The astronomer who taught my intro astronomy class years ago once joked that the shortest meaningful time was the “jiffy”; the time it took a photon to pass the diameter of a proton. He was also fond of referring to the “erg” as approximately equal to the energy required by a ladybug to crawl up on a piece of cardboard: thus 1 erg = 1 bug cardboard. [Hey, take it easy. It was a class for non-physics majors.] That astronomers name is John McKim Malville. He wrote a book called “A Feather for Daedalus: Explorations in Science and Myth in the New Physics”. Here is a quotation from Malville-

 SCIENCE – this precocious child we do not exactly know how to live with – can be used for more than the construction of warheads, the design of rockets, or the invention of technological marvels. As we shall attempt to demonstrate, the insights of science can be used in the same manner that we use our religious and artistic symbols – as evocative devices to lead us beyond that which is merely said. We have to a certain extent been guilty of misusing our SCIENCE in the production of unholstered gadgets [italics by Gaussling] and computerized wonders, thus neglecting it as an aid for mankind’s larger journey. It is as though after hacking our way through the forest we have reached the shore of a great river which prevents us from proceeding further. The water’s edge contains many beautiful and fascinating pebbles. Their colors and shapes are extraordinary! Never before on our journey have we seen such marvellous pebbles. They are, in fact, so captivating that we have completely forgotten about our journey. Instead we spend all our time gathering these brightly colored rocks – the facts with which we have become so infatuated of late. Into higher and higher piles we gather these facts, never wanting to stray too far from them for fear that someone might take them from us. And so we remain, trapped by our pebbles, unable to EXPLORE THE REST OF THE WORLD. We could, it is true, use our rocks to continue on our journey by tossing them into the stream ahead of us and using them as stepping stones. Shall we?

I like his term “unholstered gadgets”.  The 20th century was a period when many unholstered gadgets were developed and used with more technical skill than wisdom.

I picked up a book called “Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove” by Peter Goodchild.  It is an unauthorized biography of a brilliant, though irrascible character who participated in nuclear weapons design in the Manhattan project.  After WWII, Teller went on to solve the problem of how to configure a fission explosive to achieve a thermonuclear detonation. He was an influential supporter of many nuclear programs well into the Reagan years. As a student, Teller studied under Werner Heisenberg and went on to spend a year working with Bohr. Teller was one of the very earliest theorists to work on what chemists now refer to as quantum chemistry.  He and Jahn published a paper in 1937 predicting what is now called Jahn-Teller distortion, a phenomenon found in degenerate octahedral metal complexes.   Teller also helped produce many unholstered gadgets.

So, in this vein, it is interesting to note that the Chinese have just “fired a shot heard round the world”.  They were successful in hitting a retired satellite in what is reported as a ~600 mile orbit with a ballistic missile.  This event has twittered many governments in a jiffy or two, including the US gov’t. It has been reported that the US recently had a chance to sign a treaty that would ban aggressive action against satellites, but refused to do so. I don’t have a primary source for this assertion as yet. And for the first time in a long while, news outlets are referring to “Red China”.

I wonder how many young Tellers are out there, urging their government to develop offensive weapons under the guise of defense?  Perhaps this is Chinese arm twisting, or maybe it is the first step in a new type of Mutual Assured Destruction in space- Space MAD? There is a catchy name.