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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 - 01:24pm Nov 21, 2002 EST (# 6050 of 6054)
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.

It seems to me that since the time of 5718rshow55 11/13/02 12:50pm a lot of things have gone very, very well - on tough, dangerous problems.

Chances of convergence look real on problems that might have been thought hopeless - not so long ago.

Lunarchick and I have been concerned about structure and logic, where problems are difficult and stakes can be high - and it seems to me that the ideas set out form 5438 rshow55 11/1/02 12:00pm to 5441 rshow55 11/1/02 12:02pm are worth thinking about. Because they permit dialog that permits convergence, under conditions that would not permit convergence otherwise.

Here's a part were I did more work than she, though she was indispensible:

To make good theory, in complex circumstances, beauty coming into focus must be judged, and shaped, in a priority ordering - and even though the priorities may be shifted for different attempts at beauty, the priorities need to be remembered, and questions of "what is beautiful" and "what ugly" have to be asked in terms of these priorities.

She has been completely indispensible, and mostly responsible, here, and has been a world intellectual leader, here, for years:

Intellectual work, and scientific work, is an effort to find previously hidden beauty , and this is what moves people, and warms people. This need for beauty must be remembered, and not stripped away.

We need to be able to think things through in terms of priorities - otherwise we can't get clear about some key issues. But we have to be willing to question those priorities, as well. Just now, on both sides - we're quite close to a logic of extermination - a "logic" that is "beautiful" in some ways - and ugly in some others. We have things to understand, and choices to make. In a world where there are consequences that cannot be excaped - whether those consequences are intended or unintended.

We have time to get to much better solutions than are looming now - and much better solutions than we've had for a while. But we need to pay attention - and the issues that are involved are not only matters of life and death - they are also issues that are hard for human beings. Issues where people often do thing very wrong - judging from what happens because of what they do.

There's not only time - but there's a good deal of reason for optimism, along with good reason for fear. Some stupid, ugly things are happening - but some careful decisions are being made, as well.

It seems to me that there are some fights that are going to have to be fought - at some level - from where we are now.

rshow55 - 01:31pm Nov 21, 2002 EST (# 6051 of 6054)
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.

There's a nice image associated with

. What, Me Worry About Insults? by THOMAS VINCIGUERRA http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/03/weekinreview/03WORD.html

-- and as any fool can plainly see, Alfred E. Neumann is scared out of his wits - but trying to put a brave face on it.

We might consider the same stance - at least a little.

. . . . .

A friend of mine sent me a very good joke about Bush, Powell, and Iraq. It wasn't funny. But it did make a point about priorities.

How much are Bush and Powell supposed to care about the people of Iraq - compared to other issues? There are different ways of thinking about the issue - and perhaps not everybody is as clear as they need to be.

If the Iraqis, and Arabs think that they can "take their own people hostage" - that they can have cover doing many things - just because Americans and other Westerners won't tolerate a "punishment of the innocent with the guilty" -- they need to think about what happens if they are wrong. And remember the Golden Rule.

What would they do to us ?

We might try to judge that by what they say.

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense