Palmer Luckey on Hardware, Building, and the Next Frontiers of Innovation

Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril and Oculus VR, discusses hardware development, defense spending, and his outlook on the future. Luckey recounts Oculus' early challenges, including securing advanced screens from Samsung and overcoming cybersickness with 6DOF tracking. He shares the story behind selling Oculus to Facebook, driven by the promise of substantial R&D investment. Shifting to Anduril, Luckey explains the company's strategy of launching numerous products with small, focused teams and the importance of repelling the wrong talent. He critiques the U.S.'s defense spending and its approach to competing with China, advocating for leveraging unique American advantages. Luckey also touches on his new venture, a bank designed to offer secure, one-to-one banking services, and expresses optimism about technological progress driven by psychological and cultural shifts.