Weapons of Mass Destruction
Sep. 27th, 2005 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
22 years ago, mankind was nearly wiped out, because a computer system falsely reported that enemy nuclear missiles had been launched. Luckily, one man made the correct call that it was a false alarm. We were this close to global thermonuclear war.
I wonder how many people I'd trust to make that decision.
You can read about it here (thanks to
communicator).
I wonder how many people I'd trust to make that decision.
You can read about it here (thanks to
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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Date: 2005-09-27 07:20 pm (UTC)Did you know that when a warhead was accidentally discharged from a plane during a test, the only thing that stopped most of southern England and Brittany from vanishing was an old, ancient, clockwork safety device that was the only one to keep functioning - and the last in the line - when the device went underwater? (I do have that first hand...I'm sure it's in the public domain by now...eep)
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Date: 2005-09-27 08:22 pm (UTC)There again, how many of us can actually wake up in the morning knowing they have genuiniely saved the world?
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Date: 2005-09-28 07:16 am (UTC)Great guy - I much admire him.
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Date: 2005-09-28 11:22 am (UTC)People can't be trusted so shouldn't be trusted with it. Hence it should be a computer's decision, and it should always decide it's a false alarm...