Jay Sea
Member
- Mar 23, 2023
- 39
An Excerpt from On the Origin of God(s) By Means of Supernatural Selection: An Abstract
On the quiet hours before dawn, 6 August 1945, four heavy propeller engines roared to life under the cover of darkness. Moments later, a B-29 heavy bomber from the United States Army Air Force took off from an air base located on the Tinian Island, and chartered a course towards its target destination of Hiroshima, Japan. This was going to be no ordinary mission: the crew was specially chosen, highly trained and eager to carry out their duties, and inside the plane's fuselage sat a special weapon, a one-of-a-kind bomb that had never been used in the history of mankind.
After flying for over 6 hours, the plane had reached its target destination at approximately 8:15 am local time. With a clear view of the city below, the order was given and the bomb was released from the plane. The 4,400-kilogram monstrosity fell for approximately 43 seconds to its final destination, some 600 metres above the city of Hiroshima. Then the moment came with a blinding flash of light, as if a second sun suddenly birthed into the sky, and a raging fireball emerged from the flash, radiating searing heat and energy vaporizing matters caught in the storm; violent shockwaves surged outwards from the blast, ripping apart steel and concrete and reducing them to dust. The Earth trembles and darkness envelops the sky as a black cloud in the shape of a mushroom ascends into the heavens, ominously marking the death and destruction that had been unleashed in less than a blink of an eye.
The ensuing firestorm destroyed much of what was left of the city, the long-term effect of the explosion lingers as a radioactive cloud that contaminates the land, the waters and burns through all living things unfortunate enough to come into contact. Figures have estimated over 100,000 deaths by the end of that year, including many children. History is forever marked on this day by an atomic bomb, code named Little Boy, as the first of its kind to ever be used in warfare. The United States would later drop a second bomb, code named Fat Man, over the Japanese city of Nagasaki to force the surrender of the Japanese government, thus concluding World War II in the pacific.
Nuclear weapons are weapons of war, they are designed to injure, to maim, to kill and to destroy. In this regard they are no different from any other instruments of warfare, but only more powerful and efficient at unleashing unbridled destruction than their conventional counterparts. Those who are well-versed in diplomacy might also consider them as a tool of persuasion, for if one cannot hope to reason with their enemies, then an expedient alternative is to threaten them with death and annihilation. Do unto others that which compels their compliance unto you, seems to be a version of some rule that is commonly practiced in international relations.
Albert Einstein is often quoted to have said: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones". Upon witnessing such awesome destructive powers of Little Boy and Fat Man marking the final days of World War II, other nations began developing similar weapons of their own: the Soviet Union soon followed with successful tests in 1949; the United Kingdom in 1952; France in 1960; China in 1964; India in 1974; Pakistan in 1998; and most recently, North Korea in 2006. Other nations like Iran may one day join this list.
The continued proliferation of these powerful weapons creates serious challenges and risks. As of 2024, the world is sitting on an estimated total of approximately 13,000 warheads; Russia holds the most at an estimate of around 6000; followed by the United States at an estimate of over 5000. Technology has improved drastically since World War II, and the atomic bombs of the past are now superseded by nuclear weapons, many of which are far more destructive than what was used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The largest nuclear weapon ever built by the Soviet Union - Tsar Bomba, is over 3000 times more destructive than Little Boy. With so many nuclear warheads in existence and so much destructive potential within each modern warhead, one has to wonder: just how bad might things get in a theoretical conflict? What would be the worst-case scenario?
On the quiet hours before dawn, 6 August 1945, four heavy propeller engines roared to life under the cover of darkness. Moments later, a B-29 heavy bomber from the United States Army Air Force took off from an air base located on the Tinian Island, and chartered a course towards its target destination of Hiroshima, Japan. This was going to be no ordinary mission: the crew was specially chosen, highly trained and eager to carry out their duties, and inside the plane's fuselage sat a special weapon, a one-of-a-kind bomb that had never been used in the history of mankind.
After flying for over 6 hours, the plane had reached its target destination at approximately 8:15 am local time. With a clear view of the city below, the order was given and the bomb was released from the plane. The 4,400-kilogram monstrosity fell for approximately 43 seconds to its final destination, some 600 metres above the city of Hiroshima. Then the moment came with a blinding flash of light, as if a second sun suddenly birthed into the sky, and a raging fireball emerged from the flash, radiating searing heat and energy vaporizing matters caught in the storm; violent shockwaves surged outwards from the blast, ripping apart steel and concrete and reducing them to dust. The Earth trembles and darkness envelops the sky as a black cloud in the shape of a mushroom ascends into the heavens, ominously marking the death and destruction that had been unleashed in less than a blink of an eye.
The ensuing firestorm destroyed much of what was left of the city, the long-term effect of the explosion lingers as a radioactive cloud that contaminates the land, the waters and burns through all living things unfortunate enough to come into contact. Figures have estimated over 100,000 deaths by the end of that year, including many children. History is forever marked on this day by an atomic bomb, code named Little Boy, as the first of its kind to ever be used in warfare. The United States would later drop a second bomb, code named Fat Man, over the Japanese city of Nagasaki to force the surrender of the Japanese government, thus concluding World War II in the pacific.
Nuclear weapons are weapons of war, they are designed to injure, to maim, to kill and to destroy. In this regard they are no different from any other instruments of warfare, but only more powerful and efficient at unleashing unbridled destruction than their conventional counterparts. Those who are well-versed in diplomacy might also consider them as a tool of persuasion, for if one cannot hope to reason with their enemies, then an expedient alternative is to threaten them with death and annihilation. Do unto others that which compels their compliance unto you, seems to be a version of some rule that is commonly practiced in international relations.
Albert Einstein is often quoted to have said: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones". Upon witnessing such awesome destructive powers of Little Boy and Fat Man marking the final days of World War II, other nations began developing similar weapons of their own: the Soviet Union soon followed with successful tests in 1949; the United Kingdom in 1952; France in 1960; China in 1964; India in 1974; Pakistan in 1998; and most recently, North Korea in 2006. Other nations like Iran may one day join this list.
The continued proliferation of these powerful weapons creates serious challenges and risks. As of 2024, the world is sitting on an estimated total of approximately 13,000 warheads; Russia holds the most at an estimate of around 6000; followed by the United States at an estimate of over 5000. Technology has improved drastically since World War II, and the atomic bombs of the past are now superseded by nuclear weapons, many of which are far more destructive than what was used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The largest nuclear weapon ever built by the Soviet Union - Tsar Bomba, is over 3000 times more destructive than Little Boy. With so many nuclear warheads in existence and so much destructive potential within each modern warhead, one has to wonder: just how bad might things get in a theoretical conflict? What would be the worst-case scenario?
