Beatrice Fihn on the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

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Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, joins us to discuss the current risks of nuclear war, policies that can reduce the risks of nuclear conflict, and how to move towards a nuclear weapons free world. Topics discussed in this episode include: -The current nuclear weapons geopolitical situation -The risks and mechanics of accidental and intentional nuclear war -Policy proposals for reducing the risks of nuclear war -Deterrence theory -The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons -Working towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons You can find the page for this podcast here: https://futureoflife.org/2021/01/21/beatrice-fihn-on-the-total-elimination-of-nuclear-weapons/ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:28 Overview of the current nuclear weapons situation 6:47 The 9 nuclear weapons states, and accidental and intentional nuclear war 9:27 Accidental nuclear war and human systems 12:08 The risks of nuclear war in 2021 and nuclear stability 17:49 Toxic personalities and the human component of nuclear weapons 23:23 Policy proposals for reducing the risk of nuclear war 23:55 New START Treaty 25:42 What does it mean to maintain credible deterrence 26:45 ICAN and working on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 28:00 Deterrence theoretic arguments for nuclear weapons 32:36 The reduction of nuclear weapons, no first use, removing ground based missile systems, removing hair-trigger alert, removing presidential authority to use nuclear weapons 39:13 Arguments for and against nuclear risk reduction policy proposals 46:02 Moving all of the United State's nuclear weapons to bombers and nuclear submarines 48:27 Working towards and the theory of the total elimination of nuclear weapons 1:11:40 The value of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 1:14:26 Elevating activism around nuclear weapons and messaging more skillfully 1:15:40 What the public needs to understand about nuclear weapons 1:16:35 World leaders' views of the treaty 1:17:15 How to get involved This podcast is possible because of the support of listeners like you. If you found this conversation to be meaningful or valuable, consider supporting it directly by donating at futureoflife.org/donate. Contributions like yours make these conversations possible.