Solving the Portable Knowledge Problem
We are not suggesting it will happen, but suppose in March something goes terribly wrong and there is a major terrorist attack in a big city. If this happened, there would be a tremendous ripple effect going forward in time for the entire country.
Perhaps because of a recent death (Whitney) but one such city comes to mind: Houston.
Let us imagine a national nightmare moment. One of our nuclear weapons is missing from the national inventory. (And don’t kid yourself. There could be hundreds missing worldwide. Some left over from the Cold War like the one-man munitions and others from things like improperly secured Russian MIRV warheads. Remember the movie “The Peacemaker”?)
Let us further suppose that America’s enemies are smart enough to be able to read maps and that they notice that there is quite a concentration of oil refineries in the Houston area. And not just with the Houston/Baytown capacity, but also downwind 70 miles in Port Arthur and Beaumont where there would likely be fallout from a nuclear device.
And finally, just suppose that forces which want to destroy America have set off such a device in the Houston area. When that happens, our key energy refinery center is destroyed.
Now we do not think such a predicable plot alone would be allowed by the Powers That Be, although certain rituals such as a halftime event and the death of a major pop star would certainly press speculation in the illuminist’s direction (fool us once . . .). But to get back on track, our point today is to consider what happens to knowledge if and when such a dastardly deed is done.
The Lifestyle Fallout