Posted on 02/17/2002 8:33:04 AM PST by vannrox
Can someone chip in on this.
The EMP bomb wouldn't necessarily end war, but it would end the American way of life. Nothing electronic would work anymore. We'd see the clock turned back 100 years in only a microsecond.
Tesla was certainly interested in something that disrupted electron flow through conductors, or enhanced that flow. Whether it was what we call EMP or not, or was something related is something else again.
But I imagine that anything that so interupted electrochemical activity would likely not be particularly good for living mammals, and might very well turn out to be something akin to a *death ray* if misused. And of course, the WWII efforts on the lines of *degaussing* the electromagnetic field as a counteractivity to enemy magnetic mines was also related.
-archy-/-
The Marxist author of this story just HATES Reagan and America, as all liberals do.
Thanks bunches, OrthodoxPresbyterian.
Nah. Many Libertarians like Nuclear Weapons... myself included.
Among the many funky proposals to come out of the Libertarian Party (and I do not count myself a Libertarian Party Man, but like all political parties, they have their funny days) was the proposal to dispose of all military forces except the Nuclear Missile Force.
See, main battle tanks can be used for aggressive war. Libertarians hate aggressive warfare.
Carrier Battle Groups be used for aggressive war. Libertarians hate aggressive warfare.
Strategic conventional bombers be used for aggressive war. Libertarians hate aggressive warfare.
All of these weapon systems can be used to destroy and then conquer. Libertarians HATE conquest; we are all about home, and hearth; family, friends, and property.
Nuclear Weapons, by contrast, are totally useless for aggressive warfare. They invalidate the "conquest" option, because there is nothing left to conquer once you fry the entire landscape for 10,000 years.
Why "conquer" that which you have Nuked? It's a waste of effort.
As a Defensive Weapon, Nuclear Weapons allow an Isolationist Republic to say:
For some libertarians (myself included), nuclear weapons are the ultimate libertarian Weapon. They are useless for aggressive conquest. And libertarians HATE aggressive conquest.
It's very Heinlein, mind you; but Heinlein was pretty libertarian.
We're not "anti-nuke". We're "anti-aggression". And Nukes DO deter aggression.
But they don't "prevent war". That's just silly.
Nuclear Weapons redirect War -- to somewhere else, than your own Home and Hearth.
And in a Fallen World, that's often the best you can hope for... to send the Wars somewhere else.
And, when Wars happen somewhere else (as they always will).... you leave them there.
Another Person to check out is Kristian Birkeland.
Just finished a book on him “ The Northern Lights “ Lucy Jago 2001 ISBN 0-375-40980-7
Besides figuring out what the Northern lights were back in 1899 He also invented an “ Electromagnetic Cannon “ But like all true inventors he also had the “ Dark side “
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