On this edition of Your Call, national security journalist Sharon Weinberger discusses her new book, Valley of Death: How Big Tech is Fueling the Future of War.
She says as Silicon Valley billionaires like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Alexander Karp become the most powerful figures in the weapons industry, we are in the midst of a historic shift in which unelected tech oligarchs are shaping how – and which – wars are fought.
She writes: “the venture capitalists who fueled Silicon Valley’s tech boom have begun investing in hundreds of new military-focused companies — to the tune of almost $50 billion in 2025, a figure that appears set to increase rapidly. Those companies, in turn, are building everything from AI-controlled killer drones to hypersonic missiles. The leaders of many of these startups, and their funders, have opinions — not just about technology, but also about politics, the border, immigration, America’s enemies, birth rates, the way we should be waging war, and, crucially, whom we should be waging war against. These convictions, perhaps more than any other aspect of this story, are what make their rise to power so consequential — and so urgent.”
What does the Pentagon’s deepening relationship with Silicon Valley mean for the safety and security of people around the world?
Guests:
Sharon Weinberger, editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, former national security editor at the Wall Street Journal, author of numerous books, including The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency that Changed the World, Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon’s Scientific Underworld, and Valley of Death: How Big Tech is Fueling the Future of War
Resources:
Sharon Weinberger will be speaking at Book Passage in Corte Madera tonight at 6pm.
The New York Times: Opinion – Silicon Valley Was Right From the Start
Mother Jones: Killer AI Is Already Here. We’re Using It in Iran.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: The rise of the military-technology complex
Brown University: Costs of War – How Big Tech and Silicon Valley are Transforming the Military-Industrial Complex
