Oh, definitely. The Polish have a score to settle though.

neither device was ever built or tested

I know, right?

that's 50s nuclear weapons development for ya

also probably didn't help that it's likely that Teller had autism and just wanted to make bigger bomb until he was removed from nuclear weapons design teams

I mean, there are people who want to pursue theoretical weapons, that would completely sterilize earth, if the theoretically possible concept could be proven to actually work. Only reason we really aren't is the impracticality of the research. So, if it were more practical an idea to research, we'd be on it.

There's the short story "A Colder War" by Charles Stross. Among other things, there's a reference to a real-life nuclear weapon concept called Project Pluto. In the story, it turns out it was built to try and kill Cthulhu.

So... maybe that's the goal of Sundial? Cthulhu would be a valid target for a weapon that ludicrous.

Otherwise, I agree. "The fuck is wrong with us" is the only valid conclusion.