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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Anders Sandberg<br></span><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>…</span></b> <br><br><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>I have started tinkering with a review of people and groups who have tried to destroy the world (both using real means and means they *thought* were real). It would be interesting to hear if anybody has a list - the one I have is so far very short. The GCR/xrisk threat seems to come more from side effects of the pursuits of non-omnicidal people, like the MAD doctrine. <br><br><br><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><pre>-- <o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Anders Sandberg<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Anders, I would not include Edward Teller on your list, but he spent a lot of time thinking about that topic. He gave a talk at Lockheed in 2000 when he was already aged 92 years, but his mind was sharp.<o:p></o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>While they were still in the process of developing the atomic bomb in 1945 and shortly thereafter, Teller led a team at Los Alamos which did a number of calculations which showed there was a maximum potential yield for fission weapons, because adding more uranium or plutonium wouldn’t fission, it would just be blasted away. But once a fission device detonated a fusion weapon, that could be made arbitrarily large.<o:p></o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>They showed that under the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, the problem of transporting the device goes away (such was the MAD thinking of the time, as explained by the MAD man himself.) A nation could theoretically create a fusion weapon so enormous, it would nuke the entire planet, slay everything. So, well… If the thing is going to nuke the whole planet, there is no point in hauling it off somewhere else, no need for missiles or planes, those wouldn’t help anyway. Just set it up in your own back yard. We could just stay home and nuke Russia from here. They referred to the planet-nuker as the Back Yard Device.<o:p></o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Sheesh.<o:p></o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Teller didn’t come across as a mad scientist, but rather a sane scientist thinking about a mad topic.<o:p></o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></pre></div></body></html>