Word: dyson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...that such a promise is immediately apparent in Weapons and Hope. For much of the book, Dyson, an English-born physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, rambles through a grabbag of topics. Dyson recounts the activities of his uncle in the trenches during the First World War, his own experience working with the RAF Bomber Command in World War II, and his encounter with an American military officer who squirmed with excitement when discussing the course of a nuclear...
...these anecdotes serve as valuable background, for they provide the basis of Dyson's division of our nuclear world into "the warriors" and "the victims." Shaped by experiences such as those Dyson describes, the two groups largely speak past each other; little communication is possible. The warriors' basic belief is "Don't rock the boat," for they see war as a necessary evil. The victims cry "Ban the bomb," since they well know the destruction of past wars. Dyson sees both sides, and contends that neither the warriors nor the victims will be able to effect any fruitful change without...
...process may even be underway. In a fascinating chapter, he discusses the growing use of precision guided munitions (PGM), "small accurate missiles with non-nuclear warheads, mainly designed to kill tanks or airplanes." These small but effective weapons, now widely deployed in Europe and the Middle East, indicate, says Dyson, a trend towards smaller and more accurate armaments. He likens their effectiveness and size to that of a David against a tank-sized Goliath...
...weapons, away from the multi-megaton hydrogen bombs of the early 1960's to the less powerful, but far more accurate missiles of today. If technological trends continue, precise but conventionally-armed missiles may become more attractive--that is, more cost-effective and more useful in actual warfare. As Dyson notes, "The primary requirement for carrying through any act of nuclear disarmament is the political will to do so, but the formation of such a will can be powerfully helped by a technological development deliberately aimed toward making nuclear weapons unattractive...
...fact, Dyson believes that nuclear weapons are no longer useful militarily, but have merely turned into political tools. The task before use, then, is to make this more ap- parent: "We will have a far better chance of achieving nuclear disarmament if the weapons to be discarded are generally perceived to be not only immoral and dangerous but obsolescent...