Thread by @KrisAtLarge

I would hazard to guess that if there's *one thing* that's most characteristic of the modern-day #STEM Lord mindset, it isn't racism (although folks like @ID_AA_Carmack and @RokoMijic give one pause) or even a love of #computers.

it's probably a fondness for *explosions*.

(1/x)

I think that's bad. and I *like* explosions.

I've spent time—like lots of nerds—looking for videos of large explosions. and we're knowledgeable of chemistry, in the Pnictogen Wing, so we know a bit about chemical explosives. "high energy compounds", to use a euphemism.

(2/x)

there's some beauties out there. I know of the existence of the most astonishing chemical rarities—molecules that inspire equal awe and terror.

you wonder how something like (N₅⁺)P(N₃)₆⁻ can possibly hold together. that's "pentazenium hexaäzidophosphate".

(3/x)

it looks like a sneeze would turn it back into its elements, and that's probably not far from the truth.

but *explosions*, per se, aren't as interesting. usually it's the _circumstances_ around the explosion that are the interesting part of a story about an explosion.

(4/x)

consider the Halifax Disaster, for example, a terrifying catastrophe from the days of World War I.

a vessel packed with high explosives, destined for Europe, collided with another ship in the narrows of Halifax harbor, under circumstances that are probably still debated.

(5/x)

the ship laden with explosives caught fire and detonated long after, destroying most of Halifax and slaying thousands. consider it a case study in how the needs of war lead to casualties far away from the scene of actual fighting.

but the *explosion itself*?

(6/x)

what can be said about it? it happened—I suppose one can argue about exact timing. it was really big.

beyond that...there's only prologue, and aftermath. the explosion itself is almost featureless.

"why did it happen at all?" is the first question we're inclined to ask.

(7/x)

and then we may ask, "could anything have been done to mitigate the damage?"

(these days, @EricRWeinstein's unfortunate brother would come up with a computer model that pointed a probabilistic finger in the vague direction of China. blaming things on China is in style.)

(8/x)

what I just said is generally true of accidents, and most gigantic explosions that have happened are unfortunate accidents. I include ALL wartime explosions in that judgment—war represents failure, a breakdown of civilization. we're not supposed to fall in love with it.

(9/x)

bellicose nerds of the @ID_AA_Carmack / @EricRWeinstein / @JeffDean sort—people for whom *war* is now a mere game—only love war because they're totally insulated of the human consequences of it. the same is true of warlike politicians, among both @GOP and @TheDemocrats.

(10/x)

it's typical that such persons would come to regard *explosions* as the _summa qua non_ of warfare.

the double war crime represented by the American nuclear bombings of #Hiroshima and #Nagasaki—crimes committed for the sole purpose of scaring Joe Stalin—set the pattern.

(11/x)

the outcome of World War II was a settled thing; Japan was already seeking surrender.

but Truman nuked Japan anyway—using the entire country both as an experimental subject to "study" the effects of nuclear devastation, and as a message to Stalin (who wasn't impressed.)

(12/x)

the double nuclear bombing was a typical act of American foreign-policy cowardice—"rubbing it in", you could say, with an arrogant and completely unnecessary act of violence against an enemy who posed little real threat.

Truman and Mussolini had a few things in common.

(13/x)

(yes, I compared the #Hiroshima and #Nagasaki bombings to Mussolini's bombing of Corfu. the purpose was much the same.)

the dual war crime, occurring it as it did at the tail end of a war already won, gave the American people a false sense of having "finished the job".

(14/x)

"this is what it takes to win wars," a lot of people said to themselves. "one—or better, two—great big explosions will end any war."

I suppose there's some truth to that. one COULD stop all wars on Earth by detonating Earth itself. that's a "solution", of sorts.

(15/x)

but it was a dangerous lesson indeed for the United States. the Manhattan Project, Trinity, and the criminal nuclear bombing of Japan sealed the fate of American physics, indeed all of American science and technology: *war* was, from then onward, always the top priority.

(16/x)

our #space program was an artifact of our "defence" program. we started exploring space with captured Nazı technology (and extensive collaboration with Nazı scientists.)

the United States entered two World Wars; in a sense, it's never actually left the second one.

(17/x)

explosions are *simple*. the atomic bomb, in particular, feels like a triumph of _basic geometry_. it's all about spheres and cylinders, in the nuclear realm.

I think that might be part of the draw. an explosion is like a...*spicy point*. it's a point, that had a party.

(18/x)

earlier on, I watched the third episode of "Trigun Stampede", in which Knives first unveils themself fully (surely Knives isn't REALLY a "him") and...it's beautiful.

Knives turns a town to rubble with some artfully arranged slices...I guess that's what the milnerds love.

(19/x)

war may be hideous...but *weapons* can be beautiful.

it's a difficult lesson to learn.

~Chara of Pnictogen

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