This guy prevented world war III

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

I wonder how many people, knowing that their country was about to be destroyed, would give the order to launch a retaliatory strike. It's one thing to order the death of a man, but killing millions of people might be more than even a hardened military officer could stand. And it's not like retaliating is going to bring back the cities and countryside of your own country, which is going to be nuked in either case.

On the other hand, some group of people based in San Francisco donated $1000 to this guy for not pressing "the button." I guess not destroying the world has some benefits.