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Palmer Luckey's Moral Case for Building Weapons That Kill People

By Palmer Luckey · Strategy · 2 min read

Norway ran a military recruiting ad. Soaring music. Why do we need fighter jets? Tanks? Precision marksmen? What are we hoping happens? Nothing. Nothing. That's what we're hoping for.

Key Points

The people building weapons are the most invested in making sure they never get used
Do you want NATO to have squirt guns or rifles? Credible threat of violence is the only language dictators understand
The belief that weapons aren't needed is a luxury belief — if everyone thought that way, we'd be screwed overnight

Do you want NATO to have squirt guns or rifles? At some point you have to say — we're not going to keep these dictators from expanding their power unless you meet them with credible threat of violence.

What Are We Hoping Happens? Nothing.

Luckey: Norway did an armed forces recruiting commercial that put it better than almost anyone can. Soaring music — why do we need you to fly fighter jets? Why do we need you to man tanks? Why do we need you to become a precision marksman that can take out a guy at 10 kilometers? What are we hoping is going to happen? Nothing. Nothing. That's what we're hoping for.

Yeah, you're building things designed specifically to destroy ships, kill people, blow up tanks. But the people doing it are the ones most invested in making sure that doesn't happen. Your whole bet is that you spook the other guy so they never need to get used.

What are we hoping happens with all these weapons? Nothing. That's the whole point.

So Good the Other Guy Won't Step Over the Line

Luckey: I know everyone at my company — nobody's there saying 'I'm so stoked that my thing gets to kill people.' It's — I'm so stoked that I get to build the thing that is so good that the other guy is so terrified of it that he's not willing to step over that line.

People ask — what's the morality here? Do we really want to build tools that are so powerful? And I say — do you want NATO to have squirt guns or rifles? At some point you have to say we're not going to keep these dictators from expanding their power unless you meet them with credible threat of violence. It's the only language they understand.

I build the thing that is so good the other guy is so terrified he's not willing to step over that line.

We Don't Live at the End of History

Luckey: Pre-World War II, people were saying that economic entanglement on the European continent made war impossible. The end of history. Borders are fixed. War is an impossibility forever. Then World War II happened.

Pre-Ukraine, people told me the same thing — countries are so economically intermeshed through international trade, war is just impossible. The US military isn't needed when the United Nations can just write a sternly worded letter. Ukraine showed that was all bunk. We don't live at the end of history. There is still a lot to come.

People told me war was impossible because of economic ties. Ukraine showed that was bunk.

A Luxury Belief

Luckey: The people who think we don't need weapons and don't need a better military than Russia and China — they are only able to have that belief because there's so many people around them who understand what the real world looks like. It's a luxury belief. If everyone thought like they did, we'd be screwed overnight.

They're only able to have that opinion because Russia knows most Americans don't agree with them. God forbid those views ever become pervasive — because the second they do is the second China invades Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam. The list goes on.

It's a luxury belief. If everyone thought like they did, we'd be screwed overnight.