FLATTOP'S BLOG

FlatTop

Doomed view of Earth-that-is
Monday, April 16, 2007

Earth-that-is is safe from nuclear war for as long as we do not have a self sustaining colony somewhere else.
This rock of ours is doomed. It will be destroyed by nuclear war, make no mistake. It is however unlikely to occur within our lifetime, if for no other reason than that we have nowhere else to go. There is no shortage of crazy/misguided/desperate people willing to 'push the button', but so far none of them have more than a handful of nukes, and they know all the world is watching them, ready to glass their little bit of the globe should they ever disconnect from reality far enough to use them. Noone is willing to risk the entire human race over anything (Perhaps a few are, but they haven't figured out how to start a global conflagration yet).
The equation changes once there is a self sustaining colony somewhere (that somewhere may be a ship, station, asteroid, moon, planet, this solar system, interstellar space, another solar system, what the frak ever. It just has to be big enough to indefinitely sustain a genetically viable population.). Whomever started the colony may now believe themself to be able to 'win' a nuclear war, because 'their' people will survive.
Earth is doomed. Study hard, pass on what you learn, do what you can to get your descendants off this rock.

Don't kid yourself. Nuclear warheads are far too good at what they do to ever be gotten rid of. In terms of dollars per assured death, nothing compares. The bigger problem is this: Once there aren't enough nukes to ensure the complete destruction of the planet and all life on it, someone will think, "I can survive this, therefore it is a viable option." The number of nukes may be reduced (to say... 2x complete planetary destruction per armed country), but they wil never go away, and someday they will be used.

COMMENTS

Thursday, August 16, 2007 2:50 AM

PLASTICDINO


Interesting blog, on a theme not entirely unrelated from my latest. I used to worry a great deal about nuclear holocaust, growing up during the Cold War. I'm not crazy about getting old, but at least it proves we didn't go crazy and push that button... yet.

Funny to think that the Space Defence Initiative was what finally broke the communist bank - they just couldn't keep up anymore - yet a working missile defence shield would actually make it MORE attractive to go to the brink... and beyond.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 10:03 AM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER


Actually, I thought it was kinda established through the Visual Companions that Earth didn't really have any colonies when we boobed it up before the BDS, forcing us to flee?

Still...an utterly valid point. Nukes are generally quite efficient for deaths per warhead cost. And reduction of arms just makes the willingness to use them greater since we go from triple-digit planetary obliteration to single-digit:(

BEB

Monday, April 16, 2007 8:41 AM

MSG


Frankly I think we're doomed unless we can find a way to not be humans...or at least to remove some of the less charming aspects of our nature...


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