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Herman Kahn

Herman Kahn Quotes

Strategist

Herman Kahn was a renowned strategist, born on February 15, 1922, and died on July 7, 1983. He made significant contributions to nuclear war and strategic studies during the Cold War era, known as the 'father of nuclear war theory'.

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All Nuclear Weapons War Nuclear Weapons Should Thinking World Would Be Decision Firsts

Famous Herman Kahn Quotes

“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.”

May Would Be Able Turns Members Educated Bombs Primitive

Author: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.”

Social Simple Decision Results Mistake Perspective Aspect Dues Decision Making Paradox Utility Inadequate

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“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.”

Important Helping Turns Practicals Wheels Desirable Consensus Morale Persuasive Dynamism

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“From a scientific perspective there is some indication that a nuclear war could deplete the earth's ozone layer or, less likely, could bring on a new Ice Age - but there is no suggestion that either the created order or mankind would be destroyed in the process.”

War Would Be Age Earth Order Process Mankind Perspective Nuclear Destroyed Ice Layers Suggestions Indication Nuclear War Ice Age Ozone Ozone Layer Ozone Depletion

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

“I'm against fashionable thinking.”

Thinking Fashionable

Author:Herman Kahn

“Authority is not power; that's coercion. Authority is not knowledge; that's persuasion, or seduction. Authority is simply that the author has the right to make a statement and to be heard.”

Heard Authority Statements Seduction Persuasion Coercion

Author:Herman Kahn

“I'm against ignorance. I'm against sloppy, emotional thinking. I'm against fashionable thinking. I am against the whole cliché of the moment.”

Thinking Whole Moments Ignorance Emotional Fashionable Sloppy

Author: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.”

Giving Important Matter Government Individual Decision Numbers Attention Fundamentals Suits Buying Surprising Committees Important Decisions

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“A healthy and fully functioning society must allocate its resources among a variety of competing interests, all of which are more or less valid but none of which should take precedence over national security.”

Should Interest Security Healthy Resources Variety National Security Competing Precedence

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“Anything that reduces war-related destruction should not be considered altogether immoral.”

Should War Destruction Related Immoral

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“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.”

Ifs World Would Be Today Weapons Nuclear Destroyed Nuclear Weapons World Today Disarmament Banned

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

“Clearly, the first task is to gain acceptance of a more reasonable view of the future, one that opens possibilities rather than forecloses them.”

Firsts Views Possibility Acceptance Gains Tasks Reasonable

Author:Herman Kahn

“Because of new technologies, new wealth, new conditions of domestic life and of international relations, unprecedented criteria and issues are coming up for national decision.”

Wealth Decision Technology Issues Conditions Relation International Criteria International Relations Unprecedented New Technology Domestic Life

Author:Herman Kahn

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

Values Morality Safety Primaries Workplace Safety Deterrence

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“For if enough people were really convinced that growth should be halted, and if they acted on that conviction, then billions of others might be deprived of any realistic hope of gaining the opportunities now enjoyed by the more fortunate.”

People Ifs Should Enough Might Opportunity Growth Conviction Convinced Billions Enjoyed Fortunate Realistic Deprived

Book:The next 200 years: a scenario for America and the world

Source: The next 200 years: a scenario for America and the world

“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.”

Thinking Way Should Years War Fighting My Time

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

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

Humans Moral Missing Policy Factors Discussion Missing You

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“Hopefully, nations will refuse to accept a situation in which nuclear accidents actually do occur, and, if at all possible, they will do something to correct a system which makes them likely.”

Ifs Nations Situation Accepting Refuse Accidents Nuclear Hopefully

Author:Herman Kahn

“I am against the whole cliche of the moment.”

Whole Moments Cliche

Author:Herman Kahn

“In 1960 I published a book that attempted to direct attention to the possibility of a thermonuclear war, to ways of reducing the likelihood of such a war, and to methods for coping with the consequences should war occur despite our efforts to avoid it.”

Way Should Book War Effort Attention Possibility Consequence Direct Method Despite 1960s Reducing Coping Nuclear War Likelihood

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“In a world which is armed to its teeth with nuclear weapons, every quarrel or difference of opinion may lead to violence of a kind quite different from what is possible today.”

World Kind May Different Today Differences Opinion Violence Weapons Nuclear Teeth Nuclear Weapons Quarrels Differences Of Opinion

Author: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.”

Mean Used Views Terrible Limits Threat Refuse Point Of View Defense Graves Immoral

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

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

People Believe Ends Sometimes Notion Currents Rejects Genocide Annihilation Analyze This

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

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

Years Problem Century Discussion Realms Acceptable Sixty Nevertheless Twentieth Century

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“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.”

Years Use Used Next Weapons Hundred Nuclear Nuclear Weapons

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

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

War Situation Dangerous Development Weapons 1960s

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

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

People War Humanity Common Enemy Subjects Emotional Weapons Nuclear Nuclear War Common Enemy

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

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

Use Moral Weapons Nuclear Nuclear Weapons Immoral

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

“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.”

Thinking Needs Firsts Social Military Resources Program Defense Budgets Welfare Best Place Social Welfare Military Budget Welfare Programs

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

“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.”

World Should Numbers Policy Weapons Nuclear Objectives Nuclear Weapons Objectivity Decrease

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“The widespread diffusion of nuclear weapons would make many nations able, and in some cases also create the pressure, to aggravate an on-going crisis, or even touch off a war between two other powers for purposes of their own.”

Two War Able Purpose Nations Cases Weapons Pressure Crisis Nuclear Nuclear Weapons Aggravation Diffusion

Author: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.”

Firsts Sides Race Arms Competition Soviet

Book:The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

Source: The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of Thinking

“To the extent that these advanced weapons or their components are treated as articles of commerce, perhaps for peaceful uses as in the Plowshare program, their cost would be well within the resources available to many large private organizations.”

Wells Use Would Be Cost Weapons Resources Program Organization Available Treated Peaceful Articles Commerce Components

Author: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.”

World War Race Arms Broke War Of The Worlds World War Ii World War I Arms Race

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

“Risk-taking is the essence of innovation.”

Risk Essence Innovation Risk-taking

Author:Herman Kahn

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

Important Technology Advantage Nuclear Strategic Freeze Counterproductive

Book:Thinking Unth 80SP

Source: Thinking Unth 80SP

“I'm against ignorance.”

Author:Herman Kahn

About the Author

Born: February 15, 1922
Died: July 7, 1983
Known for: Strategist
Quotes: 37

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Nuclear Weapons War Nuclear Weapons Should Thinking World Would Be Decision Firsts

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Books & Sources

The Essential Herman Kahn: In Defense of ThinkingRelated source material

Thinking Unth 80SPRelated source material

The next 200 years: a scenario for America and the worldRelated source material

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