Sept. 26, 1983: The Man Who Saved the World by Doing ... Nothing

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/09/dayintech_0926

by VMG • 16 years ago

200 29 16 years ago

wolfrom• 16 years ago

What I find most interesting about this event is that there is really no consensus on what would have happened had he believed the alert to be genuine. When he received an award at the UN in 2006, Russia felt the need to declare that they would not have launched a counterattack without confirmation from other sources. I think it's a good example of how history is far more subjective that we like to think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

philwelch• 16 years ago

What we really don't know is whether the Soviets actually would have followed that policy or whether they just said that to save face.

gregable• 16 years ago

Even the soviets probably don't know that for sure.

varjag• 16 years ago

The implication of your post being, of course, is that they likely wouldn't have. Because they are, duh, Soviets?

m_myers• 16 years ago

In Soviet Russia, policy follows you.

Did I do that right?

gjenkin• 16 years ago

History and journalism. The story, from a journalist's perspective, becomes too complex if a more complete analysis was included. To write, for example, that the Soviets had a detailed system of approvals which were designed to act as redundancies in the event of errors in launch detection technology or decision-making would muddy the very clear, familiar (and frightening) story that a single man saved us from disaster.

There's also an element of western propaganda and bias here too of course. It was in the interests of western nations at the time to paint a picture of an incompetent and reckless Soviet government and to showcase stories of western-style individual heroics.

All this said, if Petrov genuinely saved the day, it is absolutely worth celebrating. But we will never know for sure if he did.

robryan• 16 years ago

It depends on if there were other sources they could rely on in time? Any idea what the travel time of these nukes would have been if they were real? Presumably in the event of a real attack they would want there missiles in the air before they probably got hit as some of the first targets.

jacquesm2• 16 years ago

See also:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/the-soviets-built-a-...

And the Hn discussion:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=884554

makmanalp• 16 years ago

Hate to be a nitpick, but doing nothing is slightly different than not doing something (a specific thing). That aside, it's a great testament to why authority should be questioned and decisions should always be filtered through the mind.

jacquesm2• 16 years ago

Yep. See also the story about General Sir Mike Jackson, without who the Yugoslav war might have taken a completely different turn.

qw• 16 years ago

I found an interesting quote at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6216808.stm

During the mission his strong character famously resulted in a clash with his American commander General Wesley Clark.

When ordered to intercept Russian forces which entered Kosovo without the alliance's agreement he refused. "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," he is reported to have told General Clark

jeroen• 16 years ago

-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Jackson#High_command

chewbranca3• 16 years ago

Satellite error... please, it was a game of global thermonuclear war!

Anyone else find it ironic this happened in the same year that wargames the movie came out?

chewbranca3• 16 years ago

Really? downvoted for that? You know that was funny.

chewbranca3• 16 years ago

Oh get a life.

some1else• 16 years ago

I wish his reasoning was described better. This way it seems more like luck. Nevertheless, I'm thankful for it :-)

borism• 16 years ago

His reasoning is described perfectly well - first strike is not done by sending five missiles - it's done by at least half of the active arsenal (which is counted by both sides really well).

rottencupcakes• 16 years ago

What happened to the last post about this that was at the top of the front page? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1728683

VMG2• 16 years ago

I reposted it because frankly nobody knows what Petrov Day is and chose a more informative headline

rue• 16 years ago

This, slightly exaggerated as it may be, poignantly raises the Fermi paradox proposition that most advanced civilizations end up destroying themselves and how narrow the "right" path sometimes is.

VMG2• 16 years ago

It also raises some interesting thoughts about the antrophic principle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle)

chimingin• 16 years ago

why is this on hacker news??????

arethuza• 16 years ago

Late '83 was not a good time - as well as this incident there was also "Able Archer 83", which had the Soviets very scared that the west was going to carry out a first strike:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

momoro• 16 years ago

It would be nice if I could click a button and give the guy $5 or something...

jedwhite• 16 years ago

I don't think it's fair to say he did nothing. He did two very important things:

1) Analysed the available information and determined that it was a false alert.

2) Actively passed on his assessment that it was a false alert to his superiors.

So it would be fairer to say "Man Who Saved the World by Using His Smarts and Responding Decisively."

chopsueyar• 16 years ago

In Taoism, it is known as 'wu wei':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei

marze• 16 years ago

It is fun to see the phrase "save the world" used in its literal meaning for a change.

tomkinstinch• 16 years ago

I've been learning more about the Cold War and reading stories like this in _The Dead Hand_.

Not a bad read for the historically-inclined: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Hand-Untold-Dangerous-Legacy/dp/0...