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If this topic is an area of interest to you I can't recommend Eric Schlosser's book enough: "Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and th

If this topic is an area of interest to you I can't recommend Eric Schlosser's book enough: "Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety". It is a whole history of known accidents in the missle and aircraft domains that involved nuclear weapons.

kenned3 7y ago
Agreed, this was a really good book. "American Experince" also turned the book into a film, which was pretty true to the book and worth a watch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_and_Control_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_and_Control_(film)
- rsa4046 7y ago
  +1
- interestica 7y ago
  Ah, I didn't know it was based on a book. Now I need to find the book. I suspect they will be very different experiences. Seeing the deep emotion of the interviewed really did well to convey the human elements.
  - jhbadger 7y ago
    The film (which was very good) mostly focused on the Damascus, AR incident. That was just one chapter of the book though.
  - kenned3 7y ago
    https://www.amazon.ca/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illusion/dp/0143125788/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=command+and+control&qid=1569188814&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.ca/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illu...
mindslight 7y ago
The militaries' stewardship of nuclear weapons really puts the modern state surveillance panopticon into perspective. Collateral damage of tens of thousands of civilians accidentally dying in a fireball because these weapons "had" to be developed quickly so "the evil guys" didn't get ahead. And a similar dynamic where only civilian oversight can impart prudence, but the military works to escape any such oversight, so the only check is leaked anecdotes decades later. Our trajectory seems bleak nowadays, but really we should be thankful the powermongers are just playing with data rather than inventing new weapons of mass destruction. With hope that topic will resolve itself with pervasive encryption.
- acqq 7y ago
  > we should be thankful the powermongers are just playing with data rather than inventing new weapons of mass destruction. Just playing with the data? https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-04/news/trump-budget-boosts-nuclear-efforts https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-04/news/trump-budget-bo... "Consistent with the recommendations of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget request would continue plans to expand U.S. nuclear weapon capabilities." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-nuking-hurricanes-nuclear-weapons-disrupt-storm-bomb-a9078796.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic... "Donald Trump suggested firing nuclear weapons into hurricanes to prevent them hitting the US, reports in Washington claim. The president is said to have raised the idea of bombing hurricanes with senior Homeland Security and national security officials on numerous occasions, dating back as far as 2017."
  - mindslight 7y ago
    I was speaking at the level of novel technologies, not new implementations of existing technologies. New designs of nuclear weapons have a better opportunity to spend the time engineering safeguards against senseless failures, or at least we'd hope. Note that I also wasn't speaking on the deliberate outcomes of mutually assured destruction, or the perhaps-even-worse outcome of some actor using a small number of nuclear weapons and getting away with it.
closeparen 7y ago
I just read the chapter about this yesterday. The book is excellent.
arbuge 7y ago
Another good one to illustrate the fragility of the world we live in: One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs. To me it was eye-opening to read about all the close shaves which could easily have ended in catastrophic misinterpretation by one side, and to wonder what might be going on along similar lines today. The events described in this book were also dramatized in the movie "Thirteen Days".
- matthewmcg 7y ago
  I agree on the recommendation for Dobbs' book. "Thirteen Days" is an enjoyable movie, but it does overlook the recklessness of some of the Kennedy administration's actions. For a more critical view, see this article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/01/the-real-cuban-missile-crisis/309190/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/01/the-rea...
rainforest 7y ago
James Mahaffey's "Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima" is also worth reading - the scope is broader. It covers a period where research reactors were decommissioned explosively by pushing them to supercriticality and accidents in supporting plants amongst other things.

kenned3 7y ago

Agreed, this was a really good book. "American Experince" also turned the book into a film, which was pretty true to the book and worth a watch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_and_Control_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_and_Control_(film)

rsa4046 7y ago
+1
interestica 7y ago
Ah, I didn't know it was based on a book. Now I need to find the book. I suspect they will be very different experiences. Seeing the deep emotion of the interviewed really did well to convey the human elements.
- jhbadger 7y ago
  The film (which was very good) mostly focused on the Damascus, AR incident. That was just one chapter of the book though.
- kenned3 7y ago
  https://www.amazon.ca/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illusion/dp/0143125788/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=command+and+control&qid=1569188814&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.ca/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illu...

mindslight 7y ago

The militaries' stewardship of nuclear weapons really puts the modern state surveillance panopticon into perspective. Collateral damage of tens of thousands of civilians accidentally dying in a fireball because these weapons "had" to be developed quickly so "the evil guys" didn't get ahead. And a similar dynamic where only civilian oversight can impart prudence, but the military works to escape any such oversight, so the only check is leaked anecdotes decades later. Our trajectory seems bleak nowadays, but really we should be thankful the powermongers are just playing with data rather than inventing new weapons of mass destruction. With hope that topic will resolve itself with pervasive encryption.

acqq 7y ago
> we should be thankful the powermongers are just playing with data rather than inventing new weapons of mass destruction. Just playing with the data? https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-04/news/trump-budget-boosts-nuclear-efforts https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-04/news/trump-budget-bo... "Consistent with the recommendations of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget request would continue plans to expand U.S. nuclear weapon capabilities." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-nuking-hurricanes-nuclear-weapons-disrupt-storm-bomb-a9078796.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic... "Donald Trump suggested firing nuclear weapons into hurricanes to prevent them hitting the US, reports in Washington claim. The president is said to have raised the idea of bombing hurricanes with senior Homeland Security and national security officials on numerous occasions, dating back as far as 2017."
- mindslight 7y ago
  I was speaking at the level of novel technologies, not new implementations of existing technologies. New designs of nuclear weapons have a better opportunity to spend the time engineering safeguards against senseless failures, or at least we'd hope. Note that I also wasn't speaking on the deliberate outcomes of mutually assured destruction, or the perhaps-even-worse outcome of some actor using a small number of nuclear weapons and getting away with it.

closeparen 7y ago

I just read the chapter about this yesterday. The book is excellent.

arbuge 7y ago

Another good one to illustrate the fragility of the world we live in: One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs. To me it was eye-opening to read about all the close shaves which could easily have ended in catastrophic misinterpretation by one side, and to wonder what might be going on along similar lines today. The events described in this book were also dramatized in the movie "Thirteen Days".

matthewmcg 7y ago
I agree on the recommendation for Dobbs' book. "Thirteen Days" is an enjoyable movie, but it does overlook the recklessness of some of the Kennedy administration's actions. For a more critical view, see this article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/01/the-real-cuban-missile-crisis/309190/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/01/the-rea...

rainforest 7y ago

James Mahaffey's "Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima" is also worth reading - the scope is broader. It covers a period where research reactors were decommissioned explosively by pushing them to supercriticality and accidents in supporting plants amongst other things.