andree@uokvax.UUCP (12/07/83)
#R:utcsrgv:-285500:uokvax:5000038:000:947 uokvax!andree Dec 5 23:27:00 1983 The reason it is supected that a large-scale nuclear war would wipe out life on earth is the effects of said war on the biosphere - destruction of the ozone layer, dumping large quantities of dust into the upper stratosphere, etc. The most recent study by Sagan (the leading proponent of such theories) is that as few as 100 1-megaton bombs could destroy life on earth (Science, vol 222, no 4625, page 822). I personally think the man over-reacts. The earth has already gone through several major disasters of similar or greater magnitude (the Great Meteor Impact circa 65 million BC, the introduction of flowering plants), and we are here. Of course, before and after life forms tend to be highly unrelated, and it would probably take another 65 megayears or so before intelligent life/ civilization/etc re-evolves, but that is noticably different from the destruction of all life on earth. From the depths of the yaar without a summer, <mike