Nuclear weapons continue to exist not just to deter nuclear war, but major wars in general. Too many conventional war scenarios lead to nuclear war with disastrous consequences; the very idea has taken war between the major powers off the table. They are the reason for why there have been no major European wars since WWII and why China was restrained during the mad years of Mao.
Conventional weapons can provide the same deterrence, assuming everyone, every where destroys their nukes, but only a massive increase in conventional forces. No one believes Obama or the public in the US or Europe would be willing to make the sacrifice.
Barring unicorns springing forth and the seas turning to lemonade, the threat of war will be with us always. If you want peace, or at least avoid another world war, nukes are the cost effective deterrent.
This article misses the point. Cable companies could make a profit selling higher bandwidths, but only at the expense of their real money maker, cable subscriptions. They've known since the mid-90s that the inevitable consequence increasing bandwidths would be the rise of services like Netflicks and Hulu (though we never envisioned them quite as they are), and the end of cable TV, where they make their real money.
Everything they've done since then has been aware their fate and calculated to put off that end, the trading of their high profit product for a commodity, bandwidth, as long as they could.
And that's the reason bandwidth suck in the US. Everything else, all the technical difficulties, etc., have been exaggerated as an excuse.
Slashdot Mirror
Nuclear weapons continue to exist not just to deter nuclear war, but major wars in general. Too many conventional war scenarios lead to nuclear war with disastrous consequences; the very idea has taken war between the major powers off the table. They are the reason for why there have been no major European wars since WWII and why China was restrained during the mad years of Mao. Conventional weapons can provide the same deterrence, assuming everyone, every where destroys their nukes, but only a massive increase in conventional forces. No one believes Obama or the public in the US or Europe would be willing to make the sacrifice. Barring unicorns springing forth and the seas turning to lemonade, the threat of war will be with us always. If you want peace, or at least avoid another world war, nukes are the cost effective deterrent.
This article misses the point. Cable companies could make a profit selling higher bandwidths, but only at the expense of their real money maker, cable subscriptions. They've known since the mid-90s that the inevitable consequence increasing bandwidths would be the rise of services like Netflicks and Hulu (though we never envisioned them quite as they are), and the end of cable TV, where they make their real money. Everything they've done since then has been aware their fate and calculated to put off that end, the trading of their high profit product for a commodity, bandwidth, as long as they could. And that's the reason bandwidth suck in the US. Everything else, all the technical difficulties, etc., have been exaggerated as an excuse.