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Palmer Luckey Will Change How You Think About War | #464 | The Way I Heard It

2026-01-15 Entertainment
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Mike Rowe
Mike Rowe
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Description

Palmer Luckey is the virtual reality guy who started a company called Oculus when he was in his 20s and sold it to Facebook a few years later for a couple billion dollars. He has since gone on to do a number of interesting things, including starting a company called Anduril, which manufactures state-of-the-art weapons and a variety of autonomous systems for the United States military. We had a fascinating conversation about a number of topics, including how to win future wars, deindustrialize our manufacturing base, and reinvigorate the skilled trades. And some Hobbit-related sidebars. Please enjoy. A Special Thanks To: Our friends at American Giant, making the softest sweatshirts made in America. Get 20% off your first order with code: MIKE https://bit.ly/AGxTWIHI #podcast #artificialintelligence #war If you like me, and even if you don't, subscribe to my channels and follow me. Much obliged. https://www.youtube.com/@therealmikerowe https://www.youtube.com/@therealmikeroweshorts https://www.youtube.com/@PYSKshow http://instagram.com/mikerowe http://facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe https://twitter.com/mikeroweworks 00:00 How I met Palmer Luckey 04:34 Why seatbelts haven’t changed 09:42 The truth we want from pilots ️ 15:23 The Department of War 21:20 Palmer’s company, Anduril 26:02 Economic Irrelevance 29:48 The importance of population 33:27 A modern military ️ 39:56 Palmer’s take on reinvigorating the trades ️ 44:42 The age of atomic energy ️ 49:24 Scaling his company 53:54 The ethics of geoengineering 59:06 The effects of persuasion campaigns ️ 01:08:26 Palmer’s tribute to game consoles

Top Comments (10)

@SupraDude21 2026-01-15

C.S. Lewis: “the terrifying discovery that the humdrum happiness of the Shire, which they had taken for granted as something normal, is in reality a sort of local and temporary accident, that its existence depends on being protected by powers which Hobbits forget, against powers which Hobbits dare not imagine.”

801 57 replies
@SolveFixBuild 2026-01-15

Hilarious that Meta fired him for politics and then Zuckerberg is at the inauguration. 🤦‍♂️

765 104 replies
@Tugedhel 2026-01-15

I love the quote Palmer shared. The evil is always looking for who it can consume and destroy. Those who hate war the most are the most ready to protect the peaceful from evil.

495 39 replies
@ptpatrickusmc 2026-01-15

Fantastic interview. Palmer is great with everyone he interviews with. But with Mike Rowe, we get an even better appreciation for how lucky we are he is on our side.

492 15 replies
@pars5027 2026-01-16

The Nation which forgets it's Defender's will itself be forgotten.

143 6 replies
@scottkinman8173 2026-01-19

I love this guys attitude and self awareness that he isn't stuck-up and unapproachable. Like a good neighbor.

66 11 replies
@HoneyPot710 2026-01-22

Awesome conversation! We’re lucky to have Palmer on our side protecting the kingdom of Gondor!!

62 1 replies
@markkringle9144 2026-03-01

A great quote I've heard is: Peace is that great glorious point in history where everyone stands around reloading.

48 3 replies
@scorpionzz885 2026-02-11

Very nice to see a CEO speak on topics without fear of being canceled.

43 3 replies
@joshua2756 2026-04-08

Mike, you are one of the reasons I decided to become an Electrician. As of now I'm nearly finished with my first year. The amount of young guys and gals that I am seeing in the trades is staggering. The message that you always have preached is being heard!

1

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