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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
 Posted - 09/10/2004 : 18:07:12 [Permalink]
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I could tell you, but then I would have to....well you know  |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2004 : 18:59:32 [Permalink]
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I don't know the answer to your question, but "for the military" is extremely vague. Any engineer working for companies which produce aircraft, vehicles, computers, or electronic systems which have government contracts would technically be working for the military. They aren't working on weapons per se, but either weapon delivery systems, troop transport, or general operations.
Other scientists might include biologists which work on military bases to assess the impacts of certain protocols or experiments on the environment, or those researching new fuel alternatives, or those involved sensitive communication satellite technology and the space program.
I mean, I really can't name a scientific field without thinking of some component which would have a military application, which is where I suspect Sagan gets that 50% figure. But I would venture to guess that very few individuals are involved in the actual nuts and bolts of building better bombs and death rays, or even defensive technologies such as body armor and camouflage.
Of course, this is SFN and you guys like citations to support assertions. Blah. I don't have any. I'm just speculating.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 09/10/2004 19:02:39 |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2004 : 06:48:38 [Permalink]
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Well, let's not forget that scientists "working for the military" have come up with some pretty revolutionary and world changing technology.
The integrated circiut.
The internet (started as a DARPA funded project to create a dispersed comunications network not vulnerable to a single enemy attack)
So really, working for the military isn't always the same as making bombs..... |
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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