John Ptak unearthed a poll — about whether and how to use atomic weapons — given in July 1945 to 150 scientists at the Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory arm of the Manhattan Project. This was before the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. (Today, of course, is the anniversary of that bomb explosion.)
He then created a modern equivalent of that survey, which you can take anonymously.
Ptak says: “It’s odd to think–given the amount of press since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings–that among those who have taken the modern poll there are more people today who would use the atomic bomb than there were among the scientists of Chicago 1945. I would’ve thought the opposite.”
Related Ptakiana:
Norbert Wiener’s idea for preventing atomic war while making it all the more thinkable.
The idea of moving Washington, DC to the Rocky Mountains.
Ptak also takes a look at how well these visionaries of defense actually “saw” into the future. He pits Herman “Fatman” Kahn against David Byrne, and concludes that “David wins hands down.”