--- Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snippage> > > The ABM systems do not pass the BS test I use for > new technology. The test > isn't foolproof, but I'd be very curious to see why > they don't do the > things that successful and innovative designers tend > to do with hard > problems. Instead they do the thing that usually > leads to failure: > compress the schedule and backload the high risk > portion of the test.
A friend forwarded an article to me, a brief interview with Bruce Sterling and David Brin; here is what Sterling said, in passing, about missile defense: DAVID BRIN: At the same time, science fiction does take some pride in its prognostications. There are times when some things we write about really do come to pass. STERLING: One example occurred just recently. This past fall, a special adviser for cyberspace security was appointed by President Bush. A science-fiction writer imagined that position back in the 1980s. Science fiction has influenced the missile defense program. The idea has taken root so firmly in some influential people�s minds that the program has survived for ages even though it has no connection to reality. Star Wars has as much to do with American national security as lucky horseshoes. It will never work. Even if it did, terrorists would bring warheads over in container ships and trucks. The article is actually more about prognostications; it is 26K and I can forward it to whoever would like, or post it on-list if people want. I don't know where it was originally from (my friend is away on vacation right now), but it appears to be recent. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus � Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
