Stanislav Petrov is a chap that until last week I had never heard of. It turns out that we all have much to be grateful to this Russian for.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24280831
This BBC News website article is scary stuff, not so much for what actually happened (which is worrying enough) but for what could have happened (something that is frankly terrifying). If you haven’t read this piece, please do so before you carry on reading!
When is the last time you thanked the Lord for an IT specialist? Petrov deserves to be the patron saint of techies for applying some common sense whilst under extreme pressure - and thereby avoiding mutually assured destruction (MAD).
Just think; if a professional soldier had been the duty officer on that fateful day in 1983, then nuclear Armageddon could have occurred thanks to nothing more than a system glitch.
You’d think this kind of fantasy was limited to Hollywood film scripts (think ‘War Games’) but apparently not - this was genuine! It does make me wonder if this false alarm story was an isolated incident or if more of this kind of shocking tale will become declassified over time.
If you ever think about global nuclear weapons proliferation, or you ponder the UK Government’s stance on Trident replacement, remember this story because the more nukes that exist in the world, the greater the potential for a ludicrous cock-up.
If you watch the video associated with the BBC article, Petrov is an old man, wearing cheap clothes and smoking cheap cigarettes – doesn’t seem like a fitting situation for someone that most probably saved the world!
Bizarrely for Petrov, by far the most important thing he ever did was something he didn’t actually do! That’ll make for an interesting epitaph when the time is right!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24280831
This BBC News website article is scary stuff, not so much for what actually happened (which is worrying enough) but for what could have happened (something that is frankly terrifying). If you haven’t read this piece, please do so before you carry on reading!
When is the last time you thanked the Lord for an IT specialist? Petrov deserves to be the patron saint of techies for applying some common sense whilst under extreme pressure - and thereby avoiding mutually assured destruction (MAD).
Just think; if a professional soldier had been the duty officer on that fateful day in 1983, then nuclear Armageddon could have occurred thanks to nothing more than a system glitch.
You’d think this kind of fantasy was limited to Hollywood film scripts (think ‘War Games’) but apparently not - this was genuine! It does make me wonder if this false alarm story was an isolated incident or if more of this kind of shocking tale will become declassified over time.
If you ever think about global nuclear weapons proliferation, or you ponder the UK Government’s stance on Trident replacement, remember this story because the more nukes that exist in the world, the greater the potential for a ludicrous cock-up.
If you watch the video associated with the BBC article, Petrov is an old man, wearing cheap clothes and smoking cheap cigarettes – doesn’t seem like a fitting situation for someone that most probably saved the world!
Bizarrely for Petrov, by far the most important thing he ever did was something he didn’t actually do! That’ll make for an interesting epitaph when the time is right!
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