Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by s1artibartfast 1404 days ago
The point is that we need to maintain that stockpile and knowledge. If the US abandons its nuclear capability, there is nothing to hold others to their no first strike policy.
1 comments

Definitely. I was likely being too glib in my response here, and wasn't trying to say to throw all the nukes into the trash.

I think that it is possible to maintain an existing set of weapons without trying to continue pushing the envelope towards even more destructive weapons, and that 5000 is a lot/enough.

We stopped trying to get more destructive a long time ago. Modern weapons are smaller than they were at their peak.

If anything I'd image modern research is more interested in things like precision, collateral damage reduction, etc.