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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 07:28pm Jun 23, 2001 EST (#5904 of 5908)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD4618 rshowalter 6/8/01 3:22pm .... MD4619 rshowalter 6/8/01 3:22pm
MD4620 rshowalter 6/8/01 3:27pm .... MD4621 rshowalter 6/8/01 3:28pm
MD4622 rshowalter 6/8/01 3:30pm

We ought to think of ways to reduce the basic reasons for war - the reasons we feel the need to dominate the world -- and think of better things to do with our resources.

And, if energy was available, we'd know how to alleviate most world poverty. Now, we don't.

rshowalter - 07:31pm Jun 23, 2001 EST (#5905 of 5908)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Some may say "we have to be brutal -- we have to dehumanize people outside our country -- because the golden rule is too expensive."

I think that, considering everything, the golden rule is efficient.

All the same, it makes sense for us to work to reduce the causes of insecurity and conflict in the world, if we can.

Missile defense is partly motivated because we're afraid of people who hate us.

We should act so that they hate us less --- and, if we can, figure out ways to reduce reasons for conflict.

rshowalter - 07:32pm Jun 23, 2001 EST (#5906 of 5908)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

We also need effective defenses -- of course -- but they may not have to cost 1500$ for every man, woman and child in America -- perhaps, if we were smarter, we could spend our wealth more productively on other things.

rshowalter - 08:03pm Jun 23, 2001 EST (#5907 of 5908)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Bush Is Revising Energy Policy to Address Global Warming by JOSEPH KAHN http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/10/politics/10ENER.html .... shows flexibility, and a willingness to consider conservation, and the use of renewable energy sources, including wind or solar power.

If the Bush administration could fashion better policies, and execute them well, better solutions to global warming than Kyoto might be fashioned, to the credit of the Bush administration.

Kyoto DOES offer a response to a major problem in need of a solution.

Research is ongoing on "carbon capture" -- where carbon is buried, taken out of the atmosphere Strategy Has a "Greenhouse" Gas Bottled up Under Land and Sea by Kenneth Chang http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/science/17CARB.html

" Now scientists and policy makers are exploring a third strategy: snaring carbon dioxide . . . and storing it in the ground or ocean.

" On Monday, President Bush said, "We all believe technology offers great promise to significantly reduce emissions, especially carbon capture, storage and sequestration technologies."

" That could eventually help the administration reconcile the divergent goals of its energy and climate policies, enabling the construction of power plants that burn fossil fuels while still cutting harmful emissions.

" "If you want to stabilize CO2 emissions over a long period of time, we think carbon sequestration is essential," said Robert S. Kripowicz, acting assistant secretary of energy for fossil energy.

" But current carbon dioxide scrubbers are too expensive. The Department of Energy has set $2.75 as a reasonable cost for storing a ton of carbon dioxide. Current technologies cost 15 to 20 times as much.

Could we learn to grow algae for $10/ton of carbon in the algae (molar equivalent to the $2.75 price for CO2) in the equatorial oceans, in large scale aquaculture -- and dump that hydrocarbon to the bottom of the ocean? It doesn't look impossible -- again, it would be a low tolerance approach to a big problem that the world needs solved - that is now a cause of conflict.

If it was possible, a lot of engineers (who can't get missile defense to work reliably, in my opinion) could figure out how to do it.

For the money that's been proposed for a missile defense few think will work, we could probably get this done.

rshowalter - 08:04pm Jun 23, 2001 EST (#5908 of 5908)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD4624 rshowalter 6/8/01 3:42pm

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