Portland observer., January 01, 1976, Page 6, Image 6

Page 6
Portland Observer
Thursday. January 1, 1976
Moscow subway »Cation. |le lt| Ornate
art characterize Moi.i.-w subway system,
icenterl Vasily Pescov. “Pravda" journa­
list. labove]
Photo - journalist compares USSR - US
(Continued from page 1 col. 4)
as a by product of war research and
implementation.
Soviet monies go
directly toward peaceful research, with­
out being conduited through the space or
especially military programs as in the
U.S.” Working people in the U.S., Small
said, “are being set-up to distrust
science."
Soviet Lauer Defense Against
Nuclear Attack
December 8th issue of Aviation Week
covers the four hour Soviet laser blinding
Boris Veprentzev, biologic physics scien­
tist, records bird calls at game sanctuary
near his home in Moscow.
of U.S. early warning satellites and two
U.S. communications satellites of the
SAC bomb command network.
The
satellites were blinded at an altitude of
25,000 miles. According to IPS research
and development staff, “any laser capable
of coming even close to blinding U.S.
early warning satellites at 25,000 miles
would have sufficient power to destroy
incoming ICBM nuclear warheads at a
range of six miles.” The laser beams
would simply melt the two inch layer of
heat shield (at 5,000 degrees Centigrade)
and destroy the detonation device. This
would allow the Soviet Union to 'survive'
(with losses comparable to those suffered
in WWII) a nuclear war. Steve Small,
along with Secretary of Defense Rums
feld, is sceptical. But the Soviets have
“devoted the necessary resources for a
crash program to achieve those break­
throughs..." breakthroughs which in turn
stemmed “directly from their emphasis
on basic science and a broad-based, well
funded program of research in controlled
thermonuclear fusion power, the same
program which promises to provide the
world with the almost limitless possibili­
ties of a world fusion economy," accord­
ing to an IPS release on laser work.
Small described Moscow as 'amazing':
“The Soviets seem to have much more
zeal - students in college recognize that
they represent a part of the social wealth
of the society -- they're already contri­
buting in various products, like the
Soviet exhibit at the Expo 7 5 in Spokane
-- but many more innovative ideas and
processes." Small notes that the society
“is clearly progressing - there is a
shorage of scientists and ergineers - it
seems to function with the self conscious
need to develop the potentiality of the
population to the highest. Of course,
there is red tape, and grumbling and
bitching - but the Soviet people feel that
things can be corrected, while we in the
U.S. have the attitude that there is
nothing we can do...we seem to have
given up. Soviet people think they can
change things to the way they want them
to be.”
Two Philosophic Notions
It is of value to briefly contrast the
dominant philosophic notions of the two
societies here. That in the U.S. is induced
M a lth u sia n -D a rw in ia n 'e x isten tia ­
lism' amalgamated to the reductionism of
William James
and
John Dewey.
‘Dialectical materialism' mishmash pre­
dominant in the Soviet Union has the
quality of allowing for the Marxist notion
of freedom necessity: mankind is the
determining species for the evolution of
himself and his environment (earth and
beyond) at the point which he dominates
it (approximately 10,000 years ago). At
that point, he uses it up (raw materials,
energy) and his survival is dependent on
his ability to create new conceptions
new modes of production, new resources.
It is his creativity which is his unique
feature: his ability to formulate new
ideas, new gestalts. The society which
self consciously recognizes this is the
society which will continue to progress.
In contrast to this, the Malthusian and
Darwinian notion sees man in competi­
tion with his environment, and himself: a
survival of the fittest, where the
distinguishing feature of the human
species is cunning. Such notions are key
mechanisms of social control: 'all you can
do, little man. ¡s hussle'. and have been
recognized as such by the 'big people’. A
famous boast by Thomas Huxley (Aldous'
father) in the 19th century is illustrative.
On his way to give a class in Darwinian
evolutionary theory to a First Inter
national worker's meeting, Huxley said,
"By next week I’ll have the workers
believing they're monkeys!”
Patched onto the Malthusian dog eat
dog notion is the reductionism of James
and Dewey: pragmatic cunning.
In the light of the philosophic notions,
it is easy to see why the Soviet would
commit themselves to a crash program
thermonuclear fusion development, while
the top dogs in the U.S. shut down (via
ERDA) fusion research, until oil (and
fusion) resources are exhausted.
Steve Small discusses journalism with
M .V. I.imyanin. editor-in-chief of “Prav­
da”, looking on are l.udmilla Sechova |aa
interpreter! and Igor Chkalov, son of the
Soviet aviation. |above] Steve Small,
“Colunioian" photo editor.
|Photo by
Vasily Pescov, “Pravda"] Iright]
Photos by Steve Small
© Steve Small 1975
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