COUNTERPLAN/NUCLEAR ABOLITION

SOLVENCY: CONTINUATION OF NUCLEAR KNOWLEDGE IS NOT A REASON TO OPPOSE NUCLEAR ABOLITION

WE CAN HAVE NUCLEAR ABOLITION EVEN IF NUCLEAR KNOWLEDGE REMAINS

Knowledge gained cannot be unlearned, but we can manage and control our dangerous technologies. The genie of knowledge may not fit back into the bottle. There is no reason, however, that the most dangerous tools created with that knowledge cannot by agreement be dismantled and systems established to prevent these tools from being recreated. It is within our power to end the nuclear weapons era, if not the Nuclear Age.

THE FACT THAT NUCLEAR KNOWLEDGE WILL REMAIN IS NOT A REASON TO REJECT NUCLEAR ABOLITION

But you can't get rid of the knowledge of how to make nuclear weapons, right?

Yes, that's true. In the sense of know-how, we can't ever "put the nuclear genie back in the bottle." However, there are many things we know how to do that we have nonetheless outlawed, e.g. slavery, chemical and biological weapons. Nuclear weapons could be re-made after they were abolished. However there would be a considerable delay--perhaps six months or more--before a bomb could be re-built from scratch, a lot more livable than the current 20-30 minute hair-trigger on nuclear holocaust. Moreover, any nation thinking it could gain an advantage by re-building a bomb would be deterred by the near certainty that others would detect it and respond likewise.