re: #145 whitebeach

My guess (and it’s just that) is that the really big one will be an orbital laser weapon a couple of generations beyond what we non-MIT grads currently imagine. No warning with the speed of light.

I actually wouldn’t mind being around, and might well be, long enough to see snipers using laser weapons (not just laser-sighted), if only because it would make extinct the old Buffalo-Bill-sureshot-hero gunpowder memes. Imagine a rifle where windage, target motion, distance etc. make no difference at all. Suddenly the difficult technical work of infiltration, concealment, and escape would mean everything, and the mere ability to hit a sighted target almost nothing.

We really need to refine our ability to amicably settle our differences faster than we develop the ability to more efficiently or selectively kill one another. I love aerospace and technology. Grew up obsessed with the X-15 program and rocket engine testing within distant earshot. The military pays those bills in a big way. But it’s saddening.

We will get past nukes I think. Be able to hit somewhere fast enough to stop something horrible without radiating the province.