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[ringzero]

I read something today along the lines of 'the Americans have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the entire world!' It's a commonly asserted statement, but one rarely sourced. I couldn't help but wondering if it came from the same anti-Nuclear Weapon hysteria that spawned other gems such as 'nuclear winter'. So, I did a few calculations... assuming

Comments

[wibbble]

Those images 404...

[ringzero]

Stupid image host. Fixed.

[wibbble]

Pretty pictures.

Of course, are the assumptions you made valid/reasonable? Is there any information on the actual size of the US nuclear arsenal?

[ringzero]

I'm fairly sure it is. A lot of the information has been publically available for years due to the various arms agreements and negotiations between Russia and the US.

[obfuscatingpoet]

This might be interesting for you: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/hydesim.html

[ringzero]

I saw that a few days ago. It's pretty spiffy.

[dave_baker]

I personally find the arguments about nuclear winter to be quite pointless anyway. I find it highly doubtful that there ever will be a situation where America will use its nuclear weapons at all, let alone in a mass strike against everybody. Combine America's no-first-use policy with the deterrence that nuclear weapons provide, and you have a nice if uncomfortable situation.

[ringzero]

It does seem pretty unthinkable, and probably moot.

But really, there's no scientific basis for the nuclear winter argument. It was invented by Carl Sagan and friends, and pushed based on his position as an authority figure, not any real analysis, for political reasons. It made me lose a lot of respect for the man when I learned 'The Truth'.

[dave_baker]

always be careful when you use the term 'the truth'.

hindsight is a marvelous thing, and it has granted us a lot, such as the complete absurdity of the domino theory, for example. The end of the cold war have granted everyone the wisdom to see through the nuclear winter argument as well and what you ahve posted is a good reflection of this. Good work :)

[dave_baker]

always be careful when you use the term 'the truth'.

hindsight is a marvelous thing, and it has granted us a lot, such as the complete absurdity of the domino theory, for example. The end of the cold war have granted everyone the wisdom to see through the nuclear winter argument as well and what you ahve posted is a good reflection of this. Good work :)

[dave_baker]

sorry about the double post, I just got some weird error message from lj.