Big Deal versus Bigtime: When Billy or Gore bogarted, and W'ya snorted; they
were YOUNG MEN. Then needs to be a sort of largesse' when one is young and
foolish.
Regards defeating a Soviet Missile attack using 1980 technology, you jump to
conclusion, I feel. Let us define the goal and then define the technology.
The main avenue of attack was to defeat the Communist Party CCCP--that is the
"unacceptable damage" that military experts have judged.
Now there were a few methods we might have tried and did not, to defeat an
attack--even given the technology of the time. It's probably better to have
had no successful missile defense system, as things happened, but to say it
was unworkable because Sagan demurred or Kostia Tsipis, found it
disagreeable; is no reason to propagandize against it. Hence, one could find
such democratic-socialist like Dyson, give a different spin on things.
For a variety of reasons, 90% because the Politics changed we do not have a
Balistic Missile Defense system. Not because the technology was inherently
wrong. Will you also now say that we do not drive around on fuel cells or
have a lunar colony "because the technology didn't work"? No, these are
decisions, wise or unwise; and its all the road not taken. Sagan had his
biases, as do I, as do you.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:29 MDT