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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.

lchic - 08:55am Sep 3, 2002 EST (# 4149 of 4154)

Creativity Defined (5)

"" Creativity involves both the process and product of unprecedented or novel perception, thoughts, or actions by which an organism or group of organisms copes with present or potential changes in the composition and structure of its environment. It reflects a spontaneous or elicited intensity of cognitive processing that can relate and integrate variables not ordinarily associated with each other.

Creativity is a potent biological adaptation in that it catalyzes or facilitates a regulatory or advantageous change in response to a real or perceived stress by an individual or group of individuals. Like all adaptations it results in an improved "fit"of an organism (or group) its (their) environment and consequently higher fitness in terms of direct (personal) or indirect (non-descendent kin) contribution to future generations.

Creative perceptions, thoughts, or actions within individuals associate familiar or novel stimuli in varying combinations to serve that individual's biological need. Intrinsic reward systems operate to maintain this valuable activity. When these perceptions, thoughts, or actions are communicated by example (modeling) or pedagogy (teaching) to serve social needs, the creative individual is identified and acknowledged.

http://www.bio.utk.edu/Neils.nsf/2700cc9c7c94b8be852563b7006b5bff/d5217402bc3d8e37852565b700718955?OpenDocument

"" Four “core competencies” – underlying skills and tendencies – that help people express their creativity. Remember that everyone has roughly equal creative potential. People who express creativity frequently have mastered certain core skills, and anyone can master these skills:

Capturing. New ideas are often fleeting. They come, they go, they’re gone, like a rabbit scurrying through the woods. “Creative” people have learned to preserve new ideas as they occur – to preserve first and evaluate later. Fortunately, it’s easy to learn ways to capture new ideas, and strengthening skills in this competency area alone will often boost creative “output” by a factor of 10 or more.

Challenging. Failure sets in motion a behavioral process called “resurgence” – the reappearance of old behaviors that used to work in situations like the current one. If you have trouble turning a door knob, for example, you’ll quickly resort to methods that used to work on other doors: turning harder, kicking the door, shouting for help, even shouting for your mom. The good thing about this process is that it gets multiple behaviors competing with each other, and when behaviors compete, new behaviors are often born. In other words, failure spurs creativity. The bad thing about this process is the way it feels: Behavioral competition feels confusing or frustrating. This competency area involves a variety of techniques for managing failure – for eliminating the fear of failure, for seeking and limiting failure, and for managing the emotions that accompany failure.

Broadening. If you’re writing your first symphony, and you’ve never heard any music other than symphonies by Beethoven, your style will probably be limited. The more diverse your existing “repertoires of behavior,” the more interesting and diverse the interconnections. Therefore, one of the simplest ways to boost creativity is to broaden your knowledge base. In other words, instead of taking another course on Windows architecture, try one on Medieval architecture.

Surrounding. Multiple behaviors are also set in motion by multiple or unusual stimuli in the environment. Imagine approaching a stop light, for example, on which both the red and green lights are illuminated. How would this very unusual (and very broken) stimulus make you feel and behave? Your right foot will probably tap dance between the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, during which time you’ll feel somewhat confused or uncertain (great emotions when it comes to creativity). Th

wrcooper - 08:57am Sep 3, 2002 EST (# 4150 of 4154)

As to whether I was "joshing" yesterday, let me say this. I just hope to God that I didn't commit a serious breach of national security.

lchic - 08:58am Sep 3, 2002 EST (# 4151 of 4154)

Creativity Defined (5)

"" Creativity involves both the process and product of unprecedented or novel perception, thoughts, or actions by which an organism or group of organisms copes with present or potential changes in the composition and structure of its environment. It reflects a spontaneous or elicited intensity of cognitive processing that can relate and integrate variables not ordinarily associated with each other.

Creativity is a potent biological adaptation in that it catalyzes or facilitates a regulatory or advantageous change in response to a real or perceived stress by an individual or group of individuals. Like all adaptations it results in an improved "fit"of an organism (or group) its (their) environment and consequently higher fitness in terms of direct (personal) or indirect (non-descendent kin) contribution to future generations.

Creative perceptions, thoughts, or actions within individuals associate familiar or novel stimuli in varying combinations to serve that individual's biological need. Intrinsic reward systems operate to maintain this valuable activity. When these perceptions, thoughts, or actions are communicated by example (modeling) or pedagogy (teaching) to serve social needs, the creative individual is identified and acknowledged.

http://www.bio.utk.edu/Neils.nsf/2700cc9c7c94b8be852563b7006b5bff/d5217402bc3d8e37852565b700718955?OpenDocument

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