The End Is Always Near: Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses

by Dan Carlin

The physicist Arthur Holly Compton* wrote, “If with such destructive weapons men are to survive, they must grow rapidly in human greatness. A new level of human understanding is needed. The reward for using the atom’s power towards man’s welfare is great and sure. The punishment for its misuse would seem to be death and the destruction of the civilization that has been growing for a thousand years.” “Must grow rapidly in human greatness” is a wonderful phrase. As is “destruction of the civilization that has been growing for a thousand years.” It seems like a nice way of saying that we as a species must become more enlightened or die. Einstein seemed to be a bit more pessimistic about the adapt-or-die question: “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything, save our modes of thinking and thus, we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” He later clarified what he meant: Many persons have inquired concerning a recent message of mine that “a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move to higher levels.” Often in evolutionary processes a species must adapt to new conditions in order to survive. Today the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature of the world as we know it, and the human race consequently finds itself in a new habitat to which it must adapt its thinking. In light of new knowledge . . . an eventual world state is not just desirable in the name of brotherhood; it is necessary for survival. . . . Today we must abandon competiti...