AuthorPhilippe D. Thompson

Two issues ago, I wrote in Obiter Dicta about the unprecedented risk of nuclear Armageddon. In this issue, I want to talk about something slightly more insidious and not quite as sexy – the impending end of humanity through reproductive failure. Many readers will be familiar with P.D. James’ timeless novel “Children of Men” in which reproductive failure in human males leads to global chaos...

On 8 September 2020, the United States Air Force announced that it would award a contract worth $13.3 billion to the Northrop Grumman Corporation to construct new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) able to travel at least 9600km at a speed of Mach 23 (7889 m/sec). They plan on ultimately buying 600 missiles for a total cost of approximately $100 billion. It is no secret that the US’s...