Comment by medymed | Hacker News Reader

Comment by medymed | Hacker News Reader

Whenever I can spare the time, I try to make mobile apps and computer games. I think it can add value to the world.

But compared to calling the shots in the dark on a imminent nuclear holocaust? Geez louise. If this story is true, this guy did far, far more for the world than any app or gizmo I could hope to see developed by me or others. It seems our destructive capabilities (which are practically infinite) in some sense far outweigh our creative capabilities. It's too bad nobody throws a few million dollars at this guy or his family like money is thrown at promising startups. Even if having saved the world is a sunk benefit (a la sunk cost), it would be well-deserved.

Equally interesting, his Soviet counterpart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov

It would be good to have a monument somewhere with the names of as many people as possible who acted sanely during those dangerous days - the least we can do is remember them and take it as a lesson.

A memorial to people who exercised good judgement and common sense in stressful situations would be great. Maybe we could have a reality show about this, to prove to the rest of the world we aren't just a bunch of slobbering troglodytes.

I am actually starting to sort-of observe the Stanislav Petrov Day[0] - 26th of September. It seems worth it to add to the list the Vasili Arkhipov Day, the 27th of October, and John Bordne day, the 28th of October. Maybe we should actually make a list of such days, in memory of people who actually saved (a big part of) the world, or had a significant contribution towards its continued prosperity.

Come to think of it, today's the 27th. Happy Vasili Arkhipov Day, HN!

[0] - http://blog.jaibot.com/there-is-a-button/

This is a fantastic idea, there should definitely be a statue of all the people who prevented World War 3.

Also, Stanislav Petrov prevented nuclear war because he didn't trust the Soviet satellite missile detection system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alar...

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