Episode 61: The Man Who Saved the World: Stanislav Petrov’s 23 Minutes of Courage.

The world as we know it—with its bustling cities, its green forests, its billions of lives playing out their individual dramas—exists today largely because of a single decision made by one man in a secret bunker outside Moscow. He didn't invent a cure for a disease. He didn't negotiate a peace treaty. He simply sat in a chair, looked at a computer screen flashing the word "LAUNCH," and decided to do nothing.