Yep, as a kid I was brought up with the idea that a Nuclear War would destroy the entire world and all of humanity.... NOT TRUE! There has never been a moment in history when the world was in any danger of destruction by it's Nuclear Arsenal. Indeed, when you are in the blast radius, you will be evaporated, when you are elsewhere (like in Belize), you have more than a fair chance to survive. In order to destroy the (populated land surface of the) world we would need about 1,241,166 heavy duty Nukes, while the entire world's arsenal comprises of only 10,227! Check the story of Gizmodo on this info site. So you have got something to tell when you are having a drink in your favourite pub tonight.
Cheers!

Good stuff! However living in San Diego in the early 50's, we all had bomb shelters in the backyard...not that they would have saved anyone...

but...how many would it take to make enough fallout cloud to kill &/or poison the crops, water supplies & livestock that feed us all?

short & jess - you guys in bz prob will survive it. we were told as kids that we (philly) are a perfect target site, placed strategically between washington DC & NYC. lucky us

Although I prefer the optimistic approach, I think you are right, sweetjane. The article probably should be titled: "How many nukes are needed to instantly annihilate humanity?" Could a possible conclusion be that we need more nukes instead of fewer - to make the end less painful? The article does say that only 12.5% of the Earth's surface is populated by humans, do you think that includes Belize? I think this study should be taken as comedy. Still interesting reading material!

I think that it is pretty safe to say that life on earth would be changed forever, in a big way, for all survivors in the aftermath of an all out "Nuclear War" I would think that the world would demand political changes concerning nuclear proliferation in the aftermath of a limited nuclear attack. The latter of course being the more likely of the two events.

Hopefully none of us ever have to face this insane option. In my opinion the USA is the key and must maintain a strong intelligence and militarily position. Many may not like us being the police force of the world so to speak, but if not who? At least for now.

I lived through the cold war, and lived with the real fear of Russia sending nukes our way. What if it would have happened? Would the world have rallied around us? If we struck back at them, would we be the bad guys? Just wondering.

MAD was a good working hypothesis at the time, in my opinion.

Yes MAD worked in a semi-sane world. Not sure about today at least not with the new comers to the nuclear table.

Ah yes, the folks who have nothing better to hope for than a bunch of virgins. I think we live in interesting times, and old formulas in their form do not work.