4 ms·

How long until someone attempts to diffuse a pent up fault line via nuclear geoengineering?

by ortusdux 8d ago

mc32 8d ago
Sounds like a plot for a Superhero movie ;)
- diabeetusman 8d ago
  Not exactly a superhero movie, but The Core (2003) is kinda related
  - whizzter 8d ago
    Personally I was thinking of the Bond movie "A View To Kill" (the plot to destroy Silicon Valley through activating the San Andreas fault).
    - rbanffy 8d ago
      That might be tempting if the techbros achieve their post-democracy ideal... ;-)
- FuriouslyAdrift 8d ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1978_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1978_film)
  - sehugg 8d ago
    Dibs on Otisburg.
- ortusdux 8d ago
  More like a bond villain plot. Nefarious under the guise of altruism. And a volcano lair.
slater 8d ago
Project Plowshare says hello: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare
- ortusdux 8d ago
  The soviets reportedly used nukes to cap uncontrolled leaking oil wells - https://www.npr.org/2010/06/04/127473704/stopping-a-spill-theres-always-the-nuclear-option https://www.npr.org/2010/06/04/127473704/stopping-a-spill-th...
- fragmede 7d ago
  Such ambition! Hey, there's a mountain in the way. Let's blow it up! The audacity to reshape the world in such a way that it suits ourselves has been lost. Why shouldn't we green the Sahara? Why can't we make a new continent?
onion2k 8d ago
It's been theorized and allegedly attempted - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_weapon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_weapon
metalman 8d ago
Never, fer get it, in a word, insurance.
rtkwe 8d ago
The issue on real faults is they span massive areas. The San Andreas fault system spans basically the entire coast of California. Even if we could identify the right points there's a big liability shift both legal and political between doing nothing and intentionally setting off an earthquake that would be hard to predict the size of. It's part of why ~~proscribed~~ prescribed burns fell out of favor, it's way easier to do nothing and blame nature than defending damage caused by intentional acts. It gets into messy areas where it's hard to convince people that the damage was lesser than it otherwise would have been in the future.
- WarmWash 8d ago
  >It gets into messy areas where it's hard to convince people that the damage was lesser than it otherwise would have been in the future. Morbidly adjacent, the US is still getting dragged over the coals for using nukes on Japan rather than a ground invasion.
  - seunosewa 8d ago
    There is no excuse for the second bomb.
    - daedrdev 8d ago
      Yes there was. They didn’t surrender, and the US intended to make it look like they had an enormous number of bombs even though the next was going to be weeks away
      - rtkwe 8d ago
        If the need was /just/ to demonstrate the existence of a second bomb implying a continuous pipeline/supply, that didn't have to happen in a city.
      - asdff 8d ago
        Even with the first bomb I wonder if they could have handled it a bit differently. Maybe scuttle a ship with it in the middle of the Tokyo bay, then drop a dud bomb directly onto the imperial palace with a warning painted on it. Seems like immediately after the bombings in hiroshima and nagasaki there was still quite a fog of war going on initially about what even happened. Making the sun appear in the middle of the tokyo bay would have been indisputable however. You'd get the blinding flash, the shockwave, the awe of the cloud, and everyone including everyone in government would not only witness it (anywhere with a window would have gotten the at least the flash), but survive, and do something about having witnessed it. Of course 1940s thinking of the world was a bit less restrained when it came to the question of wasting a quarter million people in an instant. One wonders if the US felt the bombs were necessary to use with the war already won by that point to have sort of established precedent to use them in future conflicts. The quickness between targets would say as much as well: this is just another bombing run no different than an incendiary run a few days apart from another. After all, that's exactly what MacArthur intended to do in Korea. They were probably desperate to ensure their miracle weapon, one that took so much investment and effort and had so many careers staked in its success, would not end up like chemical weapons where it was verbotten to use even by the nazis.
make3 8d ago
Imagine if they trigger the California Big One and all of LA, San Diego and the SF Bay (and innumerable towns) are swallowed "because of man-made actions", I wouldn't want to be the Governor or President to approve that one lol
arccy 8d ago
nuclear acupuncture
fred_is_fred 6d ago
This was the plot of a 1980s James Bond movie - A View to a Kill https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090264/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090264/

How long until someone attempts to diffuse a pent up fault line via nuclear geoengineering?

mc32 8d ago

Sounds like a plot for a Superhero movie ;)

diabeetusman 8d ago
Not exactly a superhero movie, but The Core (2003) is kinda related
- whizzter 8d ago
  Personally I was thinking of the Bond movie "A View To Kill" (the plot to destroy Silicon Valley through activating the San Andreas fault).
  - rbanffy 8d ago
    That might be tempting if the techbros achieve their post-democracy ideal... ;-)
FuriouslyAdrift 8d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1978_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1978_film)
- sehugg 8d ago
  Dibs on Otisburg.
ortusdux 8d ago
More like a bond villain plot. Nefarious under the guise of altruism. And a volcano lair.

slater 8d ago

Project Plowshare says hello: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare

ortusdux 8d ago
The soviets reportedly used nukes to cap uncontrolled leaking oil wells - https://www.npr.org/2010/06/04/127473704/stopping-a-spill-theres-always-the-nuclear-option https://www.npr.org/2010/06/04/127473704/stopping-a-spill-th...
fragmede 7d ago
Such ambition! Hey, there's a mountain in the way. Let's blow it up! The audacity to reshape the world in such a way that it suits ourselves has been lost. Why shouldn't we green the Sahara? Why can't we make a new continent?

onion2k 8d ago

It's been theorized and allegedly attempted - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_weapon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_weapon

metalman 8d ago

Never, fer get it, in a word, insurance.

rtkwe 8d ago

The issue on real faults is they span massive areas. The San Andreas fault system spans basically the entire coast of California. Even if we could identify the right points there's a big liability shift both legal and political between doing nothing and intentionally setting off an earthquake that would be hard to predict the size of. It's part of why ~~proscribed~~ prescribed burns fell out of favor, it's way easier to do nothing and blame nature than defending damage caused by intentional acts. It gets into messy areas where it's hard to convince people that the damage was lesser than it otherwise would have been in the future.

WarmWash 8d ago
>It gets into messy areas where it's hard to convince people that the damage was lesser than it otherwise would have been in the future. Morbidly adjacent, the US is still getting dragged over the coals for using nukes on Japan rather than a ground invasion.
- seunosewa 8d ago
  There is no excuse for the second bomb.
  - daedrdev 8d ago
    Yes there was. They didn’t surrender, and the US intended to make it look like they had an enormous number of bombs even though the next was going to be weeks away
    - rtkwe 8d ago
      If the need was /just/ to demonstrate the existence of a second bomb implying a continuous pipeline/supply, that didn't have to happen in a city.
    - asdff 8d ago
      Even with the first bomb I wonder if they could have handled it a bit differently. Maybe scuttle a ship with it in the middle of the Tokyo bay, then drop a dud bomb directly onto the imperial palace with a warning painted on it. Seems like immediately after the bombings in hiroshima and nagasaki there was still quite a fog of war going on initially about what even happened. Making the sun appear in the middle of the tokyo bay would have been indisputable however. You'd get the blinding flash, the shockwave, the awe of the cloud, and everyone including everyone in government would not only witness it (anywhere with a window would have gotten the at least the flash), but survive, and do something about having witnessed it. Of course 1940s thinking of the world was a bit less restrained when it came to the question of wasting a quarter million people in an instant. One wonders if the US felt the bombs were necessary to use with the war already won by that point to have sort of established precedent to use them in future conflicts. The quickness between targets would say as much as well: this is just another bombing run no different than an incendiary run a few days apart from another. After all, that's exactly what MacArthur intended to do in Korea. They were probably desperate to ensure their miracle weapon, one that took so much investment and effort and had so many careers staked in its success, would not end up like chemical weapons where it was verbotten to use even by the nazis.

make3 8d ago

Imagine if they trigger the California Big One and all of LA, San Diego and the SF Bay (and innumerable towns) are swallowed "because of man-made actions", I wouldn't want to be the Governor or President to approve that one lol

arccy 8d ago

nuclear acupuncture

fred_is_fred 6d ago

This was the plot of a 1980s James Bond movie - A View to a Kill https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090264/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090264/