898: Chain of Command - Revision history

Lettherebedarklight: /* Transcript */ add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

2025-12-15T08:57:19Z

‎Transcript: add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

DKMell: explained the button a bit

2024-07-09T00:37:36Z

explained the button a bit

FaviFake: Fixed old http:// link

2023-05-23T20:26:50Z

Fixed old http:// link

Theusaf: Reverted edits by Donald Trump (talk) to last revision by CRLF

2022-05-26T20:00:23Z

Reverted edits by Donald Trump (talk) to last revision by CRLF

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Donald Trump: Reverted edit by anti-crap user

2022-05-26T19:02:53Z

Reverted edit by anti-crap user

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CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

2022-05-26T18:03:20Z

Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

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Donald Trump: Reverted edit by anti-crap user

2022-05-26T17:04:57Z

Reverted edit by anti-crap user

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Vandalbane: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

2022-05-23T18:42:42Z

Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

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Xray Kilo Charlie Delta: haha your js cant stop my js

2022-05-23T18:19:11Z

haha your js cant stop my js

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Jacky720: rv

2022-05-04T23:34:00Z

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← Older revision		Revision as of 08:57, 15 December 2025
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	[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]		[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]
	[[Category:Engineering]]		[[Category:Engineering]]
		+	[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

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 }}
 ==Explanation==
-{{w|The President of the United States}} is at the top of the {{w|Nuclear_weapons_of_the_United_States#Command_and_control|US Nuclear Chain of Command}}, but the engineer is ''de facto'' above him because the engineer is in charge of configuring how the button works, and thus could have installed an override so that they could block the President's use of the button and/or use it themself. The "Red Button" is a simplification denoting procedures for the worst-case scenario, i.e. launching all strategic nuclear capabilities. This button shouldn't be pressed for what is happening currently.{{Citation needed}}
+The {{w|President of the United States}} is at the top of the {{w|Nuclear_weapons_of_the_United_States#Command_and_control|US Nuclear Chain of Command}} and can figuratively "{{w|Nuclear button|press the red button}}" to start a nuclear war, but the engineer is ''de facto'' above him because the engineer is in charge of configuring how the button works, and thus could have installed an override so that they could block the President's use of the button and/or use it themself. "Pressing the red button" is a metaphor for the complex set of procedures for the worst-case scenario, namely launching all strategic nuclear capabilities.
 This paradoxical situation applies in many other fields. In a major corporation commercially sensitive information is generally hidden from employees at lower levels but available to management, but the systems administrator (who usually sits low on the hierarchy and doesn't manage any other employees) can access not only the sensitive information but the raw data that it's calculated from. Not only that, but the systems administrator is usually responsible for controlling who has access to the information - making them the most powerful person in the company (as far as the IT infrastructure is concerned). Many managers think of themselves as being "above" engineers and have trouble coming to grips with this concept.

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 This paradoxical situation applies in many other fields. In a major corporation commercially sensitive information is generally hidden from employees at lower levels but available to management, but the systems administrator (who usually sits low on the hierarchy and doesn't manage any other employees) can access not only the sensitive information but the raw data that it's calculated from. Not only that, but the systems administrator is usually responsible for controlling who has access to the information - making them the most powerful person in the company (as far as the IT infrastructure is concerned). Many managers think of themselves as being "above" engineers and have trouble coming to grips with this concept.
-{{w|Themistocles}}, mentioned at the title text, was an Ancient Greek politician. In the title text is a similar joke placed at the top of the chain of command, this time in Ancient Greece. It refers to Plutarch's [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html#p53 ''Life of Themistocles'']:
+{{w|Themistocles}}, mentioned at the title text, was an Ancient Greek politician. In the title text is a similar joke placed at the top of the chain of command, this time in Ancient Greece. It refers to Plutarch's [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html#p53 ''Life of Themistocles'']:
 :Of his son, who lorded it over his mother, and through her over himself, he said, jestingly, that the boy was the most powerful of all the Hellenes; for the Hellenes were commanded by the Athenians, the Athenians by himself, himself by the boy's mother, and the mother by her boy.