In the beginning, about 50 years ago, a great and terrible genie was loosed upon the world in the form of the first nuclear bomb. In its wake, two others were spawned, whose destinies lay over the populations of an already defeated foe.

In the aftermath, an arms race as unprecedented in its technological impetus as its sheer scale ensued; with only a handful of players, the "Nuclear Club" was dominated by by two members, who were by necessity ideological opposites. The next forty years saw the power of nuclear weapons grow exponentially, and their numbers grow to nearly seventy thousand.

Seventy thousand nuclear weapons, most on hair-trigger alert, some mere minutes from their targets, with a combined explosive force equating out to nearly 3 tons of high explosive for every man, woman, and child on the planet.

The doctrine which evolved from possession of nuclear weapons -- Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD -- is an incredible exercise in folly: to build up a formidable but generally equal arsenal of ostensibly defensive weapons into a system which if ever called upon, must function perfectly, yet to function perfectly, must never be used.

Such is the theory of deterrence.

Now, five decades later, those numbers have declined, and the world is a far different -- albeit still dangerous -- place. The two main adversaries have formed a wary friendship, and have even even shared some of their most closely guarded secrets. Most of the weapons factories are silent now, some of those that remain are dismantling the warheads they once built.

But there are still dangers -- serious ones -- to be addressed: the so-called "rogue states," who still seek to acquire nuclear weapons and its technologies; and previously "threshold" states, who have now crossed over into declared possessors of nuclear weapons. There is also the frighteningly real prospect of a complete weapon falling into the hands of terrorists or a hostile government who are willing to use it; or, of a radiological bomb, which disperses highly radioactive material over a large area, rendering it uninhabitable for years; or an attack on a nuclear reactor.

There are also new dangers from old sources: in a step backward, the United States has recently withdrawn from the AntiBallistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972 -- declaring it "inconsistent with" its needs -- so it can go forward with its Missile Defense System, which is based on technologies which aren't expected to exist for years or even decades. Some very hard-learned lessons have been easily forgotten -- or ignored.

We don't need Missile Defense, we don't need Stockpile Stewardship, we don't need 5000 nuclear weapons. We don't need nuclear weapons at all.

Unfortunately, there must always be a small number available, for possible use against earth-crossing asteroids. At present, these are the only plausible method of altering ones course. But at the maximum, some tens of low-yeild, disassembled warheads with their parts stored in geographically separated locations are all thet are required.

The untold cost in money, resources and lives spent to develop, build, and maintain these instruments of genocide is but a small part of the price mankind -- and indeed the planet -- has, is, and will have to pay. The radioactive burden on the environment from decades of tests, accidents, leaks, and plain irresponsible carelessness and negligence is planetwide, and can only be described as a wonton crime against the entire biosphere.

We have embarked upon the largest, most far-reaching biological experiment ever, one which is global in nature and cannot be controlled: the alteration of genetic material due to ionizing radiation. Not a single person alive has escaped exposure, and while many if not most, effects may not manifest themselves for generations, and will likely not be directly attributable to any specific cause, they are far too real, and they will happen.

Yes, the Nuclear Genie is out of its bottle, for now and evermore, and while that knowledge cannot be unlearned, perhaps mankind will someday learn instead a spirit of tolerance and cooperation, and indeed coexistence with one another.

Nuclear weapons are a fascinating subject. From the subatomic-scale reactions to the mega explosions; the political, economic, social, and environmental aspects; or the terrible beauty of a multimegaton detonation holds one awestruck...

We may not realize it, because the effects are either inattributable or intangible, but nuclear weapons affect every single one of us every single day of our lives; isn't it about time we did something about them?