4 ms·

Paranoid, isolated man with a big red button in front of him that can take out every major city in the world.. It can absolutely happen. The subs are armed and

Paranoid, isolated man with a big red button in front of him that can take out every major city in the world.. It can absolutely happen. The subs are armed and ready. Literally the push of a button. The fact it hasn’t happened yet is something to be thankful for everyday.

jaywalk 5y ago
It's much more involved than "literally the push of a button."
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- hugs 5y ago
  That common misconception is explored in this fine piece of satire from the Onion: "Obama Makes It Through Another Day Of Resisting Urge To Launch All U.S. Nuclear Weapons At Once" https://www.theonion.com/obama-makes-it-through-another-day-of-resisting-urge-to-1819572627 https://www.theonion.com/obama-makes-it-through-another-day-...
- cogman10 5y ago
  Not that much more. It's some phone calls to get the ball rolling. Whether or not various operators of nuclear ICBMs follow through, only one nuke is all it'd take to really massively change the world.
  - jaywalk 5y ago
    There's a playbook that has to be consulted, and target(s) selected. Of course it's not a terribly complex process, because the assumption is that a strike would have to be ordered without much notice. And that's also why the "nuclear football" containing everything necessary is always very close by the President. But it's still far from "literally the push of a button."
- cj 5y ago
  Once someone who’s authorized to order a strike, e.g. Putin, gives the command (“presses the button”) - what else would Putin need to do for his command to be carried out? My guess would be he doesn’t need to do much, and that the “risk” would be someone down the chain of command refuses to carry out the order.
maybelsyrup 5y ago
> Paranoid, isolated man with a big red button in front of him that can take out every major city in the world. Wait though which guy are you talking about
- Fatnino 5y ago
  Yes
weaksauce 5y ago
While I agree with the other poster that it's a little more involved(though for a few decades the nuclear code in america was 000000 so....) the thing i've heard said is that at any given moment in time now we are potentially 30 minutes away from the end of civilization as we know it.
amelius 5y ago
Even scarier is the idea that he might have shorted the button with a dead man's switch. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch
- z303 5y ago
  I wonder what state Dead Hand/Perimeter is in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand

jaywalk 5y ago

It's much more involved than "literally the push of a button."

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
hugs 5y ago
That common misconception is explored in this fine piece of satire from the Onion: "Obama Makes It Through Another Day Of Resisting Urge To Launch All U.S. Nuclear Weapons At Once" https://www.theonion.com/obama-makes-it-through-another-day-of-resisting-urge-to-1819572627 https://www.theonion.com/obama-makes-it-through-another-day-...
cogman10 5y ago
Not that much more. It's some phone calls to get the ball rolling. Whether or not various operators of nuclear ICBMs follow through, only one nuke is all it'd take to really massively change the world.
- jaywalk 5y ago
  There's a playbook that has to be consulted, and target(s) selected. Of course it's not a terribly complex process, because the assumption is that a strike would have to be ordered without much notice. And that's also why the "nuclear football" containing everything necessary is always very close by the President. But it's still far from "literally the push of a button."
cj 5y ago
Once someone who’s authorized to order a strike, e.g. Putin, gives the command (“presses the button”) - what else would Putin need to do for his command to be carried out? My guess would be he doesn’t need to do much, and that the “risk” would be someone down the chain of command refuses to carry out the order.

maybelsyrup 5y ago

> Paranoid, isolated man with a big red button in front of him that can take out every major city in the world. Wait though which guy are you talking about

Fatnino 5y ago
Yes

weaksauce 5y ago

While I agree with the other poster that it's a little more involved(though for a few decades the nuclear code in america was 000000 so....) the thing i've heard said is that at any given moment in time now we are potentially 30 minutes away from the end of civilization as we know it.

amelius 5y ago

Even scarier is the idea that he might have shorted the button with a dead man's switch. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch

z303 5y ago
I wonder what state Dead Hand/Perimeter is in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand