How To Start a Nuclear War
4/28/202637 min
Humanity has repeatedly brought itself to the brink of nuclear war. Which raises a question: if everyone who can launch a nuke knows that could end the world, why does nuclear war still feel plausible? Ben explores how it could really happen, what close calls of the past tell us, and the bizarre logic of deterrence. And he lands, again and again, on one word: oopsie.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Ben Bradford· Host0:19
Quick story about a time the world almost ended. 1962, a submarine, Soviet, slid through the deep waters of the Caribbean. It sped toward a U.S. blockade of ships surrounding Cuba. This was the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fingers hovered over nuclear buttons. The sub's crew sought to evade the U.S. blockade, make contact with Cuba. But then, a ping on the radar of an American jet. [radar pings] It had spotted them. The U.S. Navy scrambled. As many as a dozen ships crisscrossed over the sub's location. Down below, in the depths of the ocean, the Soviets were panicking. Their vessel, built for cold northern waters, was overheating. Oxygen was running out. Sailors were passing out, and they were too far down for radio contact, either home or with the Americans. At this point, they just needed to surface. Then, explosions. The Navy decided to make contact anyway by hurling down depth charges, practice rounds, not intended to harm, thinking