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THE TECHNOLOGY INVOLVED WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS RISKS USING
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| THE TECHNOLOGY INVOLVED WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS RISKS USING THEM AGAINST STATES WHO ARE NOT CULPABLE FOR ANY HARM Thomas Donaldson. Nuclear Deterrence and Self-Defense.” Ethics, Vol. 95, No. 3, Special Issue Symposium on Ethics and Nuclear Deterrence (Apr, 1985), pp. 537-548 The critical moral feature of nuclear weapons systems that frustrates the above conditions might be called "technological recalcitrance" That is to say, at present levels of technology, such weapons systems are recalcitrant to the intentions of their users they are relatively uncontrollable, subject to accidents, and strikingly indiscriminate in the scope of their damage. Let us sketch the outward shape of the problem of technological recalcitrance manifested in nuclear weapons systems. It is a feature of such systems that the time between decision and delivery is extremely short. The delivery time of the new Pershing missiles in Europe is about nine minutes. Countering such an immediately present danger means abandoning the luxury of even modest deliberation time. Defense strategists are driven to employ increasingly complex, hair-triggered control systems capable of launching hundreds of nuclear weapons at a moment's notice. Nuclear weapons systems, thus, become technologically "slippery" Technologically slippery systems increase the risk of accidental attack and hence the risk of violating principles 1 and 3. The ever-present possibility of human error is aggravated by the use of independent automated delivery mechanisms. Almost every traditional weapons system lacked this feature. The sword, the spear, the cavalry, were relatively accident free. When Marcus Aurelius considered marching on Partha, he could be confident his attack was the result of human intention. A nuclear counterattack may occur as a consequence of technological accident, or it may occur in response to a limited, accidental launch by the other side. In neither case could the enemy be regarded as either culpable or insane. 10NFL1-Nuclear Weapons Page 65 of 199 www.victorybriefs.com Download 1.23 Mb. Share with your friends:
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