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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 - 04:04pm Sep 14, 2003 EST (# 13660 of 13661)
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.

Words are important - in basic ways they define our common culture. Definitions - and connections - are very interesting here - important enough, I think, to set out from dictionary.reference.com - - it seems to me that the definitions are problematic - in interesting ways.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=liar Li"ar\ (l[imac]"[~e]r), n. [OE. liere. See Lie to falsify.]

A person who knowingly utters falsehood; one who lies.

One that tells lies.

A person who has lied or who lies repeatedly [syn: prevaricator] [ant: square shooter]

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=liar

2 entries found for liar.

Entry: liar

Function: noun

Definition: falsifier

Synonyms: cheat, con artist, con man, deceiver, deluder, dissimulator, equivocator, fabler, fabricator, fabulist, false witness, falsifier, fibber, jive turkey, maligner, misleader, perjurer, phony, prevaricator, promoter, storyteller, trickster

Concept: unsocial entity

Entry: rascal

Function: noun

Definition: trickster

Synonyms: bastard, beggar, black sheep, blackguard, bully, bum, cad, cardsharp, charlatan, cheat, delinquent, devil, disgrace, felon, fraud, good-for-nothing, grafter, hooligan, hypocrite, idler, imp, knave, liar, loafer, miscreant, mountebank, ne'er-do-well, opportunist, pretender, prodigal, profligate, rake, rapscallion, recreant, reprobate, robber, rogue, rowdy, ruffian, scalawag, scamp, scoundrel, shyster, sinner, skunk, sneak, swindler, tough, tramp, trickster, varmint, villain, wastrel, wretch

Concept: unsocial entity

Source: Roget's Interactive Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.0.0)

Is there a word for someone who " a person who knowingly utters falsehood" that does not carry such appalling baggage - a word that does not carry the social equivalent of a death sentence?

The matter is important - because (psychologists are sure of this) - all people "knowingly utter falsehood" and they are often expected to do so.

rshow55 - 04:09pm Sep 14, 2003 EST (# 13661 of 13661)
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.

Every kid knows that they, and everyone they know "knowingly utter falsehoods" . They know that, at some level, by the time they learn to talk. The human logic of the matter, as of now, is a mess.

When lchic wrote

Adults need secrets, lies and fictions

To live within their contradictions

She did not mean the word lies to carry the baggage set out in http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=liar

If it were possible to teach that rhyme in nursery school - the world would be a better - and logically clearer - place. .

We're very close, right here, to reasons why explosive fights happen that ought to be avoided.

Now, I don't feel the least bit apologetic when I say that I believe that Cooper is a person who "knowingly utters falsehood" - - and evasions, too. By now, I don't like Cooper much, nor care about him much. I did not intend, however, to imply the baggage carried in http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=liar ?

How, with language and culture as it is, was I to say what I wanted to say - and avoid doing so? That's a big problem. And not only mine.

How is anything to be checked, if somebody in power objects - with the baggage on an assertion that someone is "knowingly misstating" standing as it is?

I do not believe gisterme when he says:

. "I will certainly not impersonate the President or any other government official."

and I don't believe I should - for logical reasons that connect to a lot of human and practical interest. How am I to say so, without invoking the baggage of http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=liar .

That is a practical problem - if we're ever going to work some key things out.

Kids need to be taught some basic logic - early - and the fact that logic and statistics fit together - early.

They could be taught that - if adults were clear about it - as they should be.

Kids need to understand more clearly that "everybody knowingly says things that aren't true - - and/or implies them" - and so do adults.

They could be taught that - if adults were clear about it - as they should be.

We'd get more done, and fight less.

We could also figure out stable arrangements that elude us today.

We could also talk more intelligently about what cheating is.

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