>Muffley:<p>I'm afraid I don't understand something, Alexiy. Is the Premier threatening to explode this if our planes carry out their attack?<p>DeSadeski:<p>No sir. It is not a thing a sane man would do. The doomsday machine is designed to to trigger itself automatically.<p>Muffley:<p>But surely you can disarm it somehow.<p>DeSadeski:<p>No. It is designed to explode if any attempt is ever made to untrigger it.<p>Muffley:<p>Automatically?<p>Turgidson:<p>Ahh.. it's an obvious commie trick, Mr. President. walks backwards towards the big board We're wasting valuable time. falls over backwards and does a somersault, and brings himself back onto his feet Look at the big board! They're getting ready to clobber us!<p>Muffley:<p>But this is absolute madness, ambassador. Why should you build such a thing?<p>DeSadeski:<p>There are those of us who fought against it, but in the end we could not keep up with the expense involved in the arms race, the space race, and the peace race. And at the same time our people grumbled for more nylons and washing machines. Our doomsday scheme cost us just a small fraction of what we'd been spending on defense in a single year. But the deciding factor was when we learned that your country was working along similar lines, and we were afraid of a doomsday gap.<p>Muffley:<p>This is preposterous. I've never approved of anything like that.<p>DeSadeski:<p>Our source was the New York Times.<p>Muffley:<p>Dr. Strangelove, do we have anything like that in the works?<p>Stains and Turgidson, who have been listening to Muffley and DeSadeski Stains' station at the round table, slowly turn their heads in search of Strangelove.<p>Strangelove:<p>in wheelchair A moment please, Mr. President. stomps one foot on the tile floor, pushes back from the table and begins wheeling towards the discussion between Muffley and DeSadeski. Under the authority granted me as director of weapons research and development, I commissioned last year a study of this project by the Bland corporation. Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent, for reasons which, at this moment, must be all too obvious.<p>Muffley:<p>Then you mean it is possible for them to have built such a thing?<p>Strangelove:<p>carefully plucks cigarette from his shaking right hand, which is in a black glove Mr. President, the technology required is easily within the means of even the smallest nuclear power. It requires only the will to do so.<p>Muffley:<p>But, how is it possible for this thing to be triggered automatically, and at the same time impossible to untrigger?<p>Strangelove:<p>Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That is the whole idea of this machine, you know. Deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the enemy... the fear to attack. And so, because of the automated and irrevocable decision making process which rules out human meddling, the doomsday machine is terrifying. It's simple to understand. And completely credible, and convincing.<p>Turgidson:<p>Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines...