Someone convince me how, over 50 or 100 years, mankind avoids major nuclear war.

[Ultimate Ute]

Sorry about such a serious and downer topic. It's something that I've thought was somewhere out there over the horizon, distance unknown, my entire life. Some have suggested we're actually in a nuclear war epoch, temporarily interrupted after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb13ynu3Iac

[pangloss]

Sorry about such a serious and downer topic. It's something that I've thought was somewhere out there over the horizon, distance unknown, my entire life. Some have suggested we're actually in a nuclear war epoch, temporarily interrupted after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb13ynu3Iac

I'll bite.
There's a reason it's called a 'nuclear deterrent' - possession of the weapons deters their use because it is unthinkable. They are unbelievably horrendous weapons. Even truly insane leaders don't dare use them. Even North Korea refers to their arsenal as a deterrent. When India and Pakistan fell into open war, they didn't use their nukes. There is a degree of reassurance in that.

The other positive is the decrease in the number of deployed nukes. The leveling off over the last few years is a huge concern - the momentum of disarmament is stalled. But there's hope that some day, disarmament will re-start.
nukes.jpg

The final positive is the reliability, lethality, and survivability of the US arsenal. No potential adversary, no matter how insane, would have any doubt that the US would retaliate massively and disproportionately if ever attacked with a nuke (God forbid).

It is not inevitable.