On September 26th, 1983, we almost died. Stanislav Petrov was an obscure commander at a Soviet missile site who had the authority to launch 5,000 nuclear missiles and kill us all. On that morning, alarms went off saying that the US had launched 5 missiles at the Soviet Union. Standard Soviet military doctrine required him to push the launch button and notify his superiors in Moscow immedately. However, his heroic decision not to launch saved our lives and the lives of the rest of the world.

The reason he did not launch 5,000 missiles in retaliation was because something did not seem right to him -- why would the US only launch 5 missiles at the Soviet Union instead of  thousands? He could not be sure -- he had to trust his judgement. He judged correctly that the US would not be so stupid as to launch only five missiles at the Soviet Union, as they would survive to hit back. This judgement saved the world. For now.