JF Ptak Science Books Post 1356
Caveat: this story is of course forever and best told by Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.
Researching a study on the usefulness of the actions of Adolf Hitler amd their application to the U.S. government's planning possibilities for post-nuclear-holocaust existence (German Wartime Industrial Controls: an Analogy to Recovery from Nuclear Attack, Stanford Research Institute, 1968, review coming soon), I came across the following related studies, all of which are available at the Storming Media website, here.
The titles are incredible, the abstracts more so--but some phrasing in the abs were absolutely, sensationally, bad.
I can imagine a play, a scenario leaning heavily on Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, men sitting in front of reel-to-reel tape recorders, listening to themselves describing the impossible language that they were using to transmit the ideas of surviving nuclear Armageddon--brilliantly lit from single spots directly above the seated figures and with all else absolutely black, they play these snippets, and try to explain what the language actually meant. Perhaps they try to talk over the recordings, only to have the recorded audio get a little louder, and multiply, a la Steve Reich's Come Out.
I understand that in order to talk about a complicated and complex landscape that you need to establish certain words and phrases to mean one thing and one thing only so that information can be transmitted and analysis with common denominators can take place. At the same time these phrases loosen the reality of what they represented, removing the implications of fighting such a war, and thereby making the button-pushing a little easier. Perhaps the launch business becomes more automated this way, even in considering the theoretical end of the actions of nuclear war. Like the soldiers who were endlessly trained to turn the keys and punch the buttons at this country's x-number of launch facilities, trained countlessly and tirelessly, so that when the real call came in they could just do the job, follow the instructions as they had 2,000 times before, and launch the missiles that would kill tomorrow.
And so in 15 minutes I found these impressive examples of polyprhases that meant both something and nothing:
Paper 1
"Period of fractionation"--describing the civil circumstance directly after nuclear exchange. Found in Scenario for Postattack Social Reorganization, : Raymond D. Gastil; William Schneider Jr; HUDSON INST INC CROTON-ON-HUDSON N Y
This paper also provides us with "historical disasters that were somewhat comparable to nuclear war" as well as "return to normalcy" as the sixth part of a six-part post-nuclear landscape. And this is all just in the abstract.
"Abstract: This approach to postattack analysis was meant to explore the possible contribution that a documented scenario could make to postattack research on organizational problems. Using knowledge of historical disasters that were somewhat comparable to nuclear war, we divided the scenario into the following periods: Pre-attack, the disaster; period of fractionation; survival and reconstruction; innovation and control; and, return to normalcy. The scenario covers a period of more than two years (1970-1972), and the attack was OCD's CIV-LOG '65 in which 2000 megatons were used. [Emphasis mine.] Appendices explore more analytically certain issues raised by the scenario. (Author)"
Paper 2
"The break in traditional economic time series..." Meaning that there were new timetables in how things got done and how we communicate, in business, following a nuclear war. Found in: Information Needs for Postattack Recovery Management, 1968. {Actually the entire abstract is worth a quote.]
Abstract: "The study is concerned primarily with information needed for monitoring the effects of actions taken by governmental bodies at federal, state, and local levels in a postulated postattack period and for providing business management with the overall information it needs for making business decisions in the absence of undistorted indicators of economic developments. The break in traditional economic time series and the need for drastic reorientation of industrial efforts in .."
Paper 3
"interdiction of normal business channels" Found in Institutional Factors in Total Vulnerability, 1968
and
"None of the problems [in surviving nuclear attack] would pose insurmountable difficulties but all would require prompt attention and appropriate resolution within the first two months after a nuclear attack"
Authors: Francis W. Dresch; Hazel B. Ellis; STANFORD RESEARCH INST MENLO PARK CA
"A systems approach was used to identify institutional problems likely to be neglected in analyses of the vulnerability of physical systems at risk from nuclear attack. This report discusses six specific problems (solvency, credit, business organization and management, interdiction of normal business channels, legislative imbalance, and disruption of election machinery) and their implications for the assessment of national vulnerability. None of the problems would pose insurmountable difficulties but all would require prompt attention and appropriate resolution within the first two months after a nuclear attack.
Paper 4
"nature of demands for labor in a postattack world" and of course "post-attack economy" found in Preliminary Estimates for Labor Demands in a Post Attack Economy, 1968. Authors: Stephen Baer; INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE ANALYSES ARLINGTON VA PROGRAM ANALYSIS DIV
"Abstract: This is an informal exploration of ways to determine the nature of demands for labor in a postattack world. An attempt is made to determine the needs for labor and the demands of consumers after a nuclear attack based on preattack patterns, community sizes and income levels. (Author)"
Paper 5
"using retired boxcars for simulating urban area fires" [ignited by thousands of megatons of explosives] found in Feasbilities and Representativeness of Large-Scale Boxcar Burns, 1968
| Authors: Frederick Salzberg; IIT RESEARCH INST CHICAGO ILL ENGINEERING MECHANICS DIV |
"Abstract: the study deals with the feasibility of using retired boxcars for simulating urban area fires. Considerations are given to the representativeness of boxcars fires, development of an experimental plan, and a cost analysis. An outline is given of experimental series designed to study various aspects of urban area fires by means of boxcar fires. Included are studies of fire spread, development of group fires, and behavior of mass fires. (Author) "
Paper 6
"production degradation" found in Industrial recovery Model Constraints, 1969.
"Abstract: The vulnerability of a facility to nuclear blast damage is determined by identifying the industrial facility with a structural type and the type of processing equipment contained therein. Equations are extended to estimate production degradation. Damage repair data and analysis are reviewed and a straight-line function is suggested for relating repair effort and elapsed repair time to overpressure. The functional relationships of industrial recovery are analyzed with respect to target ..."
Paper 7
"problems of debris removal to achieve specified objectives in urban areas" found in Debris Removal in Civil Defence Operations, 1969. Authors: George E. Wickham; STANFORD RESEARCH INST MENLO PARK CALIF
"Abstract: As a part of the Five-City Study, this report examines the problems of debris removal to achieve specified objectives in urban areas. It details the necessary steps for determination, and provides a quantitative value of the total resources required to accomplish clearing operations. It illustrates the application of methodology developed in research report titled 'Debris Removal Civil Defense Operations: Volume 1' so as to provide realistic appraisals ..."
Paper 8
"disorganization inevitably following a nuclear war" found in Capabilities of Fire Services to Limit Damage from Nuclear Attack. Authors: S. B. Martin; R. W. Ramstad; URS RESEARCH CO BURLINGAME CALIF
"Abstract: The report emphasizes the dangers to eventual reconstruction that are posed by the disorganization inevitably following a nuclear war. What can go wrong in this reorganization period is examined by the use of scenarios and analogy. It is then suggested that during the crisis period preceding a nuclear war a number of useful actions enhancing the chance of postattack recovery should be undertaken as part of an emergency mobilization for ..."
These are just eight examples--the problem here is that nearly every paper I looked at on this first page of papers from Storming Media could be used as examples of massive underspeak...the real issue being that there were another 100 pages of these things. So its not as though I even cherry-picked these things--they were all in line on the front page. That's the scary part--to see how deep the depth was of these things, an infinite depth of finite measurement. Something in nothing.
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