Doomsday Machines – A New Blog

Alex Wellerstein, maker of NUKEMAP and author of the Restricted Data blog and a book of the same name, historian of modern American things nuclear, is embarking on a new enterprise: Doomsday Machines. I’ll let Alex explain what he plans to put in it:

Doomsday Machines will have a weekly post on one of the following categories, each of which are designated as separate sub-newsletters:

• Post-Apocalyptic Road Trips: Discussions of self-consciously fictional media (novels, films, games, etc.) portraying post-apocalyptic worlds, analyzed for their themes, tropes, and historical context.
• Interesting Times: Profiles and analysis of historical documents, events, plans, and so on, relating to apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic conditions, which are not self-consciously fictional (however “imaginary” or “unreal” they may be). For example, discussions of US government nuclear war plans, or nuclear war survival plans.
• End of the World-Building: Posts related to the development of the Oregon Road ‘83 post-apocalyptic video game, ranging from things that are very strictly in the category of “game design,” as well as things that are really about creating a coherent conception of the underlying world of the game.
• Doominations: Conversations between me and various smart, interesting people I’ve met over the years who generally think about some aspects of the end of the world for a living. You know, as one does.

There will also be Mutually Assured Distractions (brief posts on interesting imagery — post-apocalyptic Pinterest) sprinkled in along with these regular sections.

The content is mostly free, and it’s a substack, so you can subscribe.

So far, he’s posted a review of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, comments on the war room in “Dr. Strangelove,” other cinematic war rooms, material from the days when civil defense was being promoted in the US, a review of Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, a talk on how many Little Boy bombs were built after Hiroshima, work in progress on Oregon Road ’83, a game he is developing on a road trip from Missouri to Oregon after a nuclear war, and a few other things.

Alex and his wife, Ellen, are friends, and I think you should subscribe to Doomsday Machines if you are at all interested in any of this.

Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner