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.

gisterme - 03:44am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14947 of 14963)

rshow -

"...My approach makes sense of " basic principles of rational analysis" that have been dangerously incomplete all these years.

People really do "connect the dots" and "go round and round" and very often it converges. That makes our humanity and our culture possible..."

If "basic principles of rational anaysis" have been dangerously incomplete all these years and yet "that makes our humanity and our culture possible" then what in the world does your apporach have to do with it.

Ahem. I think that "our humanity and our culture", imperfect as they may seem at times, have been doing just fine since long before the advent of your approach.

So what's your point? I haven't noticed that anything you say makes much sense at all. It certainly doesn't make sense of anything so specific as "basic principles of rational analysis". IMHO, nothing you've posted on this forum would support your "makes sense of" claim.

gisterme - 03:55am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14948 of 14963)

rshow -

"...I'm saying that

"To sort things out well - you need both synthesis from associations - "connecting the dots" - and "going around and around, different ways - to establish internal and external consistency - loop tests."

"...and Cantabb calls that "nonsense." "

What else could it be but an extreme overcomplication of the description of simple problem solving skills known to all who have any sense...with an added "leapt to" conclusion that loop tests somehow have something to do with it? To me that is nonsese.

Can't say I disagree with cantabb if he feels the same way.

gisterme - 04:03am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14949 of 14963)

lchic -

"...Thimble - may be what Saddam is hiding under - just move those three thimbles around again ... He's under the one in the middle .... no he's not ... have another go!..."

Quite right, lchic ...and given enough "gos"...sooner or later... ;-)

gisterme - 04:04am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14950 of 14963)

"...How obsessive ! ..."

Naa, cantabb, just showing how tired he was. Imagine what he could have done if full of spunk.

gisterme - 04:09am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14951 of 14963)

Cantabb asks rwhow:

"How long are you going to keep dodging the questions I asked ?"

The thought that came to mind when I read that was "How long till hell freezes over?" :-)

gisterme - 04:12am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14952 of 14963)

cantabb to Fred :

"...Nothing new!..."

Sheesh! Do I hear the pot calling the kettle black? You haven't said anything new since the first day you posted, cantabb.

gisterme - 04:25am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14953 of 14963)

rshow -

"...One thing I'd suggest - just as a conjecture - is that every one of the basic rules and conditions people use to evaluate convergence and divergence of series has an analog in discourse..."

You mean we can verbally express what we want and what we observe going on around us in "our humanity and our culture" ??? Whew, Robert, isn't that a brilliant observation. Knowing that will probably save thousands of lives every month.

You'd better take it easy, rshow. You're moving much too fast. You might exceed somebody's slew rate and cause them to fall behind or even oscillate.

gisterme - 04:26am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14954 of 14963)

lchic -

"...Perhaps the human brain is protecting itself from overload."

Or ICBMs.

(9 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense