Weekly Wisdom | Palmer Luckey
Palmer Luckey | Our New Iron Man
The founder of Anduril — our nation’s best defense startup in a generation — is a 32-year-old, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing gamer named Palmer Luckey. Like Iron Man from Marvel, Luckey is unabashedly patriotic, a technological virtuoso, and an eccentric. He may also be our best shot at staying safe against an increasingly militaristic China and aggressive Russia.
Let’s learn more:
Like many tech pioneers, Luckey was an avid gamer as a child. He even built a 9-monitor gaming setup in his teens.
A childhood tinkerer and inventor, Luckey’s first “invention” was an electric stun glove he built at 12 years old.
While being homeschooled, Luckey took community college courses at 14 and then later dropped out of college to found Oculus.
Despite his formidable tech chops, Luckey aspired to be a tech journalist even during his high school years.
In 2012, Luckey founded Oculus, a virtual reality headset company, which Facebook (now META) acquired in 2014 for $2 billion.
In 2016, Luckey donated $10,000 to Nimble America, a pro-Trump group. He was terminated by Facebook in 2017. Luckey contends it was due to his support of then-candidate Trump.
Shortly after his firing by Facebook in 2017, Luckey co-founded Anduril, an AI and robotics defense firm. Anduril is investing $1.5 billion in Pickaway County, Ohio, to build Arsenal-1, a 5 million square foot advanced manufacturing facility.
Anduril develops autonomous aircraft, drones, and robots that are integrated with its proprietary AI system, Lattice. They also produce anti-drone weaponry and advanced sensors for use on land and water.
In partnership with SpaceX, Palantir, OpenAI, and Lockheed Martin, Anduril will work to implement a multi-layered missile defense system that protects the United States and possibly Canada. Called the Golden Dome, the funds were allocated in the Big, Beautiful Bill to start work immediately.
The defense industry will evolve to primarily focus on AI, autonomous robots and drones, and advanced sensors. As a result, Anduril represents the future of American defense, and its success as a firm will be to our benefit. We should be thankful that the next great American company, led by Luckey, is in such competent and patriotic hands.
Go Further
https://youtu.be/ooMXEwl7N8Y?si=zpRWQ2cX1GQxE6J6
https://youtu.be/bwSycrvcwAs?si=BHwVLhU0e4wq5X2i
