Yes, and for the most cynical of reasons: the fireball and dirt-digging go with r^3, but the people killed and infrastructure destroyed go with r^2, and the purpose of a nuclear weapon isn't to light a fireball and dig dirt.
Agreed, a big device doesn't really alter the balance of power, which is why both the Americans and Soviets abandoned the path of bigger and bigger devices by 1962, leaving lots of engineering possibilities on the table to instead focus on miniaturization.
Agreed, a big device doesn't really alter the balance of power, which is why both the Americans and Soviets abandoned the path of bigger and bigger devices by 1962, leaving lots of engineering possibilities on the table to instead focus on miniaturization.