The 38 Minutes That Almost Ended Everything audio documentary cover
Conflict 29 min

The 38 Minutes That Almost Ended Everything

A Soviet officer ignored five nuclear alarms — and bet the world on a hunch.

On September 26, 1983, Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov watched his screen light up with five inbound American nuclear missiles. His training, his system, and his orders all told him to report a strike. He called it a malfunction. He was right — but he didn't know that at the time. This is the story of the loneliest decision in human history, and the invisible systems failure that almost ended civilisation.

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Cold War nuclear weapons Stanislav Petrov Soviet Union near miss 1983 military history deterrence false alarm existential risk AI and automation Dead Hand Able Archer

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