillion dollars implicit the adjacent decennary installing atomic missiles into silos successful the Dakotas.

There are a batch of problems with Game Theory arsenic a defence strategy. Luckey acknowledged 1 immediately: ideological actors similar Jihadists. “It’s precise hard to prosecute successful Game Theory with radical who prosecute the non-Game Theory optimal strategy,” helium said. Sometimes the lone mode to triumph is not to play.

American Historian and retired U.S. Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich has called retired this benignant of reasoning earlier too. “Belief successful the efficacy of subject powerfulness astir inevitably breeds the temptation to enactment that powerfulness to work. ‘Peace done strength’ easy capable becomes ‘peace done war,’” helium wrote successful a 2010 essay.

Game Theory and “peace done strength” are large ways of reasoning if you privation to merchantability weapons. Luckey is simply a defence contractor, aft all. The speech with Gash covered a assortment of topics including VR and the authorities of journalism but yet coiled its mode to war.

While explaining the Tolkien origins of his company’s name, Luckey pushed backmost connected radical who knock him for celebrating the gathering of weapons of war. “Societies person ever needed a warrior people that is enthused and excited astir enacting unit connected others successful pursuit of bully aims. I deliberation that it’s tenable for philosophers to degrade those radical and whine astir however they’re sick successful the head.”

“But nine needs them,” helium continued. “You request radical similar maine who are sick successful that mode and who don’t suffer immoderate slumber making tools of violence.”

Luckey besides endorsed the usage of AI successful weapons systems. “There is simply a shadiness run being waged successful the United Nations by galore of our adversaries to instrumentality Western countries that fancy themselves morally aligned into not applying AI for weapons oregon defense,” helium said. “What is the motivation triumph successful being forced to usage larger bombs with much collateral harm due to the fact that we are not allowed to usage systems that tin penetrate past Russian oregon Chinese jamming systems and onslaught precisely.”

Luckey called retired these critics who accidental that a robot should ne'er beryllium capable to determine who lives and who dies. “And my constituent to them is, where’s the motivation precocious crushed successful a landmine that can’t archer the quality betwixt a schoolhouse autobus afloat of kids and a Russian tank?”

In his younger days successful college, Luckey studied journalism. Luckey told Gash idiosyncratic had precocious asked him if helium inactive thought similar a journalist. “Absolutely not, I’m a propagandist,” Luckey said.

“I’ll twist the truth. I’ll enactment guardant lone my mentation if I deliberation that that’s going to propagandize radical to what I request them to believe.”