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A comment in response to this HTH news article:
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...gal-issues
"
[...]In further aspects, I have done research and found the Military is involved, yes , you read right...This 3 Meter telescope is far more that looking at planets, NASA is already doing that...think about it, the capability of the 3 Meter can be used to destroy an entire Country.[...]"
Deep breaths, Tom, and remember that advice. Smile and nod.
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That's the calibre of the anti-telescope rabble.
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The entire argument that the TMT will be used for military applications (as far as I can tell) is that it uses adaptive optics and the military also uses adaptive optics in some applications. Adaptive optics makes an image clearer, and of coarse a telescope wants the clearest possible image, so it's part of their design.
http://www.waronwethepeople.com/treason-...-revealed/
To claim the TMT "can be used to destroy an entire Country" because it uses adaptive optics is like saying the TMT will be used by the armed forces because they both use aluminum! electricity! copper wires! By that measure, we must all be pawns of the military industrial complex because if we've flown in a jet we must be in the Air Force, or sat in a boat you're in the Navy now.
Adaptive optics is a technology people aren't familiar with, so they might think it's something strange, and weapons related. Here is how you know the military is involved with a telescope, they USE the telescope:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_...bservatory
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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" ...the capability of the 3 Meter can be used to destroy an entire Country."
What an outrageous exaggeration. Everyone knows the 3 Meter can destroy only one city at a time, at most.
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Everyone knows the 3 Meter can destroy only one city at a time, at most.
Outer islands are safe, then -- Honolulu is the only actual City.
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now you are just bringing in semantics to cloud the issue of how the 3 Meter will rain down death and destruction upon the land.
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now you are just bringing in semantics to cloud the issue
No, I'm willing to let Honolulu be the test site, then we can see the scale of destruction on the news.
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can be used to destroy an entire Country
In the future, destructive capabilities will cease to be measured in tons of tnt, but in the number of TMT's that blowed up some country, or city, or something somewhere. With bendy lasery beams and stuff. I hope they're orange colored.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Very interesting. If my calculations are correct, the current telescopes in the summit region have only a collective 1.1 TMTs of destructive power, so it's probably about time to double their capability.
ETA - HOTPE, you're in luck. The lasers typically work at a wavelength of 589 nm, most definitely in the regime people would call orange. We're still working on bending the light beams though. A nearby massive black hole would be very helpful. Do you happen to know of any or where I can buy one?
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"No, I'm willing to let Honolulu be the test site, then we can see the scale of destruction on the news."
How is that going to work? All the news comes from Honolulu.
