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The atomic age came without the world or our species ending.
by theWatcher37 9y ago
The atomic age came without the world or our species ending.
- saiya-jin 9y agoyes but we were so close, quite a few times...
- austinjp 9y agoBy that token, every single activity of anyone, anywhere, any time has been a success.
- bengale 9y agoSort of I guess, every activity puts us in a new place. We know we can't stand still. Doesn't mean we can't be careful, but handwringing won't help much.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoSo let's put it differently: was the atomic age net good for humanity? I'd say very much, yes.
- austinjp 9y agoMaybe. I think it's difficult painting these things as having a net value. There's good and bad, and they co-exist, one doesn't come without the other.
- mistercow 9y agoThere's an anthropic problem there. Unless you assume humans are alone in a single universe with no branching, or that there are a large number of worlds where an atomic age (as well as any other equivalently stage of dangerous technological advancement) is infeasible, surviving the atomic age tells us that the probability of us surviving events in that reference class is non-zero, but it doesn't tell us much more.
- cr0sh 9y agoWe are still in the "atomic age" - and will be for as long as nuclear weapons continue to exist. Furthermore, right now these weapons just "sit around" - but one day they will be used again. All it will take will be a "brief moment" of insanity by a leader, and by the people he leads, to touch off the tragedy to follow. Or...more likely...because we know it has happened in the past: It will happen due to a mistake, either by one or more humans misinterpreting what other humans are doing, or by misinterpreting the signals of machines (or machines sending the wrong signals, which are then interpreted correctly by the humans - though the signals are false). This scenario is far more likely than sheer anger causing madness leading to tragedy - simply because it has historical precedent of happening not once, but multiple times. Humanity will never be safe as long as these weapons and weapon systems exist.