How China Got Ahead—and How America Can Catch Up

America invented the solar cell, rare earth processing, and almost all the tech in a lithium battery. Then we shipped the factories overseas, and the crucial building know-how left with them.

The bill for this mistake is already coming due. When China cut off rare earth shipments last year, US automakers were forced to shutter their plants within weeks.

I’ve met nine founders who are making America build again.

I recently caught up with them to see how America can refine rare earths in a plant 10X smaller and cleaner than China’s … build a million drones a year … and get back in the race to mine asteroids.

Click the image to watch our conversations on outbuilding China.

In today’s episode you’ll hear:

• How biotech breaks China’s rare-earth monopoly. (13:00)

• The one lever that ends our battery dependence. (23:41)

• What crucial knowledge is locked in the heads of retiring engineers. (30:00)

• How Ukraine took the Black Sea without a Navy. (45:02)

• The new space race nobody is paying attention to. (49:22)

Click here to watch nine founders rebuild what we offshored. 

—Stephen McBride

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Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.

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