Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: can.politics Subject: Re: problems with Star Wars #2 (part 2: the crux) Message-ID: <5775@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Wed, 10-Jul-85 12:47:02 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.5775 Posted: Wed Jul 10 12:47:02 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 10-Jul-85 12:47:02 EDT References: <1197@utcsri.UUCP> <5772@utzoo.UUCP>, <1236@utcsri.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 32 > >I have discussed elsewhere the interesting reasoning: "because some > >types of SDI systems would be very dangerous, any SDI system would be". > > But your article, from which this last comment is extracted, is using the > mirror image reasoning: "Because we do not have (or may not have) grounds > to fear Star Wars in general, we should therefore not fear the current > actual Star Wars proposal." I wasn't aware that there was a "current actual Star Wars proposal", in the sense of specific ill-advised hardware systems having been chosen for active use. And I think you are reading a bit much into the space between the lines; I was claiming that the critics are being silly in certain ways, not that the system they are attacking is beyond criticism. Yes, I do have reservations, some of them quite serious, about the current proposal. But it is vitally important that the baby not be thrown out with the bathwater; it is high time, long past time, that our "defence departments" got back into the defence (as opposed to deterrence) business. > Just think of it as a giant Berklix in the sky, Henry. The first time you > hit funny code, bam! we're all dead. Or maybe the second time. Or the third. Just think of our current setup as a giant OS/360 in the sky. You know your programs won't run forever, especially since IBM keeps changing the control blocks with each new release. It's a question of whether you can get everything important off onto another system -- yes, even a Berklix -- before the crash comes. Because there really isn't much hope of convincing the Computer Center to stop buying from IBM. [Oh boy, a rousing round of analogical one-upmanship!] -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry