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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?

rshowalter - 08:29am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10135 of 10155)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A lot of the reason that countries spend money on military stuff - - especially high tech stuff, is that they are "sold a bill of goods" by arms merchants (including many American and Russian ones) and end up buying stuff that they don't need, and aren't set up to use, or even practice with safely.

rshowalter - 08:40am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10136 of 10155)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD10095 rshowalter 10/5/01 5:49pm

The motivations behind missile defense, in our dangerous and ugly world, include some plainly serious ones. But to satisfy the needs behind those motivations effectively, we need right answers.

Right answers at one of the lowest levels - - the level of simple technical feasability -- ought to be expected.

gisterme?

kangdawai ?

possumdag - 08:50am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10137 of 10155)
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And yet Britain, Russia, America ... and other Nation States WANT to SELL SELL SELL military stuff because they MAKE MONEY.

Do the ordinary people in the street in these countries really approve of the sale/pushing of armaments.

How do the populations of countries currently purchasing armaments make their governments use their taxpayer cash more appropriately. Who draws up a list of priorities?

rshowalter - 08:57am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10138 of 10155)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The press needs to. And for that, the press needs to be uncorrupted.

Some people are unjustly placed - almarst , for example, has the cruel fate of being a humble engineer, when his intellect exceeds that of the leaders of some great countries. Led by pressures, concerns, and references from almarst , Dawn and I had an extended conversation with him on getting some matters involving the press cleaned up, and much of that was organized, with links, in MD2088-2089 rshowalter 4/8/01 8:30am .

rshowalter - 09:01am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10139 of 10155)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I made a proposal, that I thought would be simple, and set up feedbacks that would over time solve a lot of problems, in MD2031 rshowalter 4/6/01 7:08am

It includes this:

Perhaps, rather than an "arms race" there could be a "truth race" -- at least among journalistic businesses -- if Russia took this higher standard, would not American papers feel pressure to follow suit?

Think what that would mean to peace, and prosperity in the world !

rshowalter - 09:06am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10140 of 10155)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

What if subjects of stories were routinely notified, and denials or discussions were routinely made available on the internet - archived as the articles were?

I think the change would be practical, would act to increase the power and reliability of journalism, and could be self supporting

Other things, also using the internet, could be done to improve the memory , the feedback , and the vulnerability to criticism of the press.

These days, costs would be tiny. The assumptions of "the culture of lying" would be undermined. And it would be a small, logically incremental step, which would have its effects come in over time, as people adjusted to it.

possumdag - 09:13am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10141 of 10155)
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That the American people are suddenly finding that the quality of their foreign policy displeased the regular populations of many nation states has come as a recent revalation. Many states supported by America had regimes that also supported torture.

Who failed to give the standard American information on the workings of foreign polic over past decades?

possumdag - 09:17am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10142 of 10155)
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If articles were evasive and mediocre with feedback given rshowalter 10/6/01 9:06am would 'writers' be encouraged to move their work to a more provokingly critical angle?

possumdag - 10:24am Oct 6, 2001 EST (#10143 of 10155)
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When the map looked like this - how did people think?

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