Richard Rhodes — The making of the atomic bomb

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

May 23, 2023

Duration

2h 37m

Channel

Dwarkesh Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Richard Rhodes

  guest

• Dwarkesh Patel

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Dwarkesh Podcast, featuring Richard Rhodes and Dwarkesh Patel, Richard Rhodes — The making of the atomic bomb explores richard Rhodes on nuclear weapons, deterrence, and unintended consequences explored Pulitzer-winning historian Richard Rhodes discusses the scientific, political, and moral history of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, from early nuclear physics to the Manhattan Project and the Cold War arms race.

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