Is there some near-future where in order to further reinforce the automaticity of this process, we just have AI controlling the whole thing from start to finish?
I can’t imagine a worse nightmare scenario than bringing AI, or more machine-learning technology, into the mix. There’s an incredible amount of machine learning that is built into the system. For example, the satellite detects the launch and then that data is processed in space.
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What nuclear annihilation could look like
“The survivors would envy the dead.”
How often do you think about all the ways the world could end?
As the host of The Gray Area, I find myself engaged in this macabre exercise more than most. We’ve done episodes on runaway AI and climate change and extinction panics.
- One of the few topics we haven’t covered, however, is nuclear war.
- Which is surprising because this scenario is near the top of basically every list of existential threats — and now feels newly salient with recent news involving North Korea, Iran, and China.
Annie Jacobsen is a reporter and the author of a new book
It’s a book that clearly wants to startle the reader, and it succeeds.
Jacobsen walks you through all the ways a nuclear catastrophe might unfold, and she gives a play-by-play breakdown of the terrifying choreography that would ensue in the minutes immediately after a nuclear missile launch.
So I invited Jacobsen on The Gray Area to talk about what a nuclear exchange would really look like and how perilously close we are to that reality. As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so listen and follow The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you find podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
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