Bad Idea #8 "We need nuclear weapons to stop nuclear war" with Alan Robock

Saving the World From Bad Ideas · May 8, 2025 · 1h 1m · transcript

🔍 Episode Summary:

In this urgent and wide-ranging conversation, Mark Lynas is joined by leading climate scientist and nuclear winter expert Alan Robock to confront one of the most dangerous myths of our time: that nuclear weapons keep us safe.

Alan lays out why deterrence is a flawed and suicidal strategy, how even a "limited" nuclear war would trigger global famine and societal collapse, and why the existence of nuclear weapons means their eventual use is a matter of when, not if. They also discuss the atmospheric science of nuclear winter, parallels to the asteroid that killed the…