tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138624.post4845431018191325663..comments2023-03-17T14:45:50.282+00:00Comments on Exploring the Purpose of Things: Nuclear DisarmamentRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138624.post-42225728386686801582009-07-01T01:09:10.530+01:002009-07-01T01:09:10.530+01:00Obviously there are many stupid decisions in Gover...Obviously there are many stupid decisions in Government procurement - both military and civilian - and Robin points to another example. <br /><br />But I think there is an important difference between his example and mine. Robin is not saying it's a bad idea to have ships, merely that it's bad planning to have ships without all the other assets to make them work. With Trident, the argument (put strongly by military top brass as well as by pacifists) is that it's a bad idea in the first place, no matter how well planned.<br /><br />As it happens, I'm in the middle of re-reading Churchman (Systems Approach and its Enemies). Churchman identifies three types of planner. <br /><br />1. The goal-planner takes the goals as given, and would be perfectly capable of procuring a ship if that was the goal, without considering what else the ship might need. <br /><br />2. The objective-planner would at least put the ship into some kind of use-context and perhaps avoid the planning error Robin describes. <br /><br />3. The ideal-planner is the only one of the three to ask what purpose something serves. <br /><br />On this blog I'm particularly interested in the question of purpose. So I am not just complaining that Trident is a waste of money, but that it is a purposeless waste of money. I think there's a difference.Richard Veryardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138624.post-26628028218134171202009-06-30T11:12:43.050+01:002009-06-30T11:12:43.050+01:00And what's the point of procuring 2 capital sh...And what's the point of procuring 2 capital ships which we could never safely deploy, because we don't have enough other assets to surround and protect them with...? Or any planes to launch off them. Belief-beggaring stroke of genius: get rid of Harriers and *then* order new aircraft carriers... [sigh]Robin Wiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04346208043850215328noreply@blogger.com