3 ms·

I am aware of the context - doesn't make it any less terrifying. Edit: I'm going to ask you the same question I asked another commenter - do you think it would

• johngalt 7y ago
  Of course not, but only because we already know how the story ends. If they had been correct, we wouldn't be here to say that we should have listened. Their predictions on nuclear arsenals were correct. A nuclear war in 1965 would have been vastly worse than one in 1950. What they got wrong is that great powers would successfully avoid war over the long term. Which at the time was a bet with very poor odds.
  • CWuestefeld 7y ago
    I seem to remember that von Neumann was also responsible for what later came to be known as "Mutually Assured Destruction", the idea through game theory that ensuring that both nations would be prevented from acting preemptively because the results would carry too great a cost.
• skavi 7y ago
  While you were aware of the context, many others reading your quote (like me) were not. I definitely appreciated having more of the full story.