He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

Sadly, I (not American) have to agree.

I am a pacifist at heart, and I truly wish it wasn’t so, but it is impossible for any nation that believes in its continued existence [0] not to arm itself and maintain alliances with other like minded nations (including, regrettably, nuclear arms).

I agree with the sentiment around demilitarisation, too. If everyone started getting rid of weapons there would, in many ways and for much of the time be less war and suffering. It feels right, compassionate, and empathetic. It’s what I would want. But it’s wrong.

It only takes one national collapse, one coup, one crackpot dictator, one rogue leader to upend that and walk all over everyone. And we have far more than one, both nascent and incipient, at this point.

This used to be somewhat untested in modern times, making it easier for loud anti-defence voices to be heard and acted on. But Ukraine is living that reality every day and Russia is far from the only would be aggressor.

So yes, we need to build capable militaries and strong alliances, and we need work to promote a more stable world outside those alliances.

At the same time we need to try, as hard as possible, to use our democratic power to prevent our nations and their allies overreaching with their military power, given that they must not surrender it.

But the idea that any subset of nations can choose peace by not having weapons in anything like the world we inhabit is, unfortunately, dangerous wishful thinking.

[0] Every nation believes this, regardless of its truth. We can (and should) evaluate the legitimacy and stability of a nation, alongside its governance when forming alliance, but all will rationalise their own existence (however poorly) and therefore their defence.

I love the satire!

In centuries past, armored knights considered crossbows and early firearms unethical and unsporting. That didn't stop the armies of the time from employing them -- and warfare adapted, as it always does.

Today, all major powers are experimenting with, or already utilizing, "unmanned, automated killing machines" -- in addition to AI for C4I and other purposes. A responsible Department of Defense has literally no choice but to keep pace, and it would be the height of irresponsibility not to attempt to outrun its competitors. They don't have the luxury of closing their eyes and pretending that the world is at peace and that swords must now become ploughshares -- they have to take the world as it really is, not as they might hope it is.

The bottom line is simply this: The desire of peace-loving people to spare the world from militarism and war must include a commitment to maintain a strong and capable defense.

Besides, military procurement in the USA is slow as molasses, captured by lobbyists and a clique of prime contractors, and red-tape laden to a degree that people working in the tech sector can hardly comprehend. Anduril, in its way, is working to fix that extremely serious problem.

> See Boeing doing military stuff and now their planes and ISS shuttles don't work.

Explain please. How does one lead to the other?

> Also so Cheney transferring the military biodefense budget to Fauci and the NIH and now we have lab leaks and covid

That’s a bold claim.

There was a period of time where employees of companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google were protesting in order to prevent their companies from taking military contracts.

That seems to have mostly died down and all of those companies have contracts with the DoD.

Ultimately, I agree with your sentiment. Alibaba can't tell China no. And while US corporations have that freedom. It isn't one they should exercise because the US military's ability to remain competitive is in the vital interest of all that live in the US. Even if you don't always agree with the government's use of the military.