“Stopping Police Shootings with Revolutionary Tech w/ Rick Smith” — Moonshots EP #43
Episode summary
Diamandis interviews Rick Smith, founder and CEO of Axon (maker of Taser), about the company’s moonshot to cut gun-related deaths between police and the public by 50% by 2032. Smith recounts the 30-year journey from two guys in a garage to a $16B public company, including seven years on the verge of bankruptcy before the technology worked. The conversation covers the science behind non-lethal electrical weapons (pig muscle-tissue experiments that cracked effective waveforms), the pivot from consumer to law enforcement markets, and the new Taser 10 — a 10-shot, reloading platform that approaches pistol reliability. Smith also discusses Axon’s drone and AI body-cam technology for first-responder workflows, and a longer-term “Mars shot” to reduce gun deaths in the general public.
Key arguments / segments
- [00:01:00] Introduction: Rick Smith’s moonshot — reduce police/public gun deaths by 50% by 2032
- [00:06:00] Origin story: two friends killed in road rage shooting; Smith cold-called NASA scientist Jack Cover who invented the original Taser concept
- [00:10:00] Seven years of failure: three products across three companies failed before pivoting to police market
- [00:12:00] The science breakthrough: pig muscle-tissue experiments at University of Nebraska revealed the original Taser was far too weak; led to 100+ patents
- [00:20:00] Turning point: former Marine head of hand-to-hand combat became first human volunteer; crossed the country demoing to police in a Winnebago
- [00:28:00] Taser 10: 10-shot magazine with reloading — first non-lethal weapon approaching pistol parity in reliability
- [00:30:00] Moonshot framing: Smith credits Abundance 360 for sharpening the goal from vague mission to measurable 50%-reduction target
- Drone-first-responder technology: autonomous drones responding to 911 calls before officers, de-escalating via loudspeaker and camera
Notable claims
- Gun deaths between police and public exceed 1,100/year and rise ~3% annually
- 72% of police-related shootings could be avoided using non-lethal Taser + drone technology
- Taser 10 injury rate (3 per 1,000 uses) is lower than collegiate volleyball injury rates
- Axon’s moonshot is a stepping stone to a broader “Mars shot” of reducing gun deaths in the general public via consumer non-lethal alternatives
Bias / sponsor flags
- AG1 (Athletic Greens) mid-roll ad read by Diamandis
- Smith is founder/CEO of the company being discussed — entire episode is effectively a long-form product/mission showcase
- Diamandis is a personal friend and Abundance 360 community member of Smith; mutual promotion dynamic
RDCO relevance
Low direct relevance. Non-lethal weapons and policing tech sit outside RDCO’s AI/data focus. The entrepreneurship narrative (7-year near-bankruptcy, science-first product development, moonshot framing) is a useful founder archetype reference, and the drone-first-responder angle touches autonomous systems lightly. File for general entrepreneurship pattern-matching.