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Science
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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(7619 previous messages)
rshow55
- 07:42pm Jan 12, 2003 EST (#
7620 of 7620)
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 can do better than we've been doing. Together and
separately. On a lot of things. But in many, many, many
cases - unless there are things that matter that can be
checked against facts - in ways taken to closure - you can't
tell either what happened - or who is responsible.
Collecting the dots - and connecting the dots - can clarify
what needs to be checked - and how many ways
cross-consistencies can be established - if people keep at it.
Eventually - a great deal focuses.
We can do better than we've been doing. My guess continues
to be that lunarchick and I, whatever our problems and
differences with each other or with others - are getting
enough clarified that we are probably "saving lives" - in an
actuarial sense - at something like a rate of 1000/lives per
hour we work. Or more. I'm proud - and I think The New York
Times should be, too.
I'm honored to be associated with her. Every which way I
look at it. If I knew more things for sure - some things would
certainly change. That wouldn't.
Any way I can look at it - risks from weapons of mass
destruction - and other weapons - can be much - much - much -
much lower than they are today. As long as people are honest.
Or honest enough - when it actually matters in public - and
when people watching ask for things that matter to be
straightened out.
If anybody thinks I've told a single lie on this board -
they could start checking. Given a chance - I'll help them.
Once a very few facts lock down - a lot else does, as well. As
far as I can tell, the solution to Plato's problem - every
which way - is at hand - and we can solve more problems than
we've done so far - in ways that are orderly, symmetrical, and
harmonious all sorts of ways - and from most human points of
view. With enough space and room from individuals to be
individuals - and for freedom to be real, and hope to be real
- in all sorts of ways that matter.
I think if people search almarst's contributions on
this board - and actually look at them - they paint an ugly
picture that couldn't have happened by accident and
can't be all wrong.
I believe that I've been doing just exactly the kind of
things Bill Casey would have wanted - and that most decent
people in the world would want - if they thought about it
carefully, and hard. The incidence of death and agony from war
- and the horrors of poverty, too - can be much less
than they now are - if people keep at it, stay minimally
honest, check their work, and take their time.
New York Times on the Web Forums
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Missile Defense
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