Hacker News Reader

Comment by 0xEF | Hacker News Reader

Not that I agree with it, but I do see the logic. The word "munitions" can be replaced with "materials," since it literally refers to materials used for warfare. That isn't necessarily limited to things that shoot or explode. It's a brilliant bit of pedantry if you step back and think about it.

View on HN

So it can refer to people and what is in their minds too?

Anyway I'm not surprised. This kind of pedantry is what lawyers do for a living.

> So it can refer to people and what is in their minds too?

You're being needlessly obtuse. If you bother to learn about the topic, you'll understand it's about distributing software.

Yes kind of. The "born secret" doctrine says all knowledge related to the creation of nuclear weapons, ranging from nuclear fusion to the production of fissile material, as “born classified".

The doctrine has never been tested in court as no case involving it has gone to trail.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_secret

I've definitely figured some things out about nuclear weapons and proliferation that I've never told anyone because of that doctrine. I met a real nuclear engineer at a conference and had dinner and he told me about how he was concerned that people would nick Np237 from a fuel reprocessing system to make nuclear weapons and I pointed out that it was OK to talk about that because I'd seen it in the literature.

Yes, it can, and I thank God because I wouldn't want more nuclear powers than what the world already has.

If Ukraine did not retire their nuclear weapons... (Russia was surprisingly all too happy to oblige)

All I am saying is that I am not sure it's so simple: sure, if everyone had them, the risk that there is some lunatic crazy enough to actually put them to use rises; but it also potentially stops a bunch of wars, especially bigger countries going after smaller ones.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com