We will listen to some of this interview in class. What connections can you make between this and course texts? How does this change the way you read Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove: or, how I decided to stop worrying and love the bomb? Did you think something like the Doomsday device was impossible before listening to Terry Gross's interview with David Hoffman?
Finally, in a few sentences, describe how the threat of nuclear war has changed since the Cold War? What aspects of the threat stayed the same?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The interview between David Hoffman and Terry Gross drew my mind to compare and contrast this with the movie Dr. Strangelove. While listening to the interview, I kept on picturing the movie, the war room, and even the phone call between the President of the United States and the leader of the U.S.S.R. After hearing this interview, I believe this gives the movie, Dr. Strangelove, more creditability. Before hearing this interview, I believed that this so called “Doomsday device” was a plausible machine. To be able to make a machine that can take out the entire world semi automatically is somewhat believable seeing how far, technologically, the world is. A strong world power such as Russia, or even the U.S.S.R., I believe could easily fund a project such as this. They have natural resources, man power, and technological advancements to construct such a machine. Since the end of the Cold War, the threat of a nuclear war has gone down. Despite recent nuclear advancements by several countries, I believe this is only to deter others from dropping a nuclear bomb on the foresaid country. I don’t believe there will ever be a nuclear war simply because of mutually assured destruction. Mutually assured destruction is the idea that if one country started a nuclear war, both countries have the capability to destroy the world. I truly believe the only positive gain for a country to develop nuclear weapons would be to deter other countries. However, some points of the threat nuclear warfare have remained the same. The means of launching and delivering these atomic payloads have remained the same since the Cold War. Even back in the Cold War, had a nuclear war erupted, the world as we know it would have been in shambles, if not destroyed.
ReplyDeleteThe Dead Hand interview reminded me of Dr. Strangelove, especially when David Hoffman referred to the Doomsday devise. I never really believed in the Doomsday devise so its crazy to hear that there really was three men underground who had the power to push that button and kill everyone and everything on Earth. After the Cold War, there hasn't been any threat of having a nuclear war again, but it is definitely still a fear and something I feel our government is prepared for, at least as prepared as you can be for something so uncontrollable as a nuclear bomb. I found it very interesting when David Hoffman talked about how President Ronald Regan had an idea to create a missile shield. I do not think that could ever work, but it would be awesome if we had the technology and smarts to pull that off and make our country feel like we are always protected. I really enjoyed this interview and I learned a lot about the Cold War that I had no clue about.
ReplyDelete