Admiral Cajal:
"As old Professor Wu-Tai was forever saying at the Academy - remember, Jim? - 'The best foundation that a decision is ever allowed is our fallible assessment of the probabilities.'" (p. 642)
Is "foundation" a reference to Isaac Asimov's future history? Are "Academy" and "Jim" references to Star Trek? (The attached image shows the Starfleet Academy.)
Wu-Tai's remark applies to more than military tactics. From philosophical arguments that I disagree with, CS Lewis derived theistic conclusions and from that time onward lived on the assumption of a relationship with a transcendent person. Later, his Theism became Christianity with its promise of resurrection.
It is possible to meditate while believing that the transcendent is impersonal and that there is no hereafter. We are all fallible...
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And that comment of Prof. Wu-tai quoted by Admiral Cajal made me think of, not of STAR TREK,
but of Sun-tzu's THE ART OF WAR, which I've read more than once, in translation. There is much wisdom in that work which I believe is applicable to many other fields besides that of war. And actually used in those other fields.
And I've also thought of similar Western works, such as Flavius Vegetius' DE RE MILITARI and Carl von Clausewitz's THE ART OF WAR. And we see a Chinese master spy quoting Clausewitz approvingly in Anderson's OPERATION LUNA.
One line from Vegetius which has stuck with me is this: "If you want peace prepare for war." Which means that only realism, strength, and determination will be of value for the leaders of nations charged with guiding them thru chaotic and dangerous times. The DE RE MILITARI might have been one of those books Com. Max Abrams had Flandry reading!
Alas, I am not convinced "Josip" has those qualities of realism, strength, determination, as evidenced both by the king of people he is picking for high offices and his feeble reaction to Peking's crackdown on political dissenters in Hong Kong.
Ad astra! Sean
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