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Comment by nextworddev | Hacker News Reader

Were you actually old enough to remember those days? It was a lot scarier

I see no evidence that we won’t go back there. Our grandparents built an entire world order around curtailing the kind of authoritarian competition that leads to wars between major powers, and we’re already watching it break down. Do you really look at this political world as the harbinger of another 75 years free of major global conflict?

I'm old enough. My own sense is this is much worse.

I have a friend that was afraid a nuclear bomb would eventually drop. I wasn't worried a bit about that though. So perhaps perception or state of mind made a difference.

I'm old enough to remember, and I disagree. I think this is the most frightening period in my lifetime.

I can remember the public information ads that advised families to hide under the stairs or under a table until the nuclear attack has ended.

Well here in Estonia we already are getting bunker test drills and flyers in our mailboxes on what to do in case of a bombing / nuclear attack. Sad thing is that since we don't really have any underground places, and Estonia is as wide as the current Russian occupied line in Ukraine, we're all pretty much going to evaporate no matter what we do.

Having caught the end of it, it was certainly scarier at the time, when there was direct threat of imminent, unavoidable death at the whim of some other country. We’re not there yet (well, most of us).

I think what’s scary now is the trajectory we’re on and how so many people seem desperate to keep the accelerator pressed hard to the floor.

I was. It wasn't great, but it was quite static, speaking for myself only. I'm sure it could depend on where you lived at the time.

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