Omni Magazine (September 1985)

i * - /' iam.- • onnrui VOL. 7 NO. 12 SEPTEMBER 1985 EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KEETON EDITOR: GURNEY WILLIAMS III GRAPHICS DIRECTOR. FRANK DEVINO MANAGING EDITOR: PAUL HILTS ART DIRECTOR: AMY SEISSLER CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD Opinion Candace Pert 6 OMNIBUS Contributors 8 COMMUNICATIONS Correspondence 12 FORUM Dialogue 14 EARTH Environment Bill Lawren 16 SPACE Comment Ben Bova 18 LIFE Biomedicine Kathleen McAuliffe 20 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Computers Bill Lawren 22 STARS Astronomy Edward Regis. Jr. 25 CONTINUUM Data Bank 27 FUTURE SHOCK ROLLS Article Daniel Burstein 36 OVER CHINA WATER WITCHES Article Richard Wolkomir 40 THE ARK Fiction Bruce McAllister 44 SKYSHRINE Pictorial Owen Davies 52 ROBERT JASTROW nterview Anthony Liversidge 60 MOZART IN MIRRORSHADES Fiction Bruce Sterling and 68 Lewis Shiner CAREERS OF THE FUTURE Article Richard Wolkomir 74 ANTIMATTER UFOs, etc. 83 MAN-OF-WAR Phenomena Henry Genthe 108 GAMES Diversions Scot Morris 112 LAST WORD Humor Mitch Coleman 114 (ISSN 0K-G-87H i: in Yugoslavian-born surrealist OMNI ; puo^shed monthly the United States and Canada by Omni Publications Inte-nahonal Ltd.. 1965 Broadway, New York. N.Y. 10023-5965. Second -das? oosraoe paid ai New York, N.Y., and al additional mail.ng trices. POSTMASTER: Send Ralle painted this address changes to Omni Magazine, Post 0"n;e Box 3039. Hat an, iowa 61537 Volume 7, Number 12. Copyright c 1935 £=\ month's cover. Ralle 1 creates by Omni Publications hiernaiio.-iei ..id. Ai -ights rese'ved Te- {212) -96-6100 OMNI is a registered trademark ol Omni SO' space-age icons that Publications International Ltd. Printed in the US.A. by MeredHh/Burda Corp and distribute J in The U.S.A.. Canada, U.S. territorial possessions, and the world (except the U.K.) by Curtis Circulation Company, 21 Henderson Drive, West Caldwell, N.J. 07006. juxtapose images of romanticism Distributed in the U.K. by COMAG.; Tavisiock Road. West Drayton, London, UB7 7QE. England Entire content copyrighted. Nothing and technology, the may be reproduced in whole of in part without written permission from the publisher. Any similarity between places or persons r way the Flemish masters used mentioned in the fiction or semitiction and reai paces o parsons I v rig or dead is coincidental. Subscriptions; U.S., AFO -S24 one year; Canada and elsewhere—$28 one year. Single copies S2 50 in U.S., AFO, and Canada. Telephone: 1-80O-247-547O: in Iowa: 1- symbols to depict the r r 800-532-1272. The publisher disclaims a:- resoons Ivlity !o ctu n ursc iciteci 'natter, and ail rights in portions published thereof remain religious age they lived in. the sole proper, y or Orrin Publications iniornaticnal Ltd. Letters sen! to Omni or its editor.1; become :ne prope'ty of the magazine. 4 OMNI ' 1 - grant money is generally impossible to brilliant, internationally recognized ' neuro- inn 1 be scientisf, surrounded by the boxes o! :, women, for example), equipment that had once been tier lab She was crying by the curb. She had come up for tenure at a prestigious inslilution, the media generally prefer to wallow in Been voted down by i (all feminist self-congratulations, emphasizing male) she hadn't bothered to lobby and si. hi, dress-for-success befriend, and had been given three months pinstripe maternity suits thai won't raise an eyebrow in a banker's boardroom." The wash answer to why women don't get tenure research fellow she had personally recruited has not been forthcoming, perhaps because and trained the truth Lamely, she iuld An unmarried, female ex-dean who lest a have done wrong. Women, under these bitter tenure struggle to an unproductive, :. : 1 1 SJtBvi: urre.ve.-'JJAgnSiSrfwj ak ho in Men who , Tl e ik i terms of hoe they are to have 1 od to need their jobs more than single, -nulling ,, ilure to stack independent women do," On the other the deck in her favor. She had not recom- hand, as the women's caucus of the Society mended thf I outside of American Physicists concluded, women her department, personal friends who would scientists who also double as mothers' surely have : given her rave assessments. are often thought to spend too much time l iical she had assumed with their children, thus diminishing the T that her superb science should have been chances for tenure. ample evidence. Maybe she hadn't Women are seeking cultural explanations tor anfifemale discrimination. What if, horror UUO!=?D . .» of horrors ,e But somehow her ousting had a more they are, biologically wcrnere VVtotrien.ky'ykl By Candace Pert biological flavor— like a pack of wild dogs whose pheromc II- destroying a weaker member perceived ness, and cufeness have aided them In iThe scientist's as a threat to the "male" group. : 1 ! n: '' - ?WiHffi«lS&v«&^"'k ' '"ewlvi ousting had a biological The struggle for tenure may seem to be 'ike eddbilloct at 'si the '!: spoiied-brat concern of a rarefied 1 AlrtSSAgl^f-,: '.|i,i...,| 'niWyP| "iavor—iike a elite who, unlike other hard-working Ameri- in drab dresses and sensible shoes, pack of wild dogs cans, can get the ultimate in job security, males can sense thai ihey are dealing with, a position for life In fact, in a demanding, literally destroying "the weaker sex"—the sex that , creative profession like science, the award- • lighi back, thai doesn't evoke a weaker fear member^ ing of tenure provides an opportunity for thr have now, women suffer the most: Profes- line i controversial, of research until it begins sional women r ,i ing to bear fruit. with men in groups since they are In any case, the subject at hand is not surrounded by them at every revel of their the pros and cons of the tenure ,' structure V^t^r^^r^KiygeJe^ai;. I y ,,:|ii m but why women scientists are slighted by of the male brain, must struggle with trie i- - .rt-r , ay Foi in f985, as the going gets lough and grant women evoke. funds-diminish for both men and women, Today a! a major cancer meeting. I saw despite extraordinary ' '."» breakthroughs, "ki a i plenary lecture delivered by the meek—usually women— are forced to the.only woman on the program. A small get going. woman •, ,ud As a result of such inequalities, virtually authority. Afterward, the typical throng every professional scientific society now' ot interested audisiice members surrounded her. She smiled a 'ot. She supported her formed amidst great hope— not Utile and a fel* 'i&cwViSffl&^&^-^Xwty trepidation about male backlash. 1, myself, rercnt nn' , in short ', n the founding of one, WIN . k she was nothing to fear. 'i , ,'nfi; In typical style, we spent our first yem Slung his arm around her shoulders. -. "11 as a problem UjUkjSjFi . u I 't?t<n^u^rtV| ^?-Vlffi*iuS3sS&¥cjwwS9i iveni galheilcy Inn bard mo statistical I proof disperse, hoard one o , that that documented the Injustices that stimu- the oncogene she had isolated was too , lated our reason for existence. The statistical sn all to be believed, anyway OO e that women , 3 s than men at every career level is Ctmdnon Ron is ctti&ioi the Section on Brain Biochemistry a! the NaiiOtm! Institute oi Mental Heniih, in fkititetidit. Marylotid} whom she moils ur ror which ret . ,; , irce in 197 — T Dnnrui 1 he Chinese have a strange American companies, including IBM, are Witches," on page 40, Woikomir describes malediction: "I curse you; may you betting on this adaptability. U.S. firms how the dowser typically holds a forked be born in an interesting age." are gearing up for huge ventures in China. stick in his hands and crosses a field. For the citizens of the People's Republic, The year 2000 is a symbol, really—a goal When the tip of the rod points to the ground, that age is now. With surprising ease and to strive for." it indicates the place of hidden treasure alacrity, China has made enormous strides While China dwells on practical, earth- a water vein, a lost ring, or a bit of ore. to bridge the scientific and technological bound technology— using computers, While neither the scientific community nor gap created by Mao's Cultural Revolution. for instance, to assign water buffalo on the private sector officially endorses The nation, still considered a technological Wednesdays— others are engaged in a dowsing, Woikomir discovered some fasci- pip-squeak, is rushing toward the year heated debate over the military use of nating facts: U.S. Marines dowsed for 2000 with a ferocious purposefulness space. In this month's Interview, on page Vietcong tunnels and mines in 'Nam. A that is unmatched by any other country 60, Anthony Liversidge talks with physicist Pacific Bell employee dowses for hidden in the world. Robert Jastrow, outspoken defender of phone lines. And increasing numbers While visiting the Far East for the story the star-wars faith. Jastrow assures us that of urban professionals, using an assortment "Future Shock Rolls Over China" (page 36), defensive weapons in space will move of gadgets, dowse 'over maps, sets of freelance writer Daniel Burstein found us away from Mutual Assured Destruction questions, stock-market reports, parking biotechnologists developing synthetic insulin into Mutual Assured Survival, a happier spots—they even dowse for the best sushi and synthetic molecules of transfer RNA. realm. He outlines the stages of star-wars bar in town. Despite their alleged The research community was building technology, from the smart-bullet system successes, Woikomir has his doubts. "The sophisticated supercomputers and even through laser beams, electromagnetic rail surest way to find water," he says, "is to investing in telecommunications.

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