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If I put on my evil genius super villain hat, I think it can be done in a realistic and mundane way, though. It just takes money, and some skill at deception. R

If I put on my evil genius super villain hat, I think it can be done in a realistic and mundane way, though. It just takes money, and some skill at deception. Rather than military weapons or viruses, the simplest method of ensuring no survivors would be figuring out how to adjust the biosphere to be unsuitable for human life, especially agricultural civilization. Turns out it's easier to do than we thought, and we're not trying to do it. The ozone layer would be the easiest first target.

junofan 3y ago
Cobalt bombs could be pulled off by a relatively small number of people using a bit of deception.
- cratermoon 3y ago
  A 'cobalt' bomb isn't some mysterious doomsday weapon. It's a any thermonuclear weapon with ordinary cobalt metal (59Co) as part of the tamper or other component. The cobalt absorbs some of the bomb's neutrons to become cobalt-60. The half-life of cobalt-60 (5.27 years) means that initially the effects of the other fission products dominate. However, it stays around a long time and renders affected areas dangerous to habitation, much like the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Spread enough cobalt-60 across, say, the American midwest, Canada, and the heartlands, via a few high-altitude airbursts, and the food system is likely to collapse because the arable land is too contaminated.
c22 3y ago
I think humans have amassed enough resources and organization that at least a portion of them would continue to survive indefinitely using technical means. (Controlled indoor agriculture, artificial contained environments, etc.) Imagine if we wanted to build a settlement on Mars, but Mars was already littered with the material resources and industrial trappings we have laying around on earth. The problem would be much easier, we'd be sending rockets full of humans already.
- mitthrowaway2 3y ago
  Technological civilization may be harder than you think it is to keep going, even in the absence of a hostile AI out to conquer the world. You need food, water, air, energy, materials, spare parts. Nobody has yet achieved anything like a closed system that can sustain itself.
  - c22 3y ago
    To be fair, no one has yet needed to do this.
    - mitthrowaway2 3y ago
      At the time when you need to do it, it's probably too late to try. The one time we attempted to do something similar, it failed, and nobody has tried a second time. How much time do you think it would take to prepare? What if it didn't succeed on the first shot? And how would you prevent the AI that's wipes out the rest of humanity from taking notice of your bubble?
      - c22 3y ago
        I suspect multiple groups are already working on this sort of stuff. I don't expect all of them to succeed, but it only takes a few...

junofan 3y ago

Cobalt bombs could be pulled off by a relatively small number of people using a bit of deception.

cratermoon 3y ago
A 'cobalt' bomb isn't some mysterious doomsday weapon. It's a any thermonuclear weapon with ordinary cobalt metal (59Co) as part of the tamper or other component. The cobalt absorbs some of the bomb's neutrons to become cobalt-60. The half-life of cobalt-60 (5.27 years) means that initially the effects of the other fission products dominate. However, it stays around a long time and renders affected areas dangerous to habitation, much like the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Spread enough cobalt-60 across, say, the American midwest, Canada, and the heartlands, via a few high-altitude airbursts, and the food system is likely to collapse because the arable land is too contaminated.

c22 3y ago

I think humans have amassed enough resources and organization that at least a portion of them would continue to survive indefinitely using technical means. (Controlled indoor agriculture, artificial contained environments, etc.) Imagine if we wanted to build a settlement on Mars, but Mars was already littered with the material resources and industrial trappings we have laying around on earth. The problem would be much easier, we'd be sending rockets full of humans already.

mitthrowaway2 3y ago
Technological civilization may be harder than you think it is to keep going, even in the absence of a hostile AI out to conquer the world. You need food, water, air, energy, materials, spare parts. Nobody has yet achieved anything like a closed system that can sustain itself.
- c22 3y ago
  To be fair, no one has yet needed to do this.
  - mitthrowaway2 3y ago
    At the time when you need to do it, it's probably too late to try. The one time we attempted to do something similar, it failed, and nobody has tried a second time. How much time do you think it would take to prepare? What if it didn't succeed on the first shot? And how would you prevent the AI that's wipes out the rest of humanity from taking notice of your bubble?
    - c22 3y ago
      I suspect multiple groups are already working on this sort of stuff. I don't expect all of them to succeed, but it only takes a few...