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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 - 08:46am Nov 14, 2003 EST (# 17681 of 17692)
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.

You Can't Always Get What You Want Lyrics by the Rolling Stones http://www.lyricsdomain.com/lyrics/30225/

But sometimes, you can.

There's been plenty hoped for in the past, and worked for, that has been realized. People working together, and working out problems, can accomplish far more than they they could accomplish alone. That's a consistent pattern. http://www.mrshowalter.net/Kline_ExtFactors.htm

There are good reasons to cooperate rather than fight. But fighting is the logically usual form - especially when people are quite different. Cooperations are generally unstable. We need to know how to stabilize them better, more reliably, more systematically, than we have.

Here's language from my letter to an important person on 26 October.

A tremendous amount of my effort on the Missile Defense board has been to solve TECHNICAL problems of negotiating stable outcomes to "games" and negotiations, including those that result in wars, that involve complexity, competition, cooperation and high emotional stakes. These problems have been major barriers to progress in international relations and commerce.

I think . . . . we're quite close to a situation where general and simple solutions to this class of problems can be demonstrated and explained so that they can be solved routinely and practically. With a model of the kind of solution needed in general worked out - in the presence of a record that I believe many people and organizations can and will learn from.

The question is how you produce a "win win" solution under circumstances where negative sum outcomes are also possible, and instabilities are a problem. Currently, such circumstances result in stasis, unnecessary losses, and wars.

A while ago, after a phone call, I felt all that was very close. It has slipped away. Since that time, there have been missteps, stasis, unnecessary losses, and a great deal of posting . . . .

But we did get close, I thought, to a win-win solution. Maybe, later, people will figure out how to make them. I failed this time. But maybe there's hope.

Someday At Christmas by Stevie Wonder is a fine song. http://www.webfitz.com/lyrics/Lyrics/xmas/97xmas.html It talks about hope. Peace on Earth.

Peace on Earth http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/25/opinion/25WED1.html is a masterpiece - one I hope is read and reread for many years. It moved me a great deal, I'll be rereading it - and feel these lines fit here:

"Have humans ever been able to bring this entire globe to peace at once? The answer is almost certainly not. But that answer is no deterrent to trying to do so . . .

Some careful, unsentimental, imperfect people have some technical things to work out. Looks possible to me.

jorian319 - 09:01am Nov 14, 2003 EST (# 17682 of 17692)

Someday At Christmas by Stevie Wonder is a fine song.

And "A Boy and His Dog" is a fine movie.

bluestar23 - 09:52am Nov 14, 2003 EST (# 17683 of 17692)

Showalter is still posting his meaningless baby's pablum....Songs, Peace, Intense Stupidity...

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