4.18 AM

On the album “Let Them Eat Chaos”, poet and performer Kae Tempest sings about 7 people, who for different reasons find themselves awake at 4.18 AM. The criticism of modern society, its unfairness and harshness is as sharp as the delivery is poetic and the rhythm merciless.

Of course, there are many both pleasant and unpleasant things, that could keep you awake at night. In episode 420 of his podcast, Lex Fridman talks with Annie Jacobsen about nuclear war. Now I am a Cold War kid, who grew up with Chernobyl, the Berlin Wall, Star Wars projects and SALT II, but it was still chilling to listen to Annie Jacobsen say, that we are just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation, away from nuclear war and that nuclear war, regardless of where it starts, only has one outcome: everyone dies. That was also pointed out in the 1983 film War Games in which the supercomputer gone rogue had to learn that sometimes the best scenario is not to play. The timeframe to react and prevent disaster is so short, that if the first nuclear missile was launched at 4 AM, you might just have time to get a cup of coffee to witness the end of the world, if you got up at 4.18 AM.

I thought this might have been Lex’ last episode, because what could possibly be left to talk about? Fortunately the show must go on and episode 421 is about the UFC and fighting, which was kind of upbeat by all comparisons.