Doomsday device




"Doomsday Device" redirects here. For the professional wrestling move, see Doomsday Device (wrestling).



Many hypothetical doomsday devices are based on the fact that salted hydrogen bombs can create large amounts of nuclear fallout.


A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon or weapons system — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth. Most hypothetical constructions rely on the fact that hydrogen bombs can be made arbitrarily large assuming there are no concerns about delivering them to a target (see Teller–Ulam design) or that they can be "salted" with materials designed to create long-lasting and hazardous fallout (e.g., a cobalt bomb).


Doomsday devices and the nuclear holocaust they bring about have been present in literature and art especially in the 20th century, when advances in science and technology made world destruction (or at least the eradication of all human life) a credible scenario. Many classics in the genre of science fiction take up the theme in this respect. The term "doomsday machine" itself is attested from 1960,[1] but the alliteration "doomsday device" has since become more popular.




Contents






  • 1 History


  • 2 In fiction


  • 3 See also


  • 4 References


  • 5 External links





History


Since the 1954 Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapon test demonstrated the feasibility of making arbitrarily large nuclear devices which could cover vast areas with radioactive fallout by rendering anything around them intensely radioactive, nuclear weapons theorists such as Leo Szilard conceived of a doomsday machine, a massive thermonuclear device surrounded by hundreds of tons of cobalt which, when detonated, would create massive amounts of Cobalt-60, rendering most of the Earth too radioactive to support life. RAND strategist Herman Kahn postulated that Soviet or US nuclear decision makers might choose to build a doomsday machine that would consist of a computer linked to a stockpile of hydrogen bombs, programmed to detonate them all and bathe the planet in nuclear fallout at the signal of an impending nuclear attack from another nation.[citation needed]


The doomsday device's theoretical ability to deter nuclear attack is that it would go off automatically without human aid and despite human intervention. Kahn conceded that some planners might see "doomsday machines" as providing a highly credible threat that would dissuade attackers and avoid the dangerous game of brinkmanship caused by the massive retaliation concept which governed US-Soviet nuclear relations in the mid-1950s. However, in his discussion of doomsday machines, Kahn raises the problem of a nuclear-armed Nth country triggering a doomsday machine, and states that he didn't advocate that the US acquire a doomsday machine.[2]


The Dead Hand (or "Perimeter") system built by the Soviet Union during the Cold War has been called a "doomsday machine" due to its fail-deadly design and nuclear capabilities.[3][4]



In fiction


Main article: List of fictional doomsday devices

Doomsday devices started becoming more common in science fiction in the 1940s and 1950s, due to the invention of nuclear weapons and the constant fear of total destruction.[5] A well-known example is in the film Dr. Strangelove (1964), where the Dead Hand is triggered by an incompletely aborted American attack, and all life on Earth is extinguished.[5] However, doomsday devices also expanded to encompass many other types of fictional technology, one of the most famous of which is the Death Star, a moon-sized planet-destroying space station.[5]


Various types of fictional doomsday devices have also been activated as part of an AI takeover.[6] This includes the missile launch system in the movie WarGames (1983), control of which has been handed entirely to a computer, and Skynet's nigh-destruction of the human race in The Terminator (1984).[6]



See also



  • Conflict escalation

  • Fail-deadly

  • Global catastrophic risks

  • Mutual assured destruction

  • Weapon of mass destruction



References





  1. ^ Harper, Douglas. "doomsday". Online Etymology Dictionary..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ Kahn, Herman (1960). On Thermonuclear War. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press.


  3. ^ "Dr. Strangelove's 'Doomsday Machine': It's Real". NPR.org. NPR.


  4. ^ "Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine". Wired.com. 2009-09-21.


  5. ^ abc Hamilton, John. "Doomsday Devices". Weapons of Science Fiction. New York: ABDO Digital. p. 14. ISBN 1617843636. OCLC 1003840589.


  6. ^ ab Pilkington, Ace G.; Brin, David. "Doomsday Machine". Science Fiction and Futurism: Their Terms and Ideas. Jefferson, North Carolina. p. 69. ISBN 1476629552. OCLC 973481576.




External links



  • "The Return of the Doomsday Machine?", Ron Rosenbaum, Slate.com, Aug. 31, 2007


  • Doomsday device featured in The Bionic Woman episode Doomsday is Tomorrow

  • Channel 7 Two (Australia) - Secrets of War, Series 1, Episode 19









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Information security

Image
This article is part of a series on Information security Related security categories Internet security Cyberwarfare Computer security Mobile security Network security Threats Computer crime Vulnerability Eavesdropping Malware Spyware Ransomware Trojans Viruses Worms Rootkits Bootkits Keyloggers Screen scrapers Exploits Backdoors Logic bombs Payloads Denial of service Defenses Computer access control Application security Antivirus software Secure coding Secure by default Secure by design Secure operating systems Authentication Multi-factor authentication Authorization Data-centric security Encryption Firewall Intrusion detection system Mobile secure gateway Runtime application self-protection (RASP) v t e Information security , sometimes shortened to InfoSec , is the practice of preventing unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, inspection, recording or destruction of information. Th
Read more

New York City Police Department

Image
"NYPD" and "New York City Cops" redirect here. For other uses, see NYPD (disambiguation). Not to be confused with New York City Sheriff's Office or New York State Police. City of New York Police Department NYPD patch NYPD patrol officer's shield Flag of the New York City Police Department Common name New York City Police Department Abbreviation NYPD Motto Fidelis ad mortem (English: "Faithful Unto Death" ) Agency overview Formed May 23, 1845 ; 173 years ago  ( 1845-05-23 ) Employees 55,304 Annual budget US$5.6 billion (2018) Jurisdictional structure Operations jurisdiction New York City, U.S. Map of City of New York Police Department's jurisdiction. Size 468.484 square miles (1,213.37 km 2 ) Population 8,537,673 [1] Legal jurisdiction New York City General nature Local civilian police Local civilian agency Headquarters 1 Police Plaza Park Row Lower Manhattan (across th
Read more

章鱼与海女图

Image
本条目 可参照英語維基百科相應條目来扩充 。 （2014/5/25） 若您熟悉来源语言和主题，请协助参考外语维基扩充条目。请勿直接提交机械翻译，也不要翻译不可靠、低品质内容。依版权协议，译文需在编辑摘要注明来源，或于讨论页顶部标记 {{Translated page}} 标签。 本条目 需要擴充。 （2013年8月15日） 请協助改善这篇條目，更進一步的信息可能會在討論頁或扩充请求中找到。请在擴充條目後將此模板移除。 《 章鱼与海女 》（日语： 蛸と海女 ／ たことあま   Tako to ama ）是一幅由日本畫家葛饰北斋创作的浮世绘，出自1814年（文化4年）出版的艳本《喜能会之故真通》（日语： 喜能会之故真通 ／ きのえのこまつ   Kinoe no Komatsu ）。畫中有兩隻章鱼以觸手攻擊一名採珠的海女，並進行擬似戀獸癖的交媾行為。作品尺寸为6½" × 8¾" （16.51 cm × 22.23 cm）。 [1] 在此之前的类似作品还有北尾重政的艳本《謡曲色番組》及勝川春潮的艳本《艳本千夜多女志》等，有被北斋作为参考的可能性。 《章鱼与海女图》有不同英文翻译，一般称The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife，又作Girl Diver and Octopi、Diver and Two Octopi，Richard Douglas Lane称其为 Girl Diver and Octopi [2] ，Mathi Forrer 称其为 Pearl Diver and Two Octopi [3] ，Danielle Talerico 称其为 Diver and Two Octopi 。 [4] 目录 1 作品介绍 1.1 画中对话 1.2 解释 2 评价 3 影响 3.1 模仿作品 4 另见 5 参考来源 6 外部連結 作品介绍 画中对话 原文 译文 大蛸： いつぞハいつぞハとねらいすましてゐたかいがあつて、けふといふけふ、とうとうとらまへたア。てもむつくりとしたいいぼぼだ。いもよりハなをこうぶつだ。サアサア、すつてすつてすいつくして
Read more