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Comment by mrfusion | Hacker News Reader

I really think they need to store frozen embryos on these subs. Sounds silly?

I'm thinking in any kind of civilization ending disaster subs underwater might have the best chance at surviving and they could stay under for a few months to wait out the worst of any kind of aftermath.

After that they'd need a large genetic stock to repopulate the species.

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Would be more viable having a stock of frozen sperm and a minimum requirement on female crew. Still, I don't think that is the primary function of these submarines.

Edit: seems that women have only recently begun serving on submarines: http://scoopdeck.navytimes.com/2012/05/29/first-all-female-s...

Have you been reading Seveneves?

Can you identify a specific type of disaster which would destroy all bunkers around the world without evaporating the oceans?

Even the global nuclear stockpile can't boil the oceans.

Even nuclear winter won't destroy all humanity. Just modernity.

Compute the energy required to "evaporate the oceans". Compute the energy all nuclear weapons can expend.

Humanity is not going to "evaporate the oceans" anytime soon. The energy requirements for that would be somewhere around Kardashev level [1] 1.3-1.5 or so.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

Bunkers being fixed locations means they could be targeted for attack. If it serves military purposes, there is a good chance it'll be targeted. If the sole purpose is as an embryo bank, it'd be useless if there is no trained staff to use it after the disaster, and keeping people there 24/7 would be unreasonable if it doesn't serve other purposes. A submarine has a much higher chance of survival, and is already being manned 24/7 for deterrence purposes.

A 100% lethal virus with high incubation period. Bunkers typically have a lot more contact with the outside than nuclear subs

Have you seen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus_(1980_film)

Sounds like you might enjoy it.

It is conversations like this that get me.

Spend the money on healthcare and education instead. We have enough nuclear deterrents.

aren't there enough male and female soldiers in the military with enough reproduction capacity ?

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