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Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

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rshow55 - 04:48pm May 15, 2003 EST (# 11696 of 11713)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

Jorian319 , that was ugly, but I must say I enjoyed it. Now - there might be some barbs directed at the Bush administration - as well.

lchic - 04:52pm May 15, 2003 EST (# 11697 of 11713)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

'Baghdad Bounce'

On this thread i posted a reference prior to Iraq war to the effect that a short war would have little effect on the US economy (no like Vietnam that dragged on for years).

Raises the question - why did EC Nation States assume there would be much economic impetus in the Iraqi post war era?

It seems so many of the world's countries sit begging for scraps .... small contracts - from the USA (Iraq).

Is this really the way to run the amalgamated world economy .... isn't there something more that Nation States could be setting out to achieve?

rshow55 - 05:00pm May 15, 2003 EST (# 11698 of 11713)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

The whole world has had problems with econonic growth for some time. Senior people were very worried about it by 1960 - and all the worries that existed then seem to have been justified.

The tinkering of bankers can only do so much.

Disappointments in developed nations have been many - standards of living for families are a lot worse today than most people expected them to be 40 years ago - when one wage earner could support a family pretty well - which now usually takes two. We're much more capable in terms of communication technology and some other things - but on some basics, we've not done very well.

But in the poorer countries, the loss of hope, and the tragedy has been far more serious than the minor disappointments and inconveniences in the rich countries - important as they have been.

How are we ever to make a prosperous (as well as peaceful) world?

That's largely a technical problem.

The problem used to look pretty soluble to me. And in a more general way, to Casey, too. Still does, most of the time. But to get solutions, for the big human needs, on a world scale - we need solutions that are simple but large - as the Railroad revolution has been.

When the United Nation was founded - world prosperity was an explicit objective - and a central promise made to the people of the world. It should be an explicit objective again.

rshow55 - 05:02pm May 15, 2003 EST (# 11699 of 11713)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

To get economic systems to work at all efficiently, the information that actually matters for production needs to be as correct as possible.

If people around the world were prepared to act on that simple fact - we'd be both richer and safer.

rshow55 - 05:07pm May 15, 2003 EST (# 11700 of 11713)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

France Claims U.S. Is Engaging in Disinformation Campaign By BRIAN KNOWLTON International Herald Tribune http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/15/international/middleeast/15CND-DIPLO.html includes this:

"We have decided to count the untrue accusations which have appeared in the U.S. press and which have deeply shocked the French," said a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marie Masdupuy, according to a report by Reuters.

If nation states actually "decided to count" - and insisted on the truth - we'd live in a much safer and richer world.

If France really put resources into asking for honesty from the US, there'd be some "retaliation" - and if, perchance, France has been evasive in spots, she might have to admit it.

But it would be a small price to pay. If nation states recognized that they have a real, and collective interest in truth and checking - a great deal could get better pretty quickly.

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense