Palmer Luckey

On the volume of talent, we have a lot fewer engineers graduating than our strategic adversaries like China.

That's definitely counting against us.

I've heard this idea pushed forward that...

we'll still stay ahead because there's something great about American engineers and American ingenuity.

We're gonna stay ahead no matter how many people we have in these areas because we're just so much better, which I feel like, I don't say this lightly, it feels like a soft form of racism to say, hey, we're going to just be way better than them to the point where an American engineer is gonna have to generate 10x the value on average of this other highly developed advanced nation that graduates people from advanced schools.

I don't really buy into it in the long run.

This is another reason I think the United States needs at least a billion people.

The idea that we're gonna compete with China geopolitically, that we're gonna remain relevant when we only have a few hundred million people and they're climbing to billions of people.

You have to believe that every American is going to be so much more relevant on a global basis

Is it really true?

Is an American 10 times more influential and impactful than an average Chinese person?

I think that that's true right now today because of our head start and how we position ourselves over the last 100 years.

But I don't think that continues to be the case.

A lot of it, unfortunately, is on the government policy side.

I say unfortunately because free markets can often move faster than governments can adjust.

But one example of something I think would make a difference is to stop incentivizing people to do things that are not good for the country on a larger basis.

So one example of this, and there's people who are going to light me on fire for this, but I don't think the United States should be subsidizing all educational programs

pursuits equally with no regard for whether or not they are of national interest.

The United States should not be saying we will give you equal student loans and allow you to put yourself equally in debt on the taxpayer dime to get a degree in studying ancient French theater versus being a mechanical engineer.

the need is so obviously disparate that the position seems crazy.