h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It prevents one form of attack. That doesn't mean there aren't others. Still it makes it far more difficult to use ballistic missiles. We'll have to use other means to protect ourselves from other attacks.

Should I stop wearing a seatblet because it won't keep people from shooting me?

True, but a seatbelt doesn't cost several trillion dollars to prevent an unlikley occourence, but a few to prevent death by a common occourence. I'm not saying that a SDI system doesn't have it's merits, merely that the pros outway the cons.
Also, you made an interesting point about seatbelts and getting shot - while here in Britain our greatest deaths are through RTAs, in the US this is beaten by gun deaths.

BTW why did you change the subject line?

It may be an unlikely occurance, but it could be a catostophic one. We've seen what happens when two buildings are knocked down. What if a city were gutted by nuclear weapons?

What's an RTA? How do you know there are more people in the United States are killed by RTA's than gun deaths?

I changed the subject line because I think Mutually Assured Destruction is ... well ... mad. It's crazy to leave yourself open to attack like that.

Dunno about teh rest. RTA is legal jargon for Road Traffic Accident. It refers to anny accident involving traffic.

Ad for MAD, in teh end, it works. It has prevented a world war for over 50 years. If it ain't broke.

No, more gun deaths than road deaths. I've seen stats somewhere.
I think, that although MAD has worked, being in a situation to anhilate the planet isn't clever. Anyway havn't we all seen/heard of Dr. Strangeglove or watched the situatin in Tommorow Never Dies. Replace the cruise with a ICBM and think of the consequences...

I'm not saying that it isn't true, but I won't accept that statistic until I can evaluate the source.

you are perfectly right there, I will atempt to find reliable data. FBI site maybe?