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Omni Magazine (January 1993)

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Omni Magazine (January 1993) BOLD RESEARCH: CREATING CONSCIOUS G SAVE THE SPACE STATION! BUZZ A1DRIN TELLS HOW! NDR/inil1993 JANUARY EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT & C.O.O.: KATHY KEETON EDITOR: KEITH FERRELL EXECUTIVE" vP/GRAPHICS D RECTO 7'- FRANK DEVINO MANAGING EDITOR: CAROLINE DARK SENIOR ART DIRECTOR- !":WA"-"-Ji- f-LINCHUM DEPARTMENTS First Word Continuum By Philip C. Cruver 35 6 The Walking Way Communications By Marcelo Games Readers' writes We walk; therefore, we 8 are. Walking Political Science upright separates us from By Tom Dworetzky other animals 9 and, "some scientists say, Forum lies at the By Keith Ferrell crux of human evolution. 11 40 Wheels The onnrui/Aicor By Paul Shepherd Immortality Contest la By Charles Piatt Electronic Universe 43 By Gregg Keizer Contest Entry Form 14 See the future! Books Cheat death! Impress— By Robert K. J. Killheffer or at least 16 outlive—your friends! The Great Treasure Hunt Enter our Preview contest and take a shot at 18 winning a free Space cryonics reservation. By Brenda Forrnan 50 Buzz Aldrin and Freedom Architects of Tomorrow 20 By Frederik Pohl Sounds 56 By Robert Angus Fiction: Sacred Cow By Bruce Sterling Mind 66 By Judith Hooper The Electronic Cafe 24 An exotic spacecraft flies over a rugged landscape By Margaret Wertheim Earth in Tsuneo Sanda's cover illustration. 75 By Jessica Cohen Is this a scene from the earth's future? The architects Interview 96 of tomorrow— those who predict and By Anthony Liversidge Games shape the future — might be able to teli. (Additional 78 By Scot Morris art and photo credits, page 43) Antimatter OMNI (ISSN 0149-6711) Sioaew-.y. New York, NY rffrces. POSTMAS- TIER; Send acdra=i eliicaeL; I. >ber 3. Copy-S a right © 1992 ty Onnl ubllci 1 OMNI la 3^3? r0ou:c!Cd i-i:JOTi;r< Jl Or-r-i P.irj-iOL'.l ona ± Printed in the USA by R.R Duma Icy 4 3u-is Inc. aid aisl'iau;« -is USA Cana-ia. _h :aa Sts'== lair :oriai r_ la:axca;;a. £ UK) by Curt s Circi inCgmp r-.y. 4r>;t H,=f.ks"..--ak .'..aria. H-a-.ka i:-,ra-k. 17nf!' Distrbi.tsa in Australia by Ttie H r-!SVv ?CI>? .\,r.m\\z ;-d ir ihe UK by r.'t •n arc Shell =ic. P.O. Box 3S1, Mlllhar , (: -j i 1. i .1 viil.'yr 1 :.:i.:.l ""i Aiv n »;i .... 1 "i.. ON; r rial, .vilhcj; pel' 1 itiL:'- iau sirriliarilv t:ijlv.-;;9ii [.'lace;; ::« i;:.:rs(; i; iirailia'iac :r the iuiien :iitb:k! a-ii.: iaa ulaac:; ai r.'cisaac vi q a- ik.c i-j saxi'^i :al. Stb^ar prarc: 1 U.S.. AFO—$HA aaa year. .Israns. arcl a -sra—: -I: : aaa year. Sirala capias £i to h .J.i'i. AI'C ana Caraes Te.aphare s.oe araoary or Or-ri Publications SONY uJ^ ,uJ jj^ «fiiU""^ FIRST WORD DEUS EX MACHINA: The environmental hope By Philip C. Cruver 1 4% I e have mortgaged our growth pundits contend that tech- as soon as the end of the twenty- I I environmental future! nological progress is actually cre- first century, the present anthro- fcjr \J Tragically, we are not ating new hazards such as the pogenic world-view, which prom- keeping current on the interest problem of rampant pollution. ulgates human dominance on payments, and the principal is be- Moreover, these critics contend, Earth, may eventually be re- coming a burden beyond compre- technological optimism is the opi- placed by a new paradigm that hension. The story of modern civ- ate of the masses: It sustains our recognizes technology's superior ilization has reflected human- addiction for more, which, of ability to rapidly evolve and adapt kind's victory over nature with course, only exacerbates the un- to an ever-changing and increas- technology as the principal weap- derlying affliction. ingly nostile environment? on. Only in the last two decades, Contemporary philosopher In his book Disappearing however, has there been an Thomas Kuhn provides some in- Through the Skylight O. B. Har- emerging consciousness that tech- sight and hope for this impend- dison, cuitural critic and scholar, nology has extracted an extraor- ing dilemma when he argues projects a vision of a society in dinary price in terms which such a "conver- "The myth of pollution. Ad- sion" has occurred that man and vanced technologies, through the use of sili- machine yet to be invented, con devices. "To- are antithetical may now be the only day's silicon devices entities means to pay the operate in deep must be proven past-due trillion-dol- oceans, arid deserts, apocryphal lar remediation bill af- arctic ice flows, the and dispelled," ter more than a cen- high temperatures says Cruver, tury of destruction. and pressures of Ve- president of Unisil, If we are to hope nus, and the airless- an environ- for a reversal of our ness of the moon," mental products planet's march to- Hardison writes, and services ward Armageddon, "Whereas the habital company based in philosophical atti- of carbon man is McLean, Virginia. tudes must change. Earth, the natural The myths that eco- home of silicon de- nomic development vices is space." He and environmental theorizes that all sce- protection, and that narios which depict man and machine a conflict between hu- are antithetical entities must be that the transfer of allegiance mans and machines will become proven apocryphal and dispelled. from paradigm to paradigm is a meaningless— the deification of in- We must replace these miscon- conversion experience that can- telligent machines will coincide ceptions with a new world-view— not be forced, but after an extend- with their ascension into space. a view which advocates the true ed period of turmoil, the old par- They will become invisible and meaning, benefits, necessity, and adigm is abandoned and re- therefore nonconfrontational. perhaps superiority of advanced placed with a new one, This oc- Technology may be the only technologies. We have pro- curs only after persistent failure to means whereby humankind can gressed too far to now breech hu- solve the problem gives rise to a increase its standard of living mankind's Faustian bargain with crisis. Adopting Kuhn's theory, while preserving its quality of technology. could we not ask if our being on life. And while this philosophical Advocacy of technology as the the precipice of ecological bank- resolution of our environmental panacea for our environmental ruptcy might ultimately create a woes may not deal immediately woes is not without its detractors. new scientific-technological par- with many of the more pressing Not only is it criticized as not be- adigm, redefining and overcom- problems, it certainly can supply ing capable of responding to to- ing the misconceptions of tech- us' with a source of future hope day's problems of unprecedent- nology that would extricate us for amortizing the huge environ- ed growth in human population from this malaise 7 In other mental mortgage and avoiding and economic development, anti- words, might we consider that by ecological bankruptcy. Dd connnnufuicATOfus READERS' WRITES: Support your local alien, baby boomers budget bumped, and confection perfection 1 Want My SFTV en Meredith of the American Associa- Thank you so much for the exciting ar- tion of Boomers says there will be an ticle on the Science Fiction Channel [Oc- "evaporation" of age discrimination and tober 1992], I immediately sent a letter that elderly baby boomers will be court- off to my local cable-TV carrier urging ed by employers because of a lack of them to pick up the new channel. I al- enough skilled young workers. She for- so wanted to send a letter to USA Net- gets to take into consideration two cru- work encouraging them to get their pro- cial interconnected factors: the global- gramming into my area. Could you pro- ization of the world economy and the vide your readers with an address lessening of American global domi- where they can write so science-fiction nance. Throughout Asia and Latin Amer- fans such as myself know where to ica and perhaps Russia, there will be send our letters of support and encour- ample numbers of skilled workers. agement? These factors will have a greater impact A.D, Ray on the future well-being of the baby- Round Rock, TX boom generation than any lag in the number of skilled workers in the United Editor's note; You can write to USA Net- States. work in care of Sci-fi Fan Alliance, P.O. Timothy Lange Box 331, New York, New York 10185. Los Angeles, CA Texas Revisited Sweet Memon'es Never Melt " While no doubt correct in other regards, Your article, "Hot Chocolate" [Continu- . J Keith Ferrell's Forum article on um, October 1992], which described a Stephen Hawking's singular popularity new production technique to raise the ["A Brief History of Time Revisited," melting point of chocolate so it September 1992] contains one glaring wouldn't melt in your hands made me error, once repeated. The Thin Blue remember one of my father's favorite sto- Line, Errol Morris's previous award- ries about his days as an Army doctor winning film, was not "a documentary stationed in Brazil. Since there wasn't about the Houston police department" a lot of action, my father was assigned as stated. In fact, it was about one Ran- the task of creating table butter that dall Adams, who was accused of shoot- would keep its square "stick" form even ing a Dallas police officer to death.
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