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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 - 03:35pm Sep 3, 2003 EST (# 13481 of 13484)
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.

wrcooper's 13411 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.ddFTb83rDlH.7003507@.f28e622/15102 includes some fine writing, and asks an interesting question clearly.

Gisterme liked it, too, and linked to it last night 13474 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.ddFTb83rDlH.7003507@.f28e622/15165 . I made a mistake in my searching technique, and had problems for a while getting to 13411 from the piece of it in 13474. Cooper asks:

" What's so important about you that they'd give a hoot what you think about anything, anything at all? "

Who are you? is always an interesting question. I think Cooper asks a beautiful question in some ways - very important ways - ways essential to the function of teams. All teams. And yet I think the question happens, for exceptional reasons, to be ugly in some other ways, from the perspective of this thread. http://www.mrshowalter.net/DBeauty.html

In "Beauty" http://www.everreader.com/beauty.htm Mark Anderson quotes Heisenberg's definition of beauty in the exact sciences:

"Beauty is the proper conformity of the parts to one another and to the whole."

Both the "beauty" and "ugliness" of theory are INTERESTING.

- - -

Cooper asks:

" What evidence do you have that anything you've ever said here has resulted in other people taking actions that have real effects?"

Using some ways to score "evidence" - you can say "none". ( By some other standards - the answer is "a lot.") Either way, the thread is an effort to do good things - and lchic and I have worked hard on it - as gisterme and almarst have as well. We've all made "investment decisions" that it might be worthwhile - worth our effort - and I don't think any of us are doing it "just for fun."

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense