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Raemon comments on Happy Petrov Day - Less Wrong Discussion
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Note that Petrov suffered very few consequences after the initial backlash. His US counterpart Harold Hering was discharged from the Air Force, drove a truck for a while to make ends meet and watched his personal life crumble, for asking the question
I don't know if his stand forced any changes in the missile launch protocols, but I admire his courage to take his oath literally and seriously and his refusal to back down under pressure from his superiors more than Petrov's 5 min of agonizing over a decision to disobey a faulty computer algorithm he himself helped design.
I am glad to now know about Harold Hering, and I think I'm going to add his story to the reading we're having tonight in NYC.
That said - there are a great many people I admire more than Petrov. Petrov is significant not because he's an amazing person, but because he literally was the person who saved the world, for good or for ill.