Just because humanity is fucked doesn't mean we have to take everything else with us. Seriously, what have the penguins ever done to piss you off so much?
That's probably propaganda, especially considering the fallout from thermonuclear weapons is much much higher than from the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A global nuclear war would just release so much radioactive material that would spread and saturate everywhere. For example when bombardment is so wide that the fallout paths overlap each other, then you can't avoid them. It goes EVERYWHERE, like pollen.thaluikhain said:An interesting thing I read in a US nuclear survival thing, the amount of cancer caused by a nuclear exchange between the US and USSR in the 80s would be less than the amount of cancer prevented if wearing hats outdoors became a worldwide fashion.
I don't know about that. Yes, more powerful weapons will be used, but the world has seen an awful lot of above ground nuclear weapons tests, and although there have been quite a number of cancer cases cause, naturally occuring cancer is quite common. Apparently 1 in 5 US citizens will get skin cancer in their lifetime. Cancer caused by fallout might be a serious problem, but not that serious.Treblaine said:That's probably propaganda, especially considering the fallout from thermonuclear weapons is much much higher than from the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A global nuclear war would just release so much radioactive material that would spread and saturate everywhere. For example when bombardment is so wide that the fallout paths overlap each other, then you can't avoid them. It goes EVERYWHERE, like pollen.
Oh, certainly, yes, it's not just the initial attacks, it's how well they cope with things afterwards.Treblaine said:There is the point that multiple cities and critical points (like power stations and reservoirs) being bombarded by nuclear weapons adds up to the greater than the sum of its parts.
For example: if JUST Las Angeles suffered nuclear bombardment, resources of San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento and so on would be able to take casualties, send help and treat the millions of people with burn and blast injuries. But if all the major cities west of the Rockies get atomic bombardment all at the same time then they can't lean on each other.
Actually, no, I have a good chance of surviving. I don't happen to live near anywhere of strategic importance, in a minor nation in the middle of nowhere that happens to be the dominant military force in its local area. Mind you, the Soviets targeted the odd missile here, either under their "sharing the pain" doctrine, or because we hosted US military stuff (including a few nuclear tests...the US wanted to test VX on local soldiers, but fortunately this didn't happen. They did test mustard gas on them in WW2, though).Treblaine said:If there was a nuclear war, you have similar chances of surviving as playing Russian roulette... but loading the gun with 5 bullets rather than just one. You'll probably die, and most of your family and friends as well.
So many currently die of cancer as We have beaten tuberculosis, common bacterial infections and can inoculate against the flu, but cancer is still so hard to treat so it's the way so many go... this is part of the human condition to eventually die when you are very old.thaluikhain said:I don't know about that. Yes, more powerful weapons will be used, but the world has seen an awful lot of above ground nuclear weapons tests, and although there have been quite a number of cancer cases cause, naturally occuring cancer is quite common. Apparently 1 in 5 US citizens will get skin cancer in their lifetime. Cancer caused by fallout might be a serious problem, but not that serious.Treblaine said:That's probably propaganda, especially considering the fallout from thermonuclear weapons is much much higher than from the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A global nuclear war would just release so much radioactive material that would spread and saturate everywhere. For example when bombardment is so wide that the fallout paths overlap each other, then you can't avoid them. It goes EVERYWHERE, like pollen.
Though, yes, fallout will spread everywhere.
Oh, certainly, yes, it's not just the initial attacks, it's how well they cope with things afterwards.Treblaine said:There is the point that multiple cities and critical points (like power stations and reservoirs) being bombarded by nuclear weapons adds up to the greater than the sum of its parts.
For example: if JUST Las Angeles suffered nuclear bombardment, resources of San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento and so on would be able to take casualties, send help and treat the millions of people with burn and blast injuries. But if all the major cities west of the Rockies get atomic bombardment all at the same time then they can't lean on each other.
Actually, no, I have a good chance of surviving. I don't happen to live near anywhere of strategic importance, in a minor nation in the middle of nowhere that happens to be the dominant military force in its local area. Mind you, the Soviets targeted the odd missile here, either under their "sharing the pain" doctrine, or because we hosted US military stuff (including a few nuclear tests...the US wanted to test VX on local soldiers, but fortunately this didn't happen. They did test mustard gas on them in WW2, though).Treblaine said:If there was a nuclear war, you have similar chances of surviving as playing Russian roulette... but loading the gun with 5 bullets rather than just one. You'll probably die, and most of your family and friends as well.
There'd be all sorts of terrible economic and political ramifications, of course, but I'm in a reasonably good place to ride things out. And as long as people survive here, or in some other isolated part of the world, the species survives.
That's true, and we have the luxury of hospitals and infrastructure at the moment.Treblaine said:So many currently die of cancer as We have beaten tuberculosis, common bacterial infections and can inoculate against the flu, but cancer is still so hard to treat so it's the way so many go... this is part of the human condition to eventually die when you are very old.
The cancer from a global nuclear war will kill a huge proportion of ALL children exposed from thyroid cancer and leukaemia and young fit people who should have a very low chance of dying from cancer. The cancer rate will be so high all at once it will be impossible to properly treat as it is so hard to treat. if cancer were detected in the femur, expensive treatment would be out of the question, the medics would have no choice but to amputate and bone cancers would be VERY common due to how much Strontium-90 thermonuclear bombs spurt out and how hard it is to load a diet with calcium that biologically reduces absorption. Don't conflate dying from cancer near the end of your natural life with dying from cancer directly caused by radioactive fallout.
Well, using SSNs to disrupt trade is more of a long term thing, under various theories of how WW3 would play out things would be over before they were brought into play. I don't know of any doctrine that would use nuclear weapons, especially high yield ones, to attack convoys.Treblaine said:Well you seem to be in a position to weigh the odds in your favour, but in general the odds for each human in a nuclear war are poor.
A small island would suffer terribly if cut off from international trade, supplies of fuel would likely end for many decades, US and Soviet submarines were highly evolved for taking out shipping, and if they tried a convoy system they'd be decimated by high yield nuclear weapons.
That's probably because convoy system would not be used... BECAUSE of the threat of nuclear weapons.thaluikhain said:Well, using SSNs to disrupt trade is more of a long term thing, under various theories of how WW3 would play out things would be over before they were brought into play. I don't know of any doctrine that would use nuclear weapons, especially high yield ones, to attack convoys.
In any case, using submarines to attack civilian transport ships seems rather odd nowdays, they are more designed with hunting military vessels to mind, lots of easier way of dealing with civilian vessels.
In any case, yes, things would utterly suck, but they'd be survivable, I meant. The species would survive.
That's true, but I meant that submarines probably wouldn't be the most efficient way of doing that.Treblaine said:It was odd to attack civilian ships back in the First and Second World Wars, but it was still done to spite the contravention of treaties and to a huge extent and with no regrets because of the situation and pressure, global nuclear war would be an even more extreme situation. Have no doubt that after a country has ordered a nuclear holocaust of mainly civilians and they have killed so many of your own countrymen, what's a few crew members transporting "war materiel" on top of that? If they can strangle off the oil supply to their enemies then they shall.
Oh, I tend to agree with that (though I could imagine civilisation, or something not totally unlike it surviving in many areas), but providing the human race survives, civilisation will be developed again. It'd put things back a few hundred years, but not permanently.Treblaine said:The human species may survive, but society would not, and it is precisely modern human society that makes humans so valuable. The world will become much like Afghanistan under the worst of Taliban rule, or Somalia. The nice guys aren't going to prevail, the good squirrels that prepared for winter will get torn apart by the wolves and they will inherit the earth. Expect extremist religion of all faiths to take hold in a time of such widespread death and suffering. It's little exaggeration to say nuclear war will be of biblical proportions, it will play into all the religions that play into doomsday and catastrophe tales and give the promise of eternal life after death.
Humans will survive, but the type that will survive will be the most ruthless, selfish and oppressive. I don't value humans because they are humans, I value good people and beneficial society. Surviving is not enough. Prevention is the only cure for civilisation from the danger of nuclear war.
Yes! I can't believe it took 34 post for someone to say that. After all by that time those aliens are most likely in "all your bases are belong to us" mode, so why resistAlternative said:I for one welcome our alien overlords
Damn you! DAMN YOU!!!! XDEsotera said:Probably, as humanity would survive (even after a massive beating) and the aliens would hopefully back off. Depends on how hard it was to fire all the nukes though, preferably there'd be some nice big red button to press, which unleashed several thousand untold horrors upon whoever pressed it. Sort of like this one
Free apocalypse ==============>![]()
Few hundreds years is still industrial age, it'll take mankind back thousands of years. Humanity wouldn't have seen a single worst disaster since the Bubonic Plague, and the earth will not have seen such a catastrophe in all of human history.thaluikhain said:Oh, I tend to agree with that (though I could imagine civilisation, or something not totally unlike it surviving in many areas), but providing the human race survives, civilisation will be developed again. It'd put things back a few hundred years, but not permanently.
I disagree that it will send humanity back thousands of years, but yes, worse disaster in history.Treblaine said:Few hundreds years is still industrial age, it'll take mankind back thousands of years. Humanity wouldn't have seen a single worst disaster since the Bubonic Plague, and the earth will not have seen such a catastrophe in all of human history.
Well, depends on your point of view. It's a disaster, yes, but total extinction is much worse, IMHOTreblaine said:It's little solace that "humanity will survive" considering how hard we worked to get where we are, it will almost all be undone.
Well that's pointless relativism as total extinction is THE WORST outcome.thaluikhain said:I disagree that it will send humanity back thousands of years, but yes, worse disaster in history.Treblaine said:Few hundreds years is still industrial age, it'll take mankind back thousands of years. Humanity wouldn't have seen a single worst disaster since the Bubonic Plague, and the earth will not have seen such a catastrophe in all of human history.
Well, depends on your point of view. It's a disaster, yes, but total extinction is much worse, IMHOTreblaine said:It's little solace that "humanity will survive" considering how hard we worked to get where we are, it will almost all be undone.