3 ms·
Large numbers of nuclear weapons means total war between nuclear powers will escalate very quickly to nuclear armageddon. This (MAD) has prevented total war for
by njarboe 8y ago
Large numbers of nuclear weapons means total war between nuclear powers will escalate very quickly to nuclear armageddon. This (MAD) has prevented total war for generations, but has very costly tail risks that people growing up in the post-Cold War era are not likely to appreciate.
- v_lisivka 8y agoWhy nuclear? Why not chemical or biological WMD?
- mmirate 8y agoBecause nuclear - with exception of neutron bombs - destroys buildings, resources and materiel as well as people; chemical and biological attacks mostly don't.
- njarboe 8y agoChemical and biological really should not be grouped into the WMD label. They are not nearly as effective in the M and the D. See the saran attack on Tokyo. One small nuke would have been thousands of times more deadly. For a chemical attack to be as effective as a nuke one would need hundreds or thousands of bombs dropped on a single city. If you are going to do that then a firebombing raid can be much more effective for destruction. 300 B-29 caused more damage in a single night over Tokyo than either of the nuclear attacks later in the war (modern nukes are much bigger though).