Richard Rhodes — The making of the atomic bomb

It was a tremendous honor & pleasure to interview Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
We discuss
- similarities between AI progress & Manhattan Project (developing a powerful, unprecedented, & potentially apocalyptic technology within an uncertain arms-race situation)
- visiting starving former Soviet scientists during fall of Soviet Union
- whether Oppenheimer was a spy, & consulting on the Nolan movie
- living through WW2 as a child
- odds of nuclear war in Ukraine, Taiwan, Pakistan, & North Korea
- how the US pulled of such a massive secret wartime scientific & industrial project
Watch on YouTube (youtu.be/tMdMiYsfHKo). Listen on Apple Podcasts (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/richard-rhodes-m…), Spotify (open.spotify.com/episode/30sLG3txRdRsuGFPenOUb…), or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here (dwarkeshpatel.com/p/richard-rhodes). Follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp) for updates on future episodes.
Timestamps
(0:00:00) - Oppenheimer movie
(0:06:22) - Was the bomb inevitable?
(0:29:10) - Firebombing vs nuclear vs hydrogen bombs
(0:49:44) - Stalin & the Soviet program
(1:08:24) - Deterrence, disarmament, North Korea, Taiwan
(1:33:12) - Oppenheimer as lab director
(1:53:40) - AI progress vs Manhattan Project
(1:59:50) - Living through WW2
(2:16:45) - Secrecy
(2:26:34) - Wisdom & war

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