Map of the Day: Shall we play a game?

[Brian Howell]

I know that many people on this list will recognize recognize that the question in the subject of this topic is, in fact, a quote. It's from John Badham's 1983 techno-thriller, War Games (links to Roger Ebert’s review) which considers the sanity of thermonuclear weapons from the perspective of mutually assured destruction (appropriately abbreviated MAD) as a means of bilateral—or potentially multilateral deterrence—as well as underlining possible risks in placing too much trust in technology.

The question is asked by an artificially intelligent Defense Department supercomputer, tasked with managing the United States' nuclear arsenal, to a hacker who has broken into the machine through a backdoor. In response, the hacker suggests playing "Global Thermonuclear War," which is a computer simulation, but which causes NORAD to believe a nuclear attack is imminent. Implausible? Take a look at PBS’s Nova: False Alarms in the Nuclear Age.

Do watch the movie if you haven't seen it already.

Anyway, on to today’s map: several of the best scenes in the movie ostensibly take place in the Defense Department’s Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado Springs. Large digital maps fill the walls, showing ICBM silos, nuclear missile launching subs, and other nuclear weapons deployment around the globe. Today’s map recreates the look and feel with real, accurate weapons data. There’s a lot of detail to be found by zooming in. 

A few weeks ago in this group I asked whether we were headed for a new Cold War: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/ipse-dixit/war/ipse-dixit/lw8EtRPEyXY/c82gRARbAwAJ. After looking at this map, considering the implications of North Korea’s growing nuclear capability, and Putin’s aggressive mobile basing systems (see the afore-referenced Group topic), I’m truly wondering whether the relative “nuclear calm” we’ve enjoyed since the collapse of the USSR is coming to an end. Maybe it’s time to start teaching school children again to duck and cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60

The map is at https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/datablick/ciit2xo0t00gozwmaoafr30ak.html?title=true&access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiZGF0YWJsaWNrIiwiYSI6IjM5anE0eTQifQ.XfwI7Wcu7EFKoKiTQldy5Q#6.23/42.153/-93.843. CityLab (The Atlantic) has a good article on the map you should probably read first: http://www.citylab.com/design/2016/01/a-map-of-global-nuclear-weapons-brings-wargames-into-the-21st-century/423828/. 

As the article notes, for fans of the movie there is also a chance to interact with Joshua, the name the aforementioned hacker gave to the DOD supercomputer.

[Scott Hotes]

Are Russia and/or N. Korea significant threats?  Significant to raise the question

of a new Cold War?  I have a hard time believe that is true.  It would seem that

any rational observer would conclude that by far the largest threat to a peaceful

world, based on its aggressive stance toward "nation building", and a military budget

so large that it is not only world's biggest, but is larger than the next 10 combined,

would be the U.S.

Our tax dollars continue to go toward newer, faster, more efficient ways to obliterate

the enemy (e.g. PGS.)  We have unabashedly continued to perfect the art of bombing

by autonomous drone (10 years from now we will look back, as this technology

proliferates and be the loudest voice in the US arguing for some kind of drone

drawdown treaty...)

We have lost all moral authority on these issues.

Yes, maybe there is a new "Cold War", but I fear that this time the sides are lining

up as U.S. vs. the rest of the world.

Scott

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[jack saunders]

Like Scott, I think the map, as spooky as it appears, is bogus as an avatar for a '70s style nuclear arms race. 

I favor the biblical resonance of a peace-loving God threatening any human war lord with instant destruction for disturbing the peace.  That part appears to work well....and could be sustained by six updated submarines.  

Pack all the rest of it into mothballs.  

Seems sensible ... until you remember that both Obama and Putin face thousands of very well educated priests of special knowledge who lobby tirelessly for more, better....and better pay.  Bundling them all off into a massive Reduction In Force will not go easily.

 

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From: Scott Hotes <sah...@gmail.com>
To: Brian Howell <bdho...@gmail.com>
Cc: Ipse Dixit <Ipse-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Ipse Dixit] Map of the Day: Shall we play a game?

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Ipse-dixit/CAC7%2BDAC7pP7Zdu_0bwA8R%3Dxn7WsTMSTMKertqDVsAZRpfJBVMQ%40mail.gmail.com.