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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?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

gisterme - 05:55pm Nov 22, 2002 EST (# 6186 of 6193)

commondata 11/5/02 6:40pm

"...So Gisterme knows an old aquaintance of yours whose important wife - who hates you - can sort you out a million dollars? They do say, rshow, that simplicity can be beautiful..."

In this case it's entirely the simplicity of fantasy, commondata. When the constraints of truthfulness and reality are removed all kinds of simple-minded things can be said.

So far as I know, Robert and I have no common aquaintances. I certainly don't know anybody named Fred in Wisconsin.

gisterme - 05:56pm Nov 22, 2002 EST (# 6187 of 6193)

Hi Robert. Just doing a little "catching up" here.

mazza9 - 06:16pm Nov 22, 2002 EST (# 6188 of 6193)
"Quae cum ita sunt" Caesar's Gallic Commentaries

gisterme

One of my favorite plays is "Once Upon a Matress". It launched Carol Burnett's career and contains a charming ditty entitled, "I'm In Love With a Girl Named Fred!" Maybe Robert is just confused like most of his posts!

Say Hello to George for me.

gisterme - 06:36pm Nov 22, 2002 EST (# 6189 of 6193)

commondata 11/6/02 11:57am

"...Where do the differential equations fit in?..."

I've wondered that myself. Existing missile guidance systems work quite well if they're not interferred with by some sort of defensive intervention. If the missile's guidance system can "see" the target the target will almost always be hit even if it is maneuvering.

I sometimes think Robert throws out references to differential equations because he doesn't really understand them and he figures most other folks don't either. So by seeming to understand what he really doesn't he hopes to somehow bolster his own credibility by exploiting the ignorance of others. It's not working on me or you apparently. Thanks for calling him on that.

Robert has made responses to some earlier posts that indicate he doesn't even have a solid understanding of basic trigonometry. I find it hard to understand how one who seems not to grasp basic trignomitry could be an expert in the application and solultion of real-time differential equations.

Hmmm.

rshow55 - 06:51pm Nov 22, 2002 EST (# 6190 of 6193)
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.

gisterme 11/22/02 6:36pm . . . " Robert has made responses to some earlier posts that indicate he doesn't even have a solid understanding of basic trigonometry. "

What posts might those be?

And while I'm at it, why should your last posts give me any reason to doubt my guesses?

I'll be out for a little while.

rshow55 - 07:08pm Nov 22, 2002 EST (# 6191 of 6193)
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.

gisterme 11/22/02 6:36pm

"If the missile's guidance system can "see" the target the target will almost always be hit even if it is maneuvering. "

It that were true, everything that the US Air Force flies would have been obsolete long ago.

Missiles are much cheaper than piloted airplanes.

It isn't just in movies like Top Gun that the missiles miss "easy shots" .

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