This article seems like an attempt to minimize the effects of radiation from atomic bombings. Given the release of the latest NPS (nuclear posture review) advocating for use of strategic low yield nuclear weapons and the 'escalate to deescalate' strategy being advanced by the current leadership of the U.S. [1], this seems timed to create political allies on the right. This is interesting because other literature from the K=1 institute seems to be anti-nuclear in tone. [2]

I question the way in which the author glosses over the pain and suffering of the cancer victims of these bombings. People were dying in agonizing pain for years and decades after the war had ended [3]. By comparison, outlawed chemical weapons seem relatively humane.

As a society, I believe we need to be vigilant towards attempts to normalize use of these weapons. They may have a role in deterrence, but the relatively low-level wars the USA has taken on over the past 40 years must not make us callous towards choices that will quickly escalate to hundreds of thousands to millions of deaths. With the survivors of the last world war rapidly dwindling, I fear we are quickly losing our global memory of the horror of large-scale conflict and through media, preparing our society to accept a nuclear exchange for which we hav a very limited and untested defense. [4,5] In fact, creating this defense system has spurred our global rivals to develop more horrific weapons [6].

[1] https://www.defense.gov/News/SpecialReports/2018NuclearPostu... https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1204755/escalating-t...

[2] https://k1project.columbia.edu/a11

[3] https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-be-dying-from-leuke...

[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/us/politics/military-exer...

[5] https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-limits-of-u-s-missile...

[6] https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1204814/putins-nuke-...