Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove is a classic comedy which depicts a Cold War-esque catastrophe. What would happen if a low-ranking military base commander somehow got hold of and activated the hydrogen bomb? In this clip, The President of the United States (Peter Sellers) talks on the phone with the Russian President to warn him that a hydrogen bomb is about to attack his country. This scene is an act of sheer comic brilliance--the presidents of the two greatest superpowers of the time are depicted as incompetent and childish. They focus not on impending danger and nuclear destruction, but on formalities and nonsense. This scene also makes the interesting point that all of the technology we have constructed is smarter than us; humans are too stupid and irresponsible to operate the massive technologies that have been created. What do you think about this? Do you think that nuclear bombs are more beneficial or detrimental? Is technology really taking over, or are humans still in control?
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First off. I love this movie, just because its so hilarious. Although, it is rather scary. Technology in the wrong hands can be the most destructive force on the planet. Yet, I want to play the devil's advocate and say that the atomic bomb in the right hands has prevented far more war and bloodshed than it has ever caused. Instead of killing every last Japanese soldier and invading Japan, we dropped a bomb that killed a tiny fraction of those that would have died in a land invasion. In addition, the bomb has scarred nations that have it into keeping the peace. The idea of a weapon that can destroy earth has created a fear that any war will be the last war, thus preventing much of it between the major nations.
The idea of having a weapon for peace isn't that rare a concept that people have used in the past. In the comic/movie Watchmen the character Dr. Manhatten was a walking nuclear bomb. He could decimate cities if he wanted to in the blink of an eye, let alone an army. Because of his existence the Us was able to scare the USSR from doing anything drastic. After Dr. Manhatten left the US for a while the USSR the next day invaded Afghanistan. Sometimes dangerous technology is necessary to have peaceful coexistence. The only thing is we need to be careful of who is controlling the peace.
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