This is http://www.essayz.com/a8706101.htm         
Previous-Essay      <== This-Essay ==>     Following-Essay
Click HERE on this line to find essays via Your-Key-Words.
{Most frequent wordstarts of each essay will be put here.}
==========================================================
         %ARMS RACE TO VULNERABILITY AND INSECURITY 870610

     The  arms race is lead by the presumption that it  is
possible to achieve security through invulnerability,  and
that the state of invulnerability brings with it security.

     The history of the arms race clearly demonstrates the
falsity  of  the first assumption.   It is the  nature  of
objective   technology  that  it  is  neither  essentially
defensive nor essentially offensive in nature.  Technology
which is developed to achieve a defensive goal can be used
to achieve an offensive goal,  and vice  versa.  Whether a
party seeks invulnerability by destroying  the enemy of by
an invulnerable shield against the enemy,  the long   term
effect is the  development  of additional technology which
heightens the risks of  human  mistrust.  The  search  for
security  through  invulnerability leads directly  to  the
consequence of greater vulnerability,  and  along  with it
greater mistrust  which  heightens  the  probability  that
increased  technology  will be  used  in more  destructive
ways.

     It   is   the  nature  of  technology  that   greater
technology  leads  to greater vulnerability.   It  is  the
nature  of  true security that it is not to  be  found  in
invulnerability.

     Security  is the freedom to accept acceptance  within
the context of vulnerability.  Security rests in trust and
understanding,  not in manipulation and control.  Security
rests in prudently taking the risk of trust, not in always
avoiding the risk of trust.

     Relying  on  technology as a means to security  leads
people  not to trust in their own efforts.   They come  to
rely upon and trust  the  efforts  of  technicians who are
alienated  from  inter-personal  relationships  of  mutual
trust.  The trust in technology is a misplaced trust which
leads   to  distrust  among  people,   and  to  a  greater
probability of  creating unstable and  potentially  highly
destructive  weapons  systems  in  an  effort  to  achieve
invulnerability:    with   heightened   vulnerability   to
destructive high technology being the natural consequence.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
==========================================================