The barrier of impossibility has fallen. The elimination of nuclear weapons has always been much to be desired. What distinguishes our moment is that, for the first time since the invention of the weapons, it is entirely reasonable to believe that the goal actually can be reached. The opportunity for action that has now opened up is, above all else, an opportunity to heal our fractured selves.
Abolition is the great threshold.
It is the logical and necessary destination because only abolition gets us out of the zone of mass slaughter, both as perpetrators and as victims. Since the beginning of the nuclear age, it has been a commonplace to say that humanity's technical achievement has outstripped its political achievement. Now the situation is reversed. The world's political achievements have raced ahead of its technical achievements. Today, we require a technical event as great as the political event that was the end of the cold war.