[extropy-chat] uh oh, something's right

[Josh Cowan]

Hi Spike,

    For what it's worth, this morning CBC Radio One ran a fifteen second 
blip on the THAAD success, though they said it was only the second 
success in a row.

Cheers,

Josh
On Apr 6, 2007, at 9:51 PM, spike wrote:

> Friends,
>
> Today we had another hit with the THAAD missile system, the seventh
> consecutive success.  Most remarkable is this, considering that when 
> trying
> to hit a missile with another missile, there is so little target and 
> so damn
> much sky.  THAAD development is now three years ahead of schedule; 
> likely
> deployment will be in 2009 instead of 2012.
>
> But I noticed another remarkable thing.  The mainstream news agencies
> uttered not one word about it, and nary a syllable about the previous 
> two
> hits in January or September.  Think this over: to achieve kinetic kill
> represents an astounding technological achievement, control systems at 
> the
> bleeding edge of technology, sensors at the limit of our ability, a
> supercomputer flying at four times the speed of sound on a mission to
> destroy a mass destroyer of life.
>
> Back in the 90s when we couldn't hit a barn with these things, the 
> press
> couldn't get enough of the story, all the drooling rage it was.  But 
> now
> when we are smacking out of the sky everything that we aim at, they 
> find it
> far less newsworthy than the latest shaven-headed movie harlot or the
> playboy bunny who managed to slay her self by devouring everything in 
> the
> medicine chest.  This is news.
>
> I was pondering this as I drove home, and suddenly noticed that 
> everything
> around me is basically functional.  I see utter competence everywhere.
> Anyone who wants a job can get one, even if not their dream career.  
> Traffic
> is dense, but it moves along.  We go weeks at a time between even 
> seeing a
> traffic accident.  We often go months between malfunctions of household
> appliances, years between being a victim of even a minor crime, decades
> between an untimely death of a close friend or family member due to 
> anything
> other than natural causes.  Things are working.  They are working damn 
> well,
> working early and often.  Something is right.
>
> But we are afraid to congratulate ourselves.  Why don't we all take 
> some
> time to recognize all the things that are working right, such as the 
> THAAD
> missile, the highway system, capitalism incorporated.
>
> Let us congratulate ourselves unapologetically, shall we?
>
> spike
>
>
>
>
>
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