strategic defense initiative:

this is an initial pass at some of the most relevant aspects of the sdi.

missile defense in general was a guiding problem in the history of computing and networks, and the history of computing and networks is the history of automating the kill chain. important early precursors to the sdi include DEFENDER, NIKE-ZEUS, MIDAS, BMEWS, SAGE, SAFEGUARD

an early step in this automation was the invention of the modem to transmit radar data over phone lines, allowing it to be interpreted by networked computers

in these early projects its very easy to see the technological augmentation at each discrete link of the chain. nike zeus used different radars for each step - target acquisition, discrimination and tracking each ran on a separate radar coordinated by central computing

to put things in perspective, in a cloud of missiles the target processor maxed out at 625 targets, and each target intercept computer could handle six simultaneous intercepts

in the development of naval systems like the NTDS, even fewer targets could be kept track of simultaneously

the NTDS was an early attempt to distribute computation across many ships, again this balance of where to place computing power is one of the main threads of computing history.

the modular design and distribution mechanisms of the ntds are precursors to the current shift towards edge computing

of these early systems SAGE is one of the most influential and at its time was the largest programming undertaking ever attempted

this early period, the 50s 60s and 70s, saw many systems developed to try to tackle the problem of ICBM warfare. the sheer number of targets as well as the accuracy necessary to intercept a missile necessitated some kind of computerized automation of missile defense

so increasing 'number of targets that can be tracked and intercepted' was one of the fundamental problems of early computing.

though a 1972 treaty limited ballistic missile defenses, ronald reagan announced the strategic defense initiative in 1983: the goal was to render nuclear war obsolete by creating a perfect missile defense

and this perfect missile defense would necessarily involve unprecedented complexity and coordination between several systems

indeed *this* would be by far the most demanding computing project ever attempted

the number of targets has increased to tens of thousands, with potentially hundreds of thousands of decoys to discriminate against

with a unified database of target information that each tier of defense can contribute to and access

so this is one major area of interest, increasing software complexity and kill chain automation. another major area of interest, because really the anchor of all of this is still elon musk and his fake companies, is the aspect of fraudulence.

the strategic defense initiative, was famously fraudulent. from the very beginning people didnt think it could ever work.

now interestingly, especially when we consider *both* kill chain automation *and* fraudulence together, people had complained that these big ballistic missile defense systems that pushed computers and networks so far forward would never work since long before the sdi.

i cant find the sources that got me onto this, heres one person talking about sage and how it wouldnt work. i think ive read the same sorts of complaints about the various other systems as well.

this isnt to say that icbm defense was all just fake but its worth noting that the threat model eventually shifted away from ICBMs to individual humans arguably before there was ever a successful automated missile defense system.

the threat model of ICBMs and nuclear war was an amazingly useful challenge for pushing computing forward, regardless of whether or not the systems would ever work. it was a necessary step.

anyway, the sdi really took this to another level and i think remains a milestone in the mindbending absurdity of ruling class lies, and as such is a very informative precedent for modern psyops

one defense they claimed to be developing was that they were going to explode a nuclear device in space and focus the xrays it produced into 50 laser beams that could destroy enemy icbms. its so stupid but so absolutely diabolical that i feel afraid to engage with it conceptually

because i feel both dumb for even arguing against it but the sheer magnitude of how fake it seems makes me afraid to be wrong about it. think about this, in the context of modern psyops.

the obvious precursor to this was the apollo program, which to this day people are afraid to call a lie. the sdi is an interesting iteration on this because they fully played both sides of the coin - they *admitted* it was a lie while simultaneously calling it the truth.

they played this saga out with a few notable characters. on one side, you had edward teller and lowell wood. these were the guys saying Project Excalibur would work. on the other you had roy woodruff, earnestly trying to expose teller and wood to anyone who would listen.

im not afraid to call it like it is, all of this was fake. the whole story of woodruff is fake. a whistleblowing exposure of the fraudulence underpinning the sdi was part of the psyop. two contradicting narratives, both controlled by the ruling class.

an entertaining movie plot for your brain, yeah lets all root for woodruff exposing the big lie

here he is at maybe his lowest, removed from his position and having people send their condolences about his 'midlife crisis' - invented by his enemies the dastardly teller and wood

but in the end truth prevails, and woodruff got his story out. everyone knows now, the sdi was fake. it was a ruse to trick the soviet union!

but it wasnt fake. was it? not really. maybe it couldnt render nuclear war obsolete but it was certainly not a farce for the sole purpose of tricking the soviet union into a going broke on bmd. i havent tracked down the citation but supposedly in 87 they already didnt believe it

clearly the software aspect alone was a good reason to pursue an sdi that would never actually work. the sdi represented the end-goal of pursuing these computing systems: it would have been a globe-spanning, automated *and complete* kill chain including target engagement

in this sense the sdi was a trial run for the kill chain being built *now*. the threat model has shifted from nuclear war and missiles to every human being on the planet. the number of targets has increased to an arguable maximum. target behavior is more complex.

it was a necessary precursor, reaching beyond its time, for what was to come next.

a crucial shift in the sdi occurred in the late 80s: a new concept for defense had the potential to make the sdi a reality. the concept was called 'brilliant pebbles'

this idea was an evolution of a previous concept in the sdi, 'smart rocks'. small interceptors fired from some large heavily sensored battlestation.

the battlestation - a centralized area with high computing power communicating with 'dumb' devices. this is a vulnerability. the solution is to put more computing power at the edge.

the pebbles were supposed to be autonomous - again, see how far into the future they were trying to reach?

what enabled this shift was something we discussed previously, the advent of microprocessors.

and remember that microprocessors were necessary to create the personal computer industry, pc was already underway. which is to say that these kill chains were developed consciously and in parallel.

brilliant pebbles was pursued for several years, until being wound down by the clinton administration in the early 90s (again, note the timing) along with the rest of the sdi. while it never was used for missile defense, the tech developed was very influential:

it was tested during a nasa mission called 'clementine', which supposedly proved that the tech and software worked. but see that its legacy was that it enabled the commercial low earth satellite constellations of the 1990s:

teledesic and iridium - two major 90s-era efforts to deliver cell phone and internet globally via LEO sat constellations, both had their basis in tech developed for brilliant pebbles

the continuity between the sdi, the various 90s efforts, and spacex's starlink is clear. add to that the role of mike griffin - brilliant pebbles veteran - in the founding of spacex.

again, mike griffin and trw were veterans of the bril pebbles program which lead to the first LEO sat efforts, then griffin and trw vets 'joined' spacex which is now leading the deployment of global LEO sat internet

leo satellites wind up being pivotal in both the kill chain developed against an icbm threat model as well as the kill chain developed against a human threat model.

a couple more notes on the aspect of fraudulence. as mentioned, that some of the tests involved in the sdi were fake was well known even during the beginning of the program. woodruff, the hero whistleblower. they ran this storyline back with the 'patriot' missile defense system

nauseatingly its now at least the 90s and people are still debating the same 'bullet with a bullet' argument from the 1950s

so here we have another guy who just bleeds for the ruling class and wants them to stop wasting their money on stuff that 'doesnt work', rallying against this fraudulent missile defense system and exposing its faked tests

in other words, balancing a fake real narrative and a fake fake narrative, controlling both fake sides of the coin, was a tactic here to stay in the world of technology. hiding real work in a fake costume. this concept is also expressed, of course, in the dotcom cycle itself.

and then echoed again in elon musk, spacex, tesla, theranos, etc. the entire unprofitable technology industry.

and with even more or less many of the same actors, mike griffin and trw, and certainly the same plotlines. there is a lot more to be said about other impacts of specific technologies that came out of the sdi -

as well as rocketry developments in the 80s and 90s that precursed spacex. but this is a first pass at the sdi and its impact