Sharon Weinberger is the author of the new book The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA.
DARPA stands for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and it is the branch of the Pentagon that is famous for developing some far-out-there technologies, some of which were total flops but others that have become central to not only modern warfare, but also daily life.
We have an intriguing conversation about the history of technology in modern warfare and the implications of having a military institution conducting research that can have big-society wide consequences.
Sharon has been a journalist on my radar for many years since she founded this great national security focused section of Wired magazine called Danger Room. And we discuss Sharon’s pathway into journalism and another book called A Nuclear Family Vacation, with co-author Nathan Hodge that offers something of a tourist perspective on nuclear sites around the United States and its territories.
If you want to learn about the strategic and social implications of DARPA in particular and applied science in the service of warfare more generally, then have a listen.
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Dr. James Walsh of MIT is a nuclear security security expert and one of the few Americans who have travelled to both Iran and North Korea for talks on nuclear issues. To this day, Jim meets frequently with North Korean officials to discuss nuclear issues.
Emmanuel Macron won a stunning election victory in France this week, besting by huge margins the far right candidate Marine Le Pen. But if you are like me, you probably did not know too much about Macron — who he is, where he came from, and how he emerged from the political wilderness to become one of the most intriguing personalities in politics today?
