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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 - 09:09am Oct 9, 2003 EST (# 14722 of 14730)
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.

Cantabb asks: And, how do you suggest we do it ? Speaking in inane generalities, and in disjointed digressions far off the field ?

Sometimes - for basic human reasons - and logical reasons - it is useful to switch between different perspectives - construct a shared space by comparing notes about comparison and contrast.

That's ordinary human behavior - but is goes wrong in perverse ways - and people get into fights. I was assigned to sort out how the fights happened - and how to reduce their incidence.

rshow55 - 09:13am Oct 9, 2003 EST (# 14723 of 14730)
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.

Anybody disagree with this?

Pattern: Every ______ is similar in some ways, and different in others.

The blank in the pattern above could be filled by the words

fight

act of communication

episode of sexual intercourse

human being

vertebrate

living thing

physical object

or any other definable word or notion.

In only a relatively few cases would such a pattern be a false statement.

The notions that people are able to use well, or at all, are characterized by patterns of order, symmettry, and fit to purpose (harmony) - and practically always what orders, relates, and fits in one way does not in most others.

So you can always get into a fight about anything you choose.

OR

You can choose to construct more "shared space" - and actually build it.

UNLESS

Someone wants to fight.

rshow55 - 09:17am Oct 9, 2003 EST (# 14724 of 14730)
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.

Why do people - in general and specifically - want to fight?

That's an interesting question - and I've done a lot of work on it - and so have the supporters of this thread.

Some of the reasons to fight are only partly understood - and now we need to get clearer about them. http://www.mrshowalter.net/UrgeToPunishCheatsNotJustHumanButSelfless.htm

What's cheating? is a very good question - and it needs to be answered in ways that fit real human needs and vulnerabilities.

Issues of "connecting the dots" are involved in sorting this out - and so is the notion of disciplined beauty http://www.mrshowalter.net/DBeauty.html .

wrcooper - 09:20am Oct 9, 2003 EST (# 14725 of 14730)

In re: http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.flpObfe8M9p.1352064@.f28e622/16428

Fred

Thanks for doing the additional research. I'll take a close look at the sites you linked.

The initial information you quoted confirms what I have been reading. The discrimination problem is extremely difficult and renders problematic the effectiveness of any possible defensive system.

But I go back to what jorian and I were saying yesterday. Even if a missile defense system functioned perfectly, a determined aggressor would simply use a low-tech delivery method. The more effective our missile defense, the more incentive to use less sophisticated methods to deliver the weapons.

Will

(5 following messages)

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