As the creator and curator of Pessimists Archive, Louis Anslow has documented more tech hysteria than anyone else I know.

I recently caught up with Louis to discuss the “seven deadly cynics” that hold back every new technology—and how they threaten the future of AI.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• 7 groups working to kill the future

• Why fear-mongers never pay for being wrong

• How TikTok just leveled the playing field

• Why kids love tech (and elites hate it)

• This “pyramid of progress” beats pessimism

Please click here to watch my conversation with Louis Anslow now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

I’m grateful for innovators like Nathan Mintz.

As the co-founder of defense startups Epirus and CX2, Nathan is personally helping to modernize the US military’s electronics tech, using real-world insights from the war in Ukraine. As I like to say: The best way to avoid war is to be overwhelmingly prepared for it.

I recently caught up with Nathan to see how American innovation can adapt to this new era of asymmetric “electronic warfare.”

In our interview you’ll hear:

• How Ukraine snuck 117 drones into enemy territory

• Why even guided missiles now miss 95% of targets

• The invisible war raging across the electromagnetic spectrum

• An electronic warfare playbook that could save the US

• The “mothership” drone strategy nobody’s talking about

Please click here to watch my conversation with Nathan Mintz now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

America pioneered drone technology.

Yet 90% of the US drone market is cornered by one Chinese company. If that sounds like a national security nightmare, it is.

I recently caught up with Thayne Kollmorgen to see how America can reclaim dominance in the drone space—and how he’s targeting commercial drone use cases with his startup Thoron.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• The biggest issue for drone makers today

• Why China’s drone tech is 5-10 years ahead

• The “open-source honey trap” killing innovation

• Why our obsession with defense contracts backfired

• How drones will help save critical infrastructure

Please click here to watch my conversation with Thayne Kollmorgen now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

What if you had a real-time feed where you could see what’s happening anywhere on Earth? With enough clarity to read the proverbial license plate from space?

Imagine the ultimate source of intel for everyone from world governments and militaries to mining companies scouting their next claim from thousands of miles away.

It sounds like sci-fi… until you hear from Andrew Peterson, co-founder and CEO of space imaging startup Array Labs.

I recently caught up with Andrew to see how he’s revamping our decades-old radar imaging tech to build a live 3D map of the world.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• Andrew’s goal of a live, 3D map of Earth

• Why radar tech has stalled for decades

• How SpaceX made the impossible possible

• Why defense spending quickly snowballs

• Will Silicon Valley remain the center of innovation?

Please click here to watch my conversation with Andrew now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

Elon Musk built his 785,000-square-foot Memphis AI facility in just 122 days. That’s half the time it takes to build the average American single-family house.

Why can’t we build family homes as quickly, cheaply, and efficiently as Big Tech can build out a data center?

While most US homebuilders balk at solving the housing crisis through innovation…Cuby is bringing the tried-and-true assembly line philosophy to homebuilding.

I recently caught up with Cuby co-founder and COO Aleksandr Gampel to see how we go from crisis to having mobile, micro house factories across the world.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• Why housing costs are killing family formation

• How homebuilding fell behind every other industry

• Why the gigafactory model fails for housing

• Reduce skilled labor = reduce the cost

• The factory that can deploy anywhere

Please click here to watch my conversation with Aleksandr Gampel now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

I’ve long said that America’s nuclear renaissance is just beginning. Yet concerns over nuclear waste have terrified the public for decades.

According to Exodys Energy co-founder and CEO Carl Perez, reprocessing waste is not a safety problem—it’s a financial, social, and political one.

I recently caught up with Carl to discuss why recycling spent fuel is the key to unlocking America’s true nuclear power potential.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• Why waste costs will blindside reactor companies

• Can the US follow France’s recycling playbook?

• Why nuclear startups and legacy players will coexist

• The real reason reprocessing became controversial

• Carl’s dark horse pick in the SMR race

Please click here to watch my conversation with Carl Perez now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

Imagine never plugging in your phone for a week, flying to work in an electric air taxi from 100 miles away, or driving from Miami to Chicago on a single charge.

To get there, we need to maximize battery density.

I recently caught up with Ouros Energy founder and CEO Ethan Loosbrock to learn about his company’s state-of-the-art batteries—and imagine how a truly “cordless” future would be.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• Why China’s battery “dominance” isn’t as strong as it seems

• How to create batteries with 10X today’s energy density

• How our “flying car moment” will change everything

• The two factors that make or break a battery startup

• Is a microgrid or off-grid future viable?

Please click here to watch my conversation with Ethan now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

I’m obsessed with AI schooling. The old, one-size-fits-all classroom system grinds the joy out of learning. I’m determined to give my kids something better.

I recently caught up with Synthesis co-founder Chrisman Frank to see how he’s using AI to bring back the one-on-one tutoring style that aristocrats used for centuries—the method we’ve always known works best.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• How DARPA created the world’s best training program

• The inspiration taken from Musk’s SpaceX school

• How Synthesis builds problem-solving mindsets

• Why you have to let kids “hold the pen” to learn

• Escaping the “industrial education complex”

Please click here to watch my conversation with Chrisman now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

Nuclear startups are in a high-stakes sprint to be the first to flip the switch on a next-gen reactor and launch a new atomic golden age.

As Valar Atomics founder and CEO Isaiah Taylor puts it: “The only way that genuinely hard technologies have ever come into the world is through building them.”

I recently caught up with Isaiah to discuss how his team plans to win this race and bring abundant atomic energy to market.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• Why cheap energy = cheap food

• Will nuclear energy push down oil prices?

• Why regulations are settled in practice, not theory

• A generational divide for nuclear acceptance

• Valar’s three crucial safety design choices

Please click here to watch my conversation with Isaiah Taylor now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

America forgot how to build—and that’s exactly where opportunity lies. We are in the perfect moment for hungry young startups looking to disrupt how we shape, mold, and make the world’s products.

I recently caught up with Atomic Industries co-founder and CEO Aaron Slodov to discuss the reindustrialization of America…and how to revive lost manufacturing skills.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• The risks of a singular “world’s factory”

• Will there ever be a “Google” of manufacturing?

• Why energy is our biggest industrial bottleneck.

• How Atomic Industries is disrupting factory molding.

• What skills kids will need to thrive in reindustrialization.

Please click here to watch my conversation with Aaron Slodov now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

The panic over AI is nothing new. The Walkman, coffee, and chess (oh no!) sparked similar waves of fear.

I recently sat down with Pessimists Archive founder Louis Anslow to discuss the people who always fear new technology, and the only AI fear worth serious consideration.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• The “Frankenstein fallacy”

• The “Three P's” framework that predicts every tech panic in history

• How coffee sparked a moral panic and helped trigger the Enlightenment

• How to predict real tech risks more accurately

• Why Anglosphere elites are the most pessimistic about AI

Please click here to watch my conversation with Louis Anslow now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

Drones just got scary smart.

I recently caught up with Jason Lu, founder of Flyby Robotics, to discuss how they’re using AI to turn drones into "flying brains."

In our interview you'll hear:

• What Palantir is building with Flyby’s open platform drones

• How Flyby built a ‘zero Chinese parts’ supply chain

• Why AI swarms are going to be “massive”

• Jason’s top American drone companies to watch (other than Flyby!)

• How one person can now deploy advanced AI warfare systems “halfway around the world”

Please click here to watch my conversation with Jason Lu now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

The battlefield is going autonomous.

I recently sat down with Steve Simoni, co-founder and President of Allen Control Systems (and a former Navy nuclear engineer) to discuss how their AI-powered, autonomous Bullfrog turret is modernizing warfare… and why he calls it the ‘iPhone of turrets.’

In our interview you'll hear:

• What most investors misunderstand about robotics

• The two most important companies to watch in robotics

• Where anti-drone systems will soon enter the civilian world

• How the US could catch up with Chinese manufacturing

• Steve’s prediction for who will be the largest defense company in 3 years

Listen to my full interview with Steve Simoni by clicking here.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

Note: This interview is audio only. We’ll be back with a new Rational Optimist Podcast video next week.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

It pays to follow the SpaceX mafia…

Former SpaceX engineer Halen Mattison was working on Artemis III (America’s return to the moon) when he left to co-found General Galactic. I recently caught up with him to discuss how his company is revolutionizing space propulsion with water-based rocket fuel—and why we'll soon have gas stations on Mars.

In our interview you'll hear:

• What to expect from the coming ‘lunar economy’

• Why water-based propulsion is safer and cheaper than legacy systems

• How SpaceX will get you to space—then General Galactic will take you from there

• How a communications revolution could restore humanity’s attention span

• Halen’s speed round on everything from Starship to space solar power

Please click here to watch my conversation with Halen Mattison now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

The newest battlefield lasers seem to be straight out of Star Wars.

I recently sat down with Michael LaFramboise, CEO and co-founder of Aurelius Systems, to discuss how his company is revolutionizing battlefield defense with its portable, autonomous, battery-powered anti-drone lasers.

In our interview you'll hear:

• How they're building the "AK-47 version" of laser weapons

• How Ukraine's drone warfare is reshaping military thinking in real-time

• Why lasers will soon protect Super Bowls and presidential rallies

• Why future battlefields will be "mostly autonomous" but still need boots on the ground

• Why mirrors don't work against high-powered lasers, and what that means for drone defense

Please click here to watch my conversation with Michael LaFramboise now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

We’ve been doing school all wrong. What if kids could master their core academics in just two hours a day and score in the top 2% nationally?

The kids at Alpha School are doing just that. Without homework. And they love it.

I recently sat down with Jonathon Stewart from Alpha School to discuss how they’re using AI to condense ‘reading, writing and arithmetic’ it into learning sprints, freeing up hours each day for life skills and passion projects.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• How Alpha students learn 2.3X faster

• Why this model makes teachers more valuable

• How Alpha students spend less time on screens than kids in traditional schools

• How anyone can start using AI to teach their kids faster and more effectively

• Why Alpha high schoolers are excelling (hard to argue with a 1530 average SAT score)

Please click here to watch my conversation with Jonathon Stewart now.

A transcript of our conversation is available here.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

What if I told you we can turn sunlight and air into unlimited cheap fuel?

This isn’t another cleantech pipe dream. Terraform Industries has built a machine that does just that.

I visited Terraform’s Burbank factory in April. And I recently had another mind-blowing conversation with its CEO (and former NASA engineer) Casey Handmer, where he explained how this transformational tech works and his practical plan to scale it.

In our interview you’ll hear:

• How synthetic fuel could end energy poverty forever

• Why smart people still don’t believe in solar, and why they’re wrong

• How desalination could transform the American Southwest

• How solar fields can be 100X more economically productive than the best farmland

• Why Terraform’s technology will reshape geopolitics – including China’s relationship with Taiwan

Please click here to watch my conversation with Casey Handmer now.

—Stephen McBride

Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

America is in a scientific arms race with China, involving AI, quantum computing, military tech and even genetics.

Today we're speaking with Steve Hsu, a renowned physicist and entrepreneur whose work touches all these areas, to get his singular perspective on where America stands.

In our interview you'll hear:

• How China’s DeepSeek AI represents a "Sputnik moment" for American AI

• Who will benefit first from breakthroughs in quantum computing

• Why China’s military tech advances should terrify Pentagon planners

• Where AI still lags the smartest human scientists

• Steve’s take on whether quantum computing is investable now

Please click here to watch my conversation with Steve Hsu.

—Stephen McBride

We’re on the cusp of a genomics revolution. You’ve heard of the Human Genome Project, which took 13 years and nearly $3 billion to complete – just to read one person’s DNA.

Today we’re speaking with Kian Sadeghi, founder of Nucleus Genomics, which can now do the same thing with a simple $400 kit.

In our interview you'll hear:

• How genomics could solve America’s chronic disease epidemic

• Why 23andMe failed and how Nucleus Genomics is different

• How a simple cheek swab could prevent severe disease in millions of newborns

• Kian's predictions about mass global gene editing

• What to expect from the future of personalized medicine

Please click here to watch my conversation with Kian Sadeghi now.

—Stephen McBride

You’ve probably heard we’re in a new space race with China. And we’re not necessarily winning… China is working to send 50X more satellites into space than the US government.

I recently spoke with Apex Space founder Ian Cinnamon about how we fix that. Ian sold his first company to Palantir. Now he’s building core satellite parts faster and more efficiently than anyone.

In our conversation you'll hear:

* The key to winning the space race with China

* Why building satellites like Toyota builds cars could revolutionize national defense

* How "Golden Dome" could unite the country just like the Apollo missions

* The trillion-dollar opportunity in asteroid mining that "almost nobody is talking about"

* How the US can maintain its technological edge in space

Please click here to watch my conversation with Ian Cinnamon now.

—Stephen McBride

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rationaloptimistsociety.substack.com