WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: 5 Technologies To End All Wars - That Didn't 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.840 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.680 job in Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.159 Radio and I love all things tech and it is 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:24.599 time for a tech Stuff classic episode. This episode originally 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:29.280 published back in September of two thousand, fourteen September to 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:33.480 be precise. It is titled five Technologies to End All 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:37.840 Wars that Didn't And I think the title pretty much 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.960 sets it all up. Let's dive in. People who are 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:47.600 are real innovators, really uh forward thinkers, for lack of 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.400 a better word, often get kind of idealistic and optimistic, 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:56.560 sometimes perhaps unrealistically so. Right, and so we have some 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:01.440 examples here of people who very confidently at the time 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.240 proclaimed that the technology either they invented or that they 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.759 were an advocate for would be the end of war 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.200 for one reason or another. And they fall into different 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.120 kinds of categories. So we're gonna talk about all of them. Yeah, 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.479 So there are several different ways I guess you could 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.959 imagine that war between humans could end. And on one hand, 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.080 it's kind of hard to imagine that because it's just 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.280 such a fundamental part of human nature and human history, 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:29.480 and obviously it would be a fantastic thing for us 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:31.959 to not violently kill each other in great numbers at 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.760 intervals of time. But there are a few ways you 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.839 could look at how this might happen. So one would 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:43.240 be to sort of make war too risky, so that 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.000 it's just not in your self interest to pursue it, gotcha. 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.680 So the idea of being that even if you feel 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.880 you have an advanced military that to wage war of 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.760 any type would would incurage such losses as to nullify 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.280 any positive effect that that war might have, So it 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.280 just cannot be of a net advantage to you. The 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.360 only way to win is not to play. I guess 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.119 another way, though this is kind of harder to imagine 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.520 how it would be done, would be to say that 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:19.000 you would make war completely impracticable or physically impossible. So 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.360 it's just you somehow create a technology that makes it 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.400 so that people cannot actually do it. You want to 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.520 shoot somebody, but your gun doesn't work. It's just filled 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.919 with crayons. Yeah, that would be a more difficult kind 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.560 of technology to imagine, but some people have sort of 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.160 gone down that road, and it will blur together with 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:41.280 the category I just mentioned. Um, another way would probably 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:46.320 be to sort of make war irrelevant, like to eliminate 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.480 the motivations that would drive people to war. So you 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:51.680 imagine that you might come up with a list of 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.960 different reasons people would declare war on one another, and 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.880 if you can eliminate all of those reasons for people 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.680 wanting to go, hypothetically they won't go. Gotcha. So this 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.320 would be kind of the Star Trek future where you 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:11.040 have created a world where where you've eliminated need. Therefore 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:14.120 war is a thing of the past. Yeah, got you. 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:16.880 The other one would be to sort of change us, 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.720 to to change our outlook or to change our nature, 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.679 or at least give us some kind of perspective that 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.320 would make war ridiculous to where we just realize it's 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.440 no good and we don't want to do it. And 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.920 we've got some some actual examples that fall into these 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.240 various categories in more than one well, and they're One 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.440 of the funny things is you don't have to go 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.720 digging into the annals of crank history to find people 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.120 who thought world peace would come about by one of 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.480 one of these methods. In fact, you can find really 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:54.920 smart famous, powerful, influential people who thought technology could get 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.320 us down one of these roads to world peace. And 0:03:57.360 --> 0:03:59.720 I think the first one we should talk about is 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.840 a guy who's very Internet famous these days, Nicola Tesla. 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:06.720 Although you did say, you know, you don't have to 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.600 look at cranks, Well, oh, you're you're getting on your 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:16.440 anti Tesla. Look, I just electrical Horse. The episode that 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.520 just published was a rerun about our episode on Tesla 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.440 where I talked about advocating for Tesla and the Tesla 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.400 versus Edison debate. Well, I mean, it's it's not that 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.520 I'm against Tesla, but it's pretty true that he had 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.520 some mental health issues. But at any rate, let's talk 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.799 about this idea, this idea of a of an invention 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.960 that negates war. Right, Tesla thought that you could build 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:45.920 something that would make war impossible. What was that thing? Well, 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:50.080 it's Tesla's famous death ray, which immediately as soon as 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:52.600 you hear the name, you think, yeah, that that sounds peaceful. 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:54.760 I don't know if he actually called it death ray. 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:57.320 I don't think those were The New York Times called 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.559 it a death ray. Yeah, so we've got a quote 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.080 from Gla Tesla. This is from an article from nineteen 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.440 thirty seven called a Machine to End War, which featured 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.919 an extended interview with Nikola Tesla, where he gives the 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.760 following quote. We cannot abolish war by outlawing it. We 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.000 cannot end it by disarming the strong. War can be 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.240 stopped not by making the strong week, but by making 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:25.840 every nation weak or strong, able to defend itself. Hitherto, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.080 all devices that could be used for defense could also 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.159 be utilized to serve for aggression. This nullified the value 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.839 of the improvement for purposes of peace. But I was 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.400 fortunate enough to evolve a new idea and too perfect 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.960 means which can be used chiefly for defense. If it 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.160 is adopted, it will revolutionize the relations between nations. It 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:53.160 will make any country, large or small, impregnable against armies, airplanes, 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.080 and other means for attack. My invention requires a large plant, 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.640 but once it is established, it will be possible to 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:04.520 destroy anything men or machines approaching within a radius of 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.919 two hundred miles. It will, so to speak, provide a 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:13.840 wall of power, offering an insuperable obstacle against any effective aggression. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.640 So when he says plant, he of course means power plant. 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.760 He does not rout. Yeah, not yet, not an enormous 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.840 redwood or something. So this death ray, as as was 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.680 referred to in the article, I was never actually fleshed out. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.800 As far as we know. Tesla, first of all, was 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.120 famous for not writing a lot of stuff down. He 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.520 or at least that's why he claimed. He claimed he 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:39.320 could envision inventions completely fully formed in his head and 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.960 even take them apart virtually in his head and examined 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.400 them to see how they worked, and then eventually build 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:47.880 the things, and they worked exactly the way they were 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.800 supposed to. Uh, that's part of the Tesla story. Whether 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.800 or not that's true, I don't know. But at any rate, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.880 we don't have any evidence that Tesla had anything remotely 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:03.800 resembling a ray or what the actual mechanism would have been. Well, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.680 and he says, my apparatus projects particles which may be 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.640 relatively large or of microscopic dimensions, enabling us to convey 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.600 to a small area at a great distance trillions of 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.760 times more energy than it's possible with rays of any kind, 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.800 which doesn't really sound like it means anything. But at 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.080 any rate, Uh, during this time of Tesla's life, he 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.800 was in his seventies, and this was when he was 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:34.200 really kind of mentally it appeared he was breaking down. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:40.040 He had already shown some signs of obsessive compulsive behaviors, 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.160 possibly even some paranoid schizophrenia, because it was around this 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:48.160 time also when he claimed that he had received transmissions 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.840 from people, either from Venus or Mars, So you know, 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.520 it's things were a little rough for Tesla. He was 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.440 also in the process of moving from one hotel to 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.960 the other because he would get evicted due to incurring 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.720 enormous debts. But because he had such a rock star 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.920 status as a physicist and uh an electrical engineer, he 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.600 would be invited to go live in another hotel until 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.000 he had run up the debts there. So he may 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.560 very well have just been trying to earn as much 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.720 money as he possibly could selling this idea. Uh And 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.160 you know, not necessarily. I don't mean that he didn't 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.280 think it was real. He may very well believe that 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.680 he could in fact produce this device, but he didn't. 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.800 So uh. But this definitely falls into the realm of 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.360 let's make war impossible to happen by creating something that 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.800 would prevent the very act of aggression. From reaching the 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:44.520 intended target. Once another country knows that you have this 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.440 capability to stop any incoming attack, there's no reason they 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.480 would ever attack you because it wouldn't work, right, of course, 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.840 I mean that's the that's the logic behind it, and 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:59.120 the idea actually, Now, whether you're talking about array or 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.160 a thing that he does don't want to call array 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.959 but is instead projecting particles or whatever it is, this 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.760 idea has not necessarily died, the basic idea of creating 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:14.280 a technological infrastructure that would repel automatically all incoming attacks 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:18.680 and make them pointless. How about the Star Wars initiative. Yeah, 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.400 the the Strategic Defense initiative in the nineteen eighties often 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:26.000 referred to as the Star Wars program derisively. Yeah, I've 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.840 really wanted to do a full episode about this, to 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:33.240 really explain what the concept was, what the motivations were, 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.720 because this is this ends up being a very political, uh, 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.839 a very political story, not just a technology story. In fact, 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.280 it's more political than technological in many ways. The whole 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.439 Strategic Defense initiative was fueled by the Cold War between 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.440 the United States and the then Soviet Union, and the 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.559 idea was that if you have a system in place 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:58.840 that can block any incoming missile attack, then your country 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.040 is going to be at an advantage and be safe 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.920 from aggression. Uh. This was during an era that we'll 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:11.520 talk about very shortly, the whole idea of mutually assured destruction, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.000 but we'll get to that in a little bit. So 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.920 very similar idea. Yeah, there's another idea that's a lot 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.880 like this, which is actually in use today, Israel's Iron 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.840 Dome system. Have you read about this has been in 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.600 the news lately. Yeah, it went into effect in two 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:31.360 thousand and eleven. This is an anti rocket defense system. 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.920 So it's meant to intercept rockets that are fired from 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.520 outside of Israel into Israel, and it does this by 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:43.680 firing off interceptor missiles. They're called Tamure surface to air missiles. 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.440 And you've got a radar system that first to texts 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.679 an incoming rocket, and then you have computers running predictive 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.959 software that will look at the pathway of the rocket, 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.640 predict which way it's going, and then send an interceptor 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.640 missile to destroy that rocket before it reaches its intended target. 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.439 It's even supposed to only focus on rockets that are 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.200 aimed at populated areas, So if a rocket were to 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.080 be aimed at an open area where there's not likely 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:17.360 anyone to be harmed, it won't target that rocket. The 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:21.040 reason being that interceptor missiles are expensive. We're talking like 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.120 just shy of a hundred thousand dollars a pop. So 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.600 also I'm imagining that the system at large must just 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:32.720 be incredibly expensive and complicated, because if it's actually able 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.520 to calculate the trajectory of an incoming rocket to figure 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:40.320 out whether it needs to intercept or not, I mean wow. 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.040 And there's been some criticism of the system. One is 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:49.560 based on just a skepticism that it's really effective. The 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:53.240 idea being that it's possible that in a display of 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.800 its effectiveness when because just recently there was a news 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.880 story where the system was able to shoot down fifty 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:04.440 different incoming rockets that were fired simultaneously. Uh, and that 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.839 that's really impressive. But there's some critics who suggest it's 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.280 kind of in a conspiracy theory way, that it could 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.480 just be the is the Israeli government firing off the 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.680 interceptor missiles and then having them detonate because you can't 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.040 see these rockets with the naked eye. When they're flying 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.000 through the air, they're they're too small for you to notice, 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:24.760 and they fly too high for you to notice. So 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:29.320 it's possible that you could detonate interceptor missiles then uh, 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.800 and then say, oh, that's a successful interception. I'm not 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:34.760 going to go so far as to say that that 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:39.160 conspiracy theory holds merit. I more inclined to believe that 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:43.320 this is in fact an actual demonstration of it working. Um. 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.520 But there are also critics who say it gives any 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.880 system that's like this, whether it's the Strategic Defense Initiative 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:54.960 or the Iron Dome initiative, it can create an unhealthy 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:59.160 political environment, meaning that if you have this kind of 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.640 technology that you're disposal, you may feel that you are 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.840 to some degree invulnerable. It's weird to say to some degree, 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.120 but at any rate that you are largely invulnerable to 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:13.880 incoming attack, which some argue means that you have less 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.160 of of an incentive to pursue peace. Well. Yeah, if 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.600 we want to transition to the next item on our 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.000 list here, some people might say that it's very important 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:27.920 that we all feel vulnerable in order to maintain peace. Yeah. Yeah, 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:30.200 this is where we get into the idea of mutually 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.600 assured destruction. So this is uh, it doesn't have a 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.120 very friendly name, but believe it or not, for the 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.000 past century, there have been a lot of people who 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.200 thought that this was one of the best technological routes 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.520 to world peace. Yeah, And in fact, this is this 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.840 is kind of piggybacked onto Tesla's idea, right, the idea 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.880 that if you are in possession of enough firepower of 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:55.240 whatever sort, that that's enough to to deter people or 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:59.200 other countries from attacking you. This ends up being repeated 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.560 over and over a in up and up through the 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.400 Cold War and before the Cold War, the Cold War. 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.360 Really yeah, Hiron Maxim, who invented the machine gun, said 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:10.720 this device is going to end all war because it's 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.880 so dangerous that no one would dare attack. Yeah, and 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:17.079 that ended up being very much wrong, especially in the 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.400 whole story of World War One and World War Two. 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.600 Certainly proves that Orville right believe that the airplane would 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.480 end war. The airplane would be such an incredibly superior 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.320 vehicle that there'd be no reason to ever declare war 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.120 for fear of what would rain down upon you. Obviously, 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.640 that became a very important tool in war. In fact, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.520 I think there are some people who would look at 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.840 those two examples you just cited and say that those 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.200 might have been some of the leading causes of World 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.680 War One obvious at least the leading tools. Well, I 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.080 mean causes in the sense that obviously there was a 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.640 lot of international political tension. I mean, does anybody really 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:57.960 know what caused World War One? I think a lot 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.920 of confusion, But certainly an opinion that I've heard before 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.000 and I don't know enough to dismiss it out of hand, 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.480 is to say that a major factor in what led 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.640 to World War One was the acquiring of new warmaking 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:14.920 technology and people building up their military stockpiles and basically 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.440 looking for a way to test this new stuff out. Well, 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.080 that's part of it. I mean, during the late nineteenth 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.160 and early twentieth centuries, you had all these different countries 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.320 in Europe, including Germany, which had just formed as an 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.440 actual country. I mean a lot of people forget that 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:33.200 Germany as a unified country didn't really exist until the 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:37.000 mid nineteenth century, Uh, you know it, since it had 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.800 previously been part of of various empires. Before we talk 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.800 about some more technologies that were supposed to end wars, 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:56.200 but didn't. Let's take a quick break. These different countries 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:00.280 were all trying to make sure they cemented their city, 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.000 that they made sure they were safe from other nations, 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.200 which meant investing in militaries. For Germany and for the 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.640 United Kingdom that was largely naval. They were investing heavily 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.920 in their navies. Um. But what it What it also 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:18.240 meant was that you had these these incredibly powerful armies 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:22.920 around Europe that were ready to go at any moment 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:27.120 with no particular opponent. But you also have these incredibly 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:32.320 complex treaties between countries, so when there would be a 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:36.800 precipitating event, it wasn't in at least in hindsight, it 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.880 wasn't a huge surprise to see it kind of escalate 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:45.520 into the major conflict. It became that historical onion headline 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:47.720 about World War One. I think it's something like war 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:52.200 declared by All. It's a that's fairly accurate. I mean, 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.040 it certainly didn't all happen simultaneously, but it it's again, 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.960 in hindsight, you can totally see how it happened. But 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.960 at the time I'm sure people just thought it was 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:07.359 it was unimaginable but that that philosophy continued beyond World 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.280 War One. Yeah. Well, so it's quite obvious that machine 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.840 guns and airplanes have not made war obsolete. But there's 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:19.840 a more questionable proposal, which is that, um, maybe nuclear 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:25.000 weapons have. Yeah. Alright, so you've heard of the the 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:31.119 scientist Edward Teller is born in Hungary and uh immigrated 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.080 to the United States. And he had this to say 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.639 about scientists in general, which was, the scientist is not 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.560 responsible for the laws of nature. It is his job 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.040 to find out how these laws operate. Is the scientist's 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.600 job to find the ways in which these laws can 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:51.320 serve the human will. However, it is not the scientists 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:55.000 job to determine whether a hydrogen bomb should be constructed, 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.200 whether it should be used, or how it should be used. Now, 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.040 the reason he said that was that he worked on 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.439 the Manhattan Project, all right. He was one of the 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.680 science In fact, he was one of the three scientists 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:09.240 who convinced Albert Einstein that he should tell the president 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.080 about the powers of nuclear fission, which then of the 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.280 United States. The President United States yes, in order to 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.800 precipitate the development of the atomic bomb. And then there 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:25.080 became another discussion within the same group of the Manhattan 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.400 Project about the development of what they were calling a superbomb, 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:33.119 a thermonuclear weapon, and tell her was very much on 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:36.520 the side of we should make this thing. This this 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.200 is something we should invest in. Uh. And then there 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:43.760 were other scientists like Oppenheimer who said this is a 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:45.600 bad idea, we should not do this thing. And there 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:49.240 was a lot of disagreement, which led to some pretty 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.840 controversial stuff down the line. But at any rate, you 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.320 had tell her advocating for this. Now, why did he 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.760 advocate for this? Well, he grew up in Europe during 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:02.480 a very tumultuous time and developed a distinct dislike for 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:08.639 fascism and communism before leaving to come to America. Yeah, 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:13.399 he saw Europe being torn apart. I mean it was 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.440 already uh, it had already gone through World War One 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.199 and was entering World War two or was about to 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.159 enter World War two by the time he was leaving, 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.200 and things just got worse from there. So in his mind, 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.879 one of the worst things in the world was the 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.560 formation of the Soviet Union. He saw communism as being 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:36.080 probably the greatest danger to the human race, and his 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:40.480 argument was that if we don't pursue this sort of 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:45.560 weapons program, this arms race. The Soviet Union certainly will, 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.360 so if we don't do it, we're gonna be left 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.800 behind and we'll be vulnerable. The only way to ensure 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.840 that we're safe is to also engage in an arms 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:59.240 race to develop these incredibly destructive weapons and thus be 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:01.840 a big a threat where the Soviet Union would never 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.240 attack us. I mean, we would surely never attack anyone 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.520 else unprovoked. So this is just for us to make 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:11.199 sure that they don't attack us. That was the That 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.520 was the general philosophy. So build up your arms to 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.560 the point where you would be such a destructive force 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:20.800 that it would be crazy to attack you, which is 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.880 again very similar to what we've already talked about. Right, 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:28.800 So now we have gigantic nuclear stockpiles on Earth as 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:32.439 a result of this doctrine. But this is this is 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.360 interesting because I feel like, while on one hand, it's 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:39.480 not a very friendly sounding doctrine, some people might still 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.400 argue for the wisdom of mad Well it's there. I mean, 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:45.159 there would be a lot of people. I think it 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:49.600 is completely wrong to say that it would make war obsolete. 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.520 I mean, there have been tons of war since nuclear 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:56.960 weapons were invented, you know, involving nuclear powers. But it's 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.600 some people I think might still say that, well, maybe 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.760 the presidence of all these nuclear weapons did prevent all 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.240 out war between say the United States and the Soviet Union. 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.080 We just have to keep in mind that there have 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:12.760 been tons of proxy wars throughout the years, fought by 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:16.120 these powers sort of through other countries and sure so, 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.720 so essentially what you're saying is the existence of thermonuclear 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:24.560 weapons has prevented a thermonuclear war. That without the existence 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.520 of these thermonuclear weapons in one or other of the parties, 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.480 the possibility of thermonuclear war rises. But because you have 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.880 this this balance where you have people, you know, who 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.560 realized what the implications of starting such a war would be, 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:44.400 it hasn't happened. Yea. Even if you were to agree 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.160 with this this idea, you might not necessarily think it's 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:49.800 good for the world as a whole. It might be 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.359 better for the people living in the United States and 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:56.959 the Soviet Union and not so much for their allies. Uh. 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.119 But I'm not even saying I agree with this. I 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.639 just wanted to say, well, this is one that we 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:04.119 can't put it in the totally ridiculous camp, because I 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:07.159 think there are still people who think that mutually assured 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:11.439 destruction had some kind of effectiveness. Now, this has also 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:16.320 led to the very popular trope of creating a doomsday 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:20.000 device that is so dangerous that that's what protects you 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:23.520 from attack, right right. The idea of a fail deadly 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:27.040 device as depicted in the movie Doctor Strange Love, which 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:30.840 how how would something like a fail deadly device work? Well, 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:33.640 Doctor Strange Love. The way it works is that it's 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.359 a device that, once initiated, cannot be canceled, and and 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:40.040 and Dr Strangelove, it's it's the Soviet Union has built 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:45.479 a device that will automatically activate if any sort of 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:50.240 oncoming attack, bombing attack were to target the Soviet Union, 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.760 and once it detects such an attack, it then initiates 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:57.159 this device, which is you can't turn it off, and 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:02.000 and it's designed to kill essentially everything. It's automatic. Yeah, 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:04.359 And because you can't turn it off, then the idea 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:07.240 is that's the perfect deterrent, because you just tell everyone, hey, 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:10.399 if you attack us, this thing goes on, it kills everybody, 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:13.439 and we can't stop it. We even if we want to, 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:16.960 we cannot stop this thing. And uh, the the main 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:20.240 character or the title character of the movie, Dr Strangelove, 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:21.879 He's not the main character, but he is the title 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:25.159 character points out that this particular kind of device is 0:23:25.240 --> 0:23:29.960 only useful if the world knows about it, if it's secret, 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:32.960 as it is in the movie. But then it turns 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:37.480 out like the Russian Uh, and the Russian ambassador was like, well, 0:23:37.640 --> 0:23:41.480 we're going to have a big event next week. Unfortunately 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:45.240 you jumped the gotten type of thing. And uh, supposedly 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:50.800 Doctor Strangelove himself was based off of Teller. Yeah, that's 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:53.359 the that's the rumor. Although whether or not that's true, 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:56.960 I do not know, but it's um, it's certainly interesting 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.360 that uh, you know this, this kind of idea has 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:05.120