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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?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

almarst2020 - 10:11am Apr 26, 2002 EST (#1785 of 1799)

Budget Deficit for '02 May Top $100 Billion - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51074-2002Apr25.html

The Empire Building in a hostil environment is a very costly endeavour.

Who is going to pay the bill?

rshow55 - 11:19am Apr 26, 2002 EST (#1786 of 1799)

Paradigms are shifting , and the world is looking at problems that are soluble , with attention and honesty.

"Connecting the dots" -- getting facts collected in space and time, so that people can understand them, and check their understanding -- that will permit real progress.

Here are some references, to Paradigm Shift .... whose getting there? ... on the MD board, where they have been useful, and will continue to be. MD115 rshow55 3/2/02 6:33pm . . . MD116 rshow55 3/2/02 6:34pm

A significant part of my life story - life problem is set out in

Psychwar, Casablanca, and terror 273-278 http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/289 especially 278 http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/294

http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/96unclass/cover.gif
http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/96unclass/casey.htm
http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/96unclass/index.htm

"Under the rules, such as they are, I'm not sure who I can talk to. "

But if some things can be checked (and maybe some things can be) there is a lot of room for hope.

To sort out problems, including problems of peace (and the smaller related muddles of the missile defense boongoggle) people have to face the truth, tell the truth, and avoid misinformation. When right answers really count, they have to "connect the dots" ( MD1055 rshow55 4/4/02 7:54am ) so that patterns emerge -- and to check those patterns.

lchic - 11:23am Apr 26, 2002 EST (#1787 of 1799)
Mix a little GU.com with NYT.com - NET the wider perspective!

US water shortages and Fires
_{http://www.denverpost.com/media/paper36/April2002/0425firesmall.jpg?705548 http://www.denverpost.com/}

almarst2020 - 11:29am Apr 26, 2002 EST (#1788 of 1799)

Washington channelled funds to groups that opposed Chavez - http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/25/1019441285250.html

almarst2020 - 11:34am Apr 26, 2002 EST (#1789 of 1799)

U.S., Russia Still Split Over Arms Cuts - http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-000029431apr25.story

"they are opposed to the deal because the United States intends only to stockpile, and not destroy, its deactivated weapons."

almarst2020 - 11:39am Apr 26, 2002 EST (#1790 of 1799)

The Serbian Orthodox Church is charging the peacekeeping force in Bosnia with violently desecrating church property in its search for suspects wanted by the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. - http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27377

rshow55 - 02:57pm Apr 26, 2002 EST (#1791 of 1799)

In the middle east I think we're in the middle of "logics" that rule out any humanly acceptable solutions -- logics that lead to impasse, horror, and extermination. But as we stare at problems with "no solution" under the rules that seem "natural" to us -- we're also looking at problems that have workable solutions under other, more fully human rules.

We have to do possible things. We have a much better chance of finding them if we strip away the impossible approaches that may present themselves. It isn't nearly as difficult as people think to reject things as impossible, or too far fetched to be worth resources, and to do that with confidence.

. Israel's Historic Miscalculation http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/opinion/_26FRI1.html If Prime Minister Ariel Sharon refuses to remove a single Jewish settlement in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, he will leave little hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

In some fields (math and engineering, for instance) some of the most powerful techniques are very easy. For instance, to solve for N unknows, it is necessary (not sufficient) to have N independent equations. And the solutions have to be mutually consistent - - - if satisfying one condition or subset of conditions rules out another, there is no solution.

It is a hopeful thing to know when there is no solution according to a particular pattern. If we know that something is impossible to do, we know we have to find a new pattern. That trades a hopeless task for one that may be hopeful.

If we have the discipline to rule out impossible things, an impossibly complicated, hopeless situation may become much simpler, much more hopeful.

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