The Bill Walton Show
In this unsettling episode of The Bill Walton Show, national security expert Stephen Bryen returns to cut through the fog about Russia's game-changing hypersonic missile and what it means for U.S. security. As Joe Biden requests another $24 billion for Ukraine, Bryen reveals how Russia has achieved strategic superiority in missile technology - a capability we cannot match or defend against. Dr. Stephen Bryen, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, has over 50 years national security experience including many stints in the Pentagon where he became one of the world’s leading...
info_outline Episode 284: The CIA and FBI are Beyond RepairThe Bill Walton Show
When former CIA station chiefs admit that only 50 out of 1,500 clandestine service officers are truly effective, you know something's deeply wrong with our intelligence agencies. In this explosive conversation, Mike Waller, senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and author of "Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains," reveals how our premier intelligence agencies have lost their way - and what must be done to fix them. The timing couldn't be more critical. With Donald Trump proposing a new Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk and...
info_outline Episode 283: A Global War on Freedom: How the US Corporate Transparency Act and the EU Digital Services Act Threaten LibertyThe Bill Walton Show
In a riveting conversation with Peter Mcilvenna of the UK’s Hearts of Oak, we describe what may be the most aggressive US domestic surveillance program since the Patriot Act – and its disturbing connection to a global censorship agenda. The story that emerges isn't just about US regulation; it's about the systematic and coordinated dismantling of economic and expressive freedoms on both sides of the Atlantic. The New American Surveillance State Remember Reagan's famous warning that the nine most terrifying words were "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"? Today's version might...
info_outline Episode 281: Are We Passing the Israel TestThe Bill Walton Show
In this compelling and wide ranging episode of The Bill Walton Show, host Bill Walton engages with the great economic, technology and futurist thinker George Gilder to talk about his provocative book, The Israel Test. In The Israel Test George provides much needed context for today’s war in the Middle East. His theory about the root causes of the conflict dramatically reframes the issues and makes it clear why we need to support Israel in this defining moment in History. Despite comprising only 4% of the Middle East's land area, Israel has cultivated a preeminent high-tech economy,...
info_outline Episode 280: How to Conduct an Honest ElectionThe Bill Walton Show
It won’t be news to anyone that this upcoming election is fraught with many potential problems. Based on a new study by Just Facts, 10% to 27% of “non-citizen” adults in the U.S. are estimated to be illegally registered to vote. Aggressive attempts to debunk the study have completely failed. With roughly 20 million adult non-citizens living in the United States, about two to five million of who used to be called illegal aliens are now illegally registered to vote. This means that there are enough votes to overturn the votes of the American citizens in the upcoming congressional and...
info_outline Episode 279: The Case for TrumpThe Bill Walton Show
In this easy to listen to, charming, and informative episode of "The Bill Walton Show," host Bill Walton engages with Mercedes Schlapp and Matt Schlapp in a dynamic discussion about the pressing issues facing America today. Together, and with humor, they dig into the upcoming elections, economic priorities, and the shifting political landscape. Of course, as Trump supporters, the trio delves into critiques of Biden/Harris’ leadership, the importance of economic growth, and why minority communities are increasingly supporting conservative policies. They also highlight the work that CPAC has...
info_outline Episode 278: Stop trying to "Reform" Schools, Start Fresh with New Ways to Teach Our KidsThe Bill Walton Show
Public K12 education in the United States has become the largest government-controlled monopoly in the world, (other than the CCP controlled monopolies in China), spending nearing $1 trillion per year. And for all the money spent, it’s been a failure. In international tests, American eighth graders score 9th in reading, 16th in science, and 34th in math. With few other options granted other than attending their residentially assigned district public school most Americans cannot conceive that there are other alternatives to educate their children. School reform efforts are...
info_outline Episode 277: "NATO Taunts Russia" with Stephen Bryen and Brandon WeichertThe Bill Walton Show
"He who tries to defend everything defends nothing." ~ Frederick the Great of Prussia This episode examines the three explosive national security crises the United States and world are embroiled in today, any one of which could escalate into igniting a World War III. Ukraine/Russia, Israel/Hamas and Taiwan/China. Disturbingly, there’s a lot of sabre rattling with far too many politicians in both Europe and the United States engaged in reckless rhetoric. To provide cogent analysis and a healthy dose of sobering realism at a time when we face dire...
info_outline Episode 276: Is Technology a Force for Good or Evil?The Bill Walton Show
For the last 200 years, innovation and technology have produced dramatic increases in living standards and our quality of life. Yet today there is a widespread and growing belief that technology has become the root of all evils with all sorts of claims being made that it destroys privacy, spreads misinformation, undermines trust, and democracy, eliminates jobs, discriminates by race, and gender, increases inequality, rips off the consumer, harms children, and even threatens the human race. This is quite a bill of indictment! But is any of this true? Bill’s guests...
info_outline Episode 275: We won the Cold War and lost the peace : A Tour de Force with Erik Prince and Stephen BryenThe Bill Walton Show
Former Navy U.S. Seal and founder of the private military company Blackwater Erik Prince says that “We are fighting wars the wrong way.” Stephen Bryen is known as the “Yoda” of the Arms Trade. Time Magazine comments, “He knows every sinkhole in the regulatory swamp. Ignore him at your peril." He is also a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and founder of the Defense Technology Security Administration. This week, we are discussing Erik’s new paper “Too Big to Win: How the Military and Industrial Complex and the Neocons Keep America Losing.” One of the central questions...
info_outlineFor the last 200 years, innovation and technology have produced dramatic increases in living standards and our quality of life.
Yet today there is a widespread and growing belief that technology has become the root of all evils with all sorts of claims being made that it destroys privacy, spreads misinformation, undermines trust, and democracy, eliminates jobs, discriminates by race, and gender, increases inequality, rips off the consumer, harms children, and even threatens the human race.
This is quite a bill of indictment! But is any of this true?
Bill’s guests on this show, Rob Atkinson and David Moschella, believe this is mostly agenda driven bunk and have written a persuasive book to prove it.
“Technology Fears and Scapegoats: 40 Myths About Privacy, Jobs, AI, and Today’s Innovation Economy”
Robert D. Atkinson is the founder and president of ITIF, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, and author of many books including “Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage”
David Moschella is a nonresident senior fellow at ITIF and previously was head of worldwide research for IDC, the largest market analysis firm in the information technology industry.
“America's always flourished more than anybody else in the world,” declares Atkinson, “because we have had this underlying faith in innovation, in the future, in taking risks, in going forward into the unknown. And now, that's really at risk. People are saying things like, ‘Wait a minute, we shouldn't deploy facial recognition because it's racially biased’ or that ‘technology innovation has not improved the average worker's living standards.’”
“Well, both those statements are wrong. They are 100% myth.”
“As someone who grew up in the Boston area in the 60s and 70s,” says Moschella, “Massachusetts was considered a dead economy with no future. And then, this thing called the minicomputer was designed out of MIT, and created companies like Digital Equipment, and Prime, and Wang and all the others. And all of a sudden you had the so-called Massachusetts Miracle. People are forgetting these realities.”
Some of the most damaging myths stem from a deep-seated rejection of the Western capitalist system. But to gain traction for this agenda, anti-capitalists must first convince voters that the current system is failing, and a top target is technology driven innovation.
“Also, what’s happened is that some of the legitimate criticism of globalization has morphed into criticism of automation,” says Moschella.
“People didn't like globalization, but then said, ’Well, automation is really more the cause than globalization, and of course technology drives automation, so we can blame technology automation for the problems globalization has created.’’”
“I’ve actually heard members of Congress say, ‘The pace of change is so rapid and we have to slow it down,’ worries Rob.
“Now think about that. When has America ever said that? That the average person can't handle change. That it's too fast. We've got to slow things down.”
In this episode we also take on the myth that the pace of technological change is accelerating.
Compare current era to the early 20th century, which saw the introduction of transformative technologies like electricity, radio, automobiles, and airplanes. The perception of rapid change today is often skewed by the digital revolution's visibility, but in reality, the physical and infrastructural advancements of the past were probably more transformative.
America has shifted its focus from delivering technological wonders to preventing “harmful” change. Once widely seen as a savior of humanity, technology is increasingly used as a scapegoat for just about every societal ill.
But if we see innovation as a necessary force for good, with government’s role as a constructive enabler, there will be thoughtful innovation policies and more innovation
But if the dominant narrative is that technology is an out-of-control force for harm, there will be destructive policies and a stultifying future.
Agree or disagree, this conversation wanders into some interesting waters and challenges a lot of today’s conventional wisdom about technology.