Re H-Bombs: The Need to Not Have Them"

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Doug Humphrey <doug () joss com>
> Date: October 24, 2017 at 2:59:21 PM EDT
> To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>
> Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] "H-Bombs: The Need to Not Have Them"
>
> for IP if you will. 
>
> the problem with “total elimination” of anything is that there is no 
> way to assure that you have eliminated “all of them”. 
>
> nuclear weapons are an interesting case - then both sides have them, 
> there tends to be a stability formed - in many ways they are political 
> weapons more than weapons of war - their greatest effect is when they 
> are NOT actually used, but when they exist as a tacit threat that they 
> COULD be used, that they MIGHT be used.  This is why MAD (mutually 
> assured destruction) has actually worked.
>
> to have as a goal a reduction in the number makes some sense - you can 
> argue that “less is better” but to say that you want them completely illuminated 
> is to move from a moderately stable configuration to a very unstable configuration. 
>
> because, nobody KNOWS for SURE that you do not have them any longer. 
>
> The knowledge to make them can not be erased and forgotten; it exists. 
>
> So, since a negative can not be proven, the “get rid of them all” is actually 
> a very de-stabilizing stance, and one that does not have a pathway to stability. 
>
> doug
>
>
> > On Aug 29, 2017, at 2:37 PM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: "Stephen H. Unger" <shu2 () columbia edu>
> > > Date: August 29, 2017 at 11:07:36 AM EDT
> > > To: ip <dave () farber net>
> > > Subject: For ip: "H-Bombs: The Need to Not Have Them"
> > >
> > > Dave,
> > >
> > > Here is an item for ip.
> > >
> > > Steve
> > > ................
> > > H-Bombs: The Need to Not Have Them
> > >
> > > The existence of many thousands of thermonuclear weapons constitutes an ongoing threat to humanity as a whole. It 
> > > is essential that the UN treaty outlawing them (signed by 122 of the 193 UN member nations) be endorsed by the 9 
> > > nations with these weapons, and that the means for disposing of them, including verification of such disposal, be 
> > > perfected and extended. A good start was made by the US and Russia, which, between 1993 and 2013, successfully 
> > > converted a large amount of H-bomb grade materials to nuclear reactor fuel. We need to continue this process, and, 
> > > hard as it might be, to extend it to include the other 7 nations. The goal should be the total elimination of these 
> > > terrible devices.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > My effort to explain the situation can be found at 
> > >
> > > http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/h-bombs.html
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Steve Unger
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>
>
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