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This is basically the plot of Dr Strangelove. >the ambassador informs President Muffley that the Soviet Union created a doomsday machine as a nuclear deterrent

by bragr 3y ago

This is basically the plot of Dr Strangelove. >the ambassador informs President Muffley that the Soviet Union created a doomsday machine as a nuclear deterrent; it consists of many buried bombs jacketed with "cobalt–thorium G", which are set to detonate automatically should any nuclear attack strike the country. The resulting nuclear fallout would then engulf the planet for 93 years, rendering the Earth's surface uninhabitable. The device cannot be deactivated, as it is programmed to explode if any such attempt is made.

ethanbond 3y ago
Which is itself basically the plot of actual Cold War nuclear planning
- wongarsu 3y ago
  The mechanism of using a single doomsday weapon is somewhat unique, but the effect isn't that different from the actually implemented Dead Hand system that ensured that eliminating the Soviet command structure would trigger a rocket that sends out launch commands to all ICBMs. Though that was implemented years after the movie came out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand
  - sillywalk 3y ago
    I recall that the system existed to ensure that cooler heads (in Russia) could have more time to ensure that they were being actually being nuked i.e. it wasn't a false alarm, and that retaliation was guaranteed.
- Gibbon1 3y ago
  Growing up in the middle of the cold war and with some sense of history it dawned on me that the whole thing was an aberration. Geopolitically the world is usually not like that. I thought eventually the cold war order would fall apart and it did. Think reversion to the mean. Not the mean is perfect as one can see from current events. Got to say anytime someone whines that we can't afford some public works project like the California High speed rail I think of the much larger amount were spending on nukes. With $1.5T we could crisscross the US with high speed rail. Unlike nukes you personally might actually use it.
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    Not much about the Cold War tension actually got dismantled, from a nuclear risk perspective. We put the revolver to our collective heads during the Cold War and didn’t put it back down, just merely got used to holding it there.
    - Gibbon1 3y ago
      I might describe the western countries as being cocksure and overly optimistic after the USSR fell apart. Would also describe the amount of nuclear weapons produced during the 1960-70's as insane and serving no rational reason other than pure pork.
biomcgary 3y ago
My favorite book in this micro-niche is "The mouse that roared" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_That_Roared https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_That_Roared), which is hysterical for a nuclear doomsday book.
GartzenDeHaes 3y ago
"We cannot allow there to be a doomsday device gap. The people of the United State must be protected from Soviet aggression by building the most powerful doomsday device ever conceived!" "But sir, won't the public notice all of that construction and military activity in such a remote area?" "Hey CIA, stop wasting time taking pictures of Cuba and start releasing stories about how we've captured some space aliens that we're holding at a remote desert base." "You're a genius sir."

by bragr 3y ago

ethanbond 3y ago

Which is itself basically the plot of actual Cold War nuclear planning

wongarsu 3y ago
The mechanism of using a single doomsday weapon is somewhat unique, but the effect isn't that different from the actually implemented Dead Hand system that ensured that eliminating the Soviet command structure would trigger a rocket that sends out launch commands to all ICBMs. Though that was implemented years after the movie came out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand
- sillywalk 3y ago
  I recall that the system existed to ensure that cooler heads (in Russia) could have more time to ensure that they were being actually being nuked i.e. it wasn't a false alarm, and that retaliation was guaranteed.
Gibbon1 3y ago
Growing up in the middle of the cold war and with some sense of history it dawned on me that the whole thing was an aberration. Geopolitically the world is usually not like that. I thought eventually the cold war order would fall apart and it did. Think reversion to the mean. Not the mean is perfect as one can see from current events. Got to say anytime someone whines that we can't afford some public works project like the California High speed rail I think of the much larger amount were spending on nukes. With $1.5T we could crisscross the US with high speed rail. Unlike nukes you personally might actually use it.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  Not much about the Cold War tension actually got dismantled, from a nuclear risk perspective. We put the revolver to our collective heads during the Cold War and didn’t put it back down, just merely got used to holding it there.
  - Gibbon1 3y ago
    I might describe the western countries as being cocksure and overly optimistic after the USSR fell apart. Would also describe the amount of nuclear weapons produced during the 1960-70's as insane and serving no rational reason other than pure pork.

biomcgary 3y ago

My favorite book in this micro-niche is "The mouse that roared" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_That_Roared https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_That_Roared), which is hysterical for a nuclear doomsday book.

GartzenDeHaes 3y ago

"We cannot allow there to be a doomsday device gap. The people of the United State must be protected from Soviet aggression by building the most powerful doomsday device ever conceived!" "But sir, won't the public notice all of that construction and military activity in such a remote area?" "Hey CIA, stop wasting time taking pictures of Cuba and start releasing stories about how we've captured some space aliens that we're holding at a remote desert base." "You're a genius sir."