ChinaTalk

What exactly is quantum computing? Why does it matter, and what would it actually mean to “win” the quantum race? Zach Yerushalmi, CEO of Elevate Quantum, a Mountain West–based public-private consortium advancing the U.S. quantum ecosystem, and Chris Miller join the podcast to discuss.

Our conversation covers…


What Quantum Computing Actually Is — A primer on qubits, superposition, and why quantum computers aren’t “faster classical machines” but fundamentally different systems designed to simulate nature and solve specific classes of problems.


Why Quantum Matters Now — Breakthroughs in error correction and hardware have shifted quantum from theory to an engineering race, with major implications for drug discovery, materials science, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.


The Economic and National Security Stakes — Quantum’s potential impact on cryptography, advanced manufacturing, biotech, and defense makes it a strategic technology with an extremely small margin for error in global competition.


From Science Project to Industrial Policy Challenge — The bottleneck is no longer just physics but scaling. Talent pipelines, fabrication capacity, supply chains, and the kinds of public-private partnerships needed to move from lab prototypes to deployable systems.


What Winning Looks Like — Leadership isn’t just building the first powerful machine. It’s shaping standards, securing supply chains, protecting encryption, diffusing capabilities across industry, and sustaining innovation in a tight U.S.–China technological race.

Plus, the encryption stakes, the engineering bottlenecks, the race with China — and a reading list and job resources for those interested in the field.

Thanks to the Hudson Institute for sponsoring this episode.

Zach’s Quantum Technology Reading List:


Quantum Computing Fundamentals: But What Is Quantum Computing? by 3Blue1Brown


Quantum Computing Overview: The Map of Quantum Computing by Domain of Science


Quantum Sensing: Atomic Advantage: Accelerating U.S. Quantum Sensing for Next-Generation PNT by CNAS


The Quantum-Classical Divide: Are the Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics Beginning to Dissolve? by Philip Ball, Quanta Magazine (February 2026)


Systems Engineering Bottlenecks: Computer Science Challenges in Quantum Computing: Early Fault-Tolerance and Beyond by Jens Palsberg et al., IEEE Quantum Week (2025)

Further reading if curious:


When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut (2021)


Introduction to Special Issue on the Early History of Nuclear Fusion by M. B. Chadwick and B. Cameron Reed, Fusion Science and Technology (2024)

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We discuss…


Why Mythos is a Dr. Strangelove moment — and whether the better analogy is a nuke or a pandemic


Who gets the keys: Ukraine vs. South Korea vs. Japan vs. the Five Eyes, and why the Defense Production Act now looks likelier than the supply-chain-risk designation


The death of the patch model — and the return of air-gapped networks, mesh comms, and couriers shuttling classified work in person


Steve Feinberg's half-trillion-dollar portfolio, the rise of direct-reporting program managers, and why a Senate-confirmed deputy can now make American industry rise and fall

Hey God It's Dario song: https://suno.com/s/2d0u5eLbSyzDeDY3
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Caleb Watney (Institute for Progress) and Max Bodach (Foundation for American Innovation) on what the new breed of DC think tanks does differently and why the old model is broken.

We discuss:

Why "counterfactual policy impact" matters more than white papers and what's wrong with project-based funding

Cross-partisanship vs. picking sides: IFP pulls the rope sideways, FAI builds a big tent on the right

Vertical integration over specialization — the person who wrote the brief should be the one selling it on the Hill

Whether AI eats the think tank or just the parts that weren't working anyway

Timestamps

00:38 — Applied think tank vs. white paper mill

16:56 — Partisanship: FAI's conservative tent vs. IFP's cross-partisan design

37:09 — Why researchers should do their own comms and outreach

50:26 — Betting on young talent as policy entrepreneurs

57:56 — Will AI eat the think tank?

song: https://suno.com/s/I244K1rIpPdB6lO9

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Anthropic’s new model found decades-old vulnerabilities in foundational open-source code that millions of automated tests and countless human experts had missed, presaging a potentially revolutionary moment in cyber.

Ben Buchanan, former senior advisor for AI at the White House and author of The Hacker and the State, and Michael Sulmeyer, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, join the show to break it all down. Full disclosure: Ben advises Anthropic.

We discuss…


How Mythos found 27-year-old bugs in code everyone thought was secure


The offense-defense balance: whether a Ukraine with Mythos and a Russia without it changes the war


Project Glasswing and Anthropic’s attempt to build a private-sector vulnerabilities equities process


Why critical infrastructure patching is about to become a nightmare


What happens when ransomware gets vibe-coded


Why bio won’t be far behind

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Eric Robinson, Tony Stark , Justin Mc , and Secretary of Defense Rock join me to score the Iran conflict.

We discuss…


Whether Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll booth is a Trump card or a wasting asset


How the administration fumbled the messaging on the war’s most heroic moment — the JSOC pilot rescue deep inside Iran


The Prussia 1806 parallel: are we a great military machine that’s forgotten how to fight?


Colby’s bizarre knife fight with Pope Leo


McMasterism, dereliction of duty, and why no one is pushing back

song: https://suno.com/s/uGE7Es3ELd6r8ao5
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