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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 - 09:27am Jul 9, 2003 EST (# 12908 of 12910)
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.

The sciences and the humanities need to become much more one culture - a point C.P. Snow emphasized - and a goal lchic's work moves us towards.

Science and the humanities can be connected - without sacrificing reasonable values on either side. Here's a wonderful example.

In the Crowd's Frenzy, Echoes of the Wild Kingdom By NATALIE ANGIER was published three years ago today, on July 9, 2000 - and I've reposted it at http://www.mrshowalter.net/IntheCrowd'sFrenzy.htm

That piece had an big influence on my life - and there's a picture "Nowhere to run: scared cattle circling in Germany." that may please people thinking of the NASA mess.

Angier writes:

"Biologists believe that the complexities of social life are what gave rise to big brains and luxurious intelligence in the first place. Highly social species are, as a rule, the smartest and most sophisticated species the planet has produced.

" So why is it that there can be nothing stupider, nothing more primitive and dangerous, than a crowd of people? If human sociality has its roots in our primate past -- and it surely does -- and if the advantages of living in a group predate the evolution of Homo sapiens, it's worth asking whether the menacing side of a human crowd likewise resembles group behavior among nonhuman species.

Since human sociality has its roots in our primate past there's a lot we need to understand. We're "a little lower than the angels."

Altruism, and the fact that, very often, we're wired to be nice are important, too. http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.w58lbwTxnLq.24272@.f28e622/4115

. Why We're So Nice: We're Wired to Cooperate By NATALIE ANGIER http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/23/health/psychology/23COOP.html

lchic - 09:32am Jul 9, 2003 EST (# 12909 of 12910)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

http://www.prospect.org/

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense