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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?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

rshow55 - 03:28pm Oct 21, 2003 EST (# 15362 of 15369)
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.

On my first posting this year, I wrote this: 7177 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.DBZbbat2QI6.3947639@.f28e622/8700

I think this is a year where some lessons are going to have to be learned about stability and function of international systems, in terms of basic requirements of order , symmetry , and harmony - at the levels that make sense - and learned clearly and explicitly enough to produce systems that have these properties by design, not by chance.

The lessons are fairly easy, I believe, though not difficult to screw up. A problem is that perfect stability - and complete instability - are mirror images - and issues of balance and correct signs can be, in a plain sense, matters of life and death...

I was too optimistic - but maybe some progress is being made, at that.

I'm interested in "win-win" solutions, myself.

Some weeks ago, I suggested it would be a good idea to shut down this board - and it might be - but that wouldn't change too much, I don't think. There would still be some problems to resolve - and ideally they should be resolved gracefully - and in the reasonable interest of all concerned.

The corpus is already in existence, and getting them resolved cleanly, in the interest of all concerned might be easier with the board shut down. I'm acting in good faith - and have been for a long time.

bluestar23 - 03:38pm Oct 21, 2003 EST (# 15363 of 15369)

rshow55:

"It seems to me that you should. I'm looking for a reasonable way that I can leave this thread without having been mangled. You should think about helping me do that - and if you can't think about that - why should I think about your concerns?"

If only it was true...is the pressure getting to showalter..? It certainly seems to by this admission... then the pressure must be kept up...but I fear showalter is having no intention of leaving the Board.

lchic - 04:04pm Oct 21, 2003 EST (# 15364 of 15369)
ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong foundation

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cantabb - 04:59pm Oct 21, 2003 EST (# 15365 of 15369)

jorian319 - 03:06pm Oct 21, 2003 EST (# 15361 of 15364)

I type fast... often outrunning my thoughts.

Just the opposite here. Fingers can't compete.

Most of my posts are written while my computer is chugging away on audio files - up/downsampling, limiting, nr etc..

I've other professional things I work on. Occasionally I look in NYT. But when things attract my attention, then I try -- not always -to make time for them.

At least that keeps them short... most of the time. Reading takes longer, so I scan some posters' material, scroll by others and only conscientiously read when something piques my interest.

That [time/effort in deconstructing etc] remains to be seen, but I'm optimistic! :-)

It's been too simple.

Actually, it remains to be realized through the debris and the dust. How long will it take ? No body can guarantee. Most people can see the light, but NOT all can, not through the fog...

cantabb - 05:09pm Oct 21, 2003 EST (# 15366 of 15369)

rshow55 - 03:28pm Oct 21, 2003 EST (# 15362 of 15365)

I'm interested in "win-win" solutions, myself.

Who's NOT !

Some weeks ago, I suggested it would be a good idea to shut down this board....

Ummm. Really ? Was it BEFORE my first post here [Sept 17] ?

and it [the board] might be [shut down] - but that wouldn't change too much, I don't think.

You're right about that !

There would still be some problems to resolve - and ideally they should be resolved gracefully - and in the reasonable interest of all concerned.

There always will be "some problems to resolve." No matter how much we wish and try, difficult to see ALL problems resolved "gracefully" or in the "reasonable interest" of all ["reasonable" being a subjective position).

The corpus is already in existence, and getting them resolved cleanly, in the interest of all concerned might be easier with the board shut down. I'm acting in good faith - and have been for a long time.

The "corpus" of public information on MD has existed long before YOUR own.

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense