Ask HN: Do you think nuclear armageddon is plausible?
It&#x27;s tough to evaluate the chances that soldiers down the chain of command would violate orders to deploy nuclear weapons, because the military believes that it must look like it&#x27;s fully committed to launching nukes if ordered to. The theory is that if the other side believes that there&#x27;s any chance you _won&#x27;t_ launch nukes, then they might be able to exploit that and get off a strike without a response. The US military is (or rather, was during the Cold War) so committed to this idea that soldiers that questioned whether or not they could even question the order were discharged, as in the case of Harold Hering, <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Harold_Hering" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Harold_Hering</a>