What drives amateur astronomers to do what they do? Where does the compulsion to understand things greater than ourselves come from? Fear and curiosity. Maybe in some cases it is just curiosity, and the fear has long worn off. But there is an issue today that could really refresh any amateur scientist’s Fear of Horrible Repercussions From Unchecked Scientific Advancement (FHRFUSA). For these people I have three words: military space technology. If I learned one thing from the classic anime film Akira, it is that at least one country has a satellite that can harness a fraction of the power of the sun and concentrate it on one very small area (or some other horrifying function). This is not to mention the surveillance capabilities that are being exercised daily by countless administrations, the findings of these could, and do, affect policymaking on an international level.
This notion of policing with potentially devastating force from outside the planet’s atmosphere is quite a startling one for anyone with flesh and leftist politics. There is a necessity to create and uphold policies that will make sure lasers and missiles don’t start dropping on some province that some other province wants demolished. It could be sound waves, or microwaves or radiation fired right at, say, Nelson Mandela or Paris Hilton or Clinton, and that is a really frightening idea. It may be true that people who decide what is good for democracy will be responsible for these machines and only shoot them at warlords and rapists-the-police-can’t-catch, but the potential is there for anything to happen.
What if Ahmedinijad breaks into the US space control station and lets loose (imagine this is possible, for a second) on Tel Aviv? What if Big Brother develops a really bad attitude and really good connections?
The problem is a classic trope: There are too-powerful weapons in too few people’s hands. The scale is just more monumental than ever before. Not to mention that it is a bold and trendsetting entry on the long list of “Things People Should Never Have Invented” (TPSHNI’s). I would really be compelled to advocate against any kind of weapons beyond the stratosphere; except they are already there.
