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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 - 12:53pm Sep 10, 2001 EST (#8738 of 8742)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I take religlious matters, including ideas about religious causation, quite seriously. But I take practical matter seriously, and on the issues involved with this thread, see no contradictions.

I've written about issues of morality, which I think are essential for decent and practical action, on this thread for a long time, and on the Guardian Talk threads as well.

MD816 rshowalter 3/1/01 4:25pm ... MD817 rshowalter 3/1/01 4:27pm
MD818 rshowalter 3/1/01 4:32pm ...

MD2203 lunarchick 4/13/01 9:24am ... MD2204 lunarchick 4/13/01 9:28am
MD2205 lunarchick 4/13/01 9:30am ... MD2206 lunarchick 4/13/01 9:35am

MD4157 rshowalter 5/22/01 3:13pm .... MD4158 rshowalter 5/22/01 3:29pm
MD4159 rshowalter 5/22/01 5:20pm ...

Now, I've had some personal background that I've tried to be clear about, and asked people to check, and it is consistent with either an entirely secular or a quite religious view. I don't think the right answers, for me, at the level of action, depend much on whether I'm considering things in terms of religious belief, or in secular terms. And I don't feel that the right answers for other people depend much on that either.

MD6057 rshowalter 6/26/01 7:22am

MD6370 rshowalter 7/1/01 7:19am ... MD6371 rshowalter 7/1/01 7:19am

MD6397 rshowalter 7/2/01 8:00am ... MD6398 rshowalter 7/2/01 8:00am
MD6399 rshowalter 7/2/01 8:02am ... MD6400 rshowalter 7/2/01 8:02am

MD7385 rshowalter 7/24/01 8:13pm ... MD7386 rshowalter 7/24/01 8:14pm
MD7388 rshowalter 7/24/01 8:17pm ... MD7389 rshowalter 7/24/01 8:18pm
MD7390 rshowalter 7/24/01 8:20pm ...

These experiences do give me a strong sense of duty , and a sense, that I think many people would appreciate, of a calling on the subject matter of this board -- which is getting rid of nuclear weapons, and getting to a more workable and productive peace -- with missile defense one issue among a number of fundamentally coupled issues.

When I was routed to this board by "kate_nyt" , my interest in nuclear disarmament was not in question, and was made clear from my first postings
MD266 rshowalt 9/25/00 7:32am ... MD267 rshowalt 9/25/00 7:33am
MD268 rshowalt 9/25/00 7:35am ... MD269 rshowalt 9/25/00 7:36am
on that day to an offer that still stands MD304 rshowalt 9/25/00 5:28pm

I think there's a significant chance of the world ending because of people like you gisterme , and that seems to me to be sufficient motivation to work on this board, backslider and doubter though I am. From an entirely secular point of view, it seems a good reason to me.

rshowalter - 12:54pm Sep 10, 2001 EST (#8739 of 8742)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

My own view is that I'm doing just exactly what Bill Casey told me to do, and that, to an extent that I sometimes find surprising, it seems to be working.

rshowalter - 12:56pm Sep 10, 2001 EST (#8740 of 8742)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I believe that Dawn and I are delivering "good news." Which productive professionals, after hard work, are expected to do. The good news (and warnings) includes these things:

Some issues involving the interface between physical modeling and math.

New techniques and insights that make it possible to "talk to the Russians" at a level that wasn't possible before, and to adress, define, and focus problems more than before. So that people have a chance of solving problems that were insoluble before, that can now be solved by hard work.

Explanations of how to address paradigm conflict , a very serous problem

The importance of understanding details if "the golden rule" is to be practical and operational, especially under difficult circumstances.

and

A basic insight about how people function in groups, set out in the first pages of Mankind's Inhumanity to Man and Woman - As natural as human goodness? http://talk.guardianunlimited.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7b085/0 that I believe is essential if people are to more effectively adress problems of complex cooperation, and the avoidance of explosive fights.

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