An Interview with Noam Chomsky by Doug Richardson 3
How the United States would be reacting if the Warsaw Pact word had taken over Latin America and was. Now approaching the Mexican border and then Canadian border of course that's absolutely inconceivable. We would have had a terminal nuclear war long before. This state arise arose but it's not happening on the Russian border serious provocations on. Both sides there is the best single monitor of the prospect for human survival in my view was the Doomsday Clock of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists serious scientists political analysts gather every year and try to do an analysis of how far. We are from midnight midnight.
This terminal the Doomsday Clock was established in 1947 at that point the hand was seven minutes to midnight it's moved up and back over the years the closest. It came to midnight was 1953. When Russia and the United States exploded thermonuclear weapons it's an changed. Now a couple of weeks into the Trump term the clock has been moved. Another half minute towards midnight two and a half minutes to midnight the closest it's been since 1953 and now as distinct from then two major issues are raised by those who set clock the constant and growing nuclear war and the ominous a threat of environmental catastrophe. Both issues of particular concern to geographers but of great concern to every human being anyone who cares about whether organized human life will survive on the planet thanks I'm have. Some of the issues.
That we talked about just. Now related to engagement with the military and so forth is that an issue that's come up with linguists as well but you know as. You probably. Where a great deal of linguistics or at least language training explained advisor certainly did the back in the early 1940s. I was an undergraduate a great deal of linguistic work was being done in the army language schools. This was during the Second World War people were being taught languages. Where US forces might be deployed not sure exactly. It worked out. I had a few personal experiences good friend of mine was sent to a Hungarian language school and he was deployed in Korea naturally which actually has a kind of a weak connection with Hungarian way back. Many thousands of years ago but I suspect a lot of it was pretty much like. That we've also often been saved by like large strategic plans going around yeah but in later years there are issues which I think are not very well understood so take. Where I've been. All my academic life MIT in the 1950s. I got there the Institute was overwhelmingly supported by the Pentagon.
That was every part of it including libraries the music department. Everything else forget the exact figure but could have been. Something like 90%. I was working in a lab. That was a hundred percent supported by the three Armed Services and it also happened to be the lab which was the center of academic anti-war resistance that's the lab. We started national tax resistance in 1965 helped organize the resistance support group resist which still. This came to trial and spot trial a couple years later. All of this was going on in a military lab 100% supported by the three Armed Services and it was of no concern to anyone. Because what's not recognized very well is that the Pentagon from the 1950s through the 1970s and to an extent today was the US government industrial policy system. She wanted to develop the high-tech economy of the future the way. It was done was to frighten the population into thinking the Russians are coming and then put money into.
What he came finally computers and the Internet lasers and micro technology the GPS in fact. Most of the high-tech economy. That we know decades later literally. It was handed over to private enterprise for marketing and profit and that continues so for example. If in the 1950s. You walk around MIT or other major research institutions and took a look at the buildings. That were around. They would be electronic firms Raytheon eye tech others kind of feeding off the research that's done under taxpayer subsidy in the research institution. You walk around the same institutions today you'll see Pfizer Novartis of the pharmaceutical companies what's happened is that the cutting edge of research and development has shifted to an extent from electronics to biology so. Now taxpayers are funding unwittingly the high tech biology based economy of the future which will be privatized and handed over to private enterprise for marketing and profit it's more complicated.
That obviously. Nothing is as simple as a couple of sentences but this is a large part of the way the American so-called market economy works and we're not alone on that planning means happen to be. More advanced also because of way back in history could would. We be safe and saying that without military funding the theory of transformational grammar might not have occurred well. It hadn't been for military funding you wouldn't have computers and much bigger things and transformational grammar. You know that computers. I never met satellites. You know much of the basis for the modern high tech economy was funneled through the Pentagon kind of like the these days people are talking about big infrastructure projects and like the interstate highway system those of you who are old enough to remember will recall.
That the interstate highway system was hold the national defense system. It was built taxpayers were supposed to funded. Because it was essential for our defense. He had to move missiles around and things like. That so the the national defense highway system of course. What it really was was a way to undermine efficient transportation like rail transportation electric railways and so on and shift the energy system to the use of fossil fuels massive waste of fossil fuels that's a large part of the Anthropocene. That were suffering from today the National Defense highway system was a part of that there were. Many other parts real estate things and so on in fact as. You know there was. One literal conspiracy in meaning the courts determined. That it was conspiracy and find the perpetrators. This was in Los Angeles.
Where in the early 1940s General Motors Firestone rubber and Exxon. What is now what's now Exxon Mobil's an earlier version of it got together and decided to dismantle the very efficient electric railway system in Los Angeles and replace. It with Highways automobiles and trucks and so on those of you who know Los Angeles know what the outcome is that was a literal conspiracy. They were brought to court the Court determined. That it was legal conspiracy and actually sentenced them they find them my recollection is it was about $5000 enough to pay for the victory dinner maybe. Something like. That but these are the way. This is the way the economy functions pretty generally and again it's not.
This terminal the Doomsday Clock was established in 1947 at that point the hand was seven minutes to midnight it's moved up and back over the years the closest. It came to midnight was 1953. When Russia and the United States exploded thermonuclear weapons it's an changed. Now a couple of weeks into the Trump term the clock has been moved. Another half minute towards midnight two and a half minutes to midnight the closest it's been since 1953 and now as distinct from then two major issues are raised by those who set clock the constant and growing nuclear war and the ominous a threat of environmental catastrophe. Both issues of particular concern to geographers but of great concern to every human being anyone who cares about whether organized human life will survive on the planet thanks I'm have. Some of the issues.
That we talked about just. Now related to engagement with the military and so forth is that an issue that's come up with linguists as well but you know as. You probably. Where a great deal of linguistics or at least language training explained advisor certainly did the back in the early 1940s. I was an undergraduate a great deal of linguistic work was being done in the army language schools. This was during the Second World War people were being taught languages. Where US forces might be deployed not sure exactly. It worked out. I had a few personal experiences good friend of mine was sent to a Hungarian language school and he was deployed in Korea naturally which actually has a kind of a weak connection with Hungarian way back. Many thousands of years ago but I suspect a lot of it was pretty much like. That we've also often been saved by like large strategic plans going around yeah but in later years there are issues which I think are not very well understood so take. Where I've been. All my academic life MIT in the 1950s. I got there the Institute was overwhelmingly supported by the Pentagon.
That was every part of it including libraries the music department. Everything else forget the exact figure but could have been. Something like 90%. I was working in a lab. That was a hundred percent supported by the three Armed Services and it also happened to be the lab which was the center of academic anti-war resistance that's the lab. We started national tax resistance in 1965 helped organize the resistance support group resist which still. This came to trial and spot trial a couple years later. All of this was going on in a military lab 100% supported by the three Armed Services and it was of no concern to anyone. Because what's not recognized very well is that the Pentagon from the 1950s through the 1970s and to an extent today was the US government industrial policy system. She wanted to develop the high-tech economy of the future the way. It was done was to frighten the population into thinking the Russians are coming and then put money into.
What he came finally computers and the Internet lasers and micro technology the GPS in fact. Most of the high-tech economy. That we know decades later literally. It was handed over to private enterprise for marketing and profit and that continues so for example. If in the 1950s. You walk around MIT or other major research institutions and took a look at the buildings. That were around. They would be electronic firms Raytheon eye tech others kind of feeding off the research that's done under taxpayer subsidy in the research institution. You walk around the same institutions today you'll see Pfizer Novartis of the pharmaceutical companies what's happened is that the cutting edge of research and development has shifted to an extent from electronics to biology so. Now taxpayers are funding unwittingly the high tech biology based economy of the future which will be privatized and handed over to private enterprise for marketing and profit it's more complicated.
That obviously. Nothing is as simple as a couple of sentences but this is a large part of the way the American so-called market economy works and we're not alone on that planning means happen to be. More advanced also because of way back in history could would. We be safe and saying that without military funding the theory of transformational grammar might not have occurred well. It hadn't been for military funding you wouldn't have computers and much bigger things and transformational grammar. You know that computers. I never met satellites. You know much of the basis for the modern high tech economy was funneled through the Pentagon kind of like the these days people are talking about big infrastructure projects and like the interstate highway system those of you who are old enough to remember will recall.
That the interstate highway system was hold the national defense system. It was built taxpayers were supposed to funded. Because it was essential for our defense. He had to move missiles around and things like. That so the the national defense highway system of course. What it really was was a way to undermine efficient transportation like rail transportation electric railways and so on and shift the energy system to the use of fossil fuels massive waste of fossil fuels that's a large part of the Anthropocene. That were suffering from today the National Defense highway system was a part of that there were. Many other parts real estate things and so on in fact as. You know there was. One literal conspiracy in meaning the courts determined. That it was conspiracy and find the perpetrators. This was in Los Angeles.
Where in the early 1940s General Motors Firestone rubber and Exxon. What is now what's now Exxon Mobil's an earlier version of it got together and decided to dismantle the very efficient electric railway system in Los Angeles and replace. It with Highways automobiles and trucks and so on those of you who know Los Angeles know what the outcome is that was a literal conspiracy. They were brought to court the Court determined. That it was legal conspiracy and actually sentenced them they find them my recollection is it was about $5000 enough to pay for the victory dinner maybe. Something like. That but these are the way. This is the way the economy functions pretty generally and again it's not.
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