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Editor:
Kaye Patchett claims that weapons-related research is inconsistent with the mission of the university and with God's commandment against murder ("Improving weapons inconsistent with positive change," Oct. 30). Her comments have a few problems, however.
She equates building weapons with violence, but in reality weapons can reduce violence and lead to peace. The U.S. military build up during the 1980s contributed to the non-violent dissolution of the Soviet Union, an aggressive military regime, thereby reducing militarism and expanding freedom. Now some of those nuclear weapons are being destroyed along with those of the former Soviet Union and we no longer live in fear of nuclear war. It was also recently shown that violent crime is significantly reduced when citizens carry concealed weapons, countering those carried by criminals.
Her logic also leads towards a contradiction that she doesn't seem to recognize. She says that certain types of research are inconsistent with the purpose of a university. But placing restrictions on what people at a university can think about would violate the academic freedom on which the university depends. The difficulty in determining what kinds of research are consistent with the mission of a university is probably what Manuel Pacheco was referring to when he said, "Nobody has the right to play God."
Finally she invokes the Biblical commandment against murder, as if weapons-related research were equivalent to murder. But even Jesus told his disciples to carry weapons on one occasion. In Luke 22:36, he told them "If you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." Kaye and many other Christians will probably be surprised to learn that Jesus once commanded the carrying of weapons, but that should give them cause to reconsider their ideas about weapons and peace.
The issues involved are more complex than the black and white nature of her comments indicate.
Dean W. Schulze
senior systems programmer
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
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