I've held the belief that nuclear armageddon would never occur. There will be limited nuclear exchanges, I'm sure. But no large scale exchanges of large weapons. Building this capability is just entireley too expensive for most countries to undertake, and the risk-reward ratio is so strongly tipped into the risk region that most dare not join the nuclear club. Although everyone wants to be part of this club, it is of limited membership entirely due to the cost involved.
However, biotechnology is a different story. Unlike nuclear materials which require significant amounts of processing before they can be weaponized, the raw materials of bioweapons are readily available with very little processing. In fact nature has been working with these materials for a very long time, and although nature is a tremendously capable highly-parallel processing system, it is not very smart. Humanity brings a focus of intelligence to the table. A focus that could be deadly.
Now scientists in Milan have figured out how to perform genetic modification using very simple methods that any high school kid could perform in their basement. New Scientist article is here.
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