0:00:00.714,0:00:03.444
Let me ask you all a question.

0:00:04.282,0:00:08.146
How much weapons-grade nuclear[br]material do you think it would take

0:00:08.170,0:00:10.929
to level a city the size of San Francisco?

0:00:11.554,0:00:13.586
How many of you think[br]it would be an amount

0:00:13.610,0:00:15.994
about the size of this suitcase?

0:00:17.685,0:00:20.851
OK. And how about this minibus?

0:00:22.327,0:00:23.480
All right.

0:00:23.504,0:00:26.198
Well actually, under[br]the right circumstances,

0:00:26.222,0:00:31.673
an amount of highly enriched uranium[br]about the size of your morning latte

0:00:31.697,0:00:34.615
would be enough to kill 100,000 people

0:00:34.639,0:00:35.865
instantly.

0:00:36.522,0:00:40.028
Hundreds of thousands of others[br]would become horribly ill,

0:00:40.616,0:00:43.641
and parts of the city[br]would be uninhabitable for years,

0:00:43.665,0:00:45.112
if not for decades.

0:00:45.993,0:00:48.556
But you can forget that nuclear latte,

0:00:48.580,0:00:54.550
because today's nuclear weapons[br]are hundreds of times more powerful

0:00:54.574,0:00:58.246
even than those we dropped[br]on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

0:00:58.891,0:01:04.210
And even a limited nuclear war[br]involving, say, tens of nuclear weapons,

0:01:04.234,0:01:08.386
could lead to the end[br]of all life on the planet.

0:01:09.609,0:01:12.883
So it's really important that you know

0:01:12.907,0:01:17.988
that right now we have[br]over 15,000 nuclear weapons

0:01:18.012,0:01:20.227
in the hands of nine nations,

0:01:20.251,0:01:24.880
and if you live in a city[br]or near a military facility,

0:01:24.904,0:01:27.899
one is likely pointed right at you.

0:01:28.523,0:01:31.414
In fact, if you live in any[br]of the rural areas

0:01:31.438,0:01:33.920
where nuclear weapons are stored globally,

0:01:33.944,0:01:35.567
one is likely pointed at you.

0:01:36.188,0:01:40.670
About 1,800 of these weapons[br]are on high alert,

0:01:40.694,0:01:44.384
which means they can be launched[br]within 15 minutes

0:01:44.408,0:01:46.644
of a presidential command.

0:01:48.228,0:01:51.795
So I know this is a bummer of an issue,

0:01:51.819,0:01:54.632
and maybe you have that --[br]what was it? -- psychic fatigue

0:01:54.656,0:01:56.721
that we heard about a little bit earlier.

0:01:56.745,0:01:59.048
So I'm going to switch gears[br]for just a second,

0:01:59.072,0:02:01.458
and I'm going to talk[br]about my imaginary friend,

0:02:01.482,0:02:04.268
who I like to think of as Jasmine,

0:02:04.292,0:02:05.638
just for a moment.

0:02:05.662,0:02:08.179
Jasmine, at the age of 25,

0:02:08.203,0:02:12.558
is part of a generation that is more[br]politically and socially engaged

0:02:12.582,0:02:14.987
than anything we've seen in 50 years.

0:02:15.011,0:02:16.950
She and her friends think of themselves

0:02:16.974,0:02:20.223
as change agents[br]and leaders and activists.

0:02:20.247,0:02:23.389
I think of them as Generation Possible.

0:02:24.317,0:02:27.398
They regularly protest[br]about the issues they care about,

0:02:27.422,0:02:30.830
but nuclear weapons are not one of them,[br]which makes sense,

0:02:30.854,0:02:35.052
because Jasmine was born in 1991,[br]at the end of the Cold War.

0:02:35.076,0:02:38.182
So she didn't grow up hearing a lot[br]about nuclear weapons.

0:02:38.206,0:02:41.789
She never had to duck and cover[br]under her desk at school.

0:02:41.813,0:02:46.104
For Jasmine, a fallout shelter[br]is an app in the Android store.

0:02:46.128,0:02:48.823
Nuclear weapons help win games.

0:02:48.847,0:02:51.281
And that is really a shame,

0:02:51.305,0:02:54.579
because right now, we need[br]Generation Possible

0:02:54.603,0:02:58.894
to help us make some really important[br]decisions about nuclear weapons.

0:02:59.545,0:03:05.981
For instance, will we further reduce[br]our nuclear arsenals globally,

0:03:06.005,0:03:08.921
or will we spend billions,

0:03:08.945,0:03:11.168
maybe a trillion dollars,

0:03:11.192,0:03:14.514
to modernize them so they last[br]throughout the 21st century,

0:03:14.538,0:03:17.837
so that by the time Jasmine is my age,[br]she's talking to her children

0:03:17.861,0:03:19.792
and maybe even her grandchildren

0:03:19.816,0:03:22.447
about the threat of nuclear holocaust?

0:03:23.098,0:03:26.004
And if you're paying any attention[br]at all to cyberthreats,

0:03:26.028,0:03:29.995
or, for instance, if you've read[br]about the Stuxnet virus

0:03:30.019,0:03:33.884
or, for God's sake, if you've ever[br]had an email account or a Yahoo account

0:03:33.908,0:03:35.956
or a phone hacked,

0:03:35.980,0:03:40.132
you can imagine the whole new world[br]of hurt that could be triggered

0:03:40.156,0:03:43.321
by modernization in a period[br]of cyberwarfare.

0:03:43.944,0:03:46.161
Now, if you're paying[br]attention to the money,

0:03:46.185,0:03:49.246
a trillion dollars could go a long way

0:03:49.270,0:03:52.113
to feeding and educating[br]and employing people,

0:03:52.137,0:03:55.872
all of which could reduce the threat[br]of nuclear war to begin with.

0:03:56.691,0:03:57.845
So --

0:03:57.869,0:04:00.891
(Applause)

0:04:00.915,0:04:03.368
This is really crucial right now,

0:04:03.392,0:04:06.179
because nuclear weapons --[br]they're vulnerable.

0:04:07.274,0:04:08.861
We have solid evidence

0:04:08.885,0:04:11.775
that terrorists are trying[br]to get ahold of them.

0:04:12.551,0:04:13.872
Just this last spring,

0:04:13.896,0:04:18.602
when four retirees[br]and two taxi drivers were arrested

0:04:18.626,0:04:20.225
in the Republic of Georgia

0:04:20.249,0:04:23.974
for trying to sell nuclear materials[br]for 200 million dollars,

0:04:23.998,0:04:27.766
they demonstrated that the black market[br]for this stuff is alive and well.

0:04:28.111,0:04:29.372
And it's really important,

0:04:29.396,0:04:33.193
because there have been[br]dozens of accidents

0:04:33.217,0:04:34.498
involving nuclear weapons,

0:04:34.522,0:04:37.563
and I bet most of us have never heard[br]anything about them.

0:04:37.587,0:04:39.129
Just here in the United States,

0:04:39.153,0:04:42.651
we've dropped nuclear weapons[br]on the Carolinas twice.

0:04:43.203,0:04:45.529
In one case, one of the bombs,

0:04:45.553,0:04:47.725
which fell out of an Air Force plane,

0:04:47.749,0:04:48.948
didn't detonate,

0:04:48.972,0:04:52.085
because the nuclear core[br]was stored somewhere else on the plane.

0:04:52.109,0:04:56.145
In another case, the weapon[br]did arm when it hit the ground,

0:04:56.169,0:05:00.340
and five of the switches designed[br]to keep it from detonating failed.

0:05:00.935,0:05:02.602
Luckily, the sixth one didn't.

0:05:03.521,0:05:05.838
But if that's not enough[br]to get your attention,

0:05:06.973,0:05:10.060
there was the 1995 Black Brant incident.

0:05:10.655,0:05:12.934
That's when Russian radar technicians saw

0:05:12.958,0:05:15.477
what they thought was a US nuclear missile

0:05:15.501,0:05:18.148
streaking towards Russian airspace.

0:05:18.172,0:05:20.892
It later turned out to be[br]a Norwegian rocket

0:05:20.916,0:05:23.498
collecting data about the northern lights.

0:05:23.522,0:05:24.676
But at that time,

0:05:24.700,0:05:28.471
Russian President Boris Yeltsin[br]came within five minutes

0:05:28.495,0:05:32.647
of launching a full-scale[br]retaliatory nuclear attack

0:05:32.671,0:05:34.503
against the United States.

0:05:36.924,0:05:40.966
So, most of the world's nuclear nations

0:05:40.990,0:05:44.455
have committed to getting rid[br]of these weapons of mass destruction.

0:05:45.352,0:05:46.828
But consider this:

0:05:47.835,0:05:51.159
the treaty on the nonproliferation[br]of nuclear weapons,

0:05:51.183,0:05:54.620
which is the most widely adopted[br]arms control treaty in history

0:05:54.644,0:05:56.787
with 190 signatories,

0:05:57.398,0:06:02.692
sets no specific date by which[br]the world's nuclear-armed nations

0:06:02.716,0:06:04.923
will get rid of their nuclear weapons.

0:06:05.692,0:06:08.462
Now, when John F. Kennedy[br]sent a man to the moon

0:06:08.486,0:06:11.657
and decided to bring him back,[br]or decided to do both those things,

0:06:11.681,0:06:14.601
he didn't say, "Hey, whenever[br]you guys get to it."

0:06:14.625,0:06:16.632
He gave us a deadline.

0:06:16.656,0:06:18.478
He gave us a challenge

0:06:18.502,0:06:22.009
that would have been incredible[br]just a few years earlier.

0:06:22.033,0:06:23.535
And with that challenge,

0:06:23.559,0:06:26.434
he inspired scientists and marketers,

0:06:26.458,0:06:29.128
astronauts and schoolteachers.

0:06:29.152,0:06:31.185
He gave us a vision.

0:06:31.928,0:06:33.903
But along with that vision,

0:06:33.927,0:06:37.471
he also tried to give us -- and most[br]people don't know this, either --

0:06:37.495,0:06:39.479
he tried to give us a partner

0:06:39.503,0:06:44.924
in the form of our fiercest[br]Cold War rival, the Soviet Union,

0:06:44.948,0:06:47.982
because part of Kennedy's vision[br]for the Apollo program

0:06:48.006,0:06:51.793
was that it be a cooperation,[br]not a competition, with the Soviets.

0:06:51.817,0:06:55.370
And apparently, Nikita Khrushchev,[br]the Soviet premier, agreed.

0:06:56.007,0:06:59.323
But before that cooperation[br]could be realized,

0:06:59.347,0:07:01.018
Kennedy was assassinated,

0:07:01.042,0:07:03.391
and that part of the vision was deferred.

0:07:04.581,0:07:09.760
But the promise of joint innovation[br]between these two nuclear superpowers

0:07:09.784,0:07:11.656
wasn't totally extinguished,

0:07:12.305,0:07:16.198
because in 1991, which is the year[br]that Jasmine was born

0:07:16.222,0:07:18.708
and the Soviet Union fell,

0:07:18.732,0:07:21.505
these two nations engaged in a project

0:07:21.529,0:07:24.086
that genuinely does seem incredible today

0:07:24.110,0:07:26.156
in the truest sense of that word,

0:07:26.812,0:07:31.408
which is that the US sent cash[br]to the Russians when they needed it most,

0:07:31.432,0:07:34.187
to secure loose nuclear materials

0:07:34.211,0:07:37.416
and to employ out-of-work[br]nuclear scientists.

0:07:37.440,0:07:44.143
They worked alongside American scientists[br]to convert weapons-grade uranium

0:07:44.167,0:07:48.046
into the type of fuel that can be used[br]for nuclear power instead.

0:07:48.464,0:07:51.473
They called it, "Megatons to Megawatts."

0:07:52.202,0:07:55.338
So the result is that for over 20 years,

0:07:55.362,0:07:58.169
our two nations had a program

0:07:58.193,0:08:02.006
that meant that one in ten lightbulbs[br]in the United States

0:08:02.030,0:08:06.236
was essentially fueled[br]by former Russian warheads.

0:08:07.530,0:08:11.301
So, together these two nations[br]did something truly audacious.

0:08:11.905,0:08:15.974
But the good news is,[br]the global community has the chance

0:08:15.998,0:08:19.000
to do something just as audacious today.

0:08:20.897,0:08:23.424
To get rid of nuclear weapons

0:08:23.448,0:08:27.986
and to end the supply of the materials[br]required to produce them,

0:08:28.010,0:08:30.702
some experts tell me would take 30 years.

0:08:31.219,0:08:33.686
It would take a renaissance of sorts,

0:08:33.710,0:08:36.125
the kinds of innovation that,[br]for better or worse,

0:08:36.149,0:08:40.123
underpinned both the Manhattan Project,[br]which gave rise to nuclear weapons,

0:08:40.147,0:08:42.559
and the Megatons to Megawatts program.

0:08:43.019,0:08:45.641
It would take design constraints.

0:08:45.665,0:08:48.383
These are fundamental to creativity,

0:08:48.407,0:08:52.423
things like a platform[br]for international collaboration;

0:08:52.447,0:08:56.139
a date certain, which is[br]a forcing mechanism;

0:08:56.925,0:09:00.174
and a positive vision[br]that inspires action.

0:09:00.735,0:09:03.198
It would take us to 2045.

0:09:04.468,0:09:08.949
Now, 2045 happens to be[br]the 100th anniversary

0:09:08.973,0:09:12.247
of the birth of nuclear weapons[br]in the New Mexico desert.

0:09:13.247,0:09:15.971
But it's also an important date[br]for another reason.

0:09:16.458,0:09:20.321
It's predicted to be the advent[br]of the singularity,

0:09:21.011,0:09:23.407
a new moment in human development,

0:09:23.431,0:09:28.551
where the lines between artificial[br]intelligence and human intelligence blur,

0:09:29.106,0:09:33.535
where computing and consciousness[br]become almost indistinguishable

0:09:33.559,0:09:39.191
and advanced technologies help us solve[br]the 21st century's greatest problems:

0:09:39.215,0:09:41.547
hunger, energy, poverty,

0:09:42.133,0:09:45.418
ushering in an era of abundance.

0:09:46.318,0:09:47.900
And we all get to go to space

0:09:47.924,0:09:50.783
on our way to becoming[br]a multi-planetary species.

0:09:52.039,0:09:55.891
Now, the people who really believe[br]this vision are the first to say

0:09:55.915,0:09:58.938
they don't yet know precisely[br]how we're going to get there.

0:09:59.618,0:10:02.410
But the values behind their vision

0:10:02.434,0:10:05.765
and the willingness to ask "How might we?"

0:10:05.789,0:10:08.290
have inspired a generation of innovators.

0:10:08.884,0:10:12.356
They're working backward[br]from the outcomes they want,

0:10:12.380,0:10:16.584
using the creative problem-solving methods[br]of collaborative design.

0:10:16.608,0:10:18.848
They're busting through obstacles.

0:10:18.872,0:10:22.586
They're redefining[br]what we all consider possible.

0:10:23.513,0:10:24.721
But here's the thing:

0:10:25.706,0:10:29.916
that vision of abundance isn't compatible

0:10:29.940,0:10:36.145
with a world that still relies[br]on a 20th-century nuclear doctrine

0:10:36.169,0:10:39.730
called "mutually assured destruction."

0:10:40.945,0:10:46.422
It has to be about building[br]the foundations for the 22nd century.

0:10:46.446,0:10:52.252
It has to be about strategies[br]for mutually assured prosperity

0:10:52.276,0:10:56.256
or, at the very least,[br]mutually assured survival.

0:10:57.175,0:11:02.398
Now, every day, I get to meet[br]people who are real pioneers

0:11:02.422,0:11:04.339
in the field of nuclear threats.

0:11:04.363,0:11:07.864
As you can see, many of them[br]are young women,

0:11:07.888,0:11:10.464
and they're doing fiercely[br]interesting stuff,

0:11:10.488,0:11:14.991
like Mareena Robinson Snowden here,[br]who is developing new ways,

0:11:15.015,0:11:17.677
better ways, to detect nuclear warheads,

0:11:17.701,0:11:19.924
which will help us[br]overcome a critical hurdle

0:11:19.948,0:11:21.882
to international disarmament.

0:11:21.906,0:11:24.775
Or Melissa Hanham, who is using[br]satellite imaging

0:11:24.799,0:11:28.904
to make sense of what's going on[br]around far-flung nuclear sites.

0:11:29.358,0:11:32.055
Or we have Beatrice Fihn in Europe,

0:11:32.079,0:11:36.352
who has been campaigning[br]to make nuclear weapons illegal

0:11:36.376,0:11:38.060
in international courts of law,

0:11:38.084,0:11:40.976
and just won a big victory[br]at the UN last week.

0:11:41.000,0:11:44.178
(Applause)

0:11:44.202,0:11:45.416
And yet,

0:11:45.942,0:11:47.131
and yet,

0:11:47.797,0:11:51.215
with all of our talk in this culture[br]about moon shots,

0:11:51.239,0:11:55.967
too few members of Generation Possible[br]and those of us who mentor them

0:11:55.991,0:11:57.957
are taking on nuclear weapons.

0:11:58.524,0:12:00.461
It's as if there's a taboo.

0:12:01.898,0:12:06.573
But I remember something Kennedy said[br]that has really stuck with me,

0:12:06.597,0:12:08.355
and that is something to the effect

0:12:08.379,0:12:10.521
that humans can be as big as the solutions

0:12:10.545,0:12:12.403
to all the problems we've created.

0:12:12.427,0:12:15.661
No problem of human destiny, he said,

0:12:15.685,0:12:18.330
is beyond human beings.

0:12:19.296,0:12:20.679
I believe that.

0:12:21.376,0:12:23.644
And I bet a lot of you here[br]believe that, too.

0:12:24.535,0:12:27.162
And I know Generation[br]Possible believes it.

0:12:28.646,0:12:31.865
So it's time to commit to a date.

0:12:33.183,0:12:36.711
Let's end the nuclear weapons chapter

0:12:36.735,0:12:39.920
on the 100th anniversary of its inception.

0:12:41.119,0:12:45.845
After all, by 2045, we will have held[br]billions of people hostage

0:12:45.869,0:12:48.143
to the threat of nuclear annihilation.

0:12:48.167,0:12:50.433
Surely, 100 years will have been enough.

0:12:51.512,0:12:55.191
Surely, a century of economic development

0:12:55.215,0:12:58.610
and the development of military strategy

0:12:58.634,0:13:02.298
will have given us better ways[br]to manage global conflict.

0:13:02.802,0:13:06.933
Surely, if ever there was a global[br]moon shot worth supporting,

0:13:07.759,0:13:08.941
this is it.

0:13:09.846,0:13:12.460
Now, in the face of real threats --

0:13:12.484,0:13:15.480
for instance, North Korea's recent[br]nuclear weapons tests,

0:13:15.504,0:13:17.784
which fly in the face of sanctions --

0:13:17.808,0:13:20.108
reasonable people disagree

0:13:20.132,0:13:24.031
about whether we should maintain[br]some number of nuclear weapons

0:13:24.055,0:13:25.582
to deter aggression.

0:13:26.550,0:13:29.454
But the question is:[br]What's the magic number?

0:13:30.205,0:13:31.601
Is it a thousand?

0:13:32.140,0:13:34.621
Is it a hundred? Ten?

0:13:35.246,0:13:36.673
And then we have to ask:

0:13:37.395,0:13:39.352
Who should be responsible for them?

0:13:40.038,0:13:41.896
I think we can agree, however,

0:13:41.920,0:13:45.969
that having 15,000 of them[br]represents a greater global threat

0:13:45.993,0:13:48.374
to Jasmine's generation than a promise.

0:13:49.184,0:13:52.342
So it's time we make a promise

0:13:52.366,0:13:55.079
of a world in which we've broken[br]the stranglehold

0:13:55.103,0:13:58.601
that nuclear weapons have[br]on our imaginations;

0:13:58.625,0:14:01.237
in which we invest[br]in the creative solutions

0:14:01.261,0:14:04.991
that come from working backward[br]from the future we desperately want,

0:14:05.015,0:14:07.549
rather than plodding forward[br]from a present

0:14:07.573,0:14:11.933
that brings all of the mental models[br]and biases of the past with it.

0:14:12.392,0:14:17.694
It's time we pledge our resources[br]as leaders across the spectrum

0:14:17.718,0:14:20.607
to work on this old problem in new ways,

0:14:21.146,0:14:23.231
to ask, "How might we?"

0:14:24.001,0:14:26.304
How might we make good on a promise

0:14:26.328,0:14:29.905
of greater security[br]for Jasmine's generation

0:14:29.929,0:14:32.894
in a world beyond nuclear weapons?

0:14:34.116,0:14:36.869
I truly hope you will join us.

0:14:37.782,0:14:38.945
Thank you.

0:14:38.969,0:14:42.271
(Applause)

0:14:42.295,0:14:43.968
Thank you.

0:14:43.992,0:14:46.142
(Applause)