Re: SDI was Re: Expanding the "United States of America"

From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jul 14 2001 - 16:32:26 MDT


hibbert@netcom.com wrote:

> mlorrey@datamann.com said:
> > SDI is the only moral option for a libertarian society based on the
> > premise of not initiating violence.
>
> It might be the only moral option if it were plausibly shown to be
> workable.

Theres an intercept test this evening. Ive been away on a camping
trip in the Sierras, so I havent heard if it is still on. Everybody
pick a side {targets or interceptors} and cheer for your team.

GO GET EM, INTERCEPTORS!

> At this point it is still mostly a massive costly boondoggle in
> the making.

The SJ Mercury News would certainly agree with you.

> The research done by Dave Redell of CPSR on the
> (in)feasibility of building software that would achieve the necessary
> claims of the SDI project are still the best reference on this subject...

...that you know of. {8-]

> Not being able to shoot a single missle out of the air in a fair trial is
> one problem,

Solved. The Block 2 THAAD missile is 2 for 2 now. The only 2
firings of that version has hit both times. Of course the Merc didnt
tell you that, and they *continue* to insist that no intercepts have
been successful.

You did say "fair." If the intercept is successful, the Merc can
always report that the test was rigged. If unsuccessful, its an
unworkable boondoggle. Tomorrow's newpaper will tell. If it
is on the front page, we missed. If we hit, it will be buried on
p.17, a half a paragraph reporting a rigged test.

> but they also have to get their software to work correctly
> every time in the first battle, without any reasonable arena for evolving
> it into robustness beforehand.

Have we not done exactly this with the fleet ballistic missile?
We randomly choose one out of the fleet and fire it, usually 2 or
3 times a year. The last 91 consecutive firings have been
successful. Why is not the FBM analogous to the SDI? Could
we not test the software repeatedly? Could we not have
redundancy by firing several interceptors at an incoming
missile?

Lets see how this evenings test goes. Im cheering for the interceptors.

spike



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:08:46 MST