Topic: The man who (probably) saved the world

[firecracker]

From Reason.com -

Twenty-four years ago today, Soviet radar software showed a barage of U.S. nuclear missiles headed into Soviet airspace.

Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, a critical link in the chain of command between satelite operators and the Kremlin, correctly interpreted the data as a computer glitch, not a an attack, and may have prevented a global nuclear war.

Full story here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/coldwar/shatter021099b.htm

[Sam Green Racing]

 

[boatsdickson]

Scary read... Here in 20 years or so we'll probably hear about the other false warnings that are happening in the present day like they did in the story.

It will probably be some nut in australia named Terry playing wargames...

[edbikerii]

Wow, those former Soviet software developers must have been trying really hard in order to produce a bug that made a radar screen look like "a barage of U.S. nuclear missiles headed into Soviet airspace".  Maybe they thought they worked for Atari?

Most software bugs I've come across are a lot simpler than that.  Usually they just crash the system, or freeze up and stuff.  Maybe the developers had seen the movie "War Games" which also was released in 1983.

Sounds like BU11SH1T to me.

[mattcb350f]

Sounds like the parameters for the radar returns were too wide, picking up birds etc.
 Matt.