How destructive are nuclear weapons really?
&gt;not an existential threat to humanity ... [but] it would be a humanitarian catastrophe unprecedented in human history, as the global economy breaks down and regions are pushed back on their own resources. This could easily kill more people than the war itself, particularly in densely-populated areas, but I would expect things to stabilize at a technology level of maybe the late 19th&#x2F;early 20th century and start back up.<p>So, it&#x27;s exactly as destructive as I think. I get it - some people focus on the worst case scenario of a human-species-ending nuclear winter. I&#x27;m not actually particularly interested in how likely or unlikely that specific outcome is, as the &quot;lesser&quot; outcomes are plenty horrifying enough, and don&#x27;t call for a general downplaying of nuclear attacks like this.