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Nuclear proliferation is a counter example. Its danger goes up the more states that have the tech.
by RhysU 6y ago
Nuclear proliferation is a counter example. Its danger goes up the more states that have the tech.
- sgillen 6y agoMore dangerous, less power imbalance.
- twirlip 6y agoHmm, when only one nation-state had atomic weapons, they were used. When two nation-states had them, conflict was measured in proxy wars and influence. Still, the accidental detonation of atomic weapons is significant, so your point holds true.
- catalogia 6y agoNorth Korea has nuclear weapons and they seem to be the looniest state around (Russia, America, and China also have nuclear weapons); I think this horse has left the stable.
- 082349872349872 6y agoTake a look at the trajectories North Korea has used in their missile tests. Their leadership may well be as loony as claimed, but whoever is picking parabolas knows how to speak softly and loft a high apogee. (similarly, no matter how loony their current CINC may be, whoever in the USAF redeployed B-52s from Andersen AFB to Minot AFB also understands aposematism)
- xenocyon 6y agoI'm opposed to nuclear weapons, but: the principle of nuclear non-proliferation - or, in other words, the oligopolization of nuclear strike capability - is more of a subjective and self-serving value held by the US (and some other nuclear powers) than a universal objective truth. If, hypothetically, the US lacked nuclear weapons that other countries had, the acquisition of nuclear capability by a hitherto non-nuclear USA would suddenly be seen as very desirable, and there wouldn't be all this talk about the dangers of proliferation.
- collyw 6y agoI saw a comment once pointing out that once a country has nuclear weapons, it tends not to be threatened by others. At the level of individual countries, the danger goes down.
- Nasrudith 6y agoNuclear weapon proliferation is actually two risks fighting each other for total risk curves fighting each other - conventional war prevention and irrational actor risk. More proliferation prevents conventional wars. Pakistan and India have limited themselves to skirmishes at worst. However the more proliferation the greater the risk of a suicidal actor who doesn't care about or seeks mutually assued destruction. If you want world peace betweeen nations at any cost give every nation ICBMs and nuclear warheads sufficient to break through enough of everyone's defenses - it will last unless and until thermonuclear war starts.