This web site is dedicated to the premise that a group of ordinary citizens can be the catalyst for defusing the nuclear threat, a problem that has confounded world leaders for fifty years and that has assumed an ominous new dimension with the spectre of nuclear terrorism. To understand how we can manifest such power it helps to remember past triumphs where individual initiative played a key role.

In 1840 conventional wisdom said that questioning slavery was a fool’s errand. In that environment, anti-slavery candidate James Birney received just 0.3% of the vote. Abraham Lincoln could only question slavery and still become president after enough ordinary citizens came together, took on the fool’s errand, and changed conventional wisdom.

In 1840 it was even more unthinkable to question millenia of female subjugation and consider allowing women to vote. Women's suffrage therefore took fifty-five years longer than ending slavery, but eventually enough people found the courage to question that conventional wisdom. And, once again, they changed the world.

Today, conventional wisdom says that our approach to nuclear weapons has worked for fifty years and it would be dangerous to question such a successful strategy. But, given the catastrophic consequences of a failure, fifty years of "success" is an inadequate guarantee for our children's future, and possibly our own. That is especially true given the nuclear near misses during that time and the new dangers of nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

New approaches will not be given serious consideration until conventional wisdom changes and, once again, that depends on ordinary citizens finding the courage to question one of society's most deeply held beliefs. Humanity's inaction implies that our current nuclear posture has almost no risk of failing. Our goal is to transform that belief into a question, "How much risk is there in relying on nuclear weapons for our security?" and thereby create public support for scientific studies to provide an answer.

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