Palmer Luckey, Founder of Anduril Defense Industry Disruptor - President Speaker Series (2024)
What this covers
Palmer Luckey, a Hawaiian-shirt wearing, inventor, innovator and polarizing entrepreneur has been promising to disrupt the US defense industry. In 2017 Palmer Luckey, designer of the Oculus Rift virtual reality head-mounted display, founded Anduril Industries, a autonomous weapons startup, to radically transform the defense capabilities of the United States and its allies by fusing artificial intelligence with the latest hardware advancements. At Anduril Palmer integrates a consumer technology business model with mission-driven objectives, enabling rapid product development and deployment, setting the company apart from other players in the defense industry. The company’s software so unique that it is being used across multiple branches of the U.S. military and in both the Russia-Ukraine War and Israel-Hamas War.
His deep interest in defense technology was driven by his time at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies Mixed Reality Lab, where he built hardware used to research immersive treatment for US military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. He continued to support various military applications of virtual reality during his time at Oculus, informing his belief that radical modernization of US military technology is a prerequisite for preserving our way of life.
Palmer began attending Golden West College and Long Beach City College at the age of 14 and studied at California State University, Long Beach, before leaving the school to build Oculus VR.
Palmer will discuss his story, how the technology industry should ethically participate in the defense sector, ethical applications of AI in defense, and more.
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Palmer Luckey argues that technological innovation thrives outside established systems, that AI weapons are essential for Western security against irrational adversaries, and that freedom means self-determination rather than guaranteed outcomes, which drives his work defending democratic nations through defense technology.
- VR succeeded because it required disruption outside academia and established companies—no institution could have funded it
- The West must deploy AI in weapons to maintain superiority against adversaries who will use it regardless of moral posturing
- Freedom is self-determination at individual, local, and national levels, not entitlement to specific outcomes imposed by government force
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Russian state media and propaganda convinced Russian soldiers that Ukrainians wanted the invasion and were being controlled by a Jewish cabal secretly ruling through Zelensky, leading soldiers to believe they would be welcomed as liberators and celebrated by Ukrainian women.
“they had pushed this idea that the ukrainians wanted the invasion they were controlled by the Jewish uh you know the the the Jewish cabal the West that actually secretly ruled through zilinski and that if only they would go in and decapitate the head of the Zionist Beast that all of the people of Ukraine would thank them they thought there'd be parade like this guy he brought a few days of normal clothes and then his really nice dress uniform they thought they were going to be having parades they thought the women were going to be all over them they were going to say Thank you so much C 52 pilot you saved us from you saved us from the Jews”
The event host and Luckey discussed the idea that soldiers should ideally love what they protect, not just the weapons themselves, referencing GK Chesterton's quote 'the true Soldier fights not because he hates what's in front of him but because he loves what's behind him.'
“GK Chesterton said profoundly that the true Soldier fights not because he hates what's in front of him but because he loves what's behind him I think that accurately describes the work that you're doing in andril fighting against tyranny and terrorism for the world to be free”
War between nation-states typically only occurs when one or both sides misunderstand or overestimate their chances of winning; if both sides accurately understand who would win, the weaker nation typically capitulates rather than fighting, making peace through overwhelming strength safer than evenly matched military power.
“war only happens when there's a disagreement as to what the outcome would be...typically Warfare between nation states only starts when one or both sides misunderstand who is going to win the conflict if both sides understand who's going to win it's very rare for things to proceed to to violence because the the weaker Nation knowing full well that they're going to lose typically says okay I'm going to capitulate...it's important to have peace through strength...it would be better for us to be completely at our enemy Mercy or to be vastly stronger to them in an overwhelming way where they are fully aware that they cannot win”
President Reagan said 'freedom is never more than one generation away from Extinction,' and Luckey's work with Andril is positioned as ensuring freedom does not go extinct in his generation through unmatched defense innovation.
“President Reagan who is has an influential has been an influential figure at pepperine has said freedom is never more than one generation away from Extinction and we would all like to thank you for your immense efforts and ensuring through unmatched Innovation and defense technology that ours is not the generation that sees Freedom go extinct”
The ability to control what a population believes is more powerful than any individual weapon system, and Russia's control of information and propaganda is its most valuable weapon for military purposes.
“I've always said it's not any one weapon system it's the ability to control what even their intelligent populist believes CU that's how you get people who are otherwise intelligent to do things they would otherwise never do”
Journalists should explicitly acknowledge that they are propagandists with a point of view rather than claiming to be objective and neutral, comparable to how professional football players openly acknowledge they are trying to make their team win rather than denying their allegiance.
“I recently gave an interview where they were asking me oh Palmer do you still think like a you know like a journalist I said oh absolutely not I'm a propagandist i i i i i i I'll I'll twist the truth I'll I'll I'll I'll put forward only my version of if I if I think that that's going to propagandize people to be what you know what what I need them to believe which is very different from a journalists where you're supposed to be objective you're supposed to be neutral you're supposed to convey the facts as they are...I would be fine with journalists who just admit they're propagandists...imagine if you went went to a football game and the players insisted that they were not football players right you know they like no no no man like we're just we're just here to like have some fun it's like but you're you're a professional you're you're trying to make a particular team win you're paid millions of dollars...that's actually how the Press is today”
Fear of AI being used by bad people is more justified than fear of advanced AI becoming sentient and independent; the real risk is dumb AI wielded by evil actors, and this cannot be prevented by Western restraint because adversaries will develop AI regardless.
“I fear I fear people using AI for bad purposes I think that people jump to this idea of you know like Terminator Skynet the AI is the problem I think we are so far from that the the the I'm not worried about more advanced AI being the problem I'm worried about dumb AI being used by evil people...you need the good people to have the AI and not the bad people to have the AI and well unfortunately it's going to be both...we cannot opt out this is right if we opt out then the good people don't have it the bad people do and then we've got problems”
Freedom should not be defined as freedom from something (gun violence, lack of healthcare) because that means imposing your will on others to achieve the outcome you want, which is the opposite of self-determination.
“I've SE people say people have the people have the right to be free of gun violence they have the right to be free of lack of Health Care like that's that's not that's not Freedom that's not self-determination that's that that's specifically about imposing your will on others so that you can get the outcome that you want for yourself it's it's the opposite it's the opposite of Freedom”
Societies require a warrior class—people who are 'sick in the head' enough to be enthusiastically willing to create violence in service of good aims; pacifists should not be shamed, but they benefit from others' willingness to specialize in defense, and this specialization of labor is what built America.
“societies have always needed a warrior class that is enthused and excited about enacting violence on others in pursuit of good aims and I think that it's reasonable for the philosophers to degrade those people and whine about how they're sick in the head but Society needs them and it it even if I'm sick in the head we need we need people who are willing to fight for our country not and I'm not doing that directly my life's not on the line but you need people like me who are sick in that way and who don't lose any sleep making tools of violence in order to preserve Freedom”
Rational adversaries cannot be engaged with game theory because they pursue non-optimal strategies (e.g., jihadists who know they will lose but attack anyway); the strategy against irrational actors is to diminish their effect, similar to trying to play Monopoly with someone who will drop out and give all their money away—the game's rules don't apply.
“where this falls apart is where you have enemies who have irrational aims there like like you have jihadists who know full well they are going to die everyone that they're fighting with is going to die but they think that on the other side it's all going to be worth it and it's very very hard to engage in in uh in Game Theory with people who pursue the non-game theory optimal strategy but it is possible to diminish the effect it's like playing Monopoly with the person who's going to drop out and give all their money to somebody else like that's that's what it's like to to fight some of these irrational actors”
Luckey's actual top concerns about global threats rank AI very low; his higher concerns are biological weapons and new biotech advances that enable tailored biological weapons targeting specific races or genetic lines (which don't have to actually work—belief alone is sufficient to drive conflict).
“I think biological weapons chemical weapons particularly new advancements in bio Tech that allow for tailored biological weapons that go after or purport to go after particular races particular genetic lines they don't have to be right it doesn't have to work they just have to believe that that's what that that's what they've accomplished AR you just full of good news these are the things that actually terrify me and and AI is just not part of it”
The primary motivation for founding Anduril Industries was the perception that the United States was running a dangerous experiment by completely divorcing its most innovative technology companies from the Department of Defense for the first time in history, driven by cultural, ideological, and financial reasons (desire to access Chinese markets).
“I started andall is because I perceived that we were running a very dangerous experiment in this country we were for the first time completely divorcing our most Innovative technology companies from the Department of Defense that's never happened in history and that was because they were well there were cultural reasons ideological reasons but mostly it came down to money and a desire to cater to the Chinese market”
There is a 'shadow campaign' waged at the UN by Western adversaries to pressure Western countries into not applying AI to weapons or defense by using morally appealing language ('robots shouldn't decide who lives and dies'), when in fact the moral argument is stronger for precise AI systems than for landmines or large indiscriminate weapons.
“there's a shadow campaign being waged in the United Nations right now Now by many of our adversaries to trick Western countries that fancy themselves morally aligned uh into not applying AI to weapons or defense there and they use phrases that sound really good in a sound bite well can't you agree that a robot should never be able to decide who lives and dies and my point to them is where's the moral High Ground in a landmine that can't tell the difference between a School Bus full of kids and a Russian tank is is that really the point what what's the moral the moral victory in being forced to use larger bombs with more collateral damage because we're not allowed to use systems that can penetrate past Russian or Chinese jamming systems and strike precisely the part of the Target or the system or the vehicle that needs to be hit like what what what there there there's no actual moral Advantage there”
If China invades Taiwan, they will not convince millions of soldiers to fight by telling the truth; instead they will use propaganda narratives about liberating Taiwan from Western imperialism and reunifying China after 3,000 years, while concealing that Taiwan has higher living standards, literacy, earnings, and productivity than mainland China.
“when they invade Taiwan they are not going to convince millions of people to die for that cause by telling them the truth they're going to tell them some crazy version of you know Taiwan is effectively ruled by the United States it's a total proxy State your brothers and sisters want to be reunified with with China we want to achieve the Heavenly mandate will it'll be the first time China's been reunified as a whole in 3,000 years...they don't mention that Taiwan has much higher standard of living than China that they have higher literacy much higher earnings much higher productivity much better relations with the rest of the world...they're going to lie to people to get them to do what they want not tell them the truth”
The defense industry suffers from massive consolidation with 80% of major weapons contracts going to five companies, 30% of contracts having a single bidder, leading to cost-plus contracting that incentivizes longer schedules, more expensive systems, and zero proactive investment in solutions.
“we've seen massive consolidation and massive Distortion in the defense industry since the end of the Cold War you have about 80% of the major weapons contracts going to just five companies 30% of major weapons contracts have a single bidder meaning only one company even shows up to even try to deliver and that has led to gross inefficiencies massive centralization duplicating work that's been done thousand times before and almost no examples of proactive investment on the part of the industry in order to try and do the right things most of these people are working on Cost Plus contracts or they get paid for time materials and then a fixed percentage of profit on top that means that they make more money when things take longer they make more money when the schedule slips they make more money when the parts are more expensive”
Putin severely miscalculated the Ukraine invasion, believing it would be a 3-7 day 'special operation' to capture Kyiv and defeat Ukraine, partly due to corruption within his own military system where equipment and supplies were sold off and falsified in paperwork, meaning Putin didn't even understand his own military strength.
“Putin hugely misestimated the outcome of this war...they really believed that this was going to be a 3 to7 Day special operation they were going to go in they were going to kick Ukraine's ass they were going to take keev and it was all going to be over...one of the reasons he was actually wrong is even just graft within his own system they had lots of like missing night vision missing tires missing fuel reserves because it had all been sold out from under him and then the paperwork falsified he didn't even understand his own strength”
Modular Retro Chromatic is fully backwards compatible with original Game Boy and Game Boy Color games; Andril is also developing new games and re-releasing games from the 1990s-2000s, including games developed decades ago but never released due to various reasons.
“if not will you create a color adapter I have no idea what this means it is it is it is fully compatible with all Game Boy Color games and all of the and thank Y and all of the actually G original Game Boy titles as well um has backwards compatible but also in addition so all all of the games that we are making so we're doing some new games we're re-releasing games from the 9s and early 2000s and we're even launching some games that were developed back then but then never released for various reason so there's some brand new neverbe released stuff from major major game developers that they never actually put out there um and all of the every every game on chromatic is inherently at its core a a a Game Boy architecture title so you can even take those games and put them into an original Game Boy and play them on the original Hardware as well they are they it is it is it is a it is a perfect clone in that sense it is a full Hardware reproduction gate for gate Logic for logic”
The fundamental insight that allowed Oculus to outperform $300,000 military-grade headsets with a device costing less than $300 was the philosophy of only solving in hardware what must be solved in hardware, while solving everything else for free in software—accepting massive hardware-level distortion and compensating through real-time shader pre-distortion rather than expensive optical engineering.
“the number one philosophy was only solve in Hardware what must be solved in Hardware everything else solved for free in software...doesn't make any sense to make a VR headset the traditional way where you make a wide field of view optic with many many many glass stages in it...instead you say Okay field of view that I have to do in Hardware but I'm just going to optimize a design that has tons of chromatic aberration tons of geometric Distortion a totally unacceptable amount and then I'm going to run a realtime Shader on my graphics card to pre- distort my rendered image as the inverse function of that Distortion”
Facebook acquired Oculus rather than competitors like Microsoft or Google because Facebook lacked a hardware platform and operating system and was therefore incentivized by a potential AR/VR revolution that would reshape the tech industry, whereas established players with dominant web and mobile positions would have seen disruption as threatening to their current duopoly.
“Facebook had a different pitch it was look if you go to like hypothetically if you were to get purchased by Microsoft or Google you're going to be working in service of their existing 15-year road map one that is primarily focused on web mobile and maintaining their current kind of duopoly dominance in the tech industry they don't actually want to shake things up and cause a arvr revolution to happen because they might do okay but they're not likely to be right at the very Pinnacle like they are right now Facebook on the other hand didn't have a hardware platform they didn't have an operating system they controlled they were in a position where you know shaking up the box of dice uh was actually likely to cause good things to happen for them”
People who accumulate enough wealth to retire to an island typically cannot stop working because the mentality required to earn that amount of money—relentless drive and inability to relax—is incompatible with retirement, making island retirement fantasy for most wealthy people even if financially possible.
“the common thing about people who dream about making it big and then doing you know the island retirement thing and never doing anything again very very rare for those people to get the island...it's it's one of those like horrible twists of Fate that the the the the mentality that you need to get that amount of money and to and to grind through what it takes to build a business that'll get you there uh doesn't allow you to stop working and it doesn't allow you to relax”
Anduril operates as a defense product company rather than a defense contractor, using its own capital to decide what to build and when, then selling finished products to government customers, in contrast to cost-plus contractors who rely on government funding for development.
“I like to say that andal is a defense Product Company not a defense contractor um because we work a lot like a a lot of other technology companies do we use our own money to decide what to build how to build it when it's done and then we sell the product to our customer and that's that's that's what we've done in many cases building things that the government didn't believe were possible never would have even been willing to try funding anyone else to build”
Andril is explicitly taking sides—it is not a neutral company building products for anyone, but rather a sword 'inherently created and wielded to fight evil,' designed to fight for Western values and allies against authoritarian regimes, and this moral positioning is intentional and necessary.
“we're not just a neutral company we're not here to say oh we're just just here to make money we're just here to make something for everyone we are taking sides we are going to fight for the things that our country values that our allies around the world have in common ignore the things that maybe we don't um but but but for the for the most part there's enough commonality between western western allies of the United States that we can agree yeah okay we're going to be building things for good for the kingdom of man to fight against the hordes of Mordor”
A key aspiration for defense companies is that weapons and violence should be valued not for the 'brightness of the blade or keenness of the edge' but for 'that which it protects'—this is an ideal that justifies enthusiasm for weapons design and engineering while grounding it in protective purpose rather than destructive glorification.
“there's there's actually one other one another bit which was a uh a quote from the book Someone said they love the blade not for the brightness of the blade or the keenness of the edge only for that which it protects and I think that there's a a lesson there an aspirational lesson you know kind of like it's one of those ones where where you know it's true but you know you're told to turn the other cheek but actually you don't uh that's kind of how I see it it's it's an aspirational idea that when you're building a defense company you're not building weapons because the weapons are cool because the blade is bright or for the keenness of the edge you're doing it really for that which it protects”
Working on things inside established systems requires traditional credentials and formal training, but working on entirely new technologies outside existing systems does not—the more removed you are from the existing system, the less formal credentialism matters, as demonstrated by founding Oculus VR without a degree in the field.
“I think that it can be very very true when you're working on things that are inside of an established system...the more removed you are from the existing system and in the case of virtual reality been a successful virtual reality company in history and so when people say oh wow that's so crazy that you would have done it outside of you know your University or outside of you know existing company...it's in fact something that only could have come from from outside of of the system”
Howard Hughes and Walt Disney are Luckey's greatest influences because they were huge supporters of the nation who built things on their own dime that the government didn't believe were possible, with Walt Disney doing extraordinary military work during World War II that people are unfamiliar with.
“let's say Howard Hughes and Walt Disney those guys those guys were great they were huge supporters of the nation they built things on their own dime that the government didn't believe were possible uh and and Walt Disney in particular did a lot of military work that people are not familiar...he probably did more for World War II in particularly on the uh Superior uh uh Victory through Superior air power uh you he probably did more for the war effort than any individual American”
Freedom is self-determination organized at whatever level is relevant—the right to decide what you do for yourself, your town's right to manage its affairs, and your nation's right to manage its affairs relative to other countries.
“freedom is self-determination organized at whatever level is relevant to the conversation you know freedom is not just your right to decide what to do for yourself it's also the right of your town to decide how to manage its Affairs of your nation how to manage its Affairs relative to other countries”
Left-handed sugars (mirror-image molecules of regular sugar that are metabolically inert) represent an extraordinary commercial opportunity worth hundreds of billions of dollars if someone can manufacture them at scale and develop organisms that consume them, since they would enable zero-calorie sugar replacements in all food and beverage applications.
“if any if anyone can execute on large scale manufacturing of left-handed sugars whether it's dextr sucro fructose any of them uh you're going you're going to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars it is it is an extraordinary opening for someone in in biotech to figure out...you could effectively make something that is the molecular twin the mirror copy of sugar where mechanically it is sugar and it crusts like sugar and it Cooks like sugar and it bakes like sugar and it even binds to your taste receptors like sugar it is for all intents and purposes sugar except you cannot metabolize it...if you could make sugar cane that was left-handed you would be uh you'd be worth a lot of money to be a total Game Changer zero calorie zero health impact sugar”
Biotech and advanced manufacturing applications to biotechnology are fascinating opportunities for innovation and funding, with particular potential in nuclear energy which now has a legal regulatory pathway for new companies after decades without such pathways.
“biotech in general is is is is a really interesting field particularly the the application of new technologies like artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing uh to to biotechnology...there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in energy par like the the fact that nuclear energy appears to be uh legal to pursue and has an a regulatory Pathway to success for new companies is is pretty extraordinary we haven't had that for decades and so there's a lot of ideas from the 50s and 60s that you can just go bring back to today”
In 2017 when Anduril was founded, AI was not considered cool or hip and was hard to raise money for as a defense technology, but Luckey pursued it anyway as the necessary foundation for autonomous defense systems because manned systems cannot scale to the numbers required for modern defense needs.
“when we started Andel in 2017 AI was not cool it was not hip and it was not easy to raise money for it was hard to raise money for a weapons company in general but AI in particular there was a lot of us this sense that it was this this Fool's errand that was not actually going to pan out but I was once again saying what's the last step...the answer was obviously huge numbers of systems massive numbers of low cost ATT trable systems and the only way to make that work is autonomy we don't have an infinite supply of people to put in these things”
Politicians claim to support freedom while imposing restrictions, like claiming to value freedom while arresting people for mango-flavored vapes or restricting water usage, exemplifying the dilution of the freedom concept into meaninglessness.
“every politician has to say they're about Freedom even if they're the one that wants to put you in prison for smoking mango flavored Vapes they have to be like I'm all for Freedom you're going to prison I'm all for Freedom hey hey you can't use that much water...I mean it's just oh my God it's it boggles my mind”
For graduates wanting to enter defense, Luckey recommends not starting at traditional prime defense contractors like Lockheed or Boeing because their siloed structures teach hyper-specific skills that don't transfer, and instead recommends gaining broadly applicable skills in more flexible organizations.
“if you're trying to break into the defense industry I I'd say probably I can give you better advice as to what not to do...I probably would not go to work for a prime like like a lot of people think that they'll get experience the reality is these existing companies are so stratified that you you're and so siloed that anything you learn about how to operate in a company like that is going to be so hyper specific rather than the more generalized knowledge you need to operate not just in a startup but just in a a generally regular sort of business”
Journalism is a valuable skill for learning how to effectively communicate and persuade others to believe in your version of the truth, but Luckey no longer thinks like a journalist and instead operates as a propagandist.
“journalism is a broadly applicable skill you know in learning how to effectively communicate with others and let's be real persuade others to uh to to believe in your version of the truth it's a it's a valuable it's a valuable skill...I recently gave an interview where they were asking me oh Palmer do you still think like a you know like a journalist I said oh absolutely not I'm a propagandist”
Real-time intelligence with targeting-grade tracking of Russian weapons systems provided to Ukraine in the early days of war before their air force and long-range fires were eliminated could have materially changed the war's outcome, though it would not have prevented Russia from invading.
“if we were able to provide real-time intelligence with targeting grade tracks of all of Russia's most critical weapon systems to Ukraine in those early days before their Air Force was eliminated ated before their longrange Precision fires were exhausted um I I think that could have made a really big difference but the the war would have started”
Palmer Luckey met President Zelensky of Ukraine in 2019 after Zelensky read about Anduril in Wired Magazine and wanted Anduril border security technology for Ukraine's eastern border, but the State Department wasn't supportive at that time.
“I've actually met zalinski before the war started uh back in back in 2019 he read a a article about us in Wired Magazine and wanted to know if we could get him a lot of our uh border security technology to use on their eastern border and unfortunately the state department wasn't really wasn't really keen on Ukraine at that at that at that point in time”
Latice is the AI engine that powers every Anduril product, enabling leverage where every dollar invested in making Latice better improves all dozens of Anduril products rather than being tied to one hardware platform, following the Oculus philosophy that software can be replicated at zero marginal cost.
“lattice is the AI engine that powers every single Android product it is the common piece of software where every dollar I put into making latus AI better I'm making all of my products better and uh every dollar that I put into it gets multiplied the effects across my dozens of products rather than being tied into one piece of Hardware I'm a hardware guy heart but getting back to the Oculus you know philosophy you should only do things in Hardware that need be done in Hardware software can be manufactured infinitely for free the replication cost is zero”
Palmer Luckey considered three major alternative ventures after leaving Meta before settling on national security: a non-profit private prison chain that would only be paid after prisoners stayed out of prison for five years (reducing recidivism incentives), solving obesity through left-handed synthetic sugars, and working on national security technology.
“I was looking at trying to start a a chain of nonprofit private prisons that would compete with existing private prisons using a totally different business model basically offering to house prisoners for free and then only getting paid after they were released and stayed out of prison for 5 years...I also looked at solving obesity with petroleum derived synthetic food products left-handed sugar...and then you know finally what I decided to do is work on National Security”
Anduril is planning an IPO as its current plan for funding, though it won't happen with a privately-held company because Congress won't allow it and Anduril needs to compete for trillion-dollar contracts.
“would you ever consider an IPO for Andel yes that is our current plan so uh and and yeah know we're going to do it um there's a lot of reasons for this...there's a lot of ways that you can drive a company like andrel I think in the long run being publicly traded does lead you to be aligned with the American public...a privately traded company is never going to win something like the trillion dollar Joint Strike Fighter effort it's just not going to happen the Congress won't allow it”
Pepperdine University's 2024-2025 academic year theme is 'Freedom,' with banners across campus and commemorative coins; the next Presidential Speaker Series event will be October 31st (Halloween) featuring a dialogue between Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and LA Times 'strong candidate for governor' Rick Caruso, discussing difficult issues across political lines.
“if you've enjoyed uh today's experience mark your calendar October 31st yes Halloween starting at 4 will be done by 5: our next Presidential speaker series is a conversation debate dialogue between Governor Kevin stit of AR of Oklahoma and our own Rick Caruso who LA Times is calling a strong candidate for governor in 2026 right before the election happens discussing the difficult issues with people on different sides of the aisle”
Palmer Luckey's sister Roxan attended Pepperdine University.
“you know my sister roxan went here so I I dropped her off and picked her off a lot more than three times”
Palmer Luckey's mother was satisfied with his academic performance as a homeschooled student ('two thumbs up').
“so Julie homeschool how was he as a student two thumbs up there we go cast learner obviously finished early enough to start going to Community College at 14”
Luckey started at a community college at 14 and did a semester or two of university at Long Beach State when he was 17, then lived in a trailer in his parents' driveway at 19.
“founded multiple companies changed the face of multiple Industries pretty impressive for what feels like some pretty humble beginnings in terms of starting off at a community college at 14 or 15 a semester or two of of University when you were 17 at Long Beach State then living in a trailer in your parents' driveway at 19”
Anduril and Palmer Luckey are launching new space-based systems including recent announcement of Apex partnership with contracts from the US Space Force, operating in air, space, and sea domains.
“you are you are launching things into space now we just that was in the papers today with Apex tell we just signed a new major contract with the US space force uh you know look we're doing things in every domain air space uh”
Anduril has been acquired by many previous companies and Luckey resists acquisition because of his prior negative experience, which is why he insists on going public rather than selling.
“people say well couldn't you be acquired and I think I just point to how that went for me last time not not well”
Anduril and Palmer Luckey are now sanctioned by China and Russia, making manufacturing outside China strategically important for the Game Boy Color product.
“it is not made in China it's manufactured in North America which is good because uh andell and I are now sanctioned by China and Russia”
The balloons that were floating across the US were not Anduril products, though Anduril did help find them.
“the balloons that are floating across the US oh no no that's not me that's not me no we we we we we we we help find the balloons would you be able to tell us if it was you yeah I'd be able to tell you I'd be able to tell you I would tell you if they were my balloons”
Anduril's Mod-Retro Chromatic is a Game Boy Color clone featuring a magnesium-aluminum alloy shell, lab-grown sapphire crystal screen lens, and custom display perfectly mimicking Game Boy Color color balance, shipping in December and manufactured in North America.
“this is a side project I've been working on for 17 years uh it's a it's a clone of the Nintendo Game Boy Color it's a but kind of it's a it's kind of the Ultimate Game Boy so it has a magnesium aluminum alloy shell a lab grown sapphire crystal screen lens um a customade display that perfectly mimics the color balance and reproduction of the Game Boy Color um and so those are actually shipping in December”
The Game Boy Color Mod-Retro Chromatic is bundled with a new version of Tetris developed with the Tetris Company, used at the recent Tetris World Championships where Logan Paul competed and did poorly.
“it's bundled with a new version of Tetris uh that we've developed with the tetris company it was actually used at the tetris World Championships just a few months ago um you guys might have seen that Logan Paul participated in the Championships and uh did not do particularly well well at all”
Luckey is 'straight edge'—he does not smoke, drink alcohol, or use any substances—yet he supports the philosophical principle of 'mind your own damn business' regarding personal choices like vaping and water usage.
“to be clear I'm straight edge and I don't smoke or drink I don't use alcohol or tobacco or anything else but but I very much fall into the actual mind your own damn business side of things”
The people who orchestrated Palmer Luckey's departure from Meta are no longer at the company, and while he remains bitter about what happened, Meta itself has changed significantly over eight years in policy and workforce composition, so he evaluates the company based on its current state rather than its past actions.
“all the people who orchestrated my my my ouer aren't they're not they're not at meta anymore...you have to recognize at some point you know met is a very different company...they've changed a lot of their own policies they've changed the they've changed a lot of the composition of the workforce and so uh at some at some point you have to you have to deal with things as they are not as as they were”