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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?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

lchic - 10:03am May 20, 2003 EST (# 11820 of 11848)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

The Risk History is not kind to idlers. The time is long past when American's destiny was assured simply by an abundance of natural resources and inexhaustible human enthusiasm, and by our relative isolation from the malignant problems of older civilizations. The world is indeed one global village. We live among determined, well-educated, and strongly motivated competitors. We compete with them for international standing and markets, not only with products but also with the ideas of our laboratories and neighborhood workshops. America's position in the world may once have been reasonably secure with only a few exceptionally well-trained men and women. It is no longer. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

rshow55 - 10:06am May 20, 2003 EST (# 11821 of 11848)
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 government assistance wouldn't have to be from the US government - major governments of the EU, or Russia, or China, could provide the government support needed (money isn't a big part of the government support needed). 11759-11764 - especially 11763 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.IhSTaZozb6v.875103@.f28e622/13373

If a major business-technical solution involving a very large payoff, and many economic and political impications could be shown to be pretty certain after a few hundred thousand bucks, nearly certain after a million or two - and very certain at all technical levels after a billion dollars was spent - who, as a practical matter, could make the investments of money and effort to get the solution done? What protection and social-political-cultural support would they need?

If that major business-technical solution then required a very large financial investment (that could be rapidly amortized, if the enterprise was protected) who, or what organization, could make the necessary investments? What protection and social-political-cultural support would they need?

"These are general questions that apply to every one of the "large scale technical solutions" that I've ever thought about - for reasons that I suspect are unavoidable.

Government money may not be essential - but government support is essential. That government doesn't have to be the United States. But it does have to have nation-state scale power.

lchic - 10:08am May 20, 2003 EST (# 11822 of 11848)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

For our country to function, citizens must be able to reach some common understandings on complex issues, often on short notice and on the basis of conflicting or incomplete evidence. Education helps form these common understandings, a point Thomas Jefferson made long ago in his justly famous dictum:

'I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.'

Part of what is at risk is the promise first made on this continent: All, regardless of race or class or economic status, are entitled to a fair chance and to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost. This promise means that all children by virtue of their own efforts, competently guided, can hope to attain the mature and informed judgment needed to secure gainful employment, and to manage their own lives, thereby serving not only their own interests but also the progress of society itself.

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

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Showalter - the above states that the progress of society (your work) is important!

lchic - 10:16am May 20, 2003 EST (# 11823 of 11848)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

""According to the new report, the World Bank's own evaluation of its improving performance lacks credibility, noting "when the auditors are captive, when the timing of judgment is premature, when the criteria are faulty and when the numbers are selectively chosen - then the conclusions are worthless."

http://www.house.gov/jec/imf/imfpage.htm

lchic - 10:16am May 20, 2003 EST (# 11824 of 11848)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

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