#2409 - Brian Redban
Joe Rogan and Brian Redban have a wide-ranging conversation about emerging technologies, politics, media manipulation, culture, comedy, and everyday life. They discuss quantum computing, AI, phones, drones, surveillance, and SpaceX, alongside U.S. politics, media bias around Donald Trump, war in Ukraine, drugs, gambling, porn and OnlyFans, and the future social impact of AI and virtual reality. They also talk about cars and racing, simulation theory, AIDS/AZT controversies, aging pets, and Redban's current creative projects using VR and AI-generated music.
How to empower the next generation of pilots | Refilwe Ledwaba
Airline and helicopter pilot and educator Refilwe Ledwaba shares her journey from flight attendant to becoming the first Black woman helicopter pilot in South Africa, highlighting how a supportive instructor redesigned training around her background and learning needs. She explains how those experiences inspired her to found Girls Fly Africa, which prepares young people-especially girls from rural and traditional communities-for careers in aviation and aerospace through information, skills training, financial support, networks, and long‑term mentorship. In a follow‑up conversation, she and TED Fellows Program Director Lily Jameson Olds discuss systemic barriers for women in aviation, the importance of community and role models, and her vision of normalizing women's presence in high‑level aviation roles.
#2394 - Palmer Luckey
Palmer Luckey discusses his path from building virtual reality headsets as a teenager and founding Oculus to running the defense technology company Anduril. He and the host explore VR's impacts, robot combat and training, UFOs and government secrecy, U.S. defense waste and reform, China's industrial and military buildup, as well as Anduril's autonomous weapons like AI fighter jets and the Eagle Eye augmented-reality combat helmet. They also delve into media manipulation, interspecies communication, uplifted animals, simulation theory, nostalgia in product design, and the ethics of working on advanced weapon systems.