Missile Defense

We have no choice but to

" let people "construct their models and inter-relations" piece by piece, and wait to get comfortable with them -- on a step by step, incremental basis. This is not "illogical" -- but it is extra-logical --- it gives people time to get things to fit together, for them, in a mind where things are evaluating in terms of consistency in a VERY complicated world.

One consequence is that people adjust to new ideas slowly - there's a lot of adjustment, usually, before the "light bulb goes on." That means it may take time, and multiple approaches, and enough repetition, to persuade real people that something must be wrong -- when in simple logic, one counter-example should do.

The need for repetition, for multiple views, for multiple pieces of evidence, is a central reason why people in interaction exchange such a huge number of words, and is also an essential reason why, regardless of eloquence or logical correctness, there may have to be STAFF WORK to generate enough information to build a case that satisfies and persuades PEOPLE so that they can actually ACT.

lunarchick - 11:11am Mar 30, 2001 EST (#1770 of 1772)
lunarchick@www.com

It's interesting how the Euros are lining up to pay homage on their
'getting to know you,
getting to know all about you,...
getting to feel free and 'un' easy ..
cos of all unbeautiful and unnew,
things they are learning about ......
WHO?'

Political diplomacy is a two way international street ... i can't see one leader being allowed on a plane ... too far from the reign on the mane ... of marionette's minders.

So papa Bush has one job with Carlyle, that makes profits from war (do these guys manufacture land mines - one wonders), and Bush-Jnr likes to make war .. chasing rogue States. Papa Bush has a stake in oil ... and oil makes dirty air, and Bush-Jnr reneged on Kyoto.

There's seemingly no conflict of interest in the minds of the Bush Camp, they rely on a non-thinking electorate.
Yet, Street-Protests are back in fashion.

rshowalter - 11:15am Mar 30, 2001 EST (#1771 of 1772)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

So we're keeping at it. Word count has its uses!

With the internet, the word count is much more powerful than it used to be, under some circumstances.

First, many can read it if they choose.

Second, arguments, evidence, and references can be laid down, over time, and then accessed, rapidly and in combinations fit to new particulars, when that is needed.

We are in a new world, with the internet, and there is now a chance for the world to get past some old evils, some old uglinesses.

Land mines are an important example.

Nuclear weapons, which seem likely to reduce the whole world to a dead land full of rotting unburied corpses are, to me, another compelling example.

The very same message, delivered to the same mind, at a different time, may make sense when it did not before. I'm hoping that some set of ideas, perhaps similar to those set out in #266-269, this thread, rshowalt 9/25/00 7:32am may come to seem reasonable, and then come to fruition in this way.

For that to happen, it will take staff work. But some progress, I believe, is being made. On matters of missile defense and nuclear weapons policy, and broader military policy, the credibility of the Bush administration seems to be declining at an amazing, unprecedented rate. If this thread has been even a tiny part of it, it will have made a contribution.

lunarchick - 11:16am Mar 30, 2001 EST (#1772 of 1772)
lunarchick@www.com

ON learning there is a three step process:
Presentation of new material
Familiarisation with same
Time gap
re-presentation

So if getting an new idea is 'learning', then, the idea may be learnt via steps and stages.

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense