Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

Humanity crosses a threshold — we now possess the ability to destroy ourselves entirely.

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed over 200,000 people and ended WWII. It also began the nuclear age, where total annihilation became a permanent possibility.

Perspective

This is the moment our species became an existential risk to itself. For the first time in 300,000 years of human existence, we could end the story. We've lived under that shadow ever since, and we've gotten disturbingly comfortable with it.