I saw a seminar by the Monterey Institute that studied the strategic, tactical and military effectiveness of nuclear weapons in a global historical context (before you say "nuclear bombs didn't exist before 1945" well cities like Carthage were still destroyed to the same extent as nuclear bombs but by a large army).
Nuclear bombs are inflexible and mostly useless weapons, they never won any wars as it should be noted even after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, analysis of the minutes of the meeting where the Japanese high command where they finally decided on surrender it showed nuclear bombs was not their concern but the direct threat of invasion by the Americans but more importantly the Russians too that had just joined the war.
Nuclear weapons are useless against conventional armed forces or really any infantry based military. Nukes had only really been good at destroying cities and ports, in military terms that means attacking the infrastructure the families and support personnel of front line troops.
But super soldiers, or some scientific development that could quickly, efficiently and effectively create massive armies would be a far greater advantage than a nuclear weapon. Unlike a nuclear bomb, they won't just destroy a country, they can occupy it.
Current armies are constantly limited by how there are a finite number of men of fighting age, biologically it takes a long time to replace them and of even greater importance is the difficulty in TRAINING all of them to a high enough level.
If the process of making soldiers could be automated, it would be relatively easy to accelerate it. So even a relatively small country could quickly make a highly trained army of hundreds of thousands if not millions.
The Emperor of Star Wars could not have taken over the galaxy with super weapons like nuclear bombs or even the Death Star. The greatest asset he ever had and the only way he could have siezed power was with a massive clone army.
Yahtzee, you don't need a whip to enforce discipline in clone soldiers. You *are* "playing God" here so to speak so it would be possible through genetics or conditioning to have your clone soldier quite simply have unquestioning love and devotion to their leader, enough love to consciously give their life for him. No need for a whip, just ask them and like good little drones they will fight to the death and still be happy.
I suspect within out lifetime (assuming there are mostly young people on this forum) the next great "Weapon of Mass Destruction" will not be merely a bigger bomb or more toxic gas but a method of mass producing soldiers, the BEST soldiers, mass produced like AK47s and so much that any country could make them and yes, store them in a box (in stasis = low cost) to unleash at any moment.
Carthage was raised the the ground, an ancient city completely destroyed by an army following orders. Historically, man himself has always been the greatest weapon of mass destruction.
Nuclear Bombs destroy, but only armies can win wars, only armies can conquer. And nukes can't even prevent that.
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