Palmer Luckey: Every country needs a 'warrior class' excited to enact 'violence on others in pursuit of good aims'
Palmer Luckey raged against America’s adversaries, endorsed completely autonomous weapons, and hinted at an Anduril IPO.
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Palmer Luckey, the founder of Anduril industries, a defense technology company, recently gave an hour-long conversation at Pepperdine University, where he discussed his views on war, autonomous weapons, and the future of his company.
Luckey began by stating that societies need a "warrior class" that is enthusiastic about using violence to achieve good aims. He believes that he and others like him are necessary to create tools of violence to preserve freedom. He also mentioned that he has no hesitation about building weapons and that Anduril is already working on autonomous weapons.
Luckey then discussed the early hours of the war in Ukraine and how Anduril could have made a big impact. He claimed that he first met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019 and that Ukraine had asked to acquire some of Anduril's border control technology. However, the State Department was not keen on Ukraine at the time, and Anduril did not provide the technology until later in the war.
Luckey also discussed the importance of AI development and how it is being hindered by a "shadow campaign" being waged by western countries' adversaries in the United Nations. He believes that the development of autonomous weapons is necessary and that the US government's reluctance to purchase them is misguided.
Luckey also hinted at Anduril's desire to eventually go public, citing the difficulty of competing with government-backed companies like Lockheed Martin. He also mentioned that people have floated the possibility of Anduril being acquired, but he is hesitant to repeat the experience of being pushed out of Facebook after selling his previous startup, Oculus.
Finally, Luckey declined a gift of a leather-bound collection of "The Lord of the Rings" because he cannot fit it on his motorcycle.
Overall, Luckey's views on war, autonomous weapons, and the future of his company are controversial and have sparked debate.
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