[ExI] Anti-deterrence weapons/was Re: DARPA seeking Genesis-style godware capability

Dan dan_ust at yahoo.com
Thu Jun 25 14:20:25 UTC 2009


--- On Wed, 6/24/09, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>> ...research whose immediate 
>> purposes are of a military nature remains way better
>> that no 
>> research at all... Stefano Vaj
> 
> Ja.  If THAAD missiles prevent a nuclear war, then
> research of a military
> nature remains better than ALL research at all.

That depends on the context.  If THAAD and similar tech is widely distributed, yes, it might stop a missile exchange -- presuming no one finds a way to get missiles around this.  What would it do against suitcase bombs or other mass casualty weapons?

But THAAD could just lead to splendid first strike capability, making it a lot more tempting for one side to use nuclear weapons.  But that aside, let's say it prevents nuclear war even of the limited exchange type.  It might not prevent war, since one side will have less disincentive to start a conventional war.  If, say, you're behind a THAAD shield and enemy conventional forces are not a threat, they you can attack the enemy with impunity.  Sounds good, but won't that increase the likelihood of war or at least coercive diplomacy?  (On the latter, what need to negotiate or compromise?  You've got all the cards and can push around others.)

Regards,

Dan

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