At a recent meeting concerning terrorism, one speaker observed, "We have to learn what is just noise—and learn to live with it." The comment reminded me of bomb designer Theodore Taylor's observations on the likelihood of dozens of terrorist nuclear explosions per year, and his judgment that civilization would nonetheless adapt and survive. No need to panic or overreact or obsess over fighting the previous war's last battle again and again. Just observe, assess, and respond rationally.

(cf. ThermodynamicsOfTerrorism (2002-01-15), Bruce Schneier's remarks Refuse to Be Terrorized (2008-07-16), ...) - ^z - 2009-08-10