67. Paul Ingram - On the threat of nuclear war and hopes of disarmament

My guest today is Paul Ingram, who is the Academic Programme Manager at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge.

Up to a few months ago, he was also the Director of Emergent Change, which he established to further the understanding and practice of the Stepping Stones Approach (SSA) to nuclear disarmament. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director at British American Security Information Council (BASIC) where he developed the Stepping Stones Approach along with his colleagues from the Swedish Foreign Ministry. Throughout his extensive career, Paul has worked across the world on many projects related to nuclear disarmament.

Some of the topics we covered are:

• Paul’s journey into research of existential risk
• Likelihood of getting rid of atomic weapons
• Whether existing global structures can help mitigate catastrophic risks
• The importance of context and history when dealing with rogue actors
• Importance of inclusion and diversity
• Challenges of quantifying risk of nuclear war
• Explanation of how nuclear deterrence works
• What happens if Russia, as we know it, collapses?
• NATO , US, and B61-12 nuclear bombs
• Nuclear weapon command systems and current safeguards
• Nuclear disarmament and the ‘Stepping Stones Approach’

I made mention in the preamble about a report on the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. You can find that report here.

You can also find out more information about Russian nuclear weapons in this article by Hans M. Kristensen from 25th February 2022.

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