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 [F] New York Times on the Web Forums  / Science  /

    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.


Earliest Messages Previous Messages Recent Messages Outline (10912 previous messages)

rshow55 - 05:40pm Apr 1, 2003 EST (# 10913 of 10914) Delete Message
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.

Graceful approaches might well be possible - but with some firmness.

rshow55 - 09:42am Mar 31, 2003 EST (# 10830 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@28.DDrzax2g6jx.2755864@.f28e622/12380

Fractals, which are mathematical objects - from a virtual world - that can be mapped to things we can see - repeat again and again, at different levels. If we're to keep our tempers, and sort things out - it makes sense to think about them in fairly neutral terms - the same intellectual problems are harder in the more important cases where our emotions are involved.

We can't do without our emotions. But if we involve our emotions - as we must - we should try to involve all the ones that matter - and in ways that are balanced, and fit together.

How big, and how ugly do we want our fights to be?

I play with mathematics some, and maybe that makes me cold-hearted and narrow - but it is worth remembering that there are messes that get sorted out reasonably and gracefully in the world (in terms of what is possible) when at least some of the people involved have some authority, some wisdom, and keep their temper.

- - - -

Missile Defense #2576-7 - rshowalter Apr 25, 2001 06:03 am http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md2000s/md2575.htm

Missile Defense #2645 - rshowalter Apr 26, 2001 08:50 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md2000s/md2643.htm

Missile Defense #2653 - rshowalter Apr 27, 2001 11:43 am http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md2000s/md2650.htm

Missile Defense #2665 - rshowalter Apr 27, 2001 05:30 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md2000s/md2664.htm

If ideas of "equilibrium" and "domination" are applied to the wrong model , that is much simpler than the real case, ugly results, far worse than the best possible, can result. In peacemaking, Mary Poppins, (perhaps reinforced, from time to time, by Schwartzenegger in his kindergarten teacher role) makes a more impressive, more sophisticated example than Kissinger.

She finds graceful solutions well fit to detailed cases...

Missile Defense #2706 - rshowalter Apr 28, 2001 11:22 am http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md2000s/md2706.htm

Missile Defense #2887 - rshowalter May 1, 2001 12:31 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md2000s/md2884_2889.htm

we need to move away from Dr. Stragelove "solutions" -- and toward the kinds of focused, disciplined, graceful solutions that ordinary people so often craft in their own lives -- the sorts of solutions that make room for life -- - - Something I've always liked about the movie Mary Poppins is that the heroine moves into a ugly mess, and deals gracefully (or as gracefully as possible) with the situation as it is.

Missile Defense #3213 - rshowalter May 4, 2001 07:27 am http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md3000s/md3213.htm

Missile Defense #3259-62 - rshowalter May 4, 2001 04:02 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md3000s/md3258.htm

Missile Defense #3279 - gisterme May 4, 2001 05:31 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md3000s/md3274.htm

Missile Defense #3285 - gisterme May 4, 2001 05:51 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md3000s/md3284.htm

Missile Defense #3383-4 - rshowalter May 6, 2001 08:36 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md3000s/md3380.htm

Missile Defense #3523 - rshowalter May 8, 2001 04:12 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md3000s/md3522.htm

In response to http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca/WorkingGroupsPage/NucWeaponsPage/Documents/ThreatsNucWea.html and some postings by gisterme, I responded with some correspondences and lessons about war, military types, and peacemaking in the movies West Side Story ; Dr. Strangelove ; Mary Poppins ; and Casablanca...

Missile Defense #3830 - rshowalter May 14, 2001 12:08 pm http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md3000s/md3824.htm

Missile Defense #4507 - rshowalter Jun 5, 2001 12:20 am http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md4000s/md4505.htm

What would people involved be

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