# Trae Stephens — "you can't be a pacifist without a government monopoly on violence" > [!quote] "Pacifism as an idea is only possible inside of a governing system with a monopoly on violence. Like you can't be a pacifist without a government monopoly on violence. That's just not possible for humanity." > — Trae Stephens, Sourcery interview, December 2025 ## Context [[Trae Stephens]] — co-founder and executive chairman of [[Anduril]] and a partner at [[Founders Fund]] — said this in a Sourcery interview (part of a series with Anduril's founders) while explaining the ethics of building weapons. He grounds his defense of the work in just war theory, citing Saint Augustine, and frames autonomous systems as the latest step in a long move toward precision and "discrimination" in warfare that reduces collateral harm. ## Why this matters Stephens is the intellectual register of the same conviction [[Palmer Luckey]] voices with enthusiasm and [[Alex Karp]] states bluntly: that violence is foundational and someone must wield it. By arguing that even pacifism depends on a state monopoly on force, he reframes weapons-making not as a moral compromise but as the precondition for any peace at all — making the question of whether to build lethal autonomy not an open ethical choice but a settled necessity. It is the most sophisticated version of the cluster's core move: naming violence as the ground of order, and positioning the defense-tech founder as its responsible steward. ## Verification - **Primary source:** [Sourcery, "Trae Stephens on Anduril's Origins," December 18, 2025](https://www.sourcery.vc/p/trae-stephens-on-andurils-origins) — published transcript, "Ethics & Just War Theory" section. - **Status:** Verbatim, undisputed; from a published interview transcript. ## Related quotes - [[Palmer Luckey - warrior class enacting violence]] — the enthusiastic register from his Anduril co-founder. - [[Alex Karp - scare enemies and kill them]] — the blunt register from Palantir. - Featured in [[The Violence Is the Point]].