That was quite literally a realistic threat we by all accounts narrowly avoided. There were multiple cases where a single person overrode procedure and used their judgment to avoid nuclear catastrophe.
Ever heard of that rather unheard of franchise, called Terminator, with that one rather not well known actor, Arnold something. ;-) We‘ve had so many movies and series with that theme already.
This is still an major unresolved issue. It requires ongoing vigilance and is a major headache for people the world over.
The nuclear threat is not “in the past”.
Granted, but it's not top of mind like it was then. It was very much the same as current AI fears, a lot of concerned scientists and talking heads focused on doom and projecting we'd never make it to the next century as a civilized society.
Tell me you don't understand deterrence without telling me you don't understand deterrence. Without nuclear weapons, WWIII happens in 1962. People that call it "an unresolved issue" are far more likely to cause warfare because you think of geo-politics as a series of problems to be solved. That's not how it works. Its about managing and moderating passions, not about "solving" problems. The constant injection of people who think this way is the cause of political violence and war. They are not the people who will "solve it" and bring about "the end of history". This is one of the greatest ironies of life.
As in Teminator, iRobot and Matrix? Those are decades old.
Yeah but when those came out they were purely science fiction. They weren't benefiting from the premise being at the peak of public attention.
Science fiction has predicated reality before. Smartphones, video chats and smart homes are all examples