Will the World Ever Be Rid of Nuclear Weapons?

[Zkribbler]

Ronald Reagan wanted a world free of nuclear weapons.
Barack Obama has stated he'll be working for a nuclear-free world.
Will it ever happen? If so, how?

I say it won't happened. Nukes will be with us as long as we maintain the know-how to build them.

[Kuciwalker]

Yes.

[MOBIUS]

No.

[Lorizael]

Yes. During the singularity, an AGI will confiscate them to ensure there are no rash responses.

[Zevico]

Yes.

No.

[HalfLotus]

Nukes are bad, but the whole 'nuclear free world' mantra is more about controlling energy than weapons.

[rah]

Could someone teach that ad-bot English please.

[Lorizael]

Now rah, HalfLotus isn't a spambot; he's just a crazy truther.

[MikeH]

"ever".

Yes, of course. Either we'll be extinct or they'll be obsolete.

[Japher]

nukes will evolve into exploding cockroaches!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yes & No

[loinburger]

I wonder how much of the world's uranium will go inert before the world is engulfed by the sun.

[KrazyHorse]

I wonder how much of the world's uranium will go inert before the world is engulfed by the sun.

The half-life of U-235 is almost a billion years, IIRC, but what's in nuke weapons will go bad long before that:

a) even relatively small percentage contamination of U-235 with less fissile isotopes can massively increase the critical mass

b) being around other U-235 would significantly increase each atom's decay rate, I would think. Even subcritical masses have increased activity due to neutron capture

Jon could probably tell you more about this. I haven't done any nuke physics since undergrad

[Drake Tungsten]

Will the World Ever Be Rid of Nuclear Weapons?

I sure hope not.

[KrazyHorse]

How the hell would we defend ourselves from asteroids without nukes?

Either you're pro-nukes or pro-extinction