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The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett · June 17, 2024 · 112m
The Nuclear War Expert: This Is How The World Ends in 72 Minutes!
Annie Jacobsen discusses her book Nuclear War: A Scenario, walking through a minute-by-minute simulation of a nuclear strike on the US. Covers the Pentagon's response protocols, the impossibility of defense, and why deterrence is fragile.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Canon
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Jacobsen argues that nuclear weapons create a category of risk that is fundamentally uncontrollable: once launched, intercontinental ballistic missiles cannot be recalled, and there are only 6 minutes between detection and impact. No human decision-making process can operate in that timeframe.
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Jacobsen traces the nuclear threat back to individual decisions by Oppenheimer, Teller, and others who chose to build increasingly destructive weapons. Their biographies are cautionary tales about the relationship between individual ambition and collective catastrophe.
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