5 ms·
Although in the case of nuclear, all it takes is for someone to trigger a chain reaction. That could even be done with stolen material. (Or have I read too much
by spockz 5y ago
Although in the case of nuclear, all it takes is for someone to trigger a chain reaction. That could even be done with stolen material. (Or have I read too much Tom Clancy?)
- colordrops 5y agowhat sort of chain reaction are you referring to?
- constantlm 5y agolikely refers to successive preemptive strikes in this context
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoMutually Assured Destruction; if one country thinks the other country is nuking them, they will retaliate. As we speak, there are submarines from multiple countries lying in wait with enough nukes to take out most of humanity; they are (were?) instructed to launch if central command is taken out, like a world-ending dead man's switch. These go on 3-6 month missions, their only limit being food for the crew, and they will survive all out nuclear war just to pop up and finish the job if needs be.
- sharikous 5y agoHonestly why would soldiers do such a thing if central command is out? I think that fears of all countries using nuclear weapons on each other at the same time is frequently inflated with the fear governments will just become kill everyone for no reason or will behave madly. There is plenty to fear even when we keep everybody rational, let's stick to that
- arethuza 5y agoPersonally, I don't doubt that the crews would follow their training and orders. Now I wouldn't do it, but nobody is going to let me near that kind of position.
- gambiting 5y agoI don't know. We came extremely close to nuclear war several times, and each time it was people refusing to obey their training and follow orders that has saved us. Soviets had two notable examples: Submarine captain refusing to launch a nuclear torpedo despite clear orders to do so: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/you-and-almost-everyone-you-know-owe-your-life-to-this-man https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/you-and-a... And then one man has saved us all by refusing the launch nuclear strike on US despite Soviet satellites confirming multiple launches from US heading to CCCP. He decided to wait for radar confirmation first despite everyone above him(and next to him) approving the counterstrike. If he followed his training we'd all be dead now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alar...
- posix_me_less 5y agoSince when people and governments are guaranteed to behave rationally? We should account for every possibility.
- sidewndr46 5y agoAfter losing contact with Moscow for several days and being unable to detect civilian radio the captain of the B-59 wished to launch a nuclear strike. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_B-59 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_B-59
- arethuza 5y ago"if central command is taken out" Or in the case of the UK, if Radio 4 Today programme goes off air....