Accidental Exporters: How Britain Taught America to Guard Its Tech Secrets

2024-10-18

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In this episode I talk with Kate Epstein about her new book "Analog Superpowers: How a 20th Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State." Key points: - The book focuses on the development of fire control technology for battleships in Britain and how the U.S. essentially stole this technology. - The challenges of protecting military inventions through patents while maintaining secrecy. - The concept of "technology laundering" and how nations rewrite history to appear more...

In this episode I talk with Kate Epstein about her new book "Analog Superpowers: How a 20th Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State."

Key points:

- The book focuses on the development of fire control technology for battleships in Britain and how the U.S. essentially stole this technology.

- The challenges of protecting military inventions through patents while maintaining secrecy.

- The concept of "technology laundering" and how nations rewrite history to appear more innovative.

- Parallels are drawn between UK-US tech transfers in the early 20th century, US-Soviet dynamics during the Cold War, and current US-China tensions.

- The evolution of export control laws is discussed, tracing their origins from British influence to modern-day semiconductor restrictions.

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