New York Times on the Web Forums Science

Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 09:25pm Mar 17, 2001 EST (#1148 of 1150)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The following posts deal with possible deceptions and possible conflicts of interest that people the world over might want to consider, in relation to the risks and costs that are being imposed. #925 rshowalter 3/11/01 4:45pm to #931 rshowalter 3/11/01 5:21pm

rshowalter - 09:56pm Mar 17, 2001 EST (#1149 of 1150)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I believe that this expository poem sets out a high, but also very practical, ideal. Working social systems make thousands of little "redemptive solutions" every day. We need a bigger one, but it seems to me that it ought to be obtainable. Russia needs it. The world needs it. The US needs it.

SECULAR REDEMPTION

I'm dreaming of redemption,
not denial, not agony,
not lies told or
amorphous deceptions
amorphously defended,
but redemption.

Redemption for all concerned,
with a decent concern for all,
with feelings felt and not denied,
weights weighed, and not forgotten,
needs of flesh, nerves, guts and mind
all remembered, and workably in place
with neither lies nor torture.

I'm dreaming of redemption,
where all concerned
can know the same stories,
and live with that,
and look back and go on comfortably,
not unreasonably proud,
or unreasonably ashamed,
in ways that work
in private and in public.

I'm dreaming of redemption,
for myself, for the evil I've done,
and the good I've tried to do and failed,
and the limits and narrownesses that are
unchangeably a part of me.

And I'm dreaming of redemption for others,
in similar ways, without pretense,
with real, vital, feeling futures
not closed off.

There is too much good here,
too much reaching for the good,
too much hard, disciplined work
in the face of pain and fear,
too much to hope for.

Too much to hope for the world, too,
too much hope for primal needs of peace,
too much of interest,
too much condensed and seeming right,
too much, from too many, that seems good,
and moves me and others.

No checkmate. No closing off of hope,
no wallowing in agonies that might be,
with more wisdom, and clean negotiation,
assuaged and replaced
by honest joy and comfort.

No checkmate. I'm dreaming of redemption,
and a world that goes on, safer and richer,
and knowing more about redemption,
because we've struggled.

rshowalter - 09:57pm Mar 17, 2001 EST (#1150 of 1150)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Can anybody tell me what looks hard, or unreasonable, about the proposal I set out in #266-269 ? rshowalt 9/25/00 7:32am

Granting that it would be hard, are people clear on why?

Maybe there is something much better.

But this pattern, which seems workable in many ways, might be considered as an idea that might suggest others.

Here's one thing, that I've come to feel is very important.

" Human actions work best according to the following pattern:

" Get scared .... take a good look ..... get organized ..... fix it .... recount so all concerned are "reading from the same page ...... go on to other things."

I think we should do this, and we can. For all the barriers, a few phone calls from a major leader, and the current nuclear horror could start to fade away.

I'm signing off for tonight.

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense