Herman Kahn Short Quotes

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Deterrence itself is not a preeminent value; the primary values are safety and morality.

Herman Kahn
Anything that reduces war-related destruction should not be considered altogether immoral.

Herman Kahn
World War I broke out largely because of an arms race, and World War II because of the lack of an arms race.

Herman Kahn
Nuclear war is such an emotional subject that many people see the weapons themselves as the common enemy of humanity.

Herman Kahn
Human and moral factors must always be considered. They must never be missing from policies and from public discussion.

Herman Kahn
Few people differentiate between having 10 million dead, 50 million dead, or 100 million dead. It all seems to horrible.

Herman Kahn
Nuclear weapons are intrinsically neither moral nor immoral, though they are more prone to immoral use than most weapons.

Herman Kahn
As for total disarmament, there are almost 50,000 nuclear weapons in the world today; even if they were banned, not all would be destroyed.

Herman Kahn
The final outcome of benevolent, informed, and intelligent decisions may turn out to be disastrous. But choices must be made; dies must be cast.

Herman Kahn
The emphasis is deliberate. This deterrent is more efficient since in most practical cases deterrents destroy populations—not decision makers.

Herman Kahn
Nevertheless, during the sixty years of the twentieth century many problems have come increasingly into the realm of acceptable public discussion.

Herman Kahn
"I don't want to live in your world in which 1 percent of the children are born defective."My answer was rather brutal, I fear. "It is not my world,"

Herman Kahn
New developments in weapon systems during the 1950s and early 1960s created a situation that was most dangerous, and even conducive to accidental war.

Herman Kahn
A total nuclear freeze is counterproductive - especially now, when technology is rapidly changing and the Soviets have some important strategic advantages.

Herman Kahn
Only those who are ideologically opposed to military programs think of the defense budget as the first and best place to get resources for social welfare needs.

Herman Kahn
Many people believe that the current system must inevitably end in total annihilation. They reject, sometimes very emotionally, any attempts to analyze this notion.

Herman Kahn
A surprising number of government committees will make important decisions on fundamental matters with less attention than each individual would give to buying a suit.

Herman Kahn
Failures of perspective in decision-making can be due to aspects of the social utility paradox, but more often result from simple mistakes caused by inadequate thought.

Herman Kahn
There was no race - but to the extent that there was an arms competition, it was almost entirely on the Soviet side, first to catch up and then to surpass the Americans.

Herman Kahn
It may literally turn out that a Hottentot, an educated and literate Hottentot it is true, but one who is a member of a relatively primitive society, would be able to make bombs.

Herman Kahn
The objective of nuclear-weapons policy should not be solely to decrease the number of weapons in the world, but to make the world safer - which is not necessarily the same thing.

Herman Kahn
My guess is that nuclear weapons will be used sometime in the next hundred years, but that their use is much more likely to be small and limited than widespread and unconstrained.

Herman Kahn
For some years I have spent my time on exactly these questions - both in thinking about ways to prevent war, and in thinking about how to fight, survive, and terminate a war, should it occur.

Herman Kahn
Projecting a persuasive image of a desirable and practical future is extremely important to high morale, to dynamism, to consensus, and in general to help the wheels of society turn smoothly.

Herman Kahn
It is immoral from almost any point of view to refuse to defend yourself and others from very grave and terrible threats, even as there are limits to the means that can be used in such defense.

Herman Kahn