If it seems alarmist to anticipate the horrifying aftermath of a #nuclear attack, consider this: The #UnitedStates & #Ukraine govts have been planning for this scenario for at least 2 yrs.
In the fall of ‘22, a US #intelligence assessment put the odds at 50-50 that #Russia would launch a nuclear strike to halt Ukrainian forces if they breached its defense of #Crimea.
Preparing for the worst, American ofcls rushed supplies to Europe. #Ukraine has set up hundreds of radiation detectors around cities & power plants, along w/ >1k smaller hand-held monitors sent by the #UnitedStates.
Nearly 200 hospitals in Ukraine have been identified as go-to facilities in the event of a #nuclear attack. Thousands of doctors, nurses & other workers have been trained on how to respond & treat radiation exposure.
And millions of potassium iodide tablets, which protect the thyroid from picking up radioactive material linked w/cancer, are stockpiled around the country.
But well before that — just 4 days after #Russia launched its invasion of #Ukraine, in fact — the #Biden admin had directed a small group of experts & strategists, a “Tiger Team,” to devise a new #nuclear “playbook” of contingency plans & responses.
Looks like large language models have more in common with bullshitters-in-chief than we thought… this speaks both of the models weaknesses, but also of certain kinds of rethoric.
What America spent money on during the Cold War instead of actual security in the daily lives of its citizens (#22789297):
"Throughout the world, our strategic focus stand guard over our way of life. But, if a general war engulfed the world, all our military power could be helpless.
Unless our leaders could survive and control our forces before and during the holocaust, an aggressor could strike without fear of reprisal.
Only the belief that we could control our forces throughout the entire spectrum of a general nuclear war would deter him from striking the first blow."
1969 US Air Force film, declassified thanks to the National Security Archive.
Then I went to have a look around Pixabay, and found a darkly hilarious #AI-infused rabbithole of fuckery.
Pixabay, if you didn't know, is a stock image site. Which now features a below-image bar featuring ready-made AI #Canva graphics for any image. ANY image, including staged CGI #NuclearWar ones.
Presenting what will be my holiday card: WARMEST GREETINGS! Very, very warmest greetings.
That the "merry nukemas" card is signed by "Gray" just...
“Reward exposure of faulty systems. If we keep praising our tools for their excellence and efficiency it's hard to later accept their defects. When shortcomings are found, this needs to be communicated just as clearly and widely as successes. Maintaining an illusion of perfect, neutral and flawless systems will keep people from questioning the systems when the systems need to be questioned.” — @axbom via @murmel_social
via Prof. Timothy Snyder, #Yale University in TheGuardian@mstdn.social :
"...#Musk’s actions have increased the chances of nuclear war.
There is always some risk, which Russia increased by initiating a major conflict. Ukraine then decreased the probability by ignoring Russian nuclear blackmail. If Ukraine had surrendered, then the lesson for the rest of the world would have been clear: you must have nuclear weapons, either to blackmail...
...grip on global communications and his wealth that dwarfs that of many countries.
No, I am talking about his mental health and about his crazy beliefs based in #Longtermism, part of #TESCREAL.
In order to achieve "humanity's destiny" between the stars, some followers of these cults would do almost anything to achieve that goal.
An #AI singularity, that #Musk and his followers fear would be prevent such a destiny, would even warrant a #NuclearWar, even it it meant...
(Seriously though, I don't know what an "acceptable" amount of nuclear weapons is, but it's probably a lot closer to zero than our existing global stockpile.)
In 1946, Herbert Sussan took a film crew to Japan to document the destruction caused by atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The footage they shot was so disturbing the U.S. government suppressed it for decades. His daughter Leslie, a Jewish Quaker from New York City, keeps the story of how he bore witness alive.
"I felt that if this story was told and seen by people in the United States and people throughout the world, they would realize that this sort of nuclear weapon has no place with man on earth."
Indeed. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and the threat of #NuclearWar continues to haunt me to this day. Humans are capable of creating such incredible things with technology; why do we use it to invent ever more efficient and horrible ways to kill each other?
What Happens AFTER Nuclear War? (iv.ggtyler.dev)