We owe a debt to scientists who are willing to warn us
John Polanyi is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
“I’m just a scientist,” he said. We owe a debt to those who, like him, give timely warning of danger. My own instruction in such matters began in one peak of danger when, in the winter of 1960, the Kremlin hosted an international discussion by scientists in Moscow to explore the possibility of a stable peace in a world transformed. It was to be based on “minimal deterrence.” Participation in this discussion was by politically aware scientists from around the globe.
The reasoning was simple. In the face of the devastating threat of modern weaponry, no defence would be adjudged sufficient. Instead, an arms race with missiles would shortly be replaced by one with anti-missiles, followed thereafter by their negation by anti-anti-missiles. The ABM Treaty stopped this futile and provocative progression for 30 years until, in 2002, a careless U.S. president withdrew his country from the ABM Treaty, allowing the dam to break.
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