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Sept. 26, 1983: The Man Who Saved the World by Doing ... Nothing
- wolfrom 16y agoWhat I find most interesting about this event is that there is really no consensus on what would have happened had he believed the alert to be genuine. When he received an award at the UN in 2006, Russia felt the need to declare that they would not have launched a counterattack without confirmation from other sources. I think it's a good example of how history is far more subjective that we like to think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
- philwelch 16y agoWhat we really don't know is whether the Soviets actually would have followed that policy or whether they just said that to save face.
- gjenkin 16y agoHistory and journalism. The story, from a journalist's perspective, becomes too complex if a more complete analysis was included. To write, for example, that the Soviets had a detailed system of approvals which were designed to act as redundancies in the event of errors in launch detection technology or decision-making would muddy the very clear, familiar (and frightening) story that a single man saved us from disaster. There's also an element of western propaganda and bias here too of course. It was in the interests of western nations at the time to paint a picture of an incompetent and reckless Soviet government and to showcase stories of western-style individual heroics. All this said, if Petrov genuinely saved the day, it is absolutely worth celebrating. But we will never know for sure if he did.
- robryan 16y agoIt depends on if there were other sources they could rely on in time? Any idea what the travel time of these nukes would have been if they were real? Presumably in the event of a real attack they would want there missiles in the air before they probably got hit as some of the first targets.
- jacquesm 16y agoSee also: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/the-soviets-built-a-doomsday-machine-its-still-working/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/the-soviets-built-a-... And the Hn discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=884554 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=884554
- makmanalp 16y agoHate to be a nitpick, but doing nothing is slightly different than not doing something (a specific thing). That aside, it's a great testament to why authority should be questioned and decisions should always be filtered through the mind.
- jacquesm 16y agoYep. See also the story about General Sir Mike Jackson, without who the Yugoslav war might have taken a completely different turn.
- qw 16y agoI found an interesting quote at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6216808.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6216808.stm During the mission his strong character famously resulted in a clash with his American commander General Wesley Clark. When ordered to intercept Russian forces which entered Kosovo without the alliance's agreement he refused. "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," he is reported to have told General Clark
- jeroen 16y ago-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Jackson#High_command http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Jackson#High_command
- chewbranca 16y agoSatellite error... please, it was a game of global thermonuclear war! Anyone else find it ironic this happened in the same year that wargames the movie came out?
- chewbranca 16y agoReally? downvoted for that? You know that was funny.
- chewbranca 16y agoOh get a life.
- dgordon 16y agoNO U. Whining about downvoting, especially twice, is pathetic. And I'm willing to risk five points to say this.
- bhjodokast 16y agoWho cares if you're down-voted? I do. I care deeply. I'm going to write a 10 page blog about it.
- some1else 16y agoI wish his reasoning was described better. This way it seems more like luck. Nevertheless, I'm thankful for it :-)
- borism 16y agoHis reasoning is described perfectly well - first strike is not done by sending five missiles - it's done by at least half of the active arsenal (which is counted by both sides really well).
- rottencupcakes 16y agoWhat happened to the last post about this that was at the top of the front page? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1728683 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1728683
- VMG 16y agoI reposted it because frankly nobody knows what Petrov Day is and chose a more informative headline
- rue 16y agoThis, slightly exaggerated as it may be, poignantly raises the Fermi paradox proposition that most advanced civilizations end up destroying themselves and how narrow the "right" path sometimes is.
- VMG 16y agoIt also raises some interesting thoughts about the antrophic principle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle)
- chimingin 16y agowhy is this on hacker news??????
- arethuza 16y agoLate '83 was not a good time - as well as this incident there was also "Able Archer 83", which had the Soviets very scared that the west was going to carry out a first strike: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83
- momoro 16y agoIt would be nice if I could click a button and give the guy $5 or something...
- jedwhite 16y agoI don't think it's fair to say he did nothing. He did two very important things: 1) Analysed the available information and determined that it was a false alert. 2) Actively passed on his assessment that it was a false alert to his superiors. So it would be fairer to say "Man Who Saved the World by Using His Smarts and Responding Decisively."
- bhjodokast 16y agoAre you retarded? "He didn't do anything" means he didn't launch nukes in retaliation. Your nit-picking is offensive.
- chopsueyar 16y agoIn Taoism, it is known as 'wu wei': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei
- marze 16y agoIt is fun to see the phrase "save the world" used in its literal meaning for a change.
- tomkinstinch 16y agoI've been learning more about the Cold War and reading stories like this in _The Dead Hand_. Not a bad read for the historically-inclined: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Hand-Untold-Dangerous-Legacy/dp/0385524374 http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Hand-Untold-Dangerous-Legacy/dp/0...