The nuclear launch button won't be pressed by a finger but by a bot Nothing could hurry Cool Dave. Tall and taciturn, he would make his way around school between classes at his own pace. When he talked, he not so much spoke as delivered a quiet soliloquy in a thoughtful and deliberate manner. Cool Dave looked you in the eye. He spent time considering before answering questions. He never …
I seem to recall reading somewhere that Russia have a missile farm that can launch automatically with no human intervention if it detects certain things like a nuclear detonation over Moscow, seismic activity over a certain level which would denote same etc.
i.e. A guaranteed retaliatory strike. One would hope that the computers making the launch decisions were isolated and unhackable but..
Obviously this could be complete rubbish but somebody in Russia might have been watching Dr Strangelove at some point and had a lightbulb moment. :-D
AFAIK, when Russian missile forces go on the highest possible alert (something which requires presidential authorization nowdays and used to require politburo authorization), some of them move to an automated launch. What are the triggers - nobody knows.
There was only one time in history when they were on that alert status - it was during Able Archer 83. The combined paranoya of Andropov, deployment of medium range Pershing missiles to Europe and NATO running exercises with participation of actual heads of state nearly got us an E.L.E. We should really thank providence that no earthquakes, meteor strikes or solar flares happened that week.
"What are the triggers - nobody knows."
I hope somebody did, or are you suggesting that, as was popular with ancient world dictators, when the system was finished the designers were executed so they couldn't repeat it?
Ah well
French President: "I have ten mistresses. Apparently I married one of them, but which? I don't know."
American President: "I have ten heads of executive agencies. Apparently one of them works for the KGB but which? Nobody can tell me."
Secretary of Politburo of the Communist Party of the USSR: "I have ten trusted advisers. Apparently one of them is competent, but which? Even he doesn't know."
Spot which part of this old joke seems to have come true.
At that time, I was running around a wet rainy Denmark with a rifle full of blanks on a NATO exercise. We were told there wer something like half a million Russian marines off the coast of Poland as a response to the strikes there and that Margaret Thatcher had said if the Russians made a wrong move we would be sent in to back the Poles.
I suppose having a couple of hundred 7.62 blanks was marginally better than shouting BANG at them.
"I seem to recall reading somewhere that Russia have a missile farm that can launch automatically with no human intervention if it detects certain things like a nuclear detonation over Moscow, seismic activity over a certain level which would denote same etc."
I think you're referring to the Dead Hand (aka Perimetr) system. No one really knows if it still exists or not since it's considered top secret by the Soviet and now Russian military.
I believe you are referring to this my good sir.
Quite a good insight in this article into the "Dead Hand" system.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/a-spherical-bunker-in-russia-was-the-most-secure-place-in-the-entire-cold-war-2015-3
And simples:
http://knowledgenuts.com/2014/03/26/dead-hand-russias-terrifying-doomsday-device/
Humans *are* the weak link in the chain, and the US certainly knows it and plans around it.
As in, no you don't need enough weapons to nuke the entire world 3x over, but they know very well that in all probability something like half of their crews will never follow the order to launch. The whole point is that the people with the keys have to go through all sorts of tests to prove they're sane enough to be in command of weapons that can bring about Armageddon - and yet, no sane person could ever follow the order to launch.
I'm sure it's been considered to replace the human element many times, but cooler heads have prevailed.
"The whole point is that the people with the keys have to go through all sorts of tests to prove they're sane enough to be in command of weapons that can bring about Armageddon - and yet, no sane person could ever follow the order to launch."
That needs a Catchy name or 22.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the risk of both hackers and evil insiders a key reason missile launchers require turning two mechanical switches too far apart for a single person to both turn?
True, but that's what you have social engineering for. Apparently FBI's James Comey was misled into going public with the Hillary enquiry status by a fake email, which pretty much nuked (pardon the pun) Clinton's chances in the election.
Given that some humans actually voted for Trump I think we can safely say they're not as safe as they are alleged to be either.
IIRC It has been said that the religious right in the USA has a literal belief in the biblical prophesy of Armageddon. They believe it inevitable and see a Middle East conflict and a nuclear wipe out as necessary precursors to their achieving the heavenly Rapture.
They wouldn't be the first in history to commit to a suicidal action for a religious/cult/nationalistic ideology.
"Don't forget all the radical Muslims seeking to summon the 12th Imam and so on. I think even Judaism has its version."
I'm not aware that either religion has any mainstream group that believes in a catastrophic, civilisation-destroying, eschatological event. They just imagine that the Messiah/12th Imam will come and bring the reign of peace and justice for all. Daesh wants to start off by killing all non-Muslims or enslaving them, but that's just typical nationalist evil, no religious soup needed.
They wouldn't be the first in history to commit to a suicidal action for a religious/cult/nationalistic ideology
Sometime it might be worth you reading GW Bush's rationalisation[1] for launching Gulf War 2[2]. The words "peace and safety" occur lots of times - which is one of the phrases used in the Bible to denote the end of times.
[1] If he had any other than DT
[2] And it wasn't just the desire to outwar his daddy.
I think you might be mixing up two versions of the nuclear instructions...
1) One old edu video repeats the words "Duck…and cover!" in sync with kids/adults ducking low to the ground and covering their head/back with their coats.
2) Some schools taught that if there was an incoming bomb, everyone should lean forward, lace their fingers behind their necks, and put their head between their knees — hence the "and kiss your ass goodbye." (Both parents in/near SF were taught that one.)
It's funny how the perception of art changes over the years as life starts to imitate it.
When The Running Man came out it was seen as a fairly standard Sci-Fi action flick, by the mid 2000s it was starting to look like a prescient satire on the future of reality TV.
Incidentally, although they didn't explicitly name Trump, Big Country predicted the future in 1991. The song was called Republican Party Reptile. Sample lyrics "he knows the surgeon's gonna keep his wife young", "he likes to play with the NRA and their toys". Well worth a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im4EFEDSUVI
In another adaptation that is nothing like the book, the portrayal of media sensationalism in Starship Troopers is also not that far from the truth. The aforementioned Chris Morris did something similar in Brass Eye as well.
Robert A. Heinlein's book inspired little but the title in the film, and the book is still considered overtly militaristic to the point of fascism by many, although remains on the recommended reading lists of many militaries.
On a final note, the same director (Paul Verhoeven) also did a fine job skewering consumer culture in Robocop, the omission of which is just one of the many reasons the recent reboot was crap.
Heinlein keeps getting read because he still has some interesting ideas, such as not being allowed to vote before making a significant contribution to the country first (though in his case that universally meant serving in the military). Goes back to the roots of the original voting restrictions to landowners (people with actual skin in the game).
Well of course the Bachman Books 'Running Man' is based on real events that happened in the 1920s/30s. They had these dancing endurance competitions (dance marathons), by the Great Depression people were so hungry and thus desperate to win that they'd would sometimes literally die on the dancefloor from exhaustion. There are stories of hotel staff just dragged off as if they'd fainted, and competition would carry on.
Of course the Lawnmower Man is the story from that book that really got changed when they filmed it.
On the same topic, I though Chris Morris was making satire of news programming in the 1990s. Apparently the industry thought he was making training manuals. Sometimes I see a headline and am convinced it must have been written by Morris.
I don't remember whether in fact Nancy Reagan had a lot of plastic surgery, but a second wife has to work harder. I believe I recall a "Spitting Image" sketch where Ronnie was surprised when Nancy walked in with apparently two sets of front side ladybumps; she explained the lower ones were her knees, brought up along with everything else presumably but don't think about it.
As an early work, Charlie Brooker made a web site called "TV Go Home" of fictional TV guide listings of increasingly awful programme ideas. Then entirely too many of them got made, but usually without credit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVGoHome
Why do they do it? All I can think of is that it must be something to do with the very nature of computing itself. If I went around saying I was a proctologist instead, I'm quite sure they wouldn't all be clamouring for me to stick my finger up their arses. At least, not without an appointment.
I'm going to make this point next time someone asks me to "have a quick look at the computer".
Have a bonus internet point for the Rage Against The Machine video too.
If I went around saying I was a proctologist instead, I'm quite sure they wouldn't all be clamouring for me to stick my finger up their arses
Enquiringly minds and all... I conducted an experiment along these lines at the office this Friday afternoon. You won't believe what happened next.
Icon for what I have been mostly doing today-->
It was a trifle one sided, but it was a war, and nukes were involved.
The next one, and people being people there WILL be a next one, won't be quite as benign. The trick is to move to one of two places: The back of beyond, or Ground Zero. In the first, hopefully you've found a place where the Jet Stream & miscellaneous eddy currents will conspire to keep the fallout away from your "victory" garden[0]. In the second, you are the fallout, and won't give a shit.
Me, I'm more worried about earthquakes. Rogers Creek is just a couple hundred yards from where I type(o) ... But it's hardly something I lose sleep over.
[0] And that you have enough ammo and know how to be able to harvest the chow ...
"On the Beach" portrayed that situation. Even Australia wasn't far enough away from the conflict to avoid the literal fallout form the northern hemisphere.
Long term survival would depend on there being no "nuclear winter" due to dust in the atmosphere for several years. The food chain would be totally disrupted even for self-sufficiency using surface resources.
I never found the name of the books/radio show... but there was one on Radio 4 about such an event. There were only 2 groups of people to survive. Australia and one or two of the nuclear subs that were submerged at the time.
Made for an interesting story (that I only caught one episode/chapter of :( ).
PS, ah, both the comment above and Google found it! :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(novel)
(Edit) Though I'd assume in reality radiation would not be the risk (chernobyl city outside the facility is quiet "livable" in comparison) , but nuclear winter and food/society collapsing in the aftermath. So not as grim as the book would make out.
"They struggle to get sufficient numbers of specialised cyber experts to help – instead relying on hordes of lobbyists, pseudo-experts and opportunists"
The problem is that what they need are cyber-experts, who may or may not exist, but they're only allowed to offer them peanuts. What they're actually allowed to get are a bunch of useless merchant bankers from PwC etc who will wander in, look around, tell you water is wet, and today is Tuesday (approx), sell you some inappropriate software that they just happen to make, and give you a bill for a couple of million squids. But that's worth it, because they're consultants
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