there are self-destruct mechanisms in fiction...

[Raguleader]

@sinjin

Maybe whoever built the Nostromo was afraid that the ship would be taken over by crazed xenomorphs bent on painfully eating the entire crew. Did you think of that?

Yeah, you’d be amazed at the requirements that Spaceship Insurance companies have on vessels that you want to insure with them.

[Szlater]

I’ve heard that the Swiss have demolition charges in place on key bridges, roadways and tunnels, is that true? Would they qualify as a real-life self-destruct mechanisms, if they actually do exist (the charges, not the Swiss)?

[muldoonthief]

@sinjin

Maybe whoever built the Nostromo was afraid that the ship would be taken over by crazed xenomorphs bent on painfully eating the entire crew. Did you think of that?

Perfectly plausible, but don’t forget the Company put Ash on board and redirected the Nostromo just so they could pick up the damn xenomorphs. You’d think someone smart enough to come up with that plan would remember to disable the self-destruct too.

@CalMeacham

RCoM, by the way, predated Star Trek, and The Corbomite Maneuver was a bluffThe days of self-destruct on Federation ships and warp-core overloads were far in the real-world future.

“The Corbomite Maneuver” was a bluff, but I don’t think it was a bluff in “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”, where Kirk, Spock & Scotty went through most of the self destruct sequence with the computer to stop Frank Gorshin from taking over the ship. Remember the whole “One One A Two B” scene? And later, Frank disables the self-destruct, so it must really have existed (in the whole fictional sense of course).

[CalMeacham]

but I don’t think it was a bluff in “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”, where Kirk, Spock & Scotty went through most of the self destruct sequence with the computer to stop Frank Gorshin from taking over the ship. Remember the whole “One One A Two B” scene? And later, Frank disables the self-destruct, so it must really have existed (in the whole fictional sense of course).

Good point. I forgot that one.

(I always hated that episode. Symbolism as subtle as a sledgehammer.)

[MarcusF]

*Originally posted by * CalMeacham:
I skimmed through Currents of Space twice last night (It HAS been a long time since I read it – I’ll bet the majority of Dopers were born after I read it. I gotta read through my older stuff again), but couldn;t find the scene MarcusF describes. I could easily have missed it, though. It gives me another excuse to read the book again.

Oh damn :smack: Another senior moment.

As you willl have gathered from the previous posts I have a clear memory of the scene and I thought it was Currents of Space. Umm … maybe this is the excuse to myself I need to start reading Asimov again. I have all his books around somewhere - now where did I put them …

[Kevbo]

Keep in mind that in some cases the existence of a self destruct mechanism is classified information. Not so much that the destruct mechanism is a big secret, but the fact that there is some widget that is deemed to be worth the risk of rigging it with a self destruct mechanism.

[Little_Nemo]

alien is a mass of non-sequitors and implausibilities, and this one has bothered me, too. But I can think of one good reason to have something like this. The Nostromo was. IIRC, an incredibly large ore hauler (and refiner, if I’m not mistaken). If you got something really massive out of control near an inhabited planet it might be desirable to have the means to make it into vapor, rather than having it turn its gravitational potential energy into a bomb.

That said, packing a nuke seems like overkill. And it would freak ME out knowing I was working on such a platform.

A post 9/11 observation, but carrying a nuclear bomb on board your freighter must make it a lot more difficult to find places that will offer docking privileges.

[MEBuckner]

Conversely, who would dare refuse to let you dock?

[Raguleader]

@Little Nemo

A post 9/11 observation, but carrying a nuclear bomb on board your freighter must make it a lot more difficult to find places that will offer docking privileges.

Well, even pre-9/11, it could be problematic to dock your nuclear wessel in some places, such as Japan, which only recently has decided to allow the US Navy to bring nuclear-powered aircraft carriers into port there (one of the reasons why we still had a diesel-fired aircraft carrier until a few years ago).

@MEBuckner

Conversely, who would dare refuse to let you dock?

“Let us dock or else we’ll blow ourselves up out here” just doesn’t sound that intimidating.

[Spiny_Norman]

@Szlater

I’ve heard that the Swiss have demolition charges in place on key bridges, roadways and tunnels, is that true? Would they qualify as a real-life self-destruct mechanisms, if they actually do exist (the charges, not the Swiss)?

I expect it would qualify, but I am doubtful that the charges are in place at all times. The downside to an unintended activation seems bigger than the advantage of saving a few hours of time to install the charges. There is undoubtedly a plan, complete with an order & signals book and an earmarked stack of explosives per bridge in a bunker not too far away.

I know for a fact that Danish road and railway bridges are designed with prepared spaces for demolition charges- I’ve taken part in the exercises.

The movie Alien represented one of the most implausible fictional self-destruct situations to me. The Nostromo was a commercial freighter owned and operated by a private corporation - what possible reason would there have been to install a self-destruct system on board?

I seem to recall that it was really just a way to circumvent the safeties on the power supply and make the reactor go supercritical. Seems less dramatic than strapping a nuke to the main spar, at least in my mind.

And the corporation in question certainly seemed almost to be a power on par with a nation. I could easily imagine that its board of directors would rather lose a ship than have to answer unpleasant questions about who set a man-eating xenomorph loose on the galaxy.