Star Wars
Today's NY Times reports that the Air Force is seeking permission to begin work on creating weapons that could be used in space.
I suppose, given the consistent human habit of choosing species suicide, this development is predictable and perhaps inevitable. Ronald Reagan worshippers insist it was Reagan's stubborn refusal to bargain away the Star Wars initiative that finally convinced Gorbachev to throw in the sponge and dismantle the Soivet Union. I still believe he was the first Soviet Premier to look realistically at the numberfs and acknowledge that the only way to continue the expansionist dreams of that nation was to forego any concern for the human beings who were its citizens.
As we continue to squnder our seemingly endless wealth on war and star war, we may, sooner than we imagine, find ourselves in the same predicament. The tape of Osama bin laden saying his plan is to bleed the US financially seemed grandiose several billion dollars ago. Today, with the collpase of the dollar and the upsurge of China, it may not look so crazy.
But even supposing we have the resources, what will it mean for our nation to be the first to pollute and endganger potential development and exploration beyond the earth's atmosphere? As we withdraw from every treaty designed to promote cooperation among nations, from Kyoto to nuclear non-proliferation, we become the outlaw. Are we so eager to prove our superior power that we would risk the very future of our species?
It seems perhaps so.
I suppose, given the consistent human habit of choosing species suicide, this development is predictable and perhaps inevitable. Ronald Reagan worshippers insist it was Reagan's stubborn refusal to bargain away the Star Wars initiative that finally convinced Gorbachev to throw in the sponge and dismantle the Soivet Union. I still believe he was the first Soviet Premier to look realistically at the numberfs and acknowledge that the only way to continue the expansionist dreams of that nation was to forego any concern for the human beings who were its citizens.
As we continue to squnder our seemingly endless wealth on war and star war, we may, sooner than we imagine, find ourselves in the same predicament. The tape of Osama bin laden saying his plan is to bleed the US financially seemed grandiose several billion dollars ago. Today, with the collpase of the dollar and the upsurge of China, it may not look so crazy.
But even supposing we have the resources, what will it mean for our nation to be the first to pollute and endganger potential development and exploration beyond the earth's atmosphere? As we withdraw from every treaty designed to promote cooperation among nations, from Kyoto to nuclear non-proliferation, we become the outlaw. Are we so eager to prove our superior power that we would risk the very future of our species?
It seems perhaps so.
posted by Blayney at 10:27 AM
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