Dr John C. Clark, a scientist who disarmed atomic bombs twice

Perceived Risk and Psychology of the Job

• Many note the “binary” nature of the job: either you succeed or you die so quickly you never register it.
• Some argue that this actually makes it less terrifying than slow-death scenarios (e.g., trapped in a failed submersible).
• Others counter that death is bad not just for the pain but for lost future experiences and the impact on family, work, and commitments.
• Several say they’d still “run away screaming” if asked to do it, regardless of theoretical safety margins.

Technical Safety of Nuclear Weapons

• Multiple comments stress that modern nukes are engineered to be very hard to detonate accidentally: insensitive/secondary explosives, high-power electrical triggers, encryption, and self-bricking electronics.
• Compared with landmines, nukes are “safe by design”: many strict conditions and nanosecond-level timing must be met.
• Discussion clarifies explosive terminology (primary vs secondary vs high explosives) and notes that primary charges are minimized and often replaced by non-explosive initiators in nuclear designs.
• Handling plutonium is said to be not immediately deadly if intact, but dust or cutting into it would be dangerous.

Ethics, Deterrence, and Disarmament

• One line of discussion hopes for converting warheads to reactor fuel and eventually eliminating nukes.
• Others argue nukes drastically reduce large-scale wars via deterrence, though they still enable proxy wars and carry catastrophic risk “until they don’t.”
• Debate over whether effective missile defense would be stabilizing or would instead encourage covert delivery (e.g., smuggled devices).
• Parallel debate on whether global security competition implies an eventual one-world government versus many small sovereign entities; strong disagreement on feasibility and desirability of both.

Historical and Moral Context

• Commenters highlight that soldiers were used as test subjects near nuclear blasts to study effects and behavior, calling that a worse or more disturbing job.
• There is skepticism about a Sun Tzu quote used on a missile-site monument and about framing “ultimate warriors” as inherently peace-bringing.

Forensics and Attribution

• Discussion touches on “nuclear fingerprinting” and whether post-detonation isotope analysis can reliably trace material to a source, with some technical back-and-forth and recognition that popular novels likely simplify this.

Miscellaneous and Humor

• Some note how “nuclear bomb disposal” feels scarier than disarming large conventional bombs, despite similar personal risk.
• Dark humor compares this job unfavorably—or favorably—to maintaining legacy enterprise software and printers.