Thanks! As habryka noted elsewhere, it seems like LessWrong could use more history.
Minor note: I’m pretty sure I’ve parsed your thesis, but some of the phrasings were a bit confusing
With a lack of idea spread between different parts of government, the Strategic Air Command could pursue plans and procurements that were not necessarily efficient or aligned with US political interests
I’m assuming ‘lack of idea spread’ is just referring to lack of shared information?
Shared information is the primary thing I was getting at. I used idea spread since different government bureaucracies had different ideas of how nuclear weapons should be used in the case of war, and if SAC’s plans were well known at the highest levels of government when they were first made, they likely would not have persisted as long, and been replaced with better ideas.
The book I cite, but which may be hard to find online (Danger and Survival) goes through many policy ideas which weren’t considered by high level policy makers, but which may have been beneficial in retrospect and which were sometimes thought of by others, but not put forward to policy makers.
Thanks! As habryka noted elsewhere, it seems like LessWrong could use more history.
Minor note: I’m pretty sure I’ve parsed your thesis, but some of the phrasings were a bit confusing
I’m assuming ‘lack of idea spread’ is just referring to lack of shared information?
Shared information is the primary thing I was getting at. I used idea spread since different government bureaucracies had different ideas of how nuclear weapons should be used in the case of war, and if SAC’s plans were well known at the highest levels of government when they were first made, they likely would not have persisted as long, and been replaced with better ideas.
The book I cite, but which may be hard to find online (Danger and Survival) goes through many policy ideas which weren’t considered by high level policy makers, but which may have been beneficial in retrospect and which were sometimes thought of by others, but not put forward to policy makers.