Thirty years ago, Stanislav Petrov may have helped save us from a nuclear catastrophe:
Quote
Stanislav Petrov: The man who may have saved the world
Thirty years ago, on 26 September 1983, the world was saved from potential nuclear disaster.
In the early hours of the morning, the Soviet Union's early-warning systems detected an incoming missile strike from the United States. Computer readouts suggested several missiles had been launched. The protocol for the Soviet military would have been to retaliate with a nuclear attack of its own.
But duty officer Stanislav Petrov - whose job it was to register apparent enemy missile launches - decided not to report them to his superiors, and instead dismissed them as a false alarm.
This was a breach of his instructions, a dereliction of duty. The safe thing to do would have been to pass the responsibility on, to refer up.
But his decision may have saved the world.
"I had all the data [to suggest there was an ongoing missile attack]. If I had sent my report up the chain of command, nobody would have said a word against it", he told the BBC's Russian Service 30 years after that overnight shift.
Mr Petrov - who retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel and now lives in a small town near Moscow - was part of a well-trained team which served at one of the Soviet Union's early warning bases, not far from Moscow. His training was rigorous, his instructions very clear.
'Couldn't move'
His job was to register any missile strikes and to report them to the Soviet military and political leadership. In the political climate of 1983, a retaliatory strike would have been almost certain.
And yet, when the moment came, he says he almost froze in place.
"The siren howled, but I just sat there for a few seconds, staring at the big, back-lit, red screen with the word 'launch' on it", he says.
........
Rest of interesting article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24280831 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24280831)
Thanks a lot.
A true hero, every time I read about this incident I'm amazed the world didn't end.
I bet that if he reported it up the chain, someone else would've waffled and second-guessed the reports. It's not that easy to make a decision to end the world as we know it.
There were no missiles? :(
the alpha versions of DEFCON had their faults... :p
Stanislav 'fahdiz' Petrov :thumbsdown:
Quote from: DGuller on September 27, 2013, 12:50:12 AM
I bet that if he reported it up the chain, someone else would've waffled and second-guessed the reports. It's not that easy to make a decision to end the world as we know it.
I bet I could.
Very scary how close the world came to disaster. Even if someone further up the chain of command would have second guessed the report, I wonder how often this happened? And how often on both sides?
QuoteNow, 30 years on, Mr Petrov thinks the odds were 50-50. He admits he was never absolutely sure that the alert was a false one.
He says he was the only officer in his team who had received a civilian education. "My colleagues were all professional soldiers, they were taught to give and obey orders," he told us.
So, he believes, if somebody else had been on shift, the alarm would have been raised.
Liberal Arts Saves Lives.
I like this quote of his I found elsewhere:
"Foreigners tend to exaggerate my heroism," he said, pointing out he was only doing his duty. "I was in the right place at the right moment."
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 27, 2013, 07:05:03 AM
QuoteNow, 30 years on, Mr Petrov thinks the odds were 50-50. He admits he was never absolutely sure that the alert was a false one.
He says he was the only officer in his team who had received a civilian education. "My colleagues were all professional soldiers, they were taught to give and obey orders," he told us.
So, he believes, if somebody else had been on shift, the alarm would have been raised.
Liberal Arts Saves Lives.
QuoteIn the early hours of the morning, the Soviet Union's early-warning systems detected an incoming missile strike from the United States.
This is a STEM failure, not a liberal arts victory.
Critical thinking, shitbird. He thought critically.
What was his education? Engineering?
Quote from: The Brain on September 28, 2013, 01:26:03 AM
What was his education? Engineering?
Or something like it, one highly suspects.
"You studied post-Mongol Polovtsy literature? Welcome to the Strategic Rocket Forces!"
Quote from: The Brain on September 28, 2013, 01:26:03 AM
What was his education? Engineering?
Has to be, if he thought critically.
Anyone who'd studied Russian literature would have wanted to destroy the world.
Is he going to get the Nobel Peace Prize?
Quote from: Siege on September 29, 2013, 02:59:06 PM
Is he going to get the Nobel Peace Prize?
If they gave a Nobel Peace Prize to everyone who ignored a false alarm during the Cold war, there wouldn't be any Nobel Prizes given for anything else for fifty years.