The fallacy of thinking conventionally about nuclear weapons

Abstract

The chapter passionately argues in favour of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament as vital objectives to save humanity from certain catastrophe. The fact is that a nuclear weapon is not a weapon in the conventional semantic sense. It is not a rational means to a rational end; it is an instrument of unlimited, universal destruction. Hence, the threat or the actuality of a nuclear war is not a rational instrument of national policy but rather an instrument of suicide and genocide. This also makes nuclear disarmament utterly different from the conventional one.