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Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine (It actually exists)

48 点作者 tsestrich超过 15 年前

9 条评论

idlewords超过 15 年前
This article is a massive bait and switch. The 'doomsday machine' turns out to be... a protocol for delegating launch decisions to some dude deep in a bunker if certain conditions (phone to Moscow goes dead, ground shakes a lot, someone remembered to turn the system on) are met.<p>Even the British version of this is more unsettling: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort</a>
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run4yourlives超过 15 年前
It utterly amazes me that civilians are surprised that military people around the world actually plan for the worst eventualities, even if the likelihood of occurrence is low.<p>You can plan when everyone is home and safe in their beds, you can't when they shit is actively hitting the fan.
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1gor超过 15 年前
From the article:<p><pre><code> The Russians still won't discuss it, and Americans at the highest levels—including former top officials at the State Department and White House—say they've never heard of it. </code></pre> From "Dr. Strangelove":<p><pre><code> "Yes, but the whole point of the doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world?"</code></pre>
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jwb119超过 15 年前
it seems to me that the possibility this device does not in fact exist deserves more investigation than is given by the article.<p>for instance, if you assume for a second that this device doesn't actually exist, then the current russian response makes perfect sense... it would be in their best interest to neither confirm nor deny existence of of such a machine. i.e. the benefits of hesitation on the side of a potential enemy that believes the machine may exist far outweigh the dangers of accidentally ending the world (since there is no danger at all).
nfnaaron超过 15 年前
"Permissive Action Links. ... So in 1962, Robert McNamara ordered every nuclear weapon locked with numerical codes. Effect: None. Irritated by the restriction, Strategic Air Command set all the codes to strings of zeros. The Defense Department didn't learn of the subterfuge until 1977."<p>The most egregious default password in history.
keatsta超过 15 年前
Does anyone else feel that one of the most interesting parts of the entire article was introduced in the last sentence?<p>"After all, he says, Dead Hand is continuously being upgraded."<p>This seems contrary to the spirit of most of the rest of the article. The fact that is still active is presented as it should be - a surprising fact - but constantly being updated shows a commitment several steps beyond that.
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joshfinnie超过 15 年前
Linke to print version of the article: <a href="http://www.wired.com/print/politics/security/magazine/17-10/mf_deadhand" rel="nofollow">http://www.wired.com/print/politics/security/magazine/17-10/...</a>
electromagnetic超过 15 年前
This is kind of a disappointing 'doomsday machine', it's basically an over complicated and/or machine.<p>I was hoping for at least a stockpile of nuclear weapons in a converted cobalt mine (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_bomb" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_bomb</a>). Get a few hundred multi-megaton nukes wired up together and if the country gets nuked it blows, kind of like a dead-country's switch. If you generate enough radiation you can essentially guarantee you wipe out your enemy by wiping out the majority of life on Earth.<p>Essentially any large-scale nuclear war can potentially render the world uninhabitable. The amount of soot put into the upper atmosphere by the detonation and widespread forest fires would potentially eradicate all ozone, meaning heaps of UVA, UVB and even UVC. The concern is that we only receive 1.3% of the suns UV's thanks to the Ozone layer and can still receive major burns. Consider that it takes ~30-60 minutes on a bright day to get a burn (at least it does for me), after a major nuclear war it could possibly take less than a minute of direct exposure to get a sunburn and it could possibly take 100 or more years for the depleted ozone layer to restore itself.
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wallflower超过 15 年前
&#62; 24-old junior officer fresh out of military academy. And if that person decided to press the button ... If/then. If/then. If/then. If/then.<p>The most deadly group of if/then statements in existence.<p>"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." -Joshua, WarGames (1983)
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