Forward from Akira Kawasaki ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > [Original Message] > From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 10/20/2006 2:20:22 PM Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday October 20, 2006WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 20 Oct 06 Washington, DC
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 20 Oct 06 Washington, DC 1. EMPIRE: PRESIDENT BUSH APPROVES A NEW NATIONAL SPACE POLICY. The change in the international political climate over the past decade is nowhere more evident than in a comparison of the new National Space Policy with the 1996 policy it replaces. The old policy committed the U.S. to "greater levels of partnership and cooperation" with other nations to ensure the "continued use of outer space for peaceful purposes." The new policy defines "peaceful purposes" as whatever U.S. defense and intelligence- related activities are deemed to be in the national interest. "Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power." The first goal of the 1996 policy was to:"Enhance knowledge of the Earth, the solar system and the universe." Now the first goal is to: "further U.S. national security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives." 2. CLONED? WE WERE JUST GETTING USED TO "GENETICALLY MODIFIED." According to Rick Weiss in the Washington Post, the Food an Drug Administration is about to approve the sale of meat and milk from cloned livestock. The FDA is responsible only for the question of human safety. Too much animal fat in the diet is dangerous, but no more so if it comes from clones. If there is no rational downside to an innovation we can always count on religion to discover supernatural objections. Some Jews, for example, worry that the Talmudic injunction against crossbreeding might forbid cloning, but a clone seems to go in the direction of species purity rather than a chimera. Christians are more likely to see the sin of pride in cloning. That is not unlike the Muslim concern that it might infringe on Allah's prerogative as creator, but maybe it's a gift from Allah instead. Buddhists seem to think it's OK if the motive is to reduce suffering, but how do the souls get shared? Hindus don't eat animals anyway. 3. STRING THEORY: STRINGING OUT THE SEARCH FOR A UNIFIED FIELD. Brian Greene, Columbia physicist and author of the wildly popular Elegant Universe, (Norton, 1999), wrote a very long and somewhat wistful op-ed in this morning's NY Times pleading for patience. If it has not yet shown us the way to an experimental test of the concept so also no mathematical contradiction has been found in the mountain of calculations. Meanwhile physics departments around the world have wagered scarce resources on a breakthrough. 4. EDWARD TELLER'S GHOST: A NEW GENERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Our stockpile of 6,000 nuclear weapons is growing old. Few who developed the first A-bomb are still alive. A deranged dictator on steroids is testing bombs of his own. The Bush plan? We start all over: Build an entirely new nuclear weapons complex making thousands of Reliable Replacement Warheads, warheads so reliable they won't even need testing. THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the University of Maryland, but they should be. --- Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org What's New is moving to a different listserver and our subscription process has changed. To change your subscription status please visit this link: http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=bobparks-whatsnew&A=1
