Status Updates From The Curve of Binding Energy...

And this is how I learned about Dyson trees???? Taylor is also obsessed with blowing shit up.

"The plants are so carefully engineered, however, that the possibility seems remote." when discussing power plant accidents. ~6 years later, three mile island happens. ~13 years later, Chernobyl.

Comparison to mountain climbing, steps already prescribed once someone reaches the summit and it's simpler. "Everybody who tried to make a nuclear explosion post-1945 succeeded" falls apart when using the mountain analogy, while the death rate has declined, plenty of people still die climbing Everest.

It's interesting that Ted Taylor essentially took the principles of the MAD Doctrine he initially believed in and applied them to small bombs. He seems convinced that anyone can make a bomb, so the solution to ensure proper containment is to tell everyone how to make a bomb.

Fascinating that coal was known to be bad to burn 500 years ago, and now we pretend it isn't

Started thinking about what has happened since the book was written. This is 13 years before Chernobyl and during the cold war.