For The Atlantic’s August issue, “Eighty Years on the Edge,” Atlantic writers examine the past eight decades of life in the Atomic Age. Publishing today are two essays from the issue: editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s “Nuclear Roulette,” on how the only way to win at nuclear roulette is to stop playing; and staff writer Tom Nichols on why the power to launch nuclear weapons rests with a single American and the danger that involves. These will be joined in the coming weeks by articles from staff writer Ross Andersen, the writer Noah Hawley, and Andrew Aoyama.
在大西洋八月的《八十年》中，大西洋作家研究了原子时代的生活八十年。今天出版的是该问题的两篇文章：杰弗里·戈德堡（Jeffrey Goldberg）首席的编辑“核轮盘”，涉及在核轮盘上唯一的赢得胜利的方法就是停止演奏；员工作家汤姆·尼科尔斯（Tom Nichols）介绍了为什么发射核武器的力量在于一个美国人和涉及的危险。在接下来的几周中，这些作家罗斯·安德森（Ross Andersen），作家诺亚·霍利（Noah Hawley）和安德鲁·奥亚玛（Andrew Aoyama）将加入这些文章。
The August issue also features a striking cover: minimal text over a stark photograph of a 1954 bomb test at Bikini Atoll, an image found in a government archive by the photographer Michael Light. The so-called Yankee test released an explosive yield equivalent to 13.5 million tons of TNT, about 900 times that of Little Boy.
八月的杂志还具有醒目的封面：在比基尼环礁（Bikini Atoll）的1954年炸弹测试的鲜明照片上，这是摄影师迈克尔·莱特（Michael Light）在政府档案中发现的图像。所谓的洋基测试发布了相当于1350万吨TNT的爆炸产量，约为小男孩的900倍。
“We are living through one of the more febrile periods of the nuclear era,” Goldberg writes in “Nuclear Roulette.” The contours of World War III are visible in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Russia aided by Iran and North Korea and opposed by Europe and the United States. Pakistan and India, two nuclear states, recently fought a near-war; Iran, which has for decades sought the destruction of Israel through terrorism and other means, has seen its nuclear sites come under attack by Israel and the United States, in what could be termed an act of non-proliferation by force; North Korea continues to expand its nuclear arsenal, and South Korea and Japan are considering going nuclear in response. But, as Goldberg writes, “the main challenge of the 80 years since the Trinity atomic test has been that we do not possess the cognitive, spiritual, and emotional capabilities necessary to successfully manage nuclear weapons without the risk of catastrophic failure.”
戈德堡在“核轮盘赌”中写道：“我们生活在核时代更高温时期之一。”第二次世界大战的轮廓在俄罗斯对乌克兰的入侵中可见，俄罗斯在伊朗和朝鲜的协助下，在欧洲和美国反对。巴基斯坦和印度两个核国家最近与近战争进行了战斗。数十年来，伊朗通过恐怖主义和其他手段寻求摧毁以色列的伊朗，其核遗址受到以色列和美国的攻击，这可以被称为武力的不变行为；朝鲜继续扩大其核武库，韩国和日本正在考虑发动核。但是，正如戈德堡所写的那样，“三位一体原子测试以来80年的主要挑战是，我们没有成功管理核武器而没有灾难性失败风险的认知，精神和情感能力。”
Goldberg writes that the successful end of the Cold War caused many people to believe that the threat of nuclear war had receded, but we forget at our peril: “We forget that 80 years after the world-changing summer of 1945, Russia and the United States alone possess enough nuclear firepower to destroy the world many times over; we forget that China is becoming a near-peer adversary of the U.S.; we forget that the history of the Nuclear Age is filled with near misses, accidents, and wild misinterpretations of reality.” He continues, “Most of all, we forget the rule articulated by the mathematician and cryptologist Martin Hellman: that the only way to survive Russian roulette is to stop playing.”
戈德堡写道，冷战的成功结束使许多人相信核战争的威胁已经消退了，但我们忘记了危险：“我们忘记了1945年夏天改变世界后的80年，仅俄罗斯和美国就拥有足够的核火力来摧毁世界多次，而我们忘记了中国的近年时期；我们忘记了核心的敌人。对现实的误解。”他继续说：“最重要的是，我们忘记了数学家和密码学家马丁·海尔曼（Martin Hellman）所阐明的规则：生存俄罗斯轮盘赌的唯一途径就是停止演奏。”
In “The President’s Weapon,” Nichols explores why the power to launch nuclear weapons rests in the hands of a single American. Nichols writes: “If the commander in chief wishes to launch a sudden, unprovoked strike, or escalate a conventional conflict, or retaliate against a single nuclear aggression with all-out nuclear war, the choice is his and his alone. The order cannot be countermanded by anyone in the government or the military. His power is so absolute that nuclear arms for decades have been referred to in the defense community as ‘the president’s weapon.’” For nearly 30 years after the Cold War, fears of nuclear war seemed to recede. Then relations with Russia froze over and Donald Trump entered politics. Nichols now asks: Even though this has been the system since the end of World War II, does it still make sense today? This will be joined by an additional article from Nichols, also in the August issue, on how Hollywood taught a generation to fear nuclear catastrophe.
在“总统的武器”中，尼科尔斯探讨了为什么发射核武器的力量由单身美国人手中。尼科尔斯写道：“如果总司令希望发动突然，无端的罢工，或升级了常规冲突，或者以全力以赴的核战争对单一的核侵略进行报复，那么选择是他和他的独自一人。政府或军队中的任何人都不能与他的权力相反。他的权力是如此的十年来，这是在30年以来的核武器，这是在30年以来的武装，曾在辩护中曾在辩护中脱颖而出。对核战争的恐惧似乎消失了。然后与俄罗斯的关系冻结了，唐纳德·特朗普进入了政治。尼科尔斯现在问：即使自第二次世界大战结束以来，这一直是系统，但今天仍然有意义吗？尼科尔斯（Nichols）也将在八月份的《好莱坞如何教授一代人恐惧核灾难》中的另一篇文章加入。
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