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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 - 07:02am Jan 24, 2002 EST (#11009 of 11035)

The very many honest people supporting MD, and working on it, and the very many honest people supporting the "patriotic values" of the Bush administration (and the values the administration expresses in public are values I share) ought, perhaps, to be more concerned than anyone else. But all Americans, and all people concerned with the welfare of America, and the world, should be concerned, as well.

On matters of life and death, and matters where justified trust is so essential to long-term cooperations, and long term prosperity, everyone who is sensible, and not corrupt, has to care about right answers.

Accounting may seem a "mundane" exercise. But on both money, and matters of technical fact, it is essential in our world. One need not ask for perfection. As Robert Bork said . . .

" The young are naturally romantic, and given to moral absolutes that necessarily make the real world of compromise, half-measures, and self-seeking appear corrupt.

...Chapter 1 .... Robert H. Bork, SLOUCHING TOWARDS GOMORRAH: Modern Liberalism and American Decline

But all decent human beings are "romantic" to some extent, and need to be. Not only the young. The "appearance" of corruption can become real corruption, without the disciplining of fact, and openness.

We all live in a real world of compromise, half-measures, and an avoidance of too-harsh realities. People couldn't live any other way - and it ought to be no surprise when muddles and messes happen. Most times, moral indignation may not be very useful.

This time, perhaps it might be.

rshow55 - 07:22am Jan 24, 2002 EST (#11010 of 11035)

MD10961 rshow55 1/22/02 12:49pm bears repeating here:

"My own view, at the beginning of last year, was that the risk of the world being destroyed by a nuclear "accident" -- was running about 10%/year - - a risk discounted "expected value" the equivalent of 3-4 WTC disasters per hour. With risks from terrorism on top of that.

"I think the total risks are somewhat less now - - but still terrifyingly large. When I read some of the "technical judgements" of gisterme , and Mazza , my concern doesn't get any less.

I'd add that when I consider the corruption -- or gross incompetence, on view, reasons to trust the Bush administration, on matters so long hidden -- get reduced again - and powerfully reduced.

"Checking for technical facts that can be determined in the open literature, and checked by independent authorities (for instance, people in charge of writing the professional engineering exams, and similar examinations in other countries) would be a good place to start. MD10764 rshow55 1/14/02 7:36pm

Checking, on these issues, ought to be morally forcing. We are dealing with weapons that, if not controlled better than they are today, are likely to reduce much or all of the human population of the world to rotting unburied corpses.

Under these circumstances, we ought to check facts in ways that can actually determine them,. and we ought to consider alternatives. We need to protect outselves -- and that means reducing real risks from weapons of mass destruction. Including our own.

MD764 rshowalter 2/23/01 10:47am

lchic - 07:29am Jan 24, 2002 EST (#11011 of 11035)

On standards, Deming was for incremental improvement, until all wigits were perfect.
In manufacturing and process such dreams are almost true - far fewer 'imperfects' for sale days.
Standards relating to Accounting - checking and balancing featured in C13 Vienna, a development by Florentine Traders:

""The medieval cloth trade turned Florence into a prosperous commercial center. Florence financiers invented double-entry bookkeeping, bank checks and holding companies. In the 13th century, 7 out of the 10 major Florence guilds were engaged in export trade. The Florence money market, at Piazza Mentana, enabled merchants not only to conduct commercial transactions but to exchange valuable information. Florence supported Renaissance geniuses like Giotto, Michelangelo and Leonardo who pursued science as well as art.

"" Four centuries before Columbus set sail, an Arab geographer expressed the view that the world was round.

Muslim traders learned paper-making from the Chinese near Samarkand, then refined it and introduced it to the West. Muslim traders brought the compass from China, and it helped make possible later voyages of discovery. Muslim traders found coffee in Ethiopia and brought it to Turkey and Europe. Muslim scholars preserved ancient Greek texts which were lost to the West. Muslim traders discovered "Arabic" numbers in India. A Muslim scientist developed the basis of optics. Muslims introduced the idea of zero to the West, making sophisticated mathematical systems possible; Muslims are largely responsible for algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

While Western Europeans were grovelling amidst filth and ignorance, Morocco had a nine-story building devoted to selling books. Morocco was the world center of the book trade. http://www.libertystory.net/LSCONNECTPRIVATEDISCOVERY.htm

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