
The Soviets Built a Doomsday Machine. It’s Still Working. - robg
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/the-soviets-built-a-doomsday-machine-its-still-working/
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huhtenberg
It's not a _machine_ per se. It is basically a system that grants launch
privileges to the personnel at the launch site under certain conditions that
almost certainly indicate a nuclear attack against the rest of the military
infrastructure. To launch or not to launch is still a decision made by a
human.

~~~
m_eiman
The fact that you say " _almost_ certainly indicate a nuclear attack" is not
terribly reassuring. Depending on whether the result of the analysis the
system performs is correct or not, "doomsday" could be short for either "exact
revenge on doomsday" or "cause doomsday" :P

~~~
hegemonicon
Apparently on the US side, the SAC commander would receive a phone call that a
nuclear attack was under way, and he would be given 2-3 minutes to decide if
the warning was valid (all warnings turned out to be false in hindsight,
obviously). I'm not sure I like that system a whole lot better.

Edit: Also see Stanislav Petrov, who correctly identified an attack warning as
false: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov>

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dstorrs
Ok, this was interesting, but he only dealt with the "they built it" half of
the title. I wanted to know more about the "It's Still Working" half. Who is
controlling this system now that the Soviet Union is no more? Who is
maintaining the components, and their interconnects? Is there any reason not
to tear it down and, if not, why hasn't it been?

~~~
rdtsc
One of the reasons to have the machine is actually to prevent Russian hot-
headed generals from pushing the "launch" button too quickly. That is why the
existence of the machine wasn't really made known to the West. It makes
perfect sense to still keep it online. Perhaps, because it is online, we
haven't seen WWIII yet.

> Who is controlling this system now that the Soviet Union is no more? I would
> guess a branch of FSB or FAPSI (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAPSI>).

> Is there any reason not to tear it down and, if not, why hasn't it been?
> They will, as soon US will tear their systems down.

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incomethax
More discussion in: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=836952>

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tetha
Wow, this is another of those ingenious inventions which result from the fact
that a system realizes: I can and will fail, and if this happens, bad things
happen. and thus, they built a gigantic doomsday "machine", which then lowers
the probability of such a failure. Such systems always make me happy :)

