Eve Matelan provided us a link to this intriguing article delving into whether the Soviets ever actually built a version of the Doomsday Machine discussed in the movie Doctor Strangelove:
In Strangelove, the doomsday machine was a Soviet system that automatically detonated some 50 cobalt-jacketed hydrogen bombs pre-positioned around the planet if the doomsday system’s sensors detected a nuclear attack on Russian soil. Thus, even an accidental or (as in Strangelove) an unauthorized U.S. nuclear bomb could set off the doomsday machine bombs, releasing enough deadly cobalt fallout to make the Earth uninhabitable for the human species for 93 years. No human hand could stop the fully automated apocalypse.
An extreme fantasy, yes. But according to a new book called Doomsday Men and several papers on the subject by U.S. analysts, it may not have been merely a fantasy. According to these accounts, the Soviets built and activated a variation of a doomsday machine in the mid-’80s. And there is no evidence Putin’s Russia has deactivated the system.
Well, um, yikes.
Okay, everybody — have a great weekend!
BTW, Eve has some thoughts of her own on the Doomsday Machine and other less terrifying future-related topics. You can catch her in one of my (still-being-edited) video montages from the Singularity Summit.