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The ~7,000 warheads that the US and Russia still have are a clear and present danger to humanity, but I would hesitate to get rid of all of them and have world
by njarboe 9y ago
The ~7,000 warheads that the US and Russia still have are a clear and present danger to humanity, but I would hesitate to get rid of all of them and have world scale conventional war return. Maybe a few dozen very well protected and spread-out nuclear warheads and delivery systems per country would be the ideal situation.
- mikeash 9y agoI'm torn. The post-WWII era has been amazingly peaceful, but at what risk? If nuclear weapons mean we avoid large-scale total war in exchange for, say, a one-in-a-million chance per year of annihilation, that might be worthwhile. If they mean we avoid large-scale total war in exchange for a 1% chance per year of annihilation, that's so very much not worthwhile. What are the actual chances? It's impossible to tell. I suspect it's closer to 1% than one-in-a-million but that's really just a guess.
- robert_foss 9y agoAt times, like during the Cuban missile crisis, we were definitely closer to annihilation than 1%. This was of course largely avoidable if president Kennedy had chosen to stand down as his Russian counterpart was offering[1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/15/cuban-missile-crisis-russian-roulette https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/15/cuban-...