Input | Output |
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Link | YouTube |
Published | 2022/04/06 |
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Status | article incomplete |
Beau says:
Stanislav Petrov's critical thinking and decision to break protocol averted a potential nuclear disaster in 1983, showcasing the importance of independent judgment in high-stakes situations.
History enthusiasts, policymakers, activists
The full transcript provides a detailed account of how Stanislav Petrov's critical decision-making prevented a nuclear catastrophe in 1983 and underscores the significance of individual actions in global security.
#StanislavPetrov #NuclearCrisis #CriticalThinking #HistoryLessons #GlobalSecurity
Well, howdy there, internet people.
It's Beau again.
So today, we're going to talk about Stanislav Petrov,
better known as the man who saved the world.
This is another one of those close call stories.
And in this story, it comes down to one guy doing nothing.
Like, literally, he didn't do anything.
This was also in 1983.
And shortly before this happened,
the Soviets had taken out a Korean airliner, Korean Air
Flight 007.
They mistakenly shot it down, so tensions
were running really high.
Well, Petrov's job was to monitor the satellites that
monitored for US launches.
And one day, he's sitting here looking at the monitors,
minding his own business, and it shows a launch.
The equipment reports a launch, followed by five more launches.
He thought it was odd.
To his way of thinking, if the US
was going to launch a first strike,
it wouldn't just be five or six rockets.
They wouldn't just use five or six missiles.
It would be a full-on slot.
And the equipment he was monitoring is relatively new.
So he just waits for a few minutes.
Now, understand when you're talking
about this seconds count.
And by protocol, he should have reported that immediately.
So he just waited and waited to see
if it would show up on other monitoring systems
that they had.
And it didn't.
So he never reported it.
It turns out that, as was mentioned in the TV show
The Americans, they make reference to this incident,
it was sunlight that had bounced off some clouds, some high
altitude clouds.
The monitoring system mistook that for the launch
of nuclear missiles.
So he didn't do anything.
He did absolutely nothing, didn't report it.
Didn't send the information up the chain.
Had he, most people believe that the Soviets would have launched
a retaliatory strike.
And once they launched, the US would have launched for real.
So this one guy who decided to break with protocol
and double check the math, kind of,
he acted as an insulator.
And he just slowed everything down for a minute
and got more verification before reporting it
and before talking about it.
Because of that, the Soviet leadership
didn't have a chance to make that mistake.
So this is another example of when things got way too
close for comfort, right?
This occurred in 1983 and the public
didn't find out about it until 1998.
For his part, Petrov wasn't punished for breaking protocol.
He wasn't rewarded.
He just went on about his life.
He left early, but he makes a point
of saying that Russian leadership, Soviet leadership
didn't push him out.
He just didn't want to have anything to do with it.
And if I remember correctly, he had some mental health issues
later on that might have had something
to do with, for a few minutes, holding
the fate of the entire world in his hands.
So another little tidbit of history,
because I got a lot of comments about that last one.
When you're talking about this type of stuff,
when you're talking about near-peer contests,
when you're talking about the nuclear arms race,
these are the type of things that could really trigger it.
It's going to be a mistake.
It's going to be a glitch.
It would be something along these lines,
more so than a surprise attack by the Russians
or a surprise attack by the Americans.
There aren't many people that are high enough up the chain
to make any decisions regarding a strategic arsenal that
don't understand the simple fact that the only way to win
is not to play.
Anyway, it's just a thought.
I hope you all have a good day.
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