Newspaper Article

SYMPOSIUM: A WORLD WITHOUT NUCLEAR ARMS?; Demystifying The Bomb

Freeman J. Dyson, a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., is the author of ''Coming To Life,'' to be published next, year., Freeman J. Dyson

1987

Overview

All American thinking about nuclear weapons is strongly influenced by two popular myths surrounding their origin. One myth says that nuclear weapons were decisive in winning World War II. The second myth says that if Hitler had acquired nuclear weapons first, he could have used them to conquer the world. Both myths were believed by the scientists and statesmen who built the first nuclear weapons. They are still believed by most Americans today. These myths have created the unexamined background for later American doctrine concerning nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are seen as militarily decisive (because we won) and historically justified (because Hitler might have conquered the world). If a political arrangement is to be durable, it must pay attention both to technical facts and to ethical principles. Technology without morality is barbarous; morality without technology is impotent. But in the public discussion of nuclear policies in the United States, technology has usually been overemphasized and morality, neglected. It is time for us now to redress the balance, to think more about moral principles and less about technical details. The roots of our nuclear madness lie in moral failures rather than in technical mistakes. Our thinking is permeated by our historical myths. We tend to accept without serious question the idea that nuclear weapons are militarily decisive. We usually equate military effectiveness with destructive power. We rarely examine critically the military purpose of nuclear weapons or the possible missions for which they might be used. The case for the feasibility of abolishing nuclear weapons would be stronger if we treated them with less respect. The hope of successful abolition becomes more realistic if it is understood that nuclear weapons are absurd rather than omnipotent.

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: ARMS CONTROL AND LIMITATION AND DISARMAMENT / ATOMIC WEAPONS / DYSON, FREEMAN J (PROF) / HITLER, ADOLF (1889-1945) / WORLD WAR II (1939-45)