Violence... The story so far

This gun is ready; always loaded, it hangs over each of us. This gun is not loaded with conventional lead slugs. It is loaded with MC squared.

Does that matter? Well let's put that into some perspective. No one knows how much energy has been loaded for the itchy trigger fingers. But the energy is so vast, any perspective at all is enough. "Bullets" range in power from a few kilotons to several megatons of TNT. And there are something like 15,000 such guns cocked and at the ready. Assume each gun is mid-range in power, 200 kilotons, it may in fact be much higher. That is three million kilotons or three billion tons out there to incinerate part or all of humanity.

The perspective is simple: Every one of us is under that gun. Some 500 kilograms (some 1,000 pounds) for each one of us. That is some 12.5 times the fire power of the Hiroshima bomb--for each one of us. This is what

• scared Medvedev and Obama to the negotiating table.
• motivated the Security Council to unanimously endorse total nuclear disarmament.

Some writers claim this is a deterrence that has worked. We don't see how. The world is still at war. Terrorists, a minute fraction of all of us, command the news media. There have been numerous thefts of nuclear substance reported. Rogue peddlers steal secrets and sell them to any and all. The Middle East is less stable than ever. Jihadism is alive and well.


Mad people are born every day. Some are genocidal, like Hitler. And some have his ability to spellbind his/her citizens, to create suicidal martyrs. Even a total financial collapse becomes a minor issue in comparison.