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 1: a side issue) Message-ID: <5782@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Thu, 11-Jul-85 16:09:50 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.5782 Posted: Thu Jul 11 16:09:50 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 11-Jul-85 16:09:50 EDT References: <1197@utcsri.UUCP> <5757@utzoo.UUCP>, <2165@watcgl.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 36 >> (Something that bothers me is the "peace movement"'s serious ignorance of >> the nature of the systems they criticize.) ... > > Sigh...., somehow it's always the peace movement thats portrayed as > ignorant; don't the seriously ignorant among those who promote a nuclear > "defense" bother you. Ignorance anywhere bothers me. But some of the "peace movement" people really do not appear to have the faintest idea how these systems work; their opposition seems to arise from either ideological considerations or herd instinct, rather than the issues themselves. I emphasize (as I should have before) that not all "peace movement" people are like this. The percentage is high enough to be troubling, though. > It is my impression that the principal feature of launch on warning is > that the side being attacked does not wait for actual detonation or > impact of incoming missiles before ordering retaliation. This does > reduce the amount of time available for a decision and if weapons > delivery systems continue to decrease delivery time (or even appear > to effectively do so by various forms of stealth) it will necessitate > either 1. having an impregnable retaliatory system so it is not > necessary to launch before impact, or 2. employ automatic launch > systems since there will not be time for human decision making. You are correct about the principal feature of launch on warning, and about its effect on decision times. But a human being can make a go/no-go decision in seconds. Launch-on-warning *would* mean serious changes in policy, since current policy is "presidential order only", and there is a strong possibility that time would be too short for this. But people who talk about having to automate the decision are jumping to conclusions, or have been misled by DoD's manic enthusiasm for automating everything in sight. There does not seem to be any logical necessity for it. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry