How Silicon Valley learned to love war

Silicon Valley says it can build better weapons, faster and cheaper than traditional defense contractors. But what happens when the companies making those weapons also get a say in how they’re used? In today’s episode, Vox reporter and producer Miles Bryan talks with long-time national security journalist Sharon Weinberger, author of Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War. The book traces Silicon Valley’s deep ties to the military and its return to the weapons business through companies like Palantir, SpaceX, and Anduril. Sharon says this raises troubling questions of how private funding gives tech founders greater control over military technology, and whether their promises of innovation justify risks to accountability. In this episode, Miles and Sharon explore the surprising CIA contract that helped keep Steve Jobs’s company afloat, how “tech companies” sell their visions to the Pentagon, if their innovations live up to the hype, and whether tech’s disruption of the defense industry could leave us with a more powerful version of the same old system. Host: Miles Bryan, Vox Reporter and Producer Guest: Sharon Weinberger, author of Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show. And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday. Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices