From: Xela@yabbs
To: arachnoi@yabbs
Subject: re: Fail Safe
Date: Wed Apr 13 02:21:43 1994

"... And acidents [sic] do happen, but what do u [sic] do if the raygun 
exsits? [sic]"

The atom bomb can be deployed by numerous means, all of which require 
technology and science beyond high-school physics classes.  If humans are 
imperfect, so are the machines they create.

Do you honestly believe that if government exists by the time ray-gun 
technology comes around, they will allow the schmuck on the street to own 
one?  I seriously doubt it (I don't know about you...).

And in any case, discussion about a non-existent weapon is as hypothetical 
as the philosophic concepts you are all fronting; noone knows how people 
react to new technologies... who thought that the computer would end up 
being used for entertainment, for example?  Those of you endlessly 
discussing rationales for people's hypothetical behavior might do well to 
put yourself in the shoes of the inventors of ENIAC (to push the example 
further).  They had no clue that their brainchild would create an
entire industry.  As with you, you have no idea what the social product of 
a ray-gun would be; it is mere speculation and guesswork.

My 2 cents,

Alex