It was a tremendous honor & pleasure to interview Richard Rhodes, 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

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒
* Transcript: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/richard-rhodes
* Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/45tJTRa
* Spotify: https://bit.ly/3BSiTNM
* Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
00:00:00 - Oppenheimer movie
00:06:22 - Was the bomb inevitable?
00:29:10 - Firebombing vs nuclear vs hydrogen bombs
00:49:44 - Stalin & the Soviet program
01:08:24 - Deterrence, disarmament, North Korea, Taiwan
01:33:12 - Oppenheimer as lab director
01:53:40 - AI progress vs Manhattan Project
01:59:50 - Living through WW2
02:16:45 - Secrecy
02:26:34 - Wisdom & war