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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 - 08:52am Sep 12, 2002 EST (# 4272 of 4273)
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.

We have to learn to make peace. So do other peoples, of all cultures, all over the world. As of now, we don't know how. But we know enough that we should be able to figure that out. We know a good deal about waging war, but not enough to have wars end well. If we knew how to make wars end well, there would be many fewer to fight.

Bush to Warn U.N.: Act on Iraq or U.S. Will by DAVID E. SANGER and JULIA PRESTON http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/international/middleeast/12IRAQ.html

We can easily make mistakes, and often do. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0002F4E6-8CF7-1D49-90FB809EC5880000&catID=2

Piaget and communication models: 4129 lchic 9/2/02 11:24am - - logic comes hard - and comes late - and for all of us - only comes imperfectly. We have to check, to avoid serious mistakes. And that is a basic piece of information that is not now an adequately emphasized part of our culture.

4205 rshow55 9/6/02 8:27am

People respond better to stories than statistics - and that can be fine, so long as the stories convey messages that make sense -- that teach things in the interest of the listener, and not just the teller of tales.

How a Story is Shaped. http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/ducksoup/555/storyshape.html

But lessons, to be effective - have to fit in a shared space, and within the shared reality of the people involved. A Communication Model http://www.worldtrans.org/TP/TP1/TP1-17.HTML

Does the "story" the Bush administration now tells make sense - even to ourselves - if it is set out in detail? Does it work for other people who have to be involved?

I wonder how difficult it would be to "tell the administration's story" -- about what it intends to do, and what it hopes for, using disney characters http://www.whom.co.uk/squelch/world_disney.htm ?

Even with the most professional writers -- could such a story "hang together" - for Americans and the other people in the world who have to be deeply concerened? Are WE the "good guys" in all respects? In enough respects, in the case at hand?

Is this a simple and clear story of good guys, terrorists, and tyrants? The president seems to think so.

Bush's Pilgrimage Ends With Vow to Prevail Over 'Terrorist or Tyrant' By ELISABETH BUMILLER http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/politics/12BUSH.html

What about other concerns, other principles, other viewpoints? What about the promises we've made, and the institutions of the UN? Kofi Annan's Speech to the General Assembly http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/international/12UTEX.html

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