Do you think a nuclear bomb will ever be used again by a big country?

[king of frenchfries]

My feeling is no, at least not for the "super powers".... but it wouldn't shock me is some small country or group used one. I think that only those countries or groups that are led by "mad men" would consider it. That is just my 2 cents.

BTW, I said "ever" but really I am thinking for the next 20 years. I can't even speculate about what the world will be like after 20 years from now.

I seriously doubt it. Most nationstates have to much to lose from using it, as it would be a almost instant economic and military death sentence from the rest of the world.

The only way would be if the entire worlds economy collapsed and we were in major wars.

[Fencers]

Yes. It is a eventuality.

[Deleted]

http://www.carloslabs.com/node/16

Here is a fun little toy for you to mess around with.

[Thekri]

I think it's very unlikely that a first world state actor will ever launch a nuclear first strike. A state actor like Iran I'd say is pretty damn likely to do so once they can, although even at that point, it would probably be through a proxy and not a ballistic missile attack or bomber. An Islamist non-state actor is metaphysically certain to try to use them, there is only the hope of stopping them from ever getting them.

Strongly disagree with Iran using it, Iran is a large, prosperous country that has no inherent nihilistic tendencies. Granted they aren't very friendly to either the US or Israel, but they like being alive, and shooting nukes does not further that goal.

Look at what happened between Pakistan and India, those two countries hate each other with a passion, and fought a lot of nasty wars right up until they got nukes, and were still aggressive toward each other after words. But neither of them wants to shoot nukes at each other, just way too much to lose.

A Islamist terrorist group... I think that is a justifiable reason for soiling your pants if they get nukes, they do have a proven track record of people suicidal and very callous toward their own populations.

[shise]

Hard to happen considering the incredible intelligence network going on in hte world now a days.

[Thekri]

http://www.carloslabs.com/node/16

Here is a fun little toy for you to mess around with.

That one is pretty cool, I got to admit that I laughed when I selected Asteroid Impact, lets not weaponize those.

[icausewipes]

America has shown they will bomb someone into the stone age.


yes

[Deleted]

Possible but unlikely, both Russia and the USA have said they would use them in a tactical capacity if they were losing in a conventional war but for this to happen would mean world war 3 would already be reaching its end. Terrorist groups could potentially get hold of or build a WMD (not necessarily nuclear) and deploy them to a large city, this is what you need to worry about. Think about a nuke in a shipping container smuggled into new york harbour, what could you do?

Nothing because I live in a small town in the Mojave Desert

[king of frenchfries]

America has shown they will bomb someone into the stone age.


yes

I'm sorry, we have bombed someone into the stoneage?

[Thekri]

Nothing because I live in a small town in the Mojave Desert

You mean one of the few places on earth that actually has been nuked a lot?

[zealo]

http://www.carloslabs.com/node/16

Here is a fun little toy for you to mess around with.

Was interesting seeing the actual scale of a tsar bomba in 1961 in a diameter, and that isn't even a modern day nuke. Scary shit.

[Deleted]

You mean one of the few places on earth that actually has been nuked a lot?

That's also more than big enough to be nuked a lot more times while having little effect on me

[king of frenchfries]

That's also more than big enough to be nuked a lot more times while having little effect on me

Nothing like some background radiation to keep the tan going.

[Thekri]

That's also more than big enough to be nuked a lot more times while having little effect on me

Haha, yeah I have been there a few times, it is pretty huge, certainly not worth dropping enough nukes to kill the few hundred people that live in most of those towns.

Anyway, more to the topic, it is entirely possible that they might get employed by mistake, as a result of a cyberattack, terrorist false flag, or actual mechanical hijack. I don't see any current government using one on purpose, including Best Korea. MAD is one of the defense theories that was crazy enough to have actually worked, 2 cities got destroyed and every nation on the planet is still shaking in their boots about it.

[Deleted]

Was interesting seeing the actual scale of a tsar bomba in 1961 in a diameter, and that isn't even a modern day nuke. Scary shit.

Modern nukes are not as "powerful", something like a Submarine launched Trident 2 will launched into orbit of the earth then separate into multiple warheads each having its own target, while individually not having the yield of a Tsar bomb they will take out 12 cities rather than 1.

[Rafoel]

MMO's attract geeks, geeks find things like nukes interesting.

Said the guy with 23k posts O_o

[Thekri]

Was interesting seeing the actual scale of a tsar bomba in 1961 in a diameter, and that isn't even a modern day nuke. Scary shit.

Tsar Bomba was much bigger than any modern nuke, it was never really a practical device to deliver. The largest the US currently uses is about 1.2 mT, with the submarine fleet mostly using 100 kT and 450 kT warheads. If you look on the radius for those, they are still big enough to take out the center of a major city instantly, and are much easier to deliver. In addition that tool only shows ground burst, Air burst is much more efficient on a soft target like a city, so a 400 kT warhead would probably have a destruction radius of about what the tsar bomba has on that tool.

[prwraith]

I'd like to think that the answer is no.

But humans are stupid. The history of humanity is a history of stupidity.

[Deleted]

Said the guy with 23k posts O_o

Whats that got to do with it? I am a geek too.

[Deleted]

"Ever"? 99.9% likely to be done. Within our lifespans? Probably not.