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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 - 04:55pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15010 of 15020)
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 I was just a kid - Mimi Beardsley's age when she was a special help to Kennedy - I was asked to work on a list of "Robert Showalter problems."

I wrote a rough list of "Robert Showalter problems" as I knew of then about 1970 - in the order they popped into my head a few months ago when I tried to list them.

Plato's problem

Negotiations

Fluid mechanics - especially mixing

Flame stability and combustion

target tracking

optimality theory

modelling

buried problem in mathematics

code of the brain - and several useful levels

combat theory

innovation of large organizations

Robert Showalter problems were problems "too hard" for anybody to solve - one way or another - especially ones government folks in Eisenhower's circle knew they had.

I was given a superb education - and worked on solving as many of these problems as I could -

I found out a great deal about how these problems were too hard for me.

My work from 1971 to 1986 is pretty well documented - and was well focused. It centered around the AEA effort - centered on getting a format for optimal innovation that could work for large organizations - and mathematical efforts - some with Steve Kline. We can go through more details. In 1979 - with Kline and others - we'd negotiated, and were well along toward satisfying a big contingent contract with Ford Motor Company - that could have made my investors and I a great deal of money - and saved the economy tens of billions - while demonstrating the format I'd been assigned to perfect.

Casey postpoined that - and things went wrong.

There were some interesting problems. . . .

Some would make a long story - but I'd just about given up hope of accomplishing the big things (especially negotiation things - and Plato's problem - that I'd been asked to do. )

- - - -

But since I've met lchic - it seems to me that there's been a lot of progress.

She's the most valuable mind I've ever been nowhere near . . or anywhere near. And I believe we've already changed the English language some - by talking about "connecting the dots" - - and will do more.

lchic - 04:57pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15011 of 15020)
TRUTH outs in the end : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

Showalter people with managerial responsibilites are on a continual learning curve - they have to be - or their competitors would outsmart them.

lchic - 05:00pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15012 of 15020)
TRUTH outs in the end : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

Showalter ... in the small print i first read 'combat theory' as 'cantabb theory' ...

jorian319 - 05:00pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 15013 of 15020)
"Statements on frequently important subjects are interesting." -rshow55

Yeah, it's kind of like the measures/countermeasures dilemma, except that one can actually profit from applied managerial skills.

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