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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 - 08:55am Aug 17, 2003 EST (# 13314 of 13317)
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.

When the power grid failed, my Mom and Dad had just checked into a hotel in New York City, with my college president sister and her husband, on a trip to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

Mom and Dad, Betsy and Larry were there to sight-see, eat good meals, and go to a show ( Hairspray ) . A NYC theater professional and close family friend had gotten tickets for that show, and was helping them celebrate.

Of course, Mom and Dad were inconvenienced along with millions of other people. Mom and Dad are in their eighties. They're back in Richmond now, all right.

Mom and Dad are fine people, and have had an exemplary marriage - though I've been a disappointment to them. They have been married, and true to each other, in every sense of the word. They lie to each other sometimes (sometimes for sport) - but they've tried to keep the things that matter straight - and they've stayed together. I admire them tremendously - and wish I could have been a better son. I've been a trial to them.

Their marriage has been public. For very practical reasons, it is important that key relationships - foundation relationships - are public. And that people, by and large, and in essentials, keep the promises that people need them to to keep life straight.

Casablanca is a movie I've referred to often - ( search Casablanca , or click Rshow55 ) that tells an essential story.

Lies - even those that are well intentioned - have unpredictable consequences. And predictable ones, on the basis of assumptions easily thought through, as well. Some awkwardnesses produce "unpredictable" problems - if you ask for details - but you can predict that, over time, there will be bad consequences. Though problems can be sorted out - even when some pain can't be avoided.

rshow55 - 08:56am Aug 17, 2003 EST (# 13315 of 13317)
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 script of Casablanca is available http://6nescripts.free.fr/Casablanca.pdf - and contains this:

. Rick: Why weren't you honest with me? Why did you keep your marriage a secret?

Rick sits down with Ilsa.

. Ilsa: Oh, it wasnt' my secret, Richard. Victor wanted it that way. Not even our closest friends knew about our marriage. That was his way of protecting me. I knew so much about his work, and if the Gestapo found out I was his wife it would be dangerous for me and for those working with me.

. Rick: When did you find out he was alive?

. Ilsa: Just before you and I were to leave Paris together. A friend came and told me that Victor was alive. They were hiding him in a freight car on the outskirts of Paris. He was sick, he needed me. I wanted to tell you, but I, I didn't care. I knew, I knew you wouldn't leave Paris, and the Gestapo would have caught you. So I . . . well, well, you know the rest.

I've had to keep secrets, too. Eisenhower and people around him wanted it that way. Later, Casey wanted it that way. No one was to know about our relationship - because it would be "dangerous for me" - and, more importantly, dangerous for the country. There were good reasons. But terrible consequences, when unpredictable things happened, and when the deception had to go on too long.

Did Ilsa court Rick in good faith? From different perspectives, the answer is both "yes" and "no." Was the decision to engage in a secret marriage moral, or sensible? From different perspectives, the answer is both "yes" and "no."

What is clear is that lies are terribly, terribly unstable, and can be very damaging.

I have every reason to believe that the instabilities in that caused the power grid to go explosively, unstably wrong also exist in our nuclear controls - at several levels. 13308 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.cdihb8t6znm.3759991@.f28e622/14995

On March 1, 2001, I posted this: http://www.mrshowalter.net/SP_51_n_Swim.htm

"I think that there's . . . maybe a 10% chance . . . of the world blowing up . . . per year , with messes as they are

We're having blackouts, in a system with some similar couplings, due to a mathematical instability I think I understand better than anyone else alive - about once a decade.

"Lets see --- six billion people . . . And a tenth chance . . . of dying from nukes per year . . . A "statistical expected value" of . . . a hundred Jewish holocausts, per year . . . or one point six million "expected deaths" per day.

"Maybe I've slipped a decimal point. . . But even so, what would YOU do in my postion? . . What would you expect of yourself? . . .

"I'm trying to be careful, . . . and working hard .... and even prepared to take . . some personal risks -- . . . and even be impolite.

On March 1, 2001, I also posted this. http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee79f4e/1556

Some other postings of mine, on March 1 2001 - 2002 - and 2003 are also interesting. I may post them later. Many are summarized, with links, along with other key postings, from 9002-12 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.cdihb8t6znm.3759991@.f28e622/10529

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