Rambling About Current Issues
There are several current topics that I find interesting, and I will try to write about a couple of them.
Of course, the war with Iraq has engendered many interesting issues. Because I work for the military-industrial complex (which I know as the "land of shitty bonuses"), I am curious to see what weapons systems work well in that conflict. Unmanned air vehicles had apparently proven themselves in Afghanistan, and are supposedly in wide use in Iraq. Heavy tanks were used as the spearhead of the force. Will those be favored over light tanks (e.g. the upcoming Future Combat System vehicle)? What kinds of strategies will be used for urban warfare (which may become a significant part of the taking of Baghdad)?
More interestingly, what will we do once we take over the country? Knocking out the Hussein regime is not enough, as power vacuums are usually filled with the hot air of despots. Will we enact the right laws and set up the right structures to enable a stable free society to grow there? The United States should aim for nothing less. Are the people of Iraq independent enough for such a system? What will happen with the rest of the world? Will nations become more or less liberal (in the classical liberal way)? I do not fear terrorism, as it is often has a much smaller than the incursions of the governments.
On a different topic, the growth of online communities and blogging has generated a lot of recent attention. It is easier for people to write something and just put it out there. If others find it interesting, attention will be drawn. This could engender a very erudite civilization, where the interesting people become popular because of their interesting thoughts. What effect will that have on the general populace? The effect of intellectual affairs seems to be subtle, and may take a generation before its full potential is found.
But a well-connected, technically-literate society does not guarantee freedom. Witness the US protest movement, which has some technical abilities. They are certainly not interested in preserving freedom or human rights. (One has to wonder what they are really after.) Technology is wonderful: It enhances our abilities, and brings forth amazing potential. But it doesn't change the quality of thought, and doesn't automatically give better values. Will the technologies that the civilized nations developed help to bring about a better, freer world?
Where is the next big paradigm-shifting breakthrough going to come from? People ask that question all of the time. Will the Information Age become the Biology Age? Or the Sentient Machine Age? If I had to wager, I would say that the biomedical world will be the next revolution. Where can one look to understand that field? And does space exploration play a role somewhere?