Quick or Slow?
Everyone's terrified Putin (or Kim, or some other bad actor) might trigger a nuclear holocaust. But, in the grand scheme of things, this might actually be a good thing. Allow me to explain.
As it stands right now, the global population is so far and away too large that it's difficult to find words that express the absurdity convincingly. Be that as it may, the population has an easily defined need for natural resources to be supported, even minimally. As it stands, the annual requirement for food alone exceeds the planet's capacity to produce it. Thus, each year we need to borrow into the following year's allotment to meet the need; worse, each year we need to borrow more. Eventually we will reach a point where we simply will not be able to feed the majority of our population.
Meanwhile, conservative estimates regarding a nuclear engagement place casualties as high as one-third to one-half of the population.
Now, consider this possibility: if the population was slashed by half, we might—just might—be able to slow the global collapse due to warming and pollution and species loss long enough that we might—just might—be able to come up with a viable means to reverse the problems that now spell our certain doom.
So the question is this: do you want to die quickly, or slowly? Which is preferable: perish in a flash by nuclear fire, or die a protracted, inexorable, inevitable death by starvation?
Based on the responses from an online survey I stumbled across, the overwhelming majority of people would choose the latter. Which I found pathetically predictable. People don't want to make sense; they prefer to not do the right thing. Everyone is going to die anyway, so... oh, nevermind. People are stupid.
Me, I say, let's get it over with. Push the damned button. Give the planet a fighting chance. We already know that Nature is surprisingly resilient, and can bounce back from a nuclear event better than it can from the continuous, ceaseless, ever-worsening onslaught from humans on multiple fronts. Who knows, if the remainder of us can correct the wrongs we're all committing now, humankind might stand a chance to survive along with the planet.
I fully realize this is some pretty far-fetched wishful thinking; it means using arguably the most evil thing we've ever created—nuclear weapons—to do the right thing. I accept the unlikelihood of this ever happening, but wouldn't it be truly awesome if we finally managed to heal both ourselves and the planet? It would certainly make Gene Roddenberry proud.