So, I was watching a YouTube video (Two Minutes Till Midnight by Aperture) and it in, he said that if two superpowers like the Untied States and Russia ever go to war and use nuclear weapons, that’s it for humans. If they did this, they would both go all out and try to cause as much destruction as possible to each other. So, why are nuclear weapons not banned when they have the capacity to destroy all life on Earth?
Edit: Thanks for the quick responses. I feel I get it a little better now. Have a good day!
In: Technology
Well, it comes down to this: Who’s going to enforce the ban? If countries give up and dismantle the nuclear weapons they claim they have, then you’ve got a bunch of countries with smaller, hidden nuclear weapons. That’ll still leave enough nukes in the world to destroy everything on the planet should one be set off. In the aftermath of that nuclear Armageddon, who’s still going to be alive to point the finger at country X and say “Your fault.”?
Because banning them isn’t gonna stop people from getting their hands on them. Right now the policy is mutually assured destruction; it’s like two guys in a fuel tank both holding matches. No matter who lights it, it’s game over. People are terrible, that’s the absolute short answer.
[removed]
Who is going to enforce such a ban? The nations that have them include by far the most powerful nations on Earth.
(And as a side note, even at the height of the Cold War – when nuclear arsenals were much larger than today – they still wouldn’t have been enough to completely wipe out humanity, although nuclear war would still be Very Very Bad.)
Latest Answers