Eternity RPC Board
05-13-2020, 12:03 PM
In any case, whether they're allowed or not, I would like Akitsu to have attempted to create nuclear weapons and then had it fail and catastrophically backfire (airplane carrying the warhead crashes while heading to first test, safety system fails, Akitsu ends up accidentally nuking one of it's own cities, leading the country to abandon nuclear weapons after massive public backlash).
Regarding justifying the development of nuclear technology in this world without bombs - it definitely would have happened. As Nents said in the chat - while war can in some cases lead to the development of technology it's not always the driving factor. I'm going to add my own views on it here, but generally war leads to the development of technology for war. Some of that tech doesn't actually get a civilian use until much later.
People would have began experimenting with radioactivity and nuclear energy with or without a major war. Now, it might take longer without a war, simply because the political will to fund such a program might be lacking without a potential military application for that tech, but it would have happened at some point regardless.
Now that said, without a military application it is possible for other forms of nuclear technology to take off, such as thorium-based nuclear power. Part of the reason this world uses primarily Uranium and Plutonium-based nuclear power is not simply that it was easier to build those reactors with the tech available at the time (they already understood how to handle Uranium and Plutonium from the nuclear weapons programs), but also because it would have been difficult to turn the nuclear waste from a thorium reaction into a nuclear weapon (with the technology available at the time, it's easier with modern tech though still an expensive and time-consuming process). Such development would also allow for wildly varied development of nuclear technology - countries that developed nuclear power first would likely stick with Uranium reactors (with early nuclear tech it would be much easier to produce these, and once a nuclear industry gets created around it it'll be difficult to change) while those that develop it later on might (depending on whether or not the person controlling the country wants it) develop something like thorium.
That's mostly speculation on my part but hey, it's interesting to consider.
As for whether or not nuclear weapons should be allowed... that's tough for me. Morally I would never let any of my countries touch a nuclear weapon, but as for other people... I'm not necessarily opposed to someone having it if they're willing to go through the process of RP'ing a nuclear program (it shouldn't be a simple process since... well making nukes isn't a simple process). But I am worried that it could devolve into what other people have already voiced concerns about.
Also note that in real life there's only one real country that waves around it's nukes around wildly, and that country wants people to believe that it's current leader (and his father) can control the weather. And there's a reason for that.
Regarding justifying the development of nuclear technology in this world without bombs - it definitely would have happened. As Nents said in the chat - while war can in some cases lead to the development of technology it's not always the driving factor. I'm going to add my own views on it here, but generally war leads to the development of technology for war. Some of that tech doesn't actually get a civilian use until much later.
People would have began experimenting with radioactivity and nuclear energy with or without a major war. Now, it might take longer without a war, simply because the political will to fund such a program might be lacking without a potential military application for that tech, but it would have happened at some point regardless.
Now that said, without a military application it is possible for other forms of nuclear technology to take off, such as thorium-based nuclear power. Part of the reason this world uses primarily Uranium and Plutonium-based nuclear power is not simply that it was easier to build those reactors with the tech available at the time (they already understood how to handle Uranium and Plutonium from the nuclear weapons programs), but also because it would have been difficult to turn the nuclear waste from a thorium reaction into a nuclear weapon (with the technology available at the time, it's easier with modern tech though still an expensive and time-consuming process). Such development would also allow for wildly varied development of nuclear technology - countries that developed nuclear power first would likely stick with Uranium reactors (with early nuclear tech it would be much easier to produce these, and once a nuclear industry gets created around it it'll be difficult to change) while those that develop it later on might (depending on whether or not the person controlling the country wants it) develop something like thorium.
That's mostly speculation on my part but hey, it's interesting to consider.
As for whether or not nuclear weapons should be allowed... that's tough for me. Morally I would never let any of my countries touch a nuclear weapon, but as for other people... I'm not necessarily opposed to someone having it if they're willing to go through the process of RP'ing a nuclear program (it shouldn't be a simple process since... well making nukes isn't a simple process). But I am worried that it could devolve into what other people have already voiced concerns about.
Also note that in real life there's only one real country that waves around it's nukes around wildly, and that country wants people to believe that it's current leader (and his father) can control the weather. And there's a reason for that.