WHAT'S NEW Friday, February 18, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 18 Feb 05   Washington, DC

1. MISSILE DEFENSE: UNTESTED DEFENSE MEETS NON-EXISTENT THREAT.
In last Sunday's missile defense test, an interceptor missile
again refused to leave its silo.  Who can blame it?  It's crazy
out there.  A month ago, a "minor software glitch" caused a
malfunction http://www.aps.org/WN/WN05/wn011405.cfm.  This time
it was a tiny switch in the silo.  The Missile Defense Agency
doesn't seem worried; tests don't count if they don't get to "the
end game" http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn121302.cfm.  Does missile
defense seem just a little less urgent these days?  According to
Defense Daily, plans for around-the-clock operation of the system
have been dropped in favor of an "emergency alert status" -- no
point in turning it on if no one is shooting at us.  Maybe North
Korea will agree not to launch a surprise attack.  At his Tuesday
confirmation hearing, Deputy Secretary of State nominee Robert
Zoellick said he thinks North Korea is lying about having nukes. 
President Bush thought Iraq was lying about NOT having nukes.

2. SCIENCE MEETS SOCIETY: IS SCIENCE JUST ANOTHER BELIEF SYSTEM? 
The 11 Feb 05 issue of Science has an editorial by Alan Leshner,
AAAS CEO, "Where Science Meets Society."  That's also the theme
of next week's AAAS meeting in Washington.  Leshner contends that
conflicts between science and "certain human beliefs" are on the
increase.  He thinks bringing scientists and religious leaders
together to discuss the relation of scientific advances to "other
belief systems" is helpful, and thinks we should "try diplomacy
and discussion for a change."  In the first place, conflicts are
not increasing.  Relations have never been better.  Skeptics are
no longer forced to recant, nor even denied tenure.  And as for
diplomacy, we could start by negotiating Intelligent Design
Theory.  Scientists might concede that God created Adam and Eve
in exchange for a concession that the serpent evolved by natural
selection. 

3. GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS: JUST ASK YOUR RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR. 
Did you know that we all sense the future?  Did you know that our
minds influence the functioning of machines?  If you knew both of
these things, you will not be surprised to learn that random
number generators around the world anticipated both 9/11 and the
Indian Ocean tsunami.  The Global Consciousness Project, headed
by Dean Radin http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn080604.cfm found these
events in the output of 65 RNGs in 41 countries.  And this is
just the start.  Once they refine what constitutes an anomaly in
a random signal, they'll be able to predict even the most trivial
events -- after they happen.  But a more ominous interpretation
is that the RTGs are causing these horrific events.  A sensible
precaution would be to ban the use of all such devices. 


THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.  
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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