Cold War arsenals grew to planetary overkill capacity

Evidence

New and better rockets replaced older rockets; single warhead missiles were replaced by multiple independent reentry vehicles (MIRVs), with three or more separate, independently targetable warheads per rocket; guidance systems began to incorporate terrain-matching positioning systems, improving accuracy; and both countries developed extensive electronics and radar detection systems for monitoring the missiles of the other side, poised and ready to detect launches seconds after they took place. By the 1980s each side had more than ten thousand warheads, and the warheads themselves had expanded in killing power from kilotons to megatons—all while fitting into smaller and smaller packages, enabling them to be mounted on a larger variety of delivery platforms. Weapons of this arms race could now exterminate civilization on a planetary scale; in principle, they could do this many thousands of times over. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 569

Categorization

• XREF: Overkill far beyond any functional need parallels the runaway exaggeration seen in sexually selected animal weapons like Irish elk antlers. — connects to: Cold War arsenals could destroy all civilization thousands of times over; Human WMDs exceed any animal weapon in destructive capacity — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 609; Nuclear weapons grew cheaper as they proliferated, undermining deterrence — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 602 (+1 more)

Related

• Cold War arsenals could destroy all civilization thousands of times over (similarity 0.92)
• Human WMDs exceed any animal weapon in destructive capacity (similarity 0.86)
• Modern nuclear and biological weapons are destructively unprecedented in history (similarity 0.86)
• Cold War weapons costs multiplied simultaneously across every system category (similarity 0.83)
• Military stockpiled over a billion aging cluster submunitions. (similarity 0.83)
• Proliferating nuclear weapons increase the risk of accidental world-ending war (similarity 0.81)
• Excessive military spending can bankrupt a superpower just as oversized antlers bankrupt elk (similarity 0.80)
• Weapons evolve only when reproductive benefits exceed costs (similarity 0.80)
• Costly advanced weapons deter rivals just like large animal weapons (similarity 0.80)
• Nuclear weapons grew cheaper as they proliferated, undermining deterrence (similarity 0.79)
• A single technological leap can render an entire opposing arsenal obsolete (similarity 0.79)
• Human fortifications and artillery evolve via the same arms-race logic as animal weapons (similarity 0.79)
• Costly weaponry can drive a species extinct when resources degrade. (similarity 0.79)
• Weapon evolution is judged by competition among designs, not human survival (similarity 0.79)
• Weapon growth widens the gap between the best- and worst-armed males. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Human WMDs exceed any animal weapon in destructive capacity #expands (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 609
• Nuclear weapons grew cheaper as they proliferated, undermining deterrence #contradicts (0.40) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 602