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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 (14990 previous messages)

rshow55 - 02:02pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14991 of 15020)
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 set out something of a mission statement on this board 26 January 2001 http://www.mrshowalter.net/a_md6000s/md6057.htm

The story I like best about me, in this regard, is that I'm just a guy who got interested in logic, and military issues. A guy who got concerned about nuclear danger, and related military balances, and tried to do something about it. Based on what he knew - with no access to special information of any kind, he made an effort to keep the world from blowing up, using the best literary devices he could fashion, consistent with what he knew or could guess.

. . . .

In my interaction with The New York Times , I've been doing just exactly what Casey coached me to do -- ordered me to do -- what I promised Casey I would do.

When I got a problem solved (really several problems solved) after giving people a chance to take me in through other channels -- I was to come in through The New York Times . Casey thought that was what was going to have to happen -- but thought it had to be a last resort .. I should try other things -- things I did try -- first. ... But Casey felt that the TIMES was a last resort that would work. The TIMES would have the connections, when the situation seemed right, to get things moving gracefully and well -- the way America, in Casey's view, and mine, was supposed to work.

When I figured out the "buried problem" in applied mathematics, and "figured out how to really talk to the Russians" -- and figured out what a stable stand-down of nuclear terror was to be like -- I was to come in. They wanted the answers, but weren't sure how they'd accomodate them, and would have to sort it out at the time.

That and more is set out in http://www.mrshowalter.net/CaseyRel.html

Jorian's asking something imporatant when he asks for a mission statement. Here's a good MISSION STATEMENT - that would be part of my mission statement, too, from The NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE:

" To strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. We will also work to build the trust, transparency, and security which are preconditions to the ultimate fulfillment of the Nonproliferation Treaty's goals and ambitions.”

Albert Einstein also set out something like a mission statement - a statement of task.

"A human being is part of the Whole...He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest...a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."

In September 2000 - I travelled to Washington D.C. - with the limited goal of getting a personal credentialling problem requiring high and flexible government contacts sorted out - so that I could write a workable resume, get a Ph. D. in education that was workable, and go about my life. Things have been more complicated than I expected since.

More interesting, too, in spots.

On this board - lchic and I have been working to answer key questions that we have worried about - and that seem to have interested other people, too.

What's hard about the task the Nuclear Threat Initiative set for itself. What's hard about the task Einstein sets out?

Jorian , you'll be quite dissatisfied by this posting - and I'm thinking about more - but thought this might be of interest.

Part of your answer is that my mission has evolved - my hope, the first few days - was that I'd only

rshow55 - 02:05pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14992 of 15020)
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.

spend a few days on this thread.

Later - I did the best I could - all the time wondering how I could solve my credentialling problems so that I could function workably in the United States of America.

By the time of http://www.mrshowalter.net/PutinBriefing.html - it seemed to me that a good deal was getting accomplished on the board itself - and lchic and I set ourselves the task of facilitating conversation - at least at the level of "stand-ins" - between Russia and the US at a level that hadn't existed before.

cantabb - 02:09pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14993 of 15020)

rshow55 - 11:39am Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14980 of 14991)

Gisterme has worked hard on this board - ........ That remains a question that has to be considered seriously. Perhaps now more than ever.

rshow55 - 02:02pm Oct 14, 2003 EST (# 14991 of 14991)

I set out something of a mission statement on this board 26 January ....Part of your answer is that my mission has evolved - my hope, the first few days - was that I'd only

More self references. More rehash.

Questions to you: 1. What do you think you've been doing here for the past 3 years, and 2. what do you think you've accomplished vis a vis your claims.

Answers: 1. Nothing 2. Nothing !

Same goes for your 'world asset' and your barnyard/schoolyard HMV from South Africa (?) !

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