Why are nukes a thing of the past?

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

I've noticed that nukes, both as the strategic WMD, and as a terrorist device in the face of miniaturisation and easier production processes affordable at TL10, are not a thing that gets any sort of attention. I've seen a couple of phrases along the lines that 'nuclear apocalypse did not arrive', but I'm more interested, what is the cause of that? I'm particularly interested why nukes are no longer a factor as a terror weapon used by organisations and régimes that are not above ignoring the principles of common sapient international decency? Maybe I'm missing some some entry here or there that would explain it.

Thanks in advance!

[Astromancer]

I suppose the main reason for getting rid of nukes is simply that the focus of the setting would shift to much. Either people would be forced to live behind brutal layers of security, which would make adventuring a very limited and controled thing (main a version of millitary SciFi), or society would collapse, which would eliminate most or all of the cool tech.

[Phil Masters]

I've always vaguely assumed the "brutal security" answer. However, pervasive microtech enables brutal security to be amazingly polite most of the time. Any identifiable political radical who starts, say, reading biographies of Robert Oppenheimer may well get a couple of SWAT combat shells arriving through his front door, though.

Privacy? Yeah, largely shot by 2014 standards. But even with AI support, processing all that data on everybody is a bit like hard work. So security organisations have learned to focus on the important things. Like the ones that involve uranium.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Privacy? Yeah, largely shot by 2014 standards. But even with AI support, processing all that data on everybody is a bit like hard work. So security organisations have learned to focus on the important things. Like the ones that involve uranium.

Also possibly of note is that major power (besides being space-based) nukes are probably triggered by antimatter in TS. Such weapons don't need even enriched uranium much less plutonium.

So this gets rid of one sort of hard to find component and replaces it with a harder to find one.

TS doesn't might not even use as much Tritium as we do. De yes but that's not much good by itself to the nuke builder.

[sir_pudding]

There are scarier subtler terror weapons in 2100, too. The possibility exists, or is very close to existing, of strategic victory that leaves enemy infrastructure and population intact, even of unaware that they lost, or even that there was a war. That's a lot better than nukes.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'm particularly interested why nukes are no longer a factor as a terror weapon used by organisations and régimes that are not above ignoring the principles of common sapient international decency?

No longer? They never really have been.

Luckily for us the fact is nuclear explosions are *hard* to set off. Presumably there are still optimistic terror groups who attempt this. But since they are almost certain to fail even if nobody was trying to stop them, and plenty of people with very good surveillance technologies are trying to stop them, it just isn't considered a very serious threat compared to stuff people actually can manage to do without the backing of a national budget, an engineering college faculty and a bunch of materials being watched by 10 different intelligence services.

Most large nations in 2100 could presumably build a nuclear weapon if they really wanted. But nukes aren't a weapon you can conceal the use of, and despite what goes into everybody's propaganda, very few regimes are actually insane. A nuclear arsenal may discourage somebody else from pushing you into a situation where you have nothing left to lose - which may help explain why almost no borders have moved in 150 years - but isn't much use otherwise. If there are 90 members of the nuclear club instead of 9 but still nobody crazy enough to use them offensively, well, not much has actually changed.

[pfharlock]

I am in no position of authority on this subject, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

I can't explain the lack of mention in the material.

My assumption as a GM would be though that this is still a very real threat. Perhaps the reason it's not mentioned too too much is that in the world of 2100 there are threats that are at least as frightening as a nuclear blast. That doesn't mean that nuclear weapons aren't still a threat, just that there is now more competition in the space, (tailored viruses come to mind).

An interesting plot idea would be a cult of infomorphs who want to wipe out all beings of flesh only leaving mechanical life forms around. For them either nuclear weapons or a tailored virus would be interesting weapons to achieve such an end.

[Phil Masters]

A single anti-human infomorph is always possible in the setting, but a significant group would have some problems. Any time they try to recruit, they run the risk of approaching one whose Honesty programming is intact and reliable. Unless they're all ghosts or shadows, of course.

But anyway, a solo rogue AI or a group would surely be much more likely to employ biotech or nano than nukes. Nuclear weapons are bad for metal and ceramics, too.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

A single anti-human infomorph is always possible in the setting, but a significant group would have some problems. Any time they try to recruit, they run the risk of approaching one whose Honesty programming is intact and reliable. Unless they're all ghosts or shadows, of course.

There's always the TSA who could have created such a cabal deliberately during the war (there's something like this already in Deep Beyond, but not overtly malevolent). Alternately one Honesty-less EI or suborned AI could easily make a whole bunch of friends, since it's no longer bound by anti-Xoxing prohibitions.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

A single anti-human infomorph is always possible in the setting, but a significant group would have some problems.

It could copy itself. If for no other reason than to have someone to play "Kill all Humans!" with.