Petrov was on overnight duty in 1983 when computers indicated the U.S. had launched a nuclear strike against his country. He had only a few
RIP to a quiet hero.
A good reminder in these times that even when powerful men act with impunity to do evil, tossing out callous orders left and right, that at the end of the day those powerful men often depend on ordinary, low-level workers to push a button somewhere, to flip a switch, to pull a trigger… and that those ordinary individuals have the power to say “no.” You can refuse to push the button, and you might save countless lives in the process.
ALSO a good timely reminder that automated systems can be wrong!!!! Sensors can be tripped incorrectly! Data can get corrupted! Electronics can fail! Machines shouldn’t make decisions!!!! There needs to be at least one human (ideally more than one for big decisions!) assessing the machine’s output, weighing it against other sources of information and the potential consequences, and making a rational, moral decision. Not just logical: RATIONAL.












