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Doomsday device, the Glossary

A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon or weapons system — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth.^[1]

45 relations: AI takeover, Alliteration, Brinkmanship, Castle Bravo, Chain reaction, Cobalt bomb, Cobalt-60, Cold War, Computer, Conflict escalation, Dead Hand, Death Star, Doomsday Clock, Dr. Strangelove, Earth, Fail-deadly, Global catastrophic risk, Herman Kahn, History of the Teller–Ulam design, Human extinction, Leo Szilard, Massive retaliation, Mutual assured destruction, Nth Country Experiment, Nuclear fallout, Nuclear holocaust, Nuclear terrorism, RAND Corporation, Salted bomb, Science, Science fiction, Skynet (Terminator), Soviet Union, Space station, Technology, The Bionic Woman, The Doomsday Machine (Star Trek: The Original Series), The Terminator, Thermonuclear weapon, Virus (1980 film), WarGames, Weapon of mass destruction, 1940s, 1950s, 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident.
Doomsday scenarios
Science fiction weapons

AI takeover

An AI takeover is an imagined scenario in which artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as the dominant form of intelligence on Earth and computer programs or robots effectively take control of the planet away from the human species, which relies on human intelligence. Doomsday device and aI takeover are doomsday scenarios.

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Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels, if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant.

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Brinkmanship

Brinkmanship or brinksmanship is the practice of trying to achieve an advantageous outcome by pushing dangerous events to the brink of active conflict.

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Castle Bravo

Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of Operation Castle.

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Chain reaction

A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place.

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Cobalt bomb

A cobalt bomb is a type of "salted bomb": a nuclear weapon designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, intended to contaminate a large area with radioactive material, potentially for the purpose of radiological warfare, mutual assured destruction or as doomsday devices. Doomsday device and cobalt bomb are nuclear weapons.

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Cobalt-60

Cobalt-60 (Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years.

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Cold War

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, that started in 1947, two years after the end of World War II, and lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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Computer

A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation).

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Conflict escalation

Conflict escalation is the process by which conflicts grow in severity or scale over time.

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Dead Hand

Dead Hand, also known as Perimeter ("Perimeter" System, with the GRAU Index 15E601, Cyrillic: 15Э601), is a Cold War-era automatic nuclear weapons-control system (similar in concept to the American AN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications System) that was constructed by the Soviet Union.

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Death Star

The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon featured in the Star Wars space-opera franchise.

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Doomsday Clock

The Doomsday Clock is a symbol that represents the likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe, in the opinion of the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Doomsday device and Doomsday Clock are doomsday scenarios.

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Dr. Strangelove

Dr.

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Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life.

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Fail-deadly

Fail-deadly is a concept in nuclear military strategy that encourages deterrence by guaranteeing an immediate, automatic, and overwhelming response to an attack, even if there is no one to trigger such retaliation.

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Global catastrophic risk

A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, even endangering or destroying modern civilization.

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Herman Kahn

Herman Kahn (February 15, 1922 – July 7, 1983) was an American physicist and a founding member of the Hudson Institute, regarded as one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century.

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History of the Teller–Ulam design

The Teller–Ulam design is a technical concept behind modern thermonuclear weapons, also known as hydrogen bombs.

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Human extinction

Human extinction is the hypothetical end of the human species, either by population decline due to extraneous natural causes, such as an asteroid impact or large-scale volcanism, or via anthropogenic destruction (self-extinction), for example by sub-replacement fertility.

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Leo Szilard

Leo Szilard (Szilárd Leó, pronounced; born Leó Spitz; February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964) was a Hungarian born physicist and inventor.

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Massive retaliation

Massive retaliation, also known as a massive response or massive deterrence, is a military doctrine and nuclear strategy in which a state commits itself to retaliate in much greater force in the event of an attack.

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Mutual assured destruction

Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. Doomsday device and Mutual assured destruction are nuclear weapons.

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Nth Country Experiment

The Nth Country Experiment was an experiment conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory starting in May 1964 that sought to assess the risk of nuclear proliferation.

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Nuclear fallout

Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. Doomsday device and nuclear fallout are nuclear weapons.

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Nuclear holocaust

A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear annihilation, nuclear armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes widespread destruction and radioactive fallout.

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Nuclear terrorism

Nuclear terrorism refers to any person or persons detonating a nuclear weapon as an act of terrorism (i.e., illegal or immoral use of violence for a political or religious cause). Doomsday device and nuclear terrorism are nuclear weapons.

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RAND Corporation

The RAND Corporation is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm.

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Salted bomb

A salted bomb is a nuclear weapon designed to function as a radiological weapon by producing larger quantities of radioactive fallout than unsalted nuclear arms. Doomsday device and salted bomb are nuclear weapons.

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Science

Science is a strict systematic discipline that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the world.

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Science fiction

Science fiction (sometimes shortened to SF or sci-fi) is a genre of speculative fiction, which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.

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Skynet (Terminator)

Skynet is an artificial neural network-based conscious group mind and artificial general superintelligence system that serves as the antagonistic force of the ''Terminator'' franchise.

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Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.

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Space station

A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains in orbit and hosts humans for extended periods of time.

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Technology

Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way.

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The Bionic Woman

The Bionic Woman is an American science fiction action-adventure television series created by Kenneth Johnson based on the 1972 novel ''Cyborg'' by Martin Caidin and starring Lindsay Wagner, that aired from January 14, 1976, to May 13, 1978.

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The Doomsday Machine (Star Trek: The Original Series)

"The Doomsday Machine" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek.

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The Terminator

The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd.

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Thermonuclear weapon

A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design.

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Virus (1980 film)

Virus, known in Japan as, is a 1980 Japanese post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Kinji Fukasaku.

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WarGames

WarGames is a 1983 American techno-thriller film directed by John Badham, written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, and starring Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood and Ally Sheedy.

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Weapon of mass destruction

A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures (e.g., mountains), or the biosphere.

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References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_device

Also known as Doom's Day weapon, Doomsday Bomb, Doomsday devices, Doomsday devices in popular culture, Doomsday weapon.

Doomsday device, the Glossary

Table of Contents

See also

Doomsday scenarios

Science fiction weapons

References