February 15, 2024

Zachary Kallenborn - How A Nuclear Weapons Ban Threatens Humanity

35 minutes

In this episode, Zachary Kallenborn discusses the arguments made in his article on why a nuclear weapons ban would threaten humanity. He highlights that while nuclear weapons present an existential threat, there are other existential risks such as extreme biological weapons, planet killer asteroids, artificial intelligence, and super volcanoes. Removing nuclear weapons could potentially lead to a return of great power war, which would worsen these other risks. The breakdown of global cooperation, diversion of resources, damage to infrastructure, and potential renuclearization are some of the concerns discussed. The interdependencies between nuclear weapons and nuclear power, as well as the need for a better understanding of second and third order effects, are also emphasized.

Zachary Kallenborn is an adjunct fellow (non-resident) with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy fellow at the Schar School of Policy and Government, a fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies, a research affiliate with the Unconventional Weapons and Technology Division of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), an officially proclaimed U.S. Army "mad scientist," and a national security consultant. He has published over 50 articles on autonomous weapons, drone swarms, weapons of mass destruction, and apocalyptic terrorism in a wide range of peer-reviewed, wonky, and popular outlets, including the Brookings Institution, Foreign Policy, Slate, Defense One, War on the Rocks, the Modern War Institute at West Point, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Parameters. Journalists have written about and shared that research in the New York Times, the AP, NPR, Forbes, Popular Mechanics, Politico, al Jazeera, the Independent, Newsweek, the New Scientist, WIRED, and the BBC, among dozens of others in dozens of languages. He is on the board of advisers of the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies at the University of Akron.