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Recent events have had me thinking about nuclear war and I had a vague memory of a short story I read where society has begun voting for all topics from an electronic device. The main character is suddenly awakened in the middle of the night to a notification about imminent nuclear strike and gave the people the option to retaliate or not. The story is about the philosophy of the decision to retaliate or not

I read this at least 6-7 years ago so I could be mixing up stories, but does anyone have any idea what I am talking about?

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  • Hi, welcome to the site. Did you read this in an anthology, a magazine, or online?
    – LogicDictates
    Commented Mar 2, 2022 at 2:37
  • I read it for a class in middle school. So it was given to us as an individual story but cannot say where it came from
    – Ben
    Commented Mar 2, 2022 at 2:40
  • Is this the story where they link up the devices to have "Universal Town Meetings"? .....maybe I'm trying to remember a different story!
    – Danny Mc G
    Commented Mar 2, 2022 at 19:27
  • Maybe! What is the name of the one you are thinking of?
    – Ben
    Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 3:51

2 Answers 2

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I'm not sure it's exactly right, but this very much reminds me of "Thunder and Roses" (1997) by Theodore Sturgeon.

There has been a nuclear war, and the U.S. lost. All the cities are gone and just about everyone left will soon be dead of radiation poisoning. A singer, Starr Anthim, is singing songs of peace and acceptance.

It turns out she knows there's a missing set of launch keys out there somewhere, and it could be possible for someone to launch a massive counterstrike that will doom humanity utterly. She wants whoever finds those keys to destroy them without using them so at least there is a slim hope.

The story is currently online at the Baen website.

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  • I don't think this is it because I remember the electronic voting being a key part of the story but thank you for your reply! I will look into this one
    – Ben
    Commented Mar 2, 2022 at 3:00
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I vaguely remembered a similar short story, and I remembered reading it on a reddit writing prompt. I'm pretty sure it's this one!

[WP] All voting is now done via a smartphone app, rendering all congressmen obsolete. Bills and presidents are now voted on directly by citizens. Your phone buzzes an alert at 3am and won't stop. This must be an important one.

The linked comment is the author's initial description of the notification in the middle of the night. Subsequent comments depict the outcomes of each of the three options (retaliate, stand down, do nothing).

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  • 1
    But what is the answer? Please provide the answer directly, not a link that may lead to the answer.
    – DavidW
    Commented Mar 30 at 18:45
  • @DavidW The link is the answer. That reddit comment matches the description in the question, and the time frame fits.
    – qazmlpok
    Commented Mar 30 at 19:33
  • @qazmlpok But the answer is not here, and if the reddit post is deleted or moves then there is no answer.
    – DavidW
    Commented Mar 30 at 19:49
  • @DavidW Do you mean that the full text of the story should be added to the answer? Otherwise I don't see how it's different from a link to isfdb or similar
    – qazmlpok
    Commented Mar 30 at 19:59

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