Hacker News Reader

Comment by david_shaw | Hacker News Reader

I don't have a subscription to The Economist, but I was interested in the concept of these organizations as "neo-primes."

I found an article on The Cipher Brief describing them: https://www.thecipherbrief.com/defense-neoprime-innovation

Specifically, the idea here is that companies like Anduril, Palantir, and SpaceX are rapidly delivering cutting-edge technology (including software) as opposed to the traditional defense contractor process of long, drawn out, super expensive projects mostly focused on hardware (such as building a new type of jet).

It makes sense: this is basically what happened in civilian tech, too. Delivering high-tech solutions quickly -- dare I say with agility -- is usually the superior approach.

View on HN

Basically it's a return to the pre-1990s model of defense iteration - dual use components constantly iterated on by newer challengers in direct competition or partnership with larger players.

This is a model most countries are working on now - from China to France to Russia to Ukraine to India to South Korea to ...

Also, for all of HN's moaning, this has bipartisan support in both parties. Based on my network, NatSec and Defense Policy roles haven't seen significant turnover irrespective of admin and those of us in the space are aligned with America irrespective of who's in the White House.

It's the same way how at SF Climate Week right now where plenty of founders in the space are taking conversations with VCs irrespective of political opinions. Climate and GreenTech is dual use, and even a couple European trade commissions have been working on introducing their startups here and helping them expand IP and R&D headcount IN the US. Clearly the overlap between pissy HNer and people doing s#it doesn't overlap as much anymore.

> Also, for all of HN's moaning, this has bipartisan support in both parties.

This misses the issue; no one is mad about improvements in process efficiency. People don’t like what the purchases will be used for.

It's DefenseTech.

It's used to threaten opponents that we can efficiently kill them while minizming our casualties. That's the point. And has always been the primary driver for most tech development.

You may hate it but you don't matter. We all do it no matter what.

A large portion of the commenters here only heard of Thiel because of Trump, and think the industry begins and ends with him. It does not.

> You may hate it but you don't matter. We all do it no matter what.

I've seen you say "you don't matter" in many of your comments. Why do you think like this? Sure, we don't matter much most of the time, but this kind of elitist thinking and decision-making is clearly leading to growing discontent, which can then be used against "people who matter". Perhaps the tools for controlling the masses are now powerful enough to make what you say true, but there's a chance your "let them eat cake" attitude will lead to the downfall of the people who currently matter.

If you check their profile you will see they are a VC. I’m sure they believe they are one of the masters of the universe, and by “you don’t matter” they mean other people, not themselves. They have money and power, so they get to matter.

> those of us in the space are aligned with America irrespective of who's in the White House

"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department"

Reply on news.ycombinator.com