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[lighthearted music plays]
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When did we all stop believing
that our government could do great things?
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-[marching band music plays]
-[man 1] That's one small step for man…
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You know, we only went
to the moon in the first place
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because we were locked in a Cold War
military competition with the Soviets.
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[man 1] …One giant screw you
to those Commie bastards.
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[evil laughter]
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But it was still one of the
greatest technological achievements
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in human history.
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You know, I used to idolize NASA as a kid.
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They were creating
the future right before our eyes.
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-Today though,
-[phone rings]
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none of us think of the
US government as a hotbed of innovation,
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more like a place where ideas go to die.
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After they filled out an F30
Idea Death Approval Form.
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Denied.
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-[sighs]
-Instead, today we idolize these guys.
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[phone startup sound plays]
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The Tech industry.
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We've brought you such
life-changing innovations as the iPhone,
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[crowd clapping, cheering]
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Google Maps, and
the little talking box that spies on you.
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[female voice 1] Searching the web
for the little talking box
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-that spies--
-Not now. Stop it.
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We've made the world a more connected,
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more efficient, and more expensive place,
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and we did it all by ourselves.
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[crowd clapping, cheering]
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That's the story
they tell, but is it true?
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You know, if we've
learned one thing on this show so far,
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it's that no one does anything alone.
I mean hell, this show has my name on it,
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but it literally took a team of people
just to help me get dressed this morning.
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Oh, thank you Bree.
I thought I had some schmutz. [scoffs]
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So has our government
really given up on innovating
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and just handed the
wheel of progress to these guys?
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Or is it still somewhere behind
the scenes mapping out our future?
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[old country and western
style music plays ]
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When was the last time
you were truly lost?
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For me, it was back in 2006,
when I was first doing stand-up.
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I used to literally print
out MapQuest directions
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and follow them religiously
to wherever the open mic was.
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If I made a wrong turn
I'd have to do my set wherever I wound up.
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To this day, I can still hear the lemurs
heckling me at the Bronx Zoo.
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-[lemurs heckling]
-[shudders]
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But I literally have not
gotten lost once in the last decade
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thanks to the single greatest
innovation in navigational technology
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in human history, GPS.
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That's right, fuck the compass.
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Hey!
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Get with the times kid!
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-[phone beeps]
-Argh!
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I mean, think about this thing.
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Any device with
a global positioning system receiver
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can tell you where
you are within a few feet,
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how fast you're going
within a fraction of a mile per hour,
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even what time it is within
a millionth of a second anywhere on Earth.
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But, you know what blows my mind?
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GPS wasn't created by Bill Gates
or Steve Jobs or Ask Jeeves.
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It was invented developed
and is still run to this day
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by the United States Federal Government.
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But why? Why would the government
invent something like GPS?
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[male voice] It was all
because of the Cold War.
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[wartime classical music plays]
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In 1957, two government scientists
were tuning in to the signal
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of the Soviet satellite, Sputnik
when they made an astonishing discovery.
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Drat! The Soviets have beaten us to space,
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and they filled it with
filthy communist beeping.
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But wait, if we measure the
changes in frequency of those beeps,
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we can determine where
Sputnik is and how fast it's going.
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And that means if we
launched our own satellites,
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then we could use their signals
to calculate our position on Earth,
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and that'll give our
GI Joes the upper hand.
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[sneers]
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Your beeping will be
your downfall, comrade Khrushchev.
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[whispered laughter]
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[male voice 1] The brave engineers
at the Department of Defense
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spent the next fifty years developing
and refining the GPS signal,
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miniaturizing receivers,
and launching satellites.
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The goal? Unbridled military might.
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GPS was a major advancement in warfare,
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revolutionizing everything
from reconnaissance,
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to search and rescue,
to missile targeting.
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Anything to send the
Pinko bastards running.
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But in the year 2000,
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the government opened access
to high grade GPS to civilian use.
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Today, 24 heroic government satellites
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tirelessly circle the globe,
creating a worldwide network that
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any device with a GPS
receiver can use for free.
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-It's a global public utility.
-[phones beeping]
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Paid for by your hard-earned tax dollars.
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Isn't America swell?
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Yes, we are.
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GPS has led to an economic
explosion in the private sector.
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We visionaries, no, luminaries,
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[chuckles] no, visionaries,
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in the tech industry have taken
these tiny, inexpensive GPS receivers
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and put them in just about everything.
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That's right,
your dog now has GPS thanks to us.
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We've used this technology
to change the world in countless ways.
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Google used GPS
to revolutionize navigation.
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Uber used it
to disrupt the taxicab industry
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right out of business.
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And Tinder uses GPS to make dating worse.
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Since the 1980s,
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GPS has generated
over 1.4 trillion dollars
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for American businesses.
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[pensive bass music plays]
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Isn't this incredible? I mean,
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some of the most
valuable companies in America
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were built on the back
of a government utility
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that we the public, paid to develop.
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You know, maybe that means
they shouldn't work so hard
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to get out of paying their taxes.
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Abba-baba-baba-baba-baba.
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Um, just so, you know,
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my private island is
a business expense, okay?
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It's where I dock my
work yacht. It's a work yacht.
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But, however you slice it,
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the return we're getting on
GPS as a society is incredible.
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I mean, this amazing utility
that has transformed our lives
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only cost the DOD two-tenths of a percent
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of its yearly budget to maintain.
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And despite that tiny cost,
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GPS is now embedded
into the fabric of our society.
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The power grid uses it
to direct electricity to your home.
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Stock exchanges use it
to time sensitive financial transactions,
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and cell phone towers
use it to route your calls.
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That means that even a minor glitch
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wouldn't just send me
back to MapQuest printouts,
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it could seriously
disrupt our entire society.
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So who's in charge of making sure
this vital system stays on course?
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-Hey, Adam.
-Oh, hi!
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HI, I'm Captain Rudico.
Welcome to Schriever Air Force Base.
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[Capt. Rudico] Let me take you
through security and show you around.
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[Adam] That'd be great.
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We're called the
Second Space Operations Squadron.
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And a lot of people don't realize
that our GPS constellation
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is command and controlled
from, um, two stops.
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Oh my-- We're gonna see where GPS is.
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Absolutely, where we send the
commands, how we command these satellites,
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that's where I'm showing you.
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-That is so cool.
-Yeah. Yeah!
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I'm struck by how much this like feels
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kind of like a normal office
building apart from the fact that
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if I go in the wrong place,
someone's gonna shoot me.
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Yeah, just wait till
you see the Ops floor.
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-Okay.
-[Capt. Rudico] Yeah.
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[Adam] This is a very serious door.
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Right behind here,
this one little operation center,
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we service six billion users.
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I can't believe we're gonna see this.
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-[Lt. Col.] Here we go. Come on in Adam.
-[Capt. Rudico] Alright.
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[Lt. Col.] Welcome to the GPS Operations
Center. This is the master control station
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where we fly all of our GPS satellites.
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[Adam] So the entire GPS
constellation is run from this room.
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-Absolutely. Yeah.
-[Adam] By these ten people.
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[Lt. Col.] These ten people provide this
service to everybody across the globe.
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It's usually a big surprise
for people to figure that out.
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-Yeah.
-Three past seven seven.
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Active now seven set
and cape A SS01 stead hill cycle subframe
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-SPDOBC two nav dump.
-[man 2] That's the order.
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[man 2] No windows. No cis.
No teepees. No conjunctions. Good six.
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So you folks here,
you're sending messages to the satellite
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to check on, it to adjust
to what it's doing, etcetera,
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and you're coordinating that from here.
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Exactly. And this gives us
command authority on the satellite.
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You actually have
command of the satellite right now?
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Yeah, as this is setting up.
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Wow. Can I ask you a personal question?
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-Sure.
-How old are you?
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-Twenty years old.
-Okay.
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When I was 20 years old, I was
a fucking dumbass, man. I couldn't have
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been doing this.
Is that a lot of pressure?
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Yeah I mean, I've gotten used to it.
But, yeah, if you think about it.
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[laughs]
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One of our oldest satellites
right now is about 23, 24 years old.
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You are younger than some of
the satellites that you are running?
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Yep.
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Incredible. Woah, what do we do next?
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Uh, well, we've already
sent a test command,
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so if you want, we're gonna have you…
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-Okay.
-this line down here,
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-type in that right there.
-Okay.
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[Lt. Col.Schriever] As you get ready
to send that test command,
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sixty-eight point seven billion
dollar GDP impact every year by GPS.
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-[Lt. Col.] All right? Don't mess it up.
-Okay.
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Could mess up a lot
of people's commutes right now.
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-That's an 'O' or a 'D'?
-That's an 'O'.
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00:10:01,393 --> 00:10:03,437
-Oh I know, I-- That was wrong.
-[Spc. Martin] Tap tap finger it.
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00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,190
Alright, I'm real--
Oh, caps lock is on, so
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when I press shift
it goes to lower ca-- Okay.
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I'm on top of it! I'm on top of it guys.
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Just tell me if the pressure is too much.
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[men laughing]
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00:10:15,032 --> 00:10:17,034
Alright. Was there-- That was a space.
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00:10:17,117 --> 00:10:18,327
-[Spc. Martin] Space okay?
-Okay.
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00:10:18,410 --> 00:10:21,288
-No space.
-No spa-- No space there?
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00:10:21,372 --> 00:10:23,207
Alright, that one's on you guys,
it looked like a space.
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00:10:23,290 --> 00:10:25,376
-Is this a 'D' or an 'O'?
-[man 3] That is an 'O', sir.
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Okay. So when I hit enter,
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this command goes to
one of those ground stations
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and then what,
it's beamed up to the satellite?
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00:10:33,509 --> 00:10:34,510
-Exactly.
-[man 3] Absolutely.
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And the satellite goes bleep-bleep
and sends something back down here.
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-[Lt. Col.] But before you hit 'enter,'
-Yes.
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you gotta get their permission.
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Yeah, he's the
verification for everything I send.
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[Adam] Okay. Good-- Good to send this?
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00:10:45,854 --> 00:10:47,648
-Yeah.
-[men laughing]
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00:10:47,731 --> 00:10:50,526
-Finally. Okay. Let's do it.
-[Spc. Martin] And…
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[Spc. Martin] Yep, just hit 'enter.'
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00:10:53,821 --> 00:10:55,239
[Spc. Martin] You'll see up
here in messages…
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-status pending. And…
-[Adam] Status pending…
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Command tra-- Miss--
Transmission complete!
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-There it goes. Yep.
-And you are admitted by one.
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00:11:01,745 --> 00:11:02,746
-[Lt. Col. Schriever] There we go.
-I did it!
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00:11:02,830 --> 00:11:04,873
[Lt. Col. Schriever] Now you've uh,
commanded a GPS satellite.
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00:11:04,957 --> 00:11:06,291
-[crowd clapping]
-[Adam] Thank you!
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00:11:06,375 --> 00:11:08,377
-[crowd laughing]
-[snorts]
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00:11:08,460 --> 00:11:10,629
-Okay. Now you're humoring me.
-[Lt. Col. Schriever] That only took… That
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only took five minutes longer than normal.
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00:11:12,631 --> 00:11:13,966
[Adam laughs gleefully]
223
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Thank you so much,
Kenny, really appreciate it.
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-My pleasure.
-Incredible.
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00:11:16,802 --> 00:11:18,303
Jus-- Wor… Work on your penmanship,
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that'll give everybody
an easier time in the future, thank you.
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00:11:21,098 --> 00:11:23,225
I'd like, uh, to introduce
you to Colonel Holston,
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00:11:23,308 --> 00:11:24,518
our Space Delta 8 Commander.
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00:11:24,601 --> 00:11:26,186
[excitedly ] Oh my God.
So nice to meet you.
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-You're in command here.
-Yes.
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Is there anything strange
to you about the fact that, like,
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00:11:30,566 --> 00:11:33,444
the civilian purpose is being
fulfilled by the US military?
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00:11:33,527 --> 00:11:35,779
I wouldn't have been surprised,
"Oh, the government's in charge of it,"
234
00:11:35,863 --> 00:11:39,116
but I would have thought, "Ah, NASA,
NOAA, one of those other agencies."
235
00:11:39,199 --> 00:11:40,659
Why the military for GPS?
236
00:11:40,742 --> 00:11:42,953
Yeah, absolutely. Because the start of GPS
237
00:11:43,036 --> 00:11:45,539
was really to be able to provide
our warfighters with understanding
238
00:11:45,622 --> 00:11:47,124
where are they in the battlefield.
239
00:11:47,207 --> 00:11:50,586
While it's extremely advantageous
to the government and the military,
240
00:11:50,669 --> 00:11:52,171
-has a lot of civilian use.
-Yeah.
241
00:11:52,254 --> 00:11:55,382
And so, really, the entire world
gets to benefit from these ten operators
242
00:11:55,466 --> 00:11:57,468
that are doing this
mission on a daily basis.
243
00:11:57,551 --> 00:12:00,512
And so it's an added
benefit for the entire globe.
244
00:12:00,596 --> 00:12:04,349
Now, so many tech companies
are like, making use of your signal
245
00:12:04,433 --> 00:12:07,603
to make money and to change,
you know, the world that I live in.
246
00:12:07,686 --> 00:12:09,146
A lot of times they're
taking the credit for that, right?
247
00:12:09,229 --> 00:12:10,522
They're sayi-- Like, Uber's like, "Ah,
248
00:12:10,606 --> 00:12:12,649
we revolutionized
transportation and all that."
249
00:12:12,733 --> 00:12:14,985
Does that ever grind your gears at all?
Like, be real with me a little bit.
250
00:12:15,068 --> 00:12:16,153
Are you ever sitting here going like,
251
00:12:16,236 --> 00:12:19,948
"No, we're doing it.
We invented this and nobody knows."
252
00:12:20,032 --> 00:12:22,409
You know, we work in
partnership with industry
253
00:12:22,493 --> 00:12:25,037
across government to
be able to provide that signal.
254
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:27,748
It is really one team
to be able to build the capability
255
00:12:27,831 --> 00:12:29,958
that we need to be able
to be the strongest, uh,
256
00:12:30,042 --> 00:12:31,376
the United States can provide.
257
00:12:31,460 --> 00:12:34,630
Yeah but, okay, that was
a wonderful political answer, but come on,
258
00:12:34,713 --> 00:12:38,967
when you are using your cellphone
and you're looking at that little dot,
259
00:12:39,051 --> 00:12:40,969
you look at that and you go like,
"I'm doing that," don't you?
260
00:12:41,845 --> 00:12:42,763
Hell yeah.
261
00:12:42,846 --> 00:12:44,348
[Adam laughs gleefully]
262
00:12:44,431 --> 00:12:47,726
-I love it. Thank you so much.
-Alright, thank you. Appreciate it, Adam.
263
00:12:47,809 --> 00:12:49,645
Wow. [chuckles]
264
00:12:49,728 --> 00:12:52,648
You know, I'll be honest,
until we started working on this show,
265
00:12:52,731 --> 00:12:57,402
I had no idea that every time
I use GPS to find a Starbucks to poop in,
266
00:12:57,486 --> 00:12:59,821
I'm doing it using military satellites.
267
00:12:59,905 --> 00:13:01,823
I mean, what about
the rest of my technology?
268
00:13:01,907 --> 00:13:03,325
My phone? My laptop?
269
00:13:03,408 --> 00:13:06,078
Is my Roomba a pawn
of the military-industrial complex?
270
00:13:06,161 --> 00:13:09,122
-[Roomba whirling]
-[gasps]
271
00:13:09,206 --> 00:13:13,919
Well, we looked into it,
and the answer turns out to be… yeah.
272
00:13:14,002 --> 00:13:16,171
Because of DARPA.
273
00:13:16,255 --> 00:13:18,006
You may not have heard of DARPA,
274
00:13:18,090 --> 00:13:21,552
but your world would be
unrecognizable without it.
275
00:13:21,635 --> 00:13:24,012
It's a secretive agency
within the US government
276
00:13:24,096 --> 00:13:28,809
that invests in far-out research
to push the limits of future technology.
277
00:13:28,892 --> 00:13:33,188
It's kind of like the government's version
of, uh, Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.
278
00:13:33,272 --> 00:13:37,317
But, just like the movie,
it has a serious dark side.
279
00:13:37,401 --> 00:13:40,654
-[comical music plays]
-Hello. I'm Danny Darpa.
280
00:13:40,737 --> 00:13:42,489
Right this way, little boy.
281
00:13:42,573 --> 00:13:43,782
Okay, I'm 38.
282
00:13:43,865 --> 00:13:47,661
Hoo! 38 months, you are big baby.
283
00:13:48,245 --> 00:13:50,747
[crystals twinkling]
284
00:13:52,165 --> 00:13:55,168
♪ Come with me and you'll be ♪
285
00:13:55,252 --> 00:13:59,590
♪ In a world of pure tech innovation ♪
286
00:13:59,673 --> 00:14:02,092
[Danny Darpa] Behold our creations, child!
287
00:14:02,759 --> 00:14:07,431
It was DARPA funded research
that the world such wonders as lasers,
288
00:14:07,514 --> 00:14:11,393
weather satellites,
and graphical user interfaces.
289
00:14:11,476 --> 00:14:14,479
[classical fairytale music plays ]
290
00:14:17,733 --> 00:14:20,902
We even had a hand
in the most transformative innovation
291
00:14:20,986 --> 00:14:22,279
of the last century.
292
00:14:22,362 --> 00:14:24,615
The Instant Pot? Oh, no, the regular pot.
293
00:14:24,698 --> 00:14:25,824
Shh.
294
00:14:25,908 --> 00:14:27,034
They're about to perform.
295
00:14:27,117 --> 00:14:29,453
[classical music plays]
296
00:14:29,536 --> 00:14:33,624
♪ Arpa darpa larpa dee det ♪
297
00:14:33,707 --> 00:14:37,461
♪ Without us there'd be no Internet ♪
298
00:14:37,544 --> 00:14:43,175
-[loud beeping]
-[robots glitching]
299
00:14:45,802 --> 00:14:48,889
Yes, what normies know as "the Internet,"
300
00:14:48,972 --> 00:14:54,186
descends directly from a
DARPA project called the Arpanet.
301
00:14:54,269 --> 00:14:57,773
It was the first network that linked
many different kinds of computers
302
00:14:57,856 --> 00:15:00,484
together across vast distances.
303
00:15:00,567 --> 00:15:05,989
And it grew and grew,
until it became the globe-spanning,
304
00:15:06,073 --> 00:15:11,536
world-changing, supermatrix that
you are using to watch this right now.
305
00:15:15,540 --> 00:15:19,503
We even provided the initial funding
for some of your favorite tech products.
306
00:15:19,586 --> 00:15:24,091
The company that makes Roomba wouldn't
even exist without Daddy Darpa's dollars.
307
00:15:24,675 --> 00:15:28,553
And Apple, [spits]
people think Apple invented Siri.
308
00:15:28,637 --> 00:15:30,555
Wrong sir! Wrong!
309
00:15:30,639 --> 00:15:32,808
Hey Siri, who is your true father?
310
00:15:32,891 --> 00:15:35,143
[Siri] I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that.
311
00:15:35,227 --> 00:15:37,354
[shouts] Are you ashamed of your roots?!
312
00:15:37,437 --> 00:15:39,272
[Siri huffs] Sorry, Papa.
313
00:15:39,356 --> 00:15:43,360
I was developed at
a DARPA funded lab called SRI.
314
00:15:43,443 --> 00:15:47,322
Licensed to a private
company then sold to Apple in 2010.
315
00:15:47,406 --> 00:15:48,991
See, we in the government
316
00:15:49,074 --> 00:15:52,786
are able to spur innovation
in ways the private sector can't.
317
00:15:52,869 --> 00:15:57,749
[mockingly] Those cowardly capitalists
have to focus on short-term profits to
318
00:15:57,833 --> 00:15:59,710
keep their shareholders happy.
319
00:15:59,793 --> 00:16:05,507
But we at DARPA are
unencumbered with such petty concerns.
320
00:16:05,590 --> 00:16:10,012
We are free to take
big risks on wild ideas
321
00:16:10,095 --> 00:16:12,014
that may not pan out for decades.
322
00:16:12,597 --> 00:16:15,934
Why, GPS took us
half a century to develop.
323
00:16:16,018 --> 00:16:20,063
[angrily] I'd like to see the little
mayflies in Silicon Valley try that!
324
00:16:22,107 --> 00:16:23,066
[awkward music plays]
325
00:16:23,150 --> 00:16:25,736
You know, it's fine.
326
00:16:25,819 --> 00:16:28,447
We actually love
our corporate partnerships.
327
00:16:28,530 --> 00:16:31,867
It would just be nice
if we got a little more appreciation.
328
00:16:32,784 --> 00:16:35,495
Today, we continue to explore the
329
00:16:35,579 --> 00:16:39,499
technical frontiers of
the future like autonomous vehicles,
330
00:16:39,583 --> 00:16:43,837
brain-computer interfaces,
and even remote-controlled insects.
331
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:46,298
[insects buzzing]
332
00:16:47,924 --> 00:16:51,428
Whoops, that one still has some kinks.
333
00:16:52,345 --> 00:16:54,264
Anyway, on with the tour.
334
00:16:56,475 --> 00:16:58,268
Amazing, isn't it?
335
00:16:58,351 --> 00:17:02,064
[sighs] But there's something else
you should know about DARPA.
336
00:17:04,608 --> 00:17:08,153
[chair booting]
337
00:17:08,236 --> 00:17:11,990
DARPA stands for
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency,
338
00:17:12,074 --> 00:17:14,159
as in military defense.
339
00:17:14,242 --> 00:17:18,371
All that super cool tech was really just
a side effect of DARPA's actual mission
340
00:17:18,455 --> 00:17:21,875
to build and maintain
American military superiority.
341
00:17:21,958 --> 00:17:26,004
♪ All the tech that you devour ♪
342
00:17:26,088 --> 00:17:29,966
♪ Came from our quest for fire power ♪
343
00:17:30,050 --> 00:17:34,137
Yes, just like
the Moon landing, GPS, and Rocky 4,
344
00:17:34,221 --> 00:17:36,890
DARPA was born of the Cold War.
345
00:17:36,973 --> 00:17:39,935
It was our government's
competition with the Soviet Union
346
00:17:40,018 --> 00:17:42,437
that led it to pour massive resources
347
00:17:42,521 --> 00:17:45,857
into developing new military
and weapons technology.
348
00:17:45,941 --> 00:17:49,486
♪ M-16s to win the wars and ♪
349
00:17:50,153 --> 00:17:53,824
♪ DARPA created Agent Orange ♪
350
00:17:53,907 --> 00:17:58,411
That's right. DARPA is
responsible for Agent Orange.
351
00:17:58,495 --> 00:18:02,165
A chemical defoliant
our military used during the Vietnam War,
352
00:18:02,249 --> 00:18:04,543
which caused cancer, birth defects,
353
00:18:04,626 --> 00:18:09,005
and the deaths of as many as
400,000 Vietnamese citizens.
354
00:18:09,089 --> 00:18:11,258
American soldiers who were exposed to it,
355
00:18:11,341 --> 00:18:14,344
later developed leukemia
and Hodgkin's Disease,
356
00:18:14,427 --> 00:18:16,930
and children three generations removed
357
00:18:17,013 --> 00:18:19,891
are still being born
today with birth defects
358
00:18:19,975 --> 00:18:21,852
because of Agent Orange exposure.
359
00:18:22,811 --> 00:18:25,814
The same government agency
that brought us the Internet,
360
00:18:26,481 --> 00:18:27,440
did all this.
361
00:18:27,524 --> 00:18:30,735
♪ Come with me and you'll be ♪
362
00:18:30,819 --> 00:18:35,365
[yelling]
♪ In a world of warfare devastation ♪
363
00:18:36,741 --> 00:18:40,287
[birds chirping]
364
00:18:41,329 --> 00:18:42,247
Ah--
365
00:18:42,789 --> 00:18:45,667
You know what I've always
found strangest about new technology?
366
00:18:46,418 --> 00:18:50,422
You can never quite be
sure how it'll change the world.
367
00:18:50,505 --> 00:18:53,425
Like when the defense
department launched those GPS satellites,
368
00:18:53,508 --> 00:18:57,012
they had no idea that one day
we'd use them to deliver burritos.
369
00:18:57,095 --> 00:18:58,138
[chuckles]
370
00:18:58,221 --> 00:19:00,098
It's a Pandora's Box,
371
00:19:00,182 --> 00:19:02,976
and there's no better
example of this than drones.
372
00:19:04,436 --> 00:19:07,480
[Adam] Drones are one of the
most useful gadgets of the decade,
373
00:19:07,564 --> 00:19:10,192
democratizing the skies for millions.
374
00:19:10,275 --> 00:19:13,570
They're used by ranchers,
search and rescue teams, hobbyists,
375
00:19:13,653 --> 00:19:17,532
and videographers,
yet drones also make people nervous.
376
00:19:17,616 --> 00:19:20,202
Because while they've gotten
us some beautiful wedding shots,
377
00:19:20,285 --> 00:19:22,996
that's not the only
kind of shot they take.
378
00:19:23,914 --> 00:19:27,000
The GoPros with wings
you get at the big box store,
379
00:19:27,083 --> 00:19:29,586
were actually built on
engineering advances
380
00:19:29,669 --> 00:19:31,463
DARPA and our government made
381
00:19:31,546 --> 00:19:35,675
when they were developing another
breakthrough military technology…
382
00:19:35,759 --> 00:19:38,136
[sinister music plays]
383
00:19:38,220 --> 00:19:39,638
The combat drone.
384
00:19:39,721 --> 00:19:41,640
[drone whirring]
385
00:19:41,723 --> 00:19:45,101
Predator and Reaper drones
can be operated from bases
386
00:19:45,185 --> 00:19:47,562
thousands of miles away by pilots
387
00:19:47,646 --> 00:19:50,815
who can see what
the drone sees in real time.
388
00:19:51,441 --> 00:19:53,360
Now It's obvious
why you'd want such a thing.
389
00:19:53,443 --> 00:19:55,695
There's no need to risk
an American pilot's life
390
00:19:55,779 --> 00:19:58,031
by physically sending them into combat.
391
00:19:58,114 --> 00:20:00,867
I'd obviously prefer
this Robo-plane to get shot at
392
00:20:00,951 --> 00:20:02,244
than my neighbor's kid.
393
00:20:02,327 --> 00:20:03,662
[warning sounds]
394
00:20:05,622 --> 00:20:06,623
Oof.
395
00:20:06,706 --> 00:20:07,916
Better it than you.
396
00:20:08,500 --> 00:20:12,837
But, what are the unintended
consequences of an invention like this?
397
00:20:13,546 --> 00:20:17,884
If you don't have to risk
an American life to order an airstrike,
398
00:20:17,968 --> 00:20:21,179
does that create an
incentive to order them more often?
399
00:20:21,972 --> 00:20:25,684
Do technologies
that make it easier for us to kill
400
00:20:25,767 --> 00:20:27,811
mean that we kill more often?
401
00:20:28,687 --> 00:20:32,232
Well, the answer so far has been yes.
402
00:20:33,233 --> 00:20:37,028
Over the past 20 years, our
drone fleet has grown from around 50
403
00:20:37,112 --> 00:20:39,698
to close to 11,000.
404
00:20:39,781 --> 00:20:43,702
And under the Obama Administration,
drone strikes increased tenfold.
405
00:20:44,452 --> 00:20:46,621
During the war on terror, our government
406
00:20:46,705 --> 00:20:50,292
even began using them
to surveil and assassinate people
407
00:20:50,375 --> 00:20:53,086
in countries where
we weren't even officially at war.
408
00:20:54,296 --> 00:20:56,506
According to the
Bureau of Investigative Journalism
409
00:20:56,589 --> 00:20:59,009
between 2010 and 2020,
410
00:20:59,092 --> 00:21:02,679
14,000 US drone strikes in covert actions
411
00:21:02,762 --> 00:21:06,266
killed as many as 2,200 civilians.
412
00:21:06,349 --> 00:21:08,393
[drones whirring]
413
00:21:08,476 --> 00:21:11,062
Strikes that likely
never would have been ordered
414
00:21:11,146 --> 00:21:12,731
if drones hadn't been invented.
415
00:21:13,565 --> 00:21:15,817
[ominous music plays]
416
00:21:15,900 --> 00:21:19,654
And DARPA is now
working on autonomous weapons,
417
00:21:19,738 --> 00:21:23,199
A.I. fighter jets that can
beat any human in a dogfight,
418
00:21:23,283 --> 00:21:27,787
and robots that can roam the
battlefield without human intervention.
419
00:21:27,871 --> 00:21:30,248
I mean, that thing
is halfway to a Terminator
420
00:21:30,332 --> 00:21:32,083
or all the way to a WALL-E,
421
00:21:32,167 --> 00:21:34,669
which is cuter, but still terrifying.
422
00:21:34,753 --> 00:21:38,673
What kind of a future world
is this technology creating?
423
00:21:38,757 --> 00:21:41,843
Well, to find out,
we were going to go see these in person,
424
00:21:41,926 --> 00:21:44,012
but DARPA canceled on us last minute
425
00:21:44,095 --> 00:21:47,390
after they told us the entire
program had suddenly been classified.
426
00:21:47,474 --> 00:21:49,225
-[power cuts off]
-Good day sir.
427
00:21:49,309 --> 00:21:50,310
Okay, but it would've been
a really good segment.
428
00:21:50,393 --> 00:21:52,145
[yells] I said good day!
429
00:21:54,606 --> 00:21:57,609
I really struggled
with how to feel about this.
430
00:21:58,485 --> 00:22:00,820
I mean, our government's
incredible innovations
431
00:22:00,904 --> 00:22:03,740
have transformed my life for the better,
432
00:22:04,449 --> 00:22:09,371
but they've also hurt or
destroyed the lives of so many others.
433
00:22:10,497 --> 00:22:12,415
Did it have to be that way?
434
00:22:12,499 --> 00:22:16,669
Did we have to invent Agent Orange
just to get to play Pokémon Go?
435
00:22:17,295 --> 00:22:19,464
Did our government's greatest inventions
436
00:22:19,547 --> 00:22:22,217
have to be born
out of the barrel of a gun?
437
00:22:24,302 --> 00:22:30,100
You know, it was our tax dollars
that put the GPS satellites in the sky,
438
00:22:30,183 --> 00:22:32,227
that sent a human to the Moon.
439
00:22:32,310 --> 00:22:36,523
Hell, even Tesla got its start with a
half-billion-dollar loan from the public.
440
00:22:36,606 --> 00:22:40,735
What? No!
I'm completely self-made, I swear.
441
00:22:40,819 --> 00:22:44,197
This is-- It's not… even for me.
442
00:22:45,907 --> 00:22:50,245
Billionaires in turtlenecks
don't decide what the future holds.
443
00:22:50,328 --> 00:22:52,372
We all do, together.
444
00:22:53,164 --> 00:22:57,377
So if you were to imagine
the ideal future for yourself
445
00:22:57,460 --> 00:22:58,503
and for our country,
446
00:22:59,087 --> 00:22:59,963
what would it look like?
447
00:23:00,713 --> 00:23:04,467
Would it be full of bigger,
blastier weapons and robot armies?
448
00:23:04,551 --> 00:23:06,427
Yee-haw! [laughs]
449
00:23:06,511 --> 00:23:08,555
Die robot varmint!
450
00:23:08,638 --> 00:23:10,223
[shots fired]
451
00:23:10,807 --> 00:23:15,728
Or is it one where we devote
our government's immense innovative power
452
00:23:15,812 --> 00:23:21,276
to solving our biggest challenges
like climate change, hunger, or--
453
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:25,363
-[crowd coughing]
-Uh-oh.
454
00:23:25,446 --> 00:23:28,408
[ominous music plays]
455
00:23:33,621 --> 00:23:37,959
[lighthearted music plays]