Today, the GoodFellows invite you to attend their first-ever live taping before a public audience; H.R. McMaster speaks with a former prime minister of Denmark and NATO secretary general about the health of the US-European alliance; and Allison Okamura explains where policy shifts could help secure American leadership and supply-chain security in the field of robotics.
GoodFellows Live Show
The Hoover Institution invites you to join us for a special in-person taping of GoodFellows the evening of Wednesday, April 22, at Hoover’s Hauck Auditorium. Economist John H. Cochrane, historian Niall Ferguson, and geopolitical strategist and scholar H.R. McMaster, along with moderator Bill Whalen, will explore why the founding ideas and documents of the United States have safeguarded liberty and advanced human prosperity for 250 years. This live taping brings the GoodFellows conversation from the studio to the public stage for the first time, offering a rare opportunity to experience the show in person. We’ll also have limited-edition GoodFellows merchandise available for purchase (via credit or debit card only!) on site. During the registration process, you can submit a question for the GoodFellows that may be discussed during a portion of the event.
We have already registered more guests than we can seat inside the main venue. Seating will be available on a first-come basis and overflow seating will be available outside the auditorium. All attendees will have the opportunity to purchase merchandise while supplies last. Learn more and register here.
International Affairs
On a new episode of Today’s Battlegrounds, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former prime minister of Denmark, speaks with Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster about the current state of international security, the prospects for the US-Danish relationship, and the health of NATO and the transatlantic alliance as wars continue in Ukraine and the Middle East. Reflecting on the current geopolitical landscape, Rasmussen assesses the risks of Western hesitation in Ukraine and how serious a threat Putin’s shadow war against Europe is to broader European security. He offers his views on geostrategic competition and the self-inflicted weaknesses of the axis of aggressors in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Rasmussen and McMaster then turn to the war in the Middle East from the perspective of Europe before discussing how both the US and NATO allies can reverse recent erosions of trust. Watch or listen here.
Technology Policy
The promise of robotics is coming into focus, says Senior Fellow Allison M. Okamura, but there are many needs that must be met for the United States to pull ahead in this technology. These include tax incentives for investment and production, research grants, and a deep look into how robots will change and displace jobs, she says in an interview. Beyond that, the field of robotics needs access to vast amounts of developmental data, similar to the troves of data that have been used to train AI, according to Okamura. And, as with other technological fields, robotics has an unhealthy dependence on a supply chain that’s vulnerable to disruption—a flaw that could be addressed by boosting exploration and domestic manufacturing, the Stanford engineering professor says. Read more here.
Artificial Intelligence
Across history, “industries have repeatedly built cross-company governance structures when they recognized that any single member’s failure could threaten the legitimacy of the entire sector,” writes Senior Fellow Andrew B. Hall at his Substack. “After Three Mile Island,” Hall explains, “every nuclear utility in the United States joined the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, recognizing that a meltdown at any one plant would produce a political backlash against all of them.” Hall reviews this history in light of the recent announcement by AI firm Anthropic of its “Glasswing” initiative intended to apply the expertise of more than 50 industry partners “to test and vet [new AI models] before public release.” Noting the promise of the Glasswing idea, Hall concludes that an “institutional design” featuring more binding commitments on the company, while remaining pro-innovation, will be key to its future success as a guard against nationalization of AI companies. Read more here.
Revitalizing History
The Philippines’ language system emerged from a long history of colonial rule, internal diversity, and the growing dominance of English in education and economic life. As English became more closely tied to mobility and overseas employment, Filipino and indigenous languages lost institutional ground, with serious consequences for national cohesion and long-term development. In this short video, Hoover History Lab student participant Mikey Tupaz argues that constitutional reform and stronger mechanisms for enforcing language policy in the Philippines offer a path to protecting national heritage while preserving the practical advantages of English proficiency. Watch here.
Related Commentary