As a science fiction writer, I am professionally irritated by a lot of sf movies. Not only do those writers get paid a *lot* more than I do, they insist on including things like "self-destruct" buttons on the bridges of their starships.

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@pluralistic To be fair, REAL space launchers come with self-destruct systems (they're called the Flight Termination System) in case they wander off course and threaten to come down in the wrong place. Even the space shuttle had one! (Although crewed launches also have a Launch Escape System to get the astronauts to safety first.)

But yeah, self-destruct buttons for spaceships are definitely A Thing.

@cstross @pluralistic Warships historically had mechanisms to allow them to be scuttled by their own crews if necessary. That required the active participation of a good number of people, though, and wasn’t just a handy button that one person could press when it all became too much.

Sci-if spaceships might have similar devices for similar reasons, but there’d probably be safeguards. Dual-key systems? Or just put it under control of the ship’s AI & keep humans entirely out of the loop?

@angusm @cstross @pluralistic have you seen Dark Star? Where the bomb has to be talked out of blowing up and changes its mind later.