Nuclear War... Could humans ultimately survive?

bobblepuzzle

Nuclear War... Could humans ultimately survive?

I've watched this docudrama from 1984 called Threads, its very good for the time. Conflict in Iran between the west and Russia goes pear shaped, with the Russians firing Nuclear Warhead Tipped missles at American B52's ultimately leading to all out nuclear war...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT96sgTwmvo

And it got me thinking... would it be survivable for future generations, I would think yes... but obviously the survival of the absolute fittest

KeithM89_old

Gah!! - i was made to watch that back in school and it scared the shit out of me - had nightmares for weeks
I think id rather die in the blast than suffer from radiation poisoning.

Plug

Im a cockroach myself so I'll have no problem surviving.

kippy

Some people would have you believe if we survived this particular phase in our history, financial meltdown, icy weather and the mayans predicting we'll all be gone in 2012, we'll survive anything.

Sea Sharp

There'll always be that 0.1% of the species that gets lucky and make it through.
The survival rate would probably be higher than that though.

Herb Powell

hah, I was gonna suggest watching Threads.
The answer is, become an army official, and you're sorted

Praetorian Saighdiuir

My plan is to crawl inside a giant cockroaches ass.............should do the job!

red menace

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

Nuclear War... Could humans ultimately survive?

I've watched this docudrama from 1984 called Threads, its very good for the time. Conflict in Iran between the west and Russia goes pear shaped, with the Russians firing Nuclear Warheads at American B52's ultimately leading to all out nuclear war...


And it got me thinking... would it be survivable for future generations, I would think yes... but obviously the survival of the absolute fittest

Survivable, I would think but on a pretty much decimated planet wouldn't be much of a life,
Would probably be a new dark ages, maybe a good chance for humanity to start again

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein

agrostar

I was watching there on QI on BBC where some fella was in Hiroshima on the day the first Nuclear bomb was dropped on Japan. Then he decided he'd go to Nagasaki on the train and arrived there for the second nuclear bombing. Fair unlucky........
But he was able to take the train from Hiroshima the day after the bombing, so there must of been alot of damage but railway was still in working order and arrived in time for the fireworks in Nagasaki. I believe he only died there a short time ago at the age of 90?? or so........

aidan_walsh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KvgtEnABY

TimeToShine

ZOMBIES!!!!! those hours of cod are gonna pay off big time

krudler

Played Fallout 3? you'll be grand so

aidan_walsh

agrostar wrote: »

I was watching there on QI on BBC where some fella was in Hiroshima on the day the first Nuclear bomb was dropped on Japan. Then he decided he'd go to Nagasaki on the train and arrived there for the second nuclear bombing. Fair unlucky........
But he was able to take the train from Hiroshima the day after the bombing, so there must of been alot of damage but railway was still in working order and arrived in time for the fireworks in Nagasaki. I believe he only died there a short time ago at the age of 90?? or so........

He was from Nagasaki.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

KeithM89 wrote: »

Gah!! - i was made to watch that back in school and it scared the shit out of me - had nightmares for weeks
I think id rather die in the blast than suffer from radiation poisoning.

Same here.

Watched it as a kid on holiday about a mile from Heathrow Airport. Every time a plane took off that night, I practically wet the bed...

admiralofthefleet

the bottle of factor 20 million i bought yesterday might come in handy

bobblepuzzle

krudler wrote: »

Played Fallout 3? you'll be grand so

It may take a few years before bottle caps become currency :P

RonMexico

Yes

Jumpy

There arent enough nukes in the world to wipe out all humans.

bobblepuzzle

Jumpy wrote: »

There arent enough nukes in the world to wipe out all humans.

There could possibly be enough fallout to do it + darkness for months/years

Jumpy

It would take over 1.2 million of them to kill us all. There isnt even 30,000 in the world.

KeithAFC

Don't need nukes to kill us off. We are doing a fine job of that without nukes.

Cuddlesworth

Jumpy wrote: »

It would take over 1.2 million of them to kill us all. There isnt even 30,000 in the world.

There is enough to crack the earth's core surface. That is the current worry with nukes.

finipops

Watch when the wind blows. I would rather die straight away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EbsrJuAoQo

Jumpy

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

There is enough to crack the earth's core surface. That is the current worry with nukes.

I think you mean the crust, and it regularly cracks itself.

It would be the equivalent of poking an elephant with a lit match.

Thrill

It's not just the nukes you'd have to fear. You can bet if things get that far then then the biological weapons wouldn't be far behind.

galwayrush

Apparently Rats have a good chance of survival, may even becone mutant.
****, no hope we'll ever see the end of FF then.:eek:

Nolanger

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

I've watched this docudrama from 1984 called Threads, its very good for the time.

This one from the 1960s is better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58NmAzQzRjk

Tonyandthewhale

Jumpy wrote: »

It would take over 1.2 million of them to kill us all.

Where did you get that figure?

CreepingDeath

Jumpy wrote: »

There arent enough nukes in the world to wipe out all humans.

Not directly maybe, but all the dust would blot out the sunlight for years causing massive crop failures and famines, giving the classic "nuclear winter".

Also, they'd probably take out most of the oil & gas drilling rigs, leading to an energy crisis. Once the oil stops flowing, countries become crippled fairly fast.

There might only be about 3 months worth of food supplies in the world at any given moment.

bobblepuzzle

Here's another interesting video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rHrV2QhArA

Mr Benevolent

Threads was a great film, best apocalypse movie I've ever seen.

Manic Moran

Strangelove: I would not rule out the chance to preserve a nucleus of human specimens. It would be quite easy...heh, heh... at the bottom of ah...some of our deeper mineshafts. Radioactivity would never penetrate a mine some thousands of feet deep, and in a matter of weeks, sufficient improvements in drilling space could easily be provided.
President: How long would you have to stay down there?
Strangelove: ...I would think that uh, possibly uh...one hundred years...It would not be difficult Mein Fuehrer! Nuclear reactors could, heh...I'm sorry, Mr. President. Nuclear reactors could provide power almost indefinitely. Greenhouses could maintain plant life. Animals could be bred and slaughtered. A quick survey would have to be made of all the available mine sites in the country, but I would guess that dwelling space for several hundred thousands of our people could easily be provided.
President: Well, I, I would hate to have to decide...who stays up and...who goes down.
Strangelove: Well, that would not be necessary, Mr. President. It could easily be accomplished with a computer. And a computer could be set and programmed to accept factors from youth, health, sexual fertility, intelligence, and a cross-section of necessary skills. Of course, it would be absolutely vital that our top government and military men be included to foster and impart the required principles of leadership and tradition.
Naturally, they would breed prodigiously, eh? There would be much time, and little to do. Ha, ha. But ah, with the proper breeding techniques and a ratio of say, ten females to each male, I would guess that they could then work their way back to the present Gross National Product within say, twenty years.
President:Wouldn't this nucleus of survivors be so grief-stricken and anguished that they'd, well, envy the dead and not want to go on living? Strangelove:When they go down into the mine, everyone would still be alive. There would be no shocking memories, and the prevailing emotion will be one of nostalgia for those left behind, combined with a spirit of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead! Ahhh!
Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious...service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Russian Ambassador: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.

So there's the plan.

NTM

bobblepuzzle

I would imagine Shannon could be a target for a nuke... Dublin, I doubt it, no military or strategic function in attacking Ireland

Dudess

Nolanger wrote: »

This one from the 1960s is better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58NmAzQzRjk

Much of Threads is just copied from that. If things did turn out the way they do in Threads though, I'd rather not survive. The conclusion (and a huge amount of scientific research was done for that film) is that humanity would forge ahead - just about, and massively diminished - but it would be horrific.

Terrifying film. The scariest part for me is the feral children 10 years on...

bobblepuzzle

Dudess wrote: »

Much of Threads is just copied from that. If things did turn out the way they do in Threads though, I'd rather not survive. The conclusion (and a huge amount of scientific research was done for that film) is that humanity would forge ahead - just about, and massively diminished - but it would be horrific.

Terrifying film. The scariest part for me is the feral children 10 years on...

Threads is one thing, but I think society would be a lot more vicious then what is portrayed, especially about food

Killer Pigeon

Lol,

... a thread about threads.

Dudess

Yeah, The Day After is the American precursor to Threads, it's not as scary, but it's still terrifying - if anything it has a bleaker outlook overall, and in the closing credits it says something like "The events portrayed in this film are only the tip of the iceberg of what would really happen".

Killer Pigeon

It's about time we had a large scale war. A nuclear war is the only way the global population can be decreased. Natural resources are being strained. It'll do the Earth the world of good if about 2-3 billion people died.

krudler

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

I would imagine Shannon could be a target for a nuke... Dublin, I doubt it, no military or strategic function in attacking Ireland

Dropping a nuke on Shannon might brighten the place up a bit, ever been there? it looks like something from Cold War

stateofflux

theres a guy my da used to know that built a nuclear bomb shelter under his house in the wicklow countryside... i only saw it when it was getting built when i was a kid....i vaguely remember him boasting about the wall thickness & reinforced steel.....

Dudess

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

It's about time we had a large scale war. A nuclear war is the only way the global population can be decreased. Natural resources are being strained. It'll do the Earth the world of good if about 2-3 billion people died.

The radiation sickness/cancer/blindness/lack of medical facilities, clean water, food would be a bit of a bitch for the survivors though...

anothernight

Dudess wrote: »

The radiation sickness/cancer/blindness/lack of medical facilities, clean water, food would be a bit of a bitch for the survivors though...

Not to mention the fact that natural resources would be under even more strain than they currently are.

Killer Pigeon

Dudess wrote: »

The radiation sickness/cancer/blindness/lack of medical facilities, clean water, food would be a bit of a bitch for the survivors though...

Damn, we'll just have to use conventional mass murder.

*sad face*

cianl1

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

Nuclear War... Could humans ultimately survive?

Yes...

But only if we leave right now!

Bjorn Bored.

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

It's about time we had a large scale war. A nuclear war is the only way the global population can be decreased. Natural resources are being strained. It'll do the Earth the world of good if about 2-3 billion people died.

oh well i dont know about that now, how about an asteroid or a super volcano like that one in yellowstone,or how about a mega tsunami or even an earth crust displacement,not forgetting a good old fashioned solar flare which could wipe out all out electricity and communications for years thus rendering us useless,you see all in all nature has a lot more ways of destroying us than mankind has.

TeddyTedson

I doubt everyone would die. The population is nearly at 7 Billin though so we could do with killing off a few. Somewhere big and random should be wiped out like....Africa!

CorkMan

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

I would imagine Shannon could be a target for a nuke... Dublin, I doubt it, no military or strategic function in attacking Ireland

London would be bombed the f**k out, if not other parts of Britain. I imagine the remnants of that would be over the skies of Ireland in no time.

Sure remember Chernobyl, that spread all over Europe. I think we would be hit big time if the UK was nuked.

Mr Benevolent

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

I would imagine Shannon could be a target for a nuke...

Nope, but Bantry Bay was. The only nuclear target in Ireland.

Riamfada

bobblepuzzle wrote: »

Threads is one thing, but I think society would be a lot more vicious then what is portrayed, especially about food

Id kill you all for a ceaser salad right now.

Riamfada

Also the film "The Road" was shit

rossie1977

a nuclear war wouldn't come close to wiping out all the people on the planet

now a asteriod only a mile or two wide (hitting the earth with the same force as millions of nukes) probably would wipe out all human life