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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.

lunarchick - 10:05am Jan 5, 2003 EST (# 7363 of 7372)

<><><> read up to date yet?

Ergo ... can't be that big a place (Texas) ... it's hardly on the map ... ergo is shortform for 'ergonomic' ... as in take a seat and ergo desk

lunarchick - 10:17am Jan 5, 2003 EST (# 7364 of 7372)

GU TALK - NK SPOOKING USA? see

rshow55 - 12:22pm Jan 5, 2003 EST (# 7365 of 7372)
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.

I think that Wizard's Chess http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/05/opinion/05SUN1.html is superb, and exactly right that "it is absolutely essential that Washington set appropriate priorities as it faces Iraq, North Korea and international terrorist networks."

I'm only guessing, but perhaps because of things conneced to that editorial, gisterme was posting here at 3:20 this morning, Washington time.

At one level, I was impressed and pleased by gisterme's response, but in other ways terribly, terribly concerned. If performance is as sloppy as it looks to me like it may be - a very hopeful situation is becoming hopeless because of negligence.

Gisterme, I posted 7337 rshow55 1/4/03 7:47pm and your postings 7339-7340 gisterme 1/5/03 3:20am , , 7345-6 gisterme 1/5/03 6:03am are keyed to 7337 .

If you are playing a complicated "game that is not a game" that is as complicated as the "wizard's chess" we're involved in - order, and ordering, can be a matter of life and death. If something is assumed to be sorted, at one stage, but is not - the next stages - that might be easy and sure in every other way, have no chance of working, and are likely, if not certain to be explosively unstable or degenerate. When I looked at gisterme's postings this morning, my first response was to give him an "A for effort." But on looking again - I got concerned, and the more I looked, the more concerned.

In 7355-7358 rshow55 1/5/03 7:08am I responded to gisterme's 7339-7340 - and my responses were bolded.

Gisterme , I beg of you, could you read, and if necessarily reread, those bolded sections I wrote, and sort out in your own mind what it is that you don't understand about what I've said - and what it is that made what you wrote seem reasonable, save negligence? We have a situation here that is touchy but very hopeful.

If you have any question about what I said, or any reference to words of mine that can support the interpretations you made subject to those bolded sections, could you tell me? If we had some facts and relations straight, things would be much, much safer and easier, in my opinion.

I'll be back within three hours. Pardon me, gisterme , but though you may be a lot more important than I am - I know a lot more about sorting than you do - and getting some things at the level just here straight is crucial. If we can do it, things are very hopeful - and I think they are very hopeful from your point of view, not just that of other players.

bbbuck - 12:50pm Jan 5, 2003 EST (# 7366 of 7372)
"You can't eat this, it's people, it's people"-B....."What about the cherry pie?"

......not too different from the previous 7000+ exchanges which Rshow deems valuable enough to put on CD!!!

Thanks kalter.rauch that was very good and very funny.

I would also give 4 stars to gisterme who actually wants to engage rshow in some type of dialogue -ahhahahahaha- that's good, and an effort that is quite remarkable.

Loopeychick is concentrating on home decorations and spinning top models and 'standing by her man'-ahahahahaha.

Well off to play tennis thanks for the laughs guys and uhhhh girls, keep it up, you're doing great.

Looking forward to the rshow exclusive MD cd. What a treasure.

Has anyone seen the science monitor post?

rshow55 - 02:02pm Jan 5, 2003 EST (# 7367 of 7372)
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.

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense