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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Date: Mon Jun 9, 2003 7:28 am
Subject: A Process Beyond Control

http://www.sulekha.com/chpost.asp...ilosophy&show=0&cid=62542

Sitaram comments:

There are many processes at work (internet is one), which are beyond
contol. No one may turn back the hands of the clock, or easily steer
the world in a different direction.

=====================

http://www.theenolagay.com/study.html

http://www.chernobyl-ireland.com/news/press/pr1996/060896.html

At 5:29:45 a.m., July 16, 1945, a blinding flash and unbelievable
heat seared the New Mexico desert--the world's first nuclear
explosion. Codenamed "Trinity," the Manhattan Project's test of the
plutonium implosion bomb was a stunning success. The explosion almost
equaled 20,000 tons of TNT, many times what some had expected.
General Groves and his Project leaders were jubilant and relieved.
But for some, the spectacle also cast an ominous shadow.

As scientist Robert Oppenheimer stood on the test site of the first
nuclear weapon in the Nevada desert, and saw the first mushroom cloud
rain down upon the earth, he uttered prophetic words. Oppenheimer
recalled: "Some of us laughed, some of us cried, some of us fell
silent. I was reminded of the Hindu scripture 'I am become death,
destroyer of worlds'. That insight into the terrible power that was
unleashed came too late, and thus we saw the dawning of the nuclear
age.

==============
Physics and Philosophy,
The Revolution in Modern Science,

ISBN 0-06-130549-9
Harper Torchbooks

Chapter 11
The Roll of Modern Physics in the Present Development of Human
Thinking

(excerpt):

In 1958, Werner Heisenberg wrote:

The modern means of communication and of traffic finally completed
this process of expansion of technical civilization. Undoubtedly the
process has fundamentally changed the conditions of life on our
earth; and whether one approves of it or not, whether one calls it
progress or danger, one must realize that it has gone far beyond any
control through human forces. One may rather consider it as a
biological process on the largest scale whereby the structures active
in the human organism encroach on larger parts of matter and
transform it into a state suited for the increasing human population.

Obviously, political power in the sense of military power rests upon
the possesson of atomic weapons.

It is obvious that the invention of the new weapons, especially of
the termonuclear weapons, has fundamentally changed the political
structure of the world. not only has the concept of independent
nations or states undergone a decisive change, since any nation which
is not in possission of such weapons must depend in some way on those
very few nations that do produce these arms in large quantity; but
also the attempt of warfare on a large scale by means of such weapons
has become practically an absurd kind of suicide. Hence one
frequently hears the optimisticview that therefore war has become
obsolete, that it will not happen again. this view, unfortunately,
is a much too optimistic oversimplification. On the contrary, the
absurdity of warfare by means of thermonuclear weapons may, in first
approximation, act as an incentive for war on a small scale. Any
nation or political group which is convinced of its historical or
moral right to enforce some change of the present situation will feel
that the use of conventional arms for this purpose will not envolve
any great risks; they will assume that the other side will certainly
not have recourse to the nuclear weapons, since the other side being
historically and morally wrong in this issue will not take the chance
of war on a large scale. This situation would in turn induce the
other nations to state that in case of small wars inflicted upon
thyem by aggressors, they would actually have recourse to the nuclear
weapons, and thus the danger obviously remains. It may quite well be
that in about twenty or thirty years from now the world will have
undergone so great changes that the danger of warfare on a large
scale, of the application of all technical resources for the
annihilation of the opponent, will have greatly diminished or
disappeared. But the way to this new state will be full of the
greatest dangers. We must as in all former times, realize that what
looks historically or morally right to the one side may look wrong to
the other side. The continuation of the status quo may not always be
the correct solution; it may, on the contrary, be most important to
find peaceful means of adjustments to new situations, and it may in
many cases be extremely difficult to find any just decision at all.
Therefore, it is avoided only if all the idfferent political groups
are ready to renounce some of their apparently most obvious rights -
in view of the fact that the question of right or wrong may look
essentially different from the other side. This is certainly not a
new point of view; it is in fact only an application of that human
attitude which had been taught through many centuries by some of the
great religions.

========

Einstein's letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt

Some recent work by E.Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been
communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element
uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in
the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has
arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action
on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my
duty to bring
to your attention the following facts and recommendations:

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable -
through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in
America - that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain
reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power
and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated.
Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the
immediate future.

This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and
it is conceivable - though much less certain - that extremely
powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb
of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very
well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding
territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy
for transportation by air.

-2-

The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate
quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and the former
Czechoslovakia.

while the most important source of uranium is Belgian Congo.

In view of the situation you may think it desirable to have more
permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group
of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible
way of achieving this might be for you to entrust with this task a
person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an
unofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:

a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the
further development, and put forward recommendations for Government
action,

giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of
uranium ore for the United States;

b) to speed up the experimental work, which is at present being
carried on within the limits of the budgets of University
laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds be required, through
his contacts with private persons who are willing to make
contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the co-
operation of industrial laboratories which have the necessary
equipment.

I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium
from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she
should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on
the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von
Weizsäcker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin
where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.

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