Security challenges, technology and international cooperation; the holocide intercept and the future of humanity

Perhaps the easiest way to present the central theme of this article is to ask the following thought question: "how many people would it take to destroy the world?" By "world" in this context, I am referring to humankind. Destroying the world has been a recurring theme in novels and movies for many years. The end of the world is also an element of many religions. However, until this century there was no real belief that mankind could destroy itself. So, for most of human pre-history and history, destruction of the human race would only have been remotely possible through mass murder/suicide. This was hardly a likely prospect. In the 1800's mechanized warfare and massive production and transport of weapons and supplies became possible. This increased the destructive potential of war, but still did not make it a likely mechanism for global self-destruction. It was only in the 1940s and 1950s that we have achieved the means to destroy the world, with the development and massive production of nuclear weapons. However, developing this capability required a very large technological effort, which only resided in the hands of the large governments. Tens of thousands of people, supported by economies of tens of millions, were required to produce this capability.