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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 - 08:40am Aug 12, 2002 EST (#3655 of 3667)

It seems to me that focusing simple things can be powerful. On this thread, lchic and I are working hard, and quite consciously, to produce such focusing. . . . Here's an old posting:

rshowalter - 08:48pm Oct 9, 2001 EST (#10213

"I think, for this, the maintance of focus might be very important.

"When Pasteur focused the cell theory, and established the germ theory of disease, these ideas had been "knocking around" for a long while. But he got them clear.

And explained them.

From the focused right answer , an explosive change and improvement in the human condition occurred.

. . .

We're due for an improvement on issues of focusing, checking, and "connecting the dots." We need that improvement. Rule by sophists - by public relations people - needs some control.

Chain Breakers http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee79f4e/618

MD3154 rshowalt 7/19/02 1:15pm

mazza9 - 08:42am Aug 12, 2002 EST (#3656 of 3667)
"Quae cum ita sunt" Caesar's Gallic Commentaries

"Whatever our differences otherwise - I don't think people can reasonably disagree about the points just above."

Thus sayeth the all powerful Oz! (and Robert!!)

And if they do disagree there is always the use of FORCE.

lchic: you are rude and inconsiderate. I do promise that I will not FORCE you to be nice. It's a fact that certain bad traits are immutable.

LouMazza

lchic - 08:55am Aug 12, 2002 EST (#3657 of 3667)

"" "Fantasy, and fiction in general, is failing to do what it might be doing," he said. "It has unlimited potential to explore all sorts of metaphysical and moral questions, but it is not doing that."

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,773090,00.html

He said: "You can't leave morality out [of a novel] unless your work is so stupid and trivial and so worthless that [nobody] would want to read it anyway."

rshow55 - 09:06am Aug 12, 2002 EST (#3658 of 3667)

In David Copperfield, Charles Dickens had an eloquent phrase - linked to a story where the human consequences of facts and deceptions were grippingly clear. He spoke of the need for a disciplined heart.

We need disciplined hearts. As life becomes more complicated, as we see ugliness and agony coexist with beauty, and great unused resources - in the presence of great danger - much of which should be unnecessary - we need, for practical and emotional reasons - a higher level of emotional intelligence than we're showing, and a higher level of logical intelligence .

For better emotional results - quite often - we need our logic to be more careful, more respectful of fact - including technical facts, and facts about people.

For better logical results - facing both our inanimate and our social problems - we need better emotional intelligence - because our "logic" - so often, goes wrong for emotional reasons -- often, monotonously, an unwillingess to check for consistencies and facts.

A key fact - that even children ought to know, is set out in the following poem. If it were a nursery rhyme, we'd soon live in a better world. The first two lines - by lchic state a fact. . Those two lines express a fact that adults and children should know and face -- that the incidence of mistakes and deception in our "logic" is something like ten to twenty times more than we've been assuming - and so we have problems to work out where we've been complacent, or haven't been paying attention.

Adults need secrets, lies and fictions
To live within their contradictions

......But when things go wrong
......And knock about

......Folks get together
......And work it out

Missile defense, because the situation can be made so clear - and because it is about the right size, would be a fine place to work out a lot of problems - some of them technical. MD1075-76 rshow55 4/4/02 1:20pm The technical approaches linked in 1075-1076 connect to much discussion -- and I've been blocked from doing some things I've needed to, because of some security classification problems that illustrate, I believe, how awkward checking procedures in the United States actually are. Though there's some progress.

lchic - 09:16am Aug 12, 2002 EST (#3659 of 3667)

Adults need secrets, lies and fictions
To live within their contradictions

But when things go wrong
And knock about

Folks get together
And work it out

lchic - 09:24am Aug 12, 2002 EST (#3660 of 3667)

" I've been blocked from doing some things I've needed to, because of some security classification problems that illustrate, I believe, how awkward checking procedures in the United States actually are. Though there's some progress. " Showalter

Isn't progress when you have in writing a letter that says the CIA has relinquished interest in you, that your work is yours, that you are free to move on and function - contributing to the US economy.

~~~~~~~

Raises the point as to why these guys are so inefficient in their function that they can't put 'pen to paper'

Raises the second question as to how many folks are in LIMBO and unable to properly function - where are they now?

Raises the third question as to why such an organisation isn't under the direct control of the Congress - so that those wanting matters checked can get them checked!

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