What if the nuclear bomb was not developed until after Stalin’s death on the 5 March 1953? The prospects for international controls on the development, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons may have been much improved.
The possibility of better weapon governance (with what impact?) in exchange for an increased risk of Nazi, USSR, or Japanese dominance during a total war seems like a bad tradeoff.
How would the strategy of delaying development have been pitched during a total war? How would the development have been done instead? It’s hard to imagine the counterfactual here.
Could someone explain in more detail, or give examples, what it looks like when direct work at an organisation like CEA is more valuable than donating $2M per year? What factors make someone “$2M in donations”-better than the next best alternative (who isn’t switching from e2g to direct work)? What’s the analysis behind these claims?