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Carl Robichaud is the first person I go to on the topic of nuclear weapons. He has been working as a grantmaker and analyst of nuclear weapons policy for close to two decades. He co-leads nuclear security grantmaking at Longview Philanthropy, where I used to work as a media consultant. Prior to Longview, Carl led nuclear grantmaking for the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
We recently saw Oppenheimer together and decided to have a discussion about the film, the real history, and nuclear weapons more broadly.
This episode is being released on the 78th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. The Nagasaki bombing happened just three days later, after the Japanese emperor had already secretly decided to surrender. As we discuss, the fact that nuclear weapons have not been used in war in the nearly eight decades since should be seen as a remarkable achievement, or a sign of extreme luck.
We have a spoiler-filled discussion of the new film Oppenheimer and the real history until 31:12, in case you’d like to skip ahead.
We discuss:
Links:
33 - Habiba Islam on the Left and Effective Altruism
32 - Rutger Bregman on Why People Are Decent, Effective Altruism, and Causing Tucker Carlson’s Meltdown
31 - Alexander Zaitchik on How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines
30 - Tobias Leenaert on the Pragmatic Path to a Vegan World
29 - Conor Oberst on Bright Eyes, the Iraq War, protest music, and the music industry under socialism
28 - David Shor on Why Bernie Would Have Won in 2016- But Not in 2020
27 -Trevor Beaulieu on Champagne Sharks and Why Killmonger Was Right
26 - Ross Barkan on Running for Office and the Return of Socialism to New York
25 - Charlie Bresler on the Lives You Can Save
24 - Edgar Villanueva on Decolonizing Wealth
23 - Akash Mehta on why Andrew Cuomo is Not Your Friend
22 - Zach Roberts on Bloomberg's NYPD and Antifascist Journalism
21 - Malaika Jabali on Identity Politics and Myths About the Midwest
20 - Meagan Day on the Case for Bernie Sanders
19 - Ben Burgis on Reclaiming Logic for the Left
18 - Marcus Davis on Nuclear War, Invertebrate Sentience, and Foundational Research
17 - Rob Scott on Teaching College in Prison
16 - Andrés Gómez Emilsson on Solving Consciousness and Being Happy All the Time
15 - Matt Stoller on Fighting Monopoly Power and Why Obama Was Actually Bad
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