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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 - 10:19am Aug 22, 2001 EST (#8000 of 8012)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

lunarchick 8/22/01 9:44am .. is great stuff !

Getting things to fit in different people's heads -- getting things to work from different contexts - the exposition has to have some diversity, too. Even if perfection is attainable for a specific context, there are many contexts, and the need for different patterns of exposition, different correllations with argument and evidence, at different levels of detail.

At many stages, getting things checked matters -- because errors can propogate. These are common problems, that human organizations handle, in various ways, all the time.

The exposition job is a hard one. The problem of getting credibility is a hard one. The problems involved with proceeding with grace and fairness is a hard one. The problem of touching, not just minds, but the emotions that necessarily connect to consequential action is a hard one.

But with the internet, and its greatly expanded memory and tolerance for complexity -- and with the accumulation of expository power in organizations like the TIMES - more is possible than used to be.

The analogies to litigation of technical matters are pretty close. Procedures that work for "discovery" are fairly close to many informally used on this thread. Procedures that work for TRIAL -- where "laymen" have to make judgements, and results have to be clear at many levels -- are different -- and not yet done.

But there's hope of getting FACTS, on which so much depends, clarified here -- and doing it in ways that work for a very wide range of people, from a very wide range of different perspectives. How we FEEL about facts may be very different. But some technical issues -- once subject to examination, by fair rules, with fair umpiring when needed -- aren't subject to substantial question.

Sometimes pictures really ARE worth a thousand words.

MD6689 lunarchick 7/6/01 1:38pm shows some beautiful pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope

Dec-97- Hubble Butterfly http://www.astrophys.org/high_2001.html

MD6690 rshowalter 7/6/01 1:46pm

With these pictures, one can get a feel for what "resolution" means. And get a sense of how wonderful the resolution of Hubble is.

But it isn't nearly good enough to make lasar space weapons practical.

Combining facts, connected solidly to evidence, to arguments that can be understood in context, points can be made clear.

For a number of reasons, involving issues like resolution -- issues of numbers and in details -- the overwhelming mass of what the Bush administration wants to fund for Star Wars isn't workable.

It will take work to show that - - and may take some force, formal or informal, to get key parties involved. But getting clarity on key points, "beyond a reasonable doubt" - - and in ways all can see -- is something that can be done.

lunarchick - 10:22am Aug 22, 2001 EST (#8001 of 8012)
lunarchick@www.com

'Whilst' is exactly correct, in the context given. 'While' is an inexact substitute ... advocated by some linguists out to simplify - but - fails to fulfil.

Dictionaries are filled with words in common usage - so use it whilst you may - or loose it. Words move in and out of fashion - even while one stares at the SouthernCross, or a white rose of peace.

innvention materialised is innovation - isn't it? from my bookshelf

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