Where Are We Going? Nuclear War Part 3

Past Present Future

D&HR Media Ltd

Politics, News, Philosophy, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 747 Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s episode is the third and final of David’s conversations with S. M. Amadae about nuclear weapons and nuclear war, this time looking to the future. What are the prospects for nuclear disarmament in the 21st century? How does the risk of nuclear war intersect with other existential risks, from climate change to AI? Is the world more dangerous than it has ever been? What are the grounds for hope we might still get out of this alive? Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bonus episode to accompany this series of conversations in which David explores John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946), the definitive account of what it’s actually like to be on the receiving end of a nuclear attack. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Tickets are on sale now for our new film season at the Regent Street Cinema in London – starting on 19th March with James Marriott talking to David about Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan. All the details are here https://www.ppfideas.com/events Join us on 11th March for a joint LRB/PPF event: The Slow Death of Democracy - with Lyse Doucet, Christopher Clark and Thant Myint-U. Tickets are available now https://www.tickettailor.com/events/londonreviewofbooks/2062789 You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of our episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: Where Are We Going? Societal Collapse Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Premier League is exciting.
0:04.0	It's exhilarating.
0:07.0	And sometimes it's...
0:11.0	So when you need something to help you ride the highest and loads of all that action,
0:17.0	grab a Coke to keep you in the game.
0:20.0	Time to refresh. Time for a Coke. Coca-Cola,
0:25.0	official partner of the Premier League. Hello, my name's David Rundsenman and this is past-present future, the History of Ideas podcast.
0:45.4	Today it is the third and final part of my series of conversations with Sonia Amadai about nuclear war and nuclear weapons.
0:54.0	And today we're talking about nuclear war and nuclear weapons.
0:58.3	And today we're talking about the future of nuclear warfare.
1:02.1	As you'll hear, it's not an easy subject to discuss.
1:06.7	But as you'll also hear, at least one of us hasn't given up hope. Sonia, we're going to try and talk today in the final of our three conversations about the present and the future, what might happen.
1:20.4	But I'd like to do a little bit more history before we get there.
1:24.2	And to build on something we've just alluded to so far, which is attempts to limit the
1:29.0	growth of these huge nuclear arsenals, the various strategies that have been adopted to try and
1:34.9	make this a little safer. And putting it very broadly, I think there are three kinds of
1:39.7	approaches here, three questions. One is in relation to arms control. One is in relation to
1:45.0	non-proliferation. So arms control limiting the number of warheads, non-proliferation trying
1:51.6	to limit the number of states that have nuclear capability. And then maybe it's the dream,
1:57.0	which is abolition. The possibility at least of going back to a world in which these weapons
2:02.1	were not available for use. If we start with arms control, from the early 1970s, there have been
2:11.3	a series of attempts, mainly negotiations between the United States and the then Soviet Union
	...

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