Editing Self-destruct (section)

==Use in fiction==
In the 1960s television series ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'' and ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'', sensitive intelligence or equipment is shown to self-destruct in order to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fiftiesweb.com/tv/mission-impossible/|title=Classic TV Shows - Mission Impossible with Peter Graves |website=FiftiesWeb|date=24 July 2015 |language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-16}}</ref>  Notably, the usage of "self-destruct" as a verb is said to have been coined on ''Mission: Impossible''.<ref>{{cite web |title='Self-destruct' is a verb. Does that mean 'destruct' is too? |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/self-destruct-is-a-verb-does-that-mean-destruct-is-too |website=www.merriam-webster.com |access-date=2021-03-13}}</ref>

Self-destruct mechanisms are frequent plot devices in [[science fiction]] stories, such as those in the ''[[Star Trek III: The Search for Spock|Star Trek]]'' or ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'' fictional universes.  They are generally found on [[military base|military installations]] and [[starship]]s too valuable to allow an enemy to capture.  In many such stories, these mechanisms not only obliterate the object protected by the device, but cause massive destruction in a large surrounding area.  Often, the characters have a limited amount of time to escape the destruction, or to disable the mechanism, creating story tension.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://matthewwatchesyoutube.blogspot.com/2014/09/alien-nostromo-self-destruct-sequence.html|title=Matthew Watches YouTube: Alien: Nostromo Self-Destruct Sequence (1979)|last=Dovey|first=Matthew|date=2014-09-11|website=Matthew Watches YouTube|access-date=2016-07-16}}</ref>  In some cases, an [[artificial intelligence]] will invoke self-destruct due to [[cognitive dissonance]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/5715101/all-the-greatest-scenes-where-someone-talks-a-computer-into-self-destructing|title=All the greatest scenes where someone talks a computer into self-destructing|last=Anders|first=Charlie Jane|work=io9 |date=22 December 2010 |language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-16}}</ref>

Usually the method required to initiate a self-destruct sequence is lengthy and complex, as in ''Alien'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/12/01/alien/|title=Alien|date=2014-12-01|website=Typeset In The Future|access-date=2016-07-16}}</ref> or else requires multiple officers aboard the ship with individual passcodes to concur,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-trek-deaths-uss-enterprise-906645|title='Star Trek': The Many Deaths of the USS Enterprise|website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=27 June 2016 |access-date=2016-07-16}}</ref> while audible and/or visible countdown timers allow audiences to track the growing urgency of the characters' escape.  Passwords in 1970s and 1980s movies are often clearly insecure for their purposes as self-destruct triggers, considering accounts with even low-level security—let alone the high-security measures which would come for a self-destruct mechanism—in modern times generally have far more complex password requirements (the writers of the era not anticipating the issues soon to be raised by the easy affordability of fast computer hardware for conducting [[brute-force attack]]s).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.agilebits.com/2013/05/08/star-trek-worst-passwords-self-destruct/|title=The top 6 worst passwords from the Star Trek universe [Updated]|last=Chartier|first=David|date=2013-05-08|website=AgileBits Blog|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310080715/https://blog.agilebits.com/2013/05/08/star-trek-worst-passwords-self-destruct/ |access-date=2016-07-16|archive-date=2016-03-10 }}</ref>