CRIME BY NEW NOVEL COMPUTER FROM ANTHONY RICHARD LEAKEY'S UKAI1UE THE CHEMISTRY OF SOUL j^m- ARMADA s onnrui

EDITOR & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KEETON EXECUTIVE EDITOR: DICK TERESI

ART DIRECTOR :_:ZABE"P I WOODSON

FIRST WORD hoijci; W Pfcl-:::::i:3

COMMUNICATIONS

Phoebe Hoban

LIFE Biomedicine Doug Garr 22

MIND Behavior Barbara Ford 24

THE BODY Health Patrice G. Adcroit 26

BOOKS The Arts John Gluts 30

PHOTOGRAPHY The Arts Esther Wanning 32

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Computers Owen Davie 38

BREAKTHROUGHS Technology Owen Davie 40

CONTINUUM Data Bank 43

CRIME BY COMPUTER Article Peter Ognibene 52

THE LAST CHILD INTO Michael Bishop and THE MOUNTAIN Fiction Lee Ellis 62

SOLAR SEEKERS Pictorial Marcia Bartusiak 68

THECHEVISTRYOFSOUL Article Judith Hooper 72

THE END OF THE WORLD NEWS Fiction Anthony Burgess 84 RICHARD LEAKEY'S TIME MACHINE Interview Helen E. Fisher 94

SPACESHIP ARMADA Pictorial Dava Sobel 106

ANTIMATTER UFOs, etc. 115 SUPERTHREADS Phoebe Hoban and Article Marjorie Costello 124

THE SHIRT'S TALE, THE SHORTS' STORY Fiction Thomas M. Disch 132

EXPLORATIONS Travel Anthony Wolff 140

BUTTERFLY WING Phenomena Dennis McFarland 156

STARS Aslronomy Andrew Chaikin 158

GAMES Diversions Scot Morris 160

LAST WORD Humor Ted Mann 162

Paul Lehr, a sculptor and science-fiction illustrator, originally created The Power of Blackness tor a book cover [ton. UB7 7QE, England. An aura ol evil pervades the atmosphere. One wonders what dreadful cargo is being removed trom the structure that watches over the workers.

4 OMNI . :

company Bui few corporate executives Soace Bank would begin io show a

T^\ :

: fit, ., ;i ( ] today can justify the cost os' space cani i ouisia m oai

' 1 development >n a world economy ravaced coulc be amortized gradually. Funds' by.nliattonandhghintsiestraKs^ couio then be dive"ed to other pursuits ?•»• -- '''.certain Mmes -iHe rhe i9bGs. such as medical research. ' r--.^'* products and real estate Present plans call for NASA tc operat - 1 ve^res are viewed as more prudent our space shuitle fleet. Thee have been 4 investments. The monetary return on •ecommendaiicns that the sliuriies be organ-./ahon, space investment seems : ust ioo remote fumed over ;o a pr'vate ; ifesfc for «"!cst companies io console' which ccuic operate them and charge f With su'-ficient v>sion and leadership fee for each civilian and military payloa; i ..,.,p,^, our government n Washirgior A consortium perhaps composed of a

.

, : . i ,, y he ,e connate lea-sand leading airline , i ! n pa' e

* -ne shuttle :i """' : shou'd be ab'e tc operate fl^^^^fc'^^flSI i *'BBEw^8lfa^ "'" "'

: private space development' to this cay. f ee: more economically roan NASA car NASA budaei cuts notwithstanding. Ct it loan

''" : '..:. '"'' a comp-ehens^ve Space industnalizatioo issued by ihe Space Bank mighi ns Act, passec as early as "934. would aborted fcr toe purchase of NASA's .ensure the early orbita; entry of private shuttles bv such a group. FIRST industry into space Space Bank funds coma also be use> ; This act would provide a 40 percent o deveiop a now oererat ; on oi k.illy tax credit ori-all space-related investments. IAJDRD Also included would be a moratonum cm-aily reduce Ea; th-to-orbit transport could place payload'i . in through. launch svstems a By Robert W. Prehoda . resources produced soace— at least 2000 The tax credit and into low orbit ^r a s i; t-; e as $25 a pouno •Space lottery-tickets moratorium should cover techniques and (In -981 dollars) by the mid--- 990s. hardware designed to support activity Revolutionary ceas are indeed drfic could be sold .at the local in space Such incentives have beer used «o se-i a fact d;scoverec by Christopher

in many :o Columbus 500 years poo when he travel post office : ]'.and- the pas^ by nations good

effect fJ 3. patent, copy hern and irom one royal court tc toe next. Neither billions could be raised

.-.- i to develop space : 1 1 .'.! arid industry 'V ':.!' !i I . : ,ui others language, pnvate without any new taxation3 and similar products. Vi'tuaiiy uravra.ro of me potentials of What is also neeoec neroaps evim space industnanzarion and what NASA more crucial..m, new koos: invention .'." a that would provide large sums of space- and assistance. As part of the Space ~ 'development capital without using tax industrialization Ac:, a ores-denii?.' panr

: anc legislative task force would need Zeppelin development, for example. :c be established tc promote e^cnange between "1305 and I9t'-;. was made between NASA and private ndusi'y. possible through a naliona! lottery Naturally. po'itic-ans will want to sipho sponsored by Germany's Kaisei Wihe-m off ii.inds from any national io:;ery for

II, resulting in 'he world's firs! passenger Ihiai owi"' pel pmiecls especially socls out. airnne of a so.". Such I and milrarv urograms new bernc to advanced technological develop Tl-.o only ;vay to ensure that a lottery :aw

.-,':.. t f the past, as early as the sixth century | - om r by the kinguom of Lydia, in Asia Minor. astronautics would be for the P esidenf The most revoluhonaiy -eaiurc of to announce publicly tnat he wouid ve my oroooseo Space Indusmaiization Act any lottery act thai dlvemed funds to

egosng-towager,

jld'go toasemiprivate Space oh would be restricted to ger }ifal tc space indusl !"y. Low-in! -s and grants would be paid b

>n as a company's space act : v e successful. As cpoosoo :o DRJirUIBU!

^^ ^^ any of Omni's readers have who is trying to decide whether to buy controlled. Bishop won the Nebula award ' I recently ; I I begun working— equipment now or wait until better stuff for his recent novelette The Quickening I *• I and playing—with PCs comes along. Computer experts provide and has just completed a novel, No Enemy (personal computers). In fact, almost a some idea of where the field is leading, but Time. Ellis is the creator of the third oi our readers, according to a what you might gain by waiting, and what Polygraph McKnight detective stories market-research study, now own you certainly lose by not buying now. and the developer of a variation on Rubik's computers, and about half are considering Another side of computing is revealed Cube that produces over 42 words when purchasing a PC within the next 12 in "The Keeper ot Secrets." Beginning solved. months. To meet their needs, Omni is on page 52, Washington, D.C.-based An extremely versatile man, Anthony inaugurating Artificial Intelligence, a new journalist Peter Ognibene tells how a Burgess has been a professor, composer, computer column will that cover this sophisticated and massive penetration, by and an active participant in the theater electronics revolution and highlight its computers on computers, could destroy world. He has received critical acclaim for impact on the future. the data our society needs to run its 16 novels and 8 works of nonaction, Each month Artificial Intelligence will banks, hospitals, universities, and including A Clockwork Orange and Earthly "report on new computer capabilities, businesses. Thanks to the spread of Powers. Starting on page 84 is an excerpt describe upcoming advances in hardware inexpensive computer power, the from his latest novel, The End of the and software, profile the and fascinating, technology to break codes and pilfer World News (McGraw-Hill), in which often eccentric, people behind the secrets —once the domain only of spy Burgess focuses on the classic science- complex and imaginative technology. agencies— is now in the hands of fiction theme of impending disaster and "We're using the term artificial individuals. Ognibene, currently at work how normal human beings cope with the intelligence to signal that we'll cover on a novel about computer terrorism, coming end of the world. machines software and that mimic, and reports on what is being done to Those of you who expect to survive the sometimes seem to surpass, human safeguard our privacy against these holocaust will want to read "Superthreads" intelligence. But there's nothing mysterious high-tech vandals. (page 124), a survey of new products, about this technology," senior says Omni For our fiction readers, there are three either just introduced or still in prototype editor Gumey Williams III, who will oversee narrative offerings in this month's issue. form, that will affect America's lite-style. the project. "Ultimately," Williams Thomas M. Disch, a highly respected Phoebe Hoban and Marjorie Costello continues, "the machines depend for science-fiction writer, presents "The Shirt's reveal what's really new in high-definition their existence and usefulness on people. Tale, The Shorts' Story," a delightful TV, digital recording, laser discs, and Real intelligence turns the machines on; romance starting on page 132, Bantam home isolation tanks. Costello, editor of and real intelligence writes the programs Books has just published a collection Videography, a professional video and harnesses their output in imaginative, of Disch's stories, entitled The Man Who publication, is completing a book on futuristic.ways," Had No Idea. home-video recording techniques. Hoban, In the first column, "Six-Month In "The Last Child into the Mountain" a frequent contributor to Omni, covers Syndrome," on page 38, contributing (page 62). Michael Bishop and Lee Ellis new technology at Newsweek magazine editor and multiple-computer owner Owen tell about a young video-game expert and has written two high-tech children's Davies addresses the potential c whose keyboard impulses cannot be books about robots. DO 10 OMNI ,

OMNI PUBLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL LTD. THE CORPORATION BobGuccione (chairman of the board) CDRnRnuaiicMTiarus Kaihy Keeton [president) David J. Myerson (chief operating officer) Anthony J. Guccione [secretary-treasurer) Marianne Mowatson (senior vice-president)

EDITORIAL

Editor in Chiel: Bob Guccione; Executive Editor: Dick Teresi; Managing Editor. Pal

Douglas Colligan, Gurney Williams III. Fiction Editor Lucky Thirteen As for missing internal organs, Mr. Ellen Dallow; Humor Editor: Bill Lee; Stall Writer I thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Moseley Kathleen Stein; 'Associate Editors: Kathleen Mc- Robinett's should have a conversation with Aulitfe, Pamela m Editor. Leslie short story "Number Thirteen," in the a pathologist familiar with the biophysics Epstein; Editor, Book Division: Robert Weil; Admin- November 1982 issue. It was a compelling of bloat and the dynamics of gas buildup istrative Editor: Bev Nerenberg; Flights Editor: Fran- and beautifully Cesca Luhzer; Copy Chief: Robert Boylan; Copy Ed- constructed piece of in the carcasses of horses and cattle. itors: Charles J. Attardi, Brian McKernan; Editorial fiction. Clinical psychology moved to the David Rorvik Assistants: Murray Coy., Nancy Lucas, Ann Maney: laboratory of the stars . . . where human San Francisco U.K. Editorial Asst.: Andie Burland; Games Editor: choices remain infinite, Scot Morris; Com (IKS Edelhart, Dr. fathomless, and Patrick Moore. Oflices: New York. 909 Third Ave unpredictable. "To be, or not to be" on Bill Moseley responds: Like so many New York, NY 10022. Tel. (212) 593-3301, Telex No. a cosmic scale. Terrific! I hope to see others involved with soft-soaping true 23712G; London. 2 Bramber Road, West Kensington the more of Mr. Robinett's London W14 9PB, England, Tel. (01) 385-BIB1, Telex work soon. mystery of the animal mutilations that No. 319865 Ken Dutfin have plagued the United States and a ART Guelph, Ont., Canada number of foreign countries tor the past 15 years, Mr. Rorvik insists on writing off V.PJGraphics Director Frank DeVino; Art Director: Cattle Controversy this as the Elizabeth Woodson; Designers: Pat Deftenbaugh, Liz enigma snacking of "skunks, Siroka; Art and Photo Editor Hildegard Kron; Assi In his comments on the science-fiction coyotes, buzzards, and blowflies." Why Photo Editor: Lisa Shapiro; Staff Photographers: Pat film Endangered Species [Film, November then, in the 1,000 or so inexplicable Hill, Tony Guccione, Assoc. Stall Photographer: John 1982], Bill Moseley lends credence mutilation Muth; Art Asst.: Patricia Luoin to a cases, do these "scavengers" number of thoroughly discredited fictions and "predators" leave nary a footprint? ADMINISTRATION associated with the "cattle mutilation" How are they able to drain the carcasses Executive V.P.: David J. Myerson; V.PIAdministrative phenomenon. The only real phenomenon completely of blood? How do they bring Services: Jeri Winston; Sr. V.RIProduction Director: of any scientific interest in evidence about the unnaturally rapid deterioration .John Evans; V.PJFiriance: John Prebich; Controller: of Terry Schott; Natl. Mktg. Mgr.: Gerald Giannone; here is human gullibility. their victims' internal organs? What do Newsstand Distribution Mgr.: Vincent DeLisi; Direc- Nearly everything that Mr. Moseley these "night surgeons" do to render tor of Public Relations: Marcia Potash; Publicity Mgr: says—and apparently believes— about their prey free from rigor mortis George. Goldey; Prod. Mgr: Michael Weing . and what he calls "the real Prod. Mgr.: Tom Stinson; Dir. of Research and Mktg. mutilations" is repellent to other scavengers? And how Services: Carole Rossant; Subscription Mgr.: Paula provably untrue. does Mr. Rorvik explain the documented Collins Hope; Traffic Mgr: William Harbutt; Assoc. Mr. Moseley declares that "most reports that lights in the night Pub. Special Issues: Don Myrus: Foreign Editions skies have serious investigators Mgr: Suzanne Locatelli; Dir. oi Publications, UK: now believe that often accompanied the mutilations? David Jones: Assistant to the President: Cathe the mutes are the work of radiation-wary Hungry fireflies? Charleston extraterrestrials." He attempts to place While I do not pretend to know all the himself in "respectable" ADVERTISING company by answers concerning the mutes, I do know citing "Linda Howe's Award-winning that President: Kathy Keeton; Assocfa re Publisher: Mar- Emmy there is more here than Mr. Rorvik, ianne Howalson; Sr. V.PICorp. Dir. New Bus. Devel- documentary about the real mutilations." or the government, allows. opment: Beverley Wardale; Director ol Advertising: This piece of video (waddle merely Howard Plissner; N.Y. Mgr.: Linda Newman; Assoc. reminds one that television, even its at A Rose by Other . NX Mgr: Sharon Scott; Midwest Adv. Mgr: Gene Any Name . Smith; Southern Adv. best, is a wasteland. Mgr.: Peter GoldsmiS I read with avid interest the article "Fateful AoV. Mgr.: Wendy Bloxham; AoV. Prod. Dir: Toni The evidence thai the "mutilators" are Names," by Dava Sobel [Continuum, Wagner; Adv. Prod. Mgr.: Charlene Smith; AoV. Ad- nothing other than terrestrial predators min. Mgr.: Leslie Moses; Adv. Dir., U.K.: Eleanors August 1982], and found some interesting Graham. Offices; New York. 909 Third Ave New York of limited I.Q. but considerable instinctive examples of this phenomenon among N.Y 100.22, Tel. (212] 593-3301. Telex No. 237128; cunning is overwhelming, It is true that my own acquaintances. Midwest, 303 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1012, Chi- only one ear is often found missing, First, cago, III. 60601, Tel. (312] 565-0466; South, 1707 H my brother-in-law, Michael Foote, St., N.W., this is Washington, D.C 20006, Tel. (202) 298- but attributable to the fact that is a child podiatrist. Deryl Forrest works 6050, West Coast. 924 Weslwood Blvd , Suite 10O2 skunks, coyotes, buzzards, blowflies, and in Hinsdale County for the Bureau ol Los Angeles, Calif. 90024, Tel. 824-9831; (213] U.K other "night surgeons" have 6 Europe, 2 Bramber Road, London W14 9PB Eng- not yet Land Management. Paul and David land, Tel, (01) 385-6181, Telex evolved to the point No S19B65 where they can turn Brewer make some of the finest beer I've a large animal over to get at the FOREIGN EDITIONS yet tasted. R. H. Goldsmith descends unexposed ear. In case after case, the from a long chain of jewelers. James C. Sr. V.P./Foreign Editions: John Evans; Japan: Obun- missing ear or eye is the one lhat is is sha Company. Lid., 55 Yokodera-Cho, Shinjuku-Ku, Gear a used-car salesman. Then exposed; the Tokyo 162/ rtajy. Alberto Peruzzo Editore, S.P.A., Via tongue is chewed off at the there is my Polish friend Kroka Dungski, Tito Speri B. 20154 Milan point where it protruded from the mouth which translates ... at the time of death. Udders and testicles William Cummings also make for quick and easy snacks. Lake City, Colo.OO DIADGLF FDRUfUl

In which the readers, editors, and history's jigsaw puzzle thai are still left a bit more about correspondents the functioning of my discuss theories and to be defined and resolved. car and patients should learn a bit more speculation arising out of Omni. Readers Walter Gutierrez about their bodies. are encouraged to debate views and San Diego Sylvain Friboura pose questions to Ornni, the scientific Woodland Hills, Calif. community, and the science-fiction Speaking Professionally establishment. The opinions published I loved the article "Medspeak," by Mary Isn't it time to pick on a different are not necessarily profes- those of the editors. Carpenter, in the September 1982 issue. sion? Articles like "Medspeak" are so Since I'm a registered nurse. I often have blatantly biased against '.he medical Digital Mona Lisa to interpret medspeak to my patients. profession that I have difficulty under- Robert Patten's article "Ooparts" [Sep- While I respect many of my doctor standing why a magazine (ike Omni tember 1982] contains some singularly colleagues, we sometimes have head-on would publish them. strange reasoning. If Ihe Mona Lisa, confrontations when I find out thai a Is medicine alone in developing a wearing a digital wristwatch, turned up, patient has not been told the whole truth technical would lingo? Might there be a reason Mr. Patton conclude that the about his or her condition. for the employment of such language picture was an obvious forgery or that = 1 know of an incident in which a doctor other than to create confusion and lear in the digital-watch technology is much older entered a hospital room, looked at his the patient? I would agree that some than anyone had previously thought? . patient, and came out to storm at the physicians have difficulty turning off the The Piri Re'is map supposedly contains attending nurses. "My patient's oxygen is medical lingo, but communication is a information on the Antarctic coastline off, there's no urine output, and the IV two-way street. Is it not the patient's that was not known until 1949. The map has been .stopped. What's going on?" To responsibility to inform the physician was allegedly when drawn in 1513, but it was not which one nurse replied, "That's because he of she doesn't understand? "discovered" by Western experts until your patient has been dead for fifteen I believe that physicians are dedicated 1956, seven years after the coastline's minutes, Doctor. We've been waiting for to the care of the configurations patient. They some- had been updated. .you to answer your page." Please, doctors, times may not satisfy Instead the emotional or of taking this as clear proof of become one of the team, for all our sakes. medical needs of their patienfs. but a not-loo-clever forgery, the conclusion B. J. Schenck !hey do try their best to do so. was drawn that some pre-lce Age navi- Los Angeles Charles Mauldin gator passed down an accurate map Gray. Tenn. of the Antarctic coastline, which was A report very similar to Mary Carpenter's copied for hundreds of years despite its article could be written about almost Robotics Booster being outdated by glaciers. any profession. For instance the National I would like to express my appreciation The use of plane geometry and Merca- Aeronautics and Space Administration for the article "Alice's Factory," in the tor projection in drawing the map is describes "a one-to-one individual August 1982 issue. likewise The advances made taken not as an obvious indication reciprocating bicuspid plaque-level limit- in the las! few years in CADCAM technol- of fraud but as proof that these tech- er." Also, "'a portable unitized earthwork ogy have not received niques the public atten- existed long before historians synthesis system designed to relocate dirt tion lhat is bofh deserved and necessary. formerly thought. from one pile to another, or even dig a The community of man has come to If a copy of the Declaration of Inde- hole, when properly manipulated by feel threatened by the community pendence, written in ballpoint pen, was the operator." of robotics for no reason, and it is tFme to said to be authentic by some "expert," And everyone knows how easy it is to clear the air. would we not be justified in taking a understand the manuals and forms As engineers whose livelihood is close look at his credentials? published by the Internal Revenue Ser- entwined with robotics and CADCAM, my Philip Plubell vice. Doctors do not have a monopoly on colleagues and I have tried to mold this Miami, Fla, jargon. How many times have you taken new technology to a human world. Many your car to be serviced and really not friends of mine work in factories and I found "Ooparts" most interesting and understood the technical language ihe assembly areas and view my profession enlightening. The scientific world will mechanic used? threat; as a they fear that I will destroy have to pay more attention to technologies Certainly, communication is a two-way and their careers with my work. This is far from scientifrc"developmentthat existed street, and perhaps doctors, and auto the truth, and only time and such articles in past civilizations. mechanics, for instance, should learn to as Kathleen Stein's will show the truth. It was a joy to read this article and to translate their jargon into layman's lan- know that George Allen there are many pieces of guage, but at the same I time, should learn Seattle DO 1-1 OMNI ;

PSYCHOLOGICAL FALLOUT EARTH By Phoebe Hoban

I ^% I hen Elaine Baczynski looked unbearable," says Mrs. Baczynski in a can cause severe psychological reactions:

. I out her kitchen window this barely audible, trembling voice. "If we loss of sleep, lack of appetite, headaches, ^rf vv past Thanksgiving morning, were exotic animals, the government heart palpitations, ulcers, and impaired she glimpsed a dread, but familiar, sight: would have protected us, but we are not immunological response. Some Men in bright rubber suits and masks an endangered species: so we've been researchers say that such stress can

trudging gravely over her lawn as if they ignored. The sense of depression is even cause cancer. Making matters worse, were braving land mines or jagged overwhelming." On December 13 the chemicals like dioxin also poison the

craters on the moon. Baczynskis decided they couldn't take it nervous system, afflicting the victims with On October 12. just six weeks before, anymore; they left their home of 15 symptoms ranging from dizziness to the Environmental Protection Agency had years and moved out of the state. anxiety to psychosis.

informed Baczynski and her neighbors But even though the Missouri dump "The brain is a very sensitive organ; it in Imperial, Missouri, that they'd been site has been left far behind, psychologists may be one of the first organs to be living on land poisoned by deadly dioxin. say, the emotional distress may be attacked by certain dump-site chemicals,"

About a decade ago, it seems, oil impossible to escape. Victims of man- explains toxicologist Ellen Silbergeld, accidentally laced with the toxic chemical made disasters— especially those with of Ihe Environmental Defense Fund, an was sprayed to keep dust down in three unknown, long-term effects — suffer activist organization in Washington, nearby horse arenas. Within weeks, from fear, anxiety, and distrust long after D.C. Lead poisoning, for example, can birds, dogs, cats, and horses began -the immediate danger is removed. cause depression and psychosis. dying; people reported rashes,, "People become terrified, scared out of Excessive amounts of toluene, a chemical headaches, and other sudden ailments. their wits," explains California psychiatrist commonly found in paint fumes and Then, suspecting the oil might be at fault, Cecil Bradley, who has served as an explosives, can cause tremors, vertigo,

arena owners had the dirt removed; it expert witness in several toxic-exposure and emotional instability. Trichloroethylene, was later used for landfill in the residential cases. "It's like living under the sword a substance used in the manufacture town of Imperial of Damocles. These people walk around of semiconductor components, causes Now federal investigators dressed in with the feeling that there is a time loss of facial sensation and impaired high-tech gear were collecting soil bomb within them." memory and concentration. samples from the Baczynski yard. When Such constant stress, Bradley notes, For most victims, Silbergeld adds, the their work was done, the sinister-looking distinction between real organic damage

men disappeared without a word. It was and sheer psychological stress is blurry. not until December that the EPA finally Martha Rojas, for instance, was working as announced its findings: Dioxin levels a chemist at an electronics company in in the soil had reached 301 parts per California's Silicon Valley when she first billion, hundreds of times greater than came down with headaches, sore throats, levels found at Love Canal. numbness, and a rash. "My whole body

It is little a late, though, for the felt mushy," she says. "It was almost as if fretting Baczynskis to start about the I were intdxicated." consequences. Mrs. Baczynski, her It turned out that Rojas and other husband, and their eight children for years suffering coworkers had been poisoned have suffered health problems that Ihey by chemicals pumped into their offices now know were caused by dioxin. These through the ventilation system. The source: range from relatively mild ailments like the company's fabrication plant. "God cramps and headaches to severe bladder, knows what we were breathing," Rojas liver, and kidney disorders. Their comments. "Fear blurred our sense of neighbors report similar symptoms, reality until we didn't know what was including rashes and hair loss. going on. The physical effects were Now the small Missouri community is overwhelming, and there was also the plagued by a new epidemic: (he acute anxiety you feel when your body is out of psychological shock of learning about the whack and you don't know why. But what dioxin exposure. Indeed, instead of is really frightening is that you start to easing the community's collective psyche doubt your own sanity. And those who by providing an explanation for Ihe haven't experienced a similar trauma ailments, news of the poisoning has turned tend to look at you as if you're nuts."

, ; ;/,;;'> , -. .~ , life i upside down. "The tension became Pi : w'c, s r:i:bo< a ss.-fse of doom. Neil Erlich, a psychiatrist who counsels 16 OMNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 147 IT

By Thomas Karas

we don'l watch out, space could attack on the United States. And more "deception jammers," powerful radar Ifbecome our Achilles' heel," warns Air than three fourths of the international transmitters on the satellite that fool the Force Cotonel Charles Heimach. messages sent by the U.S. armed forces attacker into misreading the position "There an was argument once that the travel by satellite. Yet so far the Pentagon of the orbiting gear. Joint Chiefs of Staff should conduct a has adopted no plan to defend its space If you can't hide from the enemy, you practice operation without using or hardware to replace it in wartime. may be able to confuse him. Decoys, communications satellites. The said. JCS There is no dearth of ideas about how built to resemble the real thing, could force 'It can't be done. The operation won't to protect orbiting sentinels and relay the attacker lo waste his weapons on be possible.' Yet they won't face up to the stations. For example, to hit a satellite with false targets. Or the real satellite itself fact that the satellite cannot survive an a "killer satellite," missile, laser, mine, or might become the decoy. If there were attack. We should either mate it survivable the attacker must first find ft, The Air "silent" spare satellites stored in high or get out of space." Force is looking for defensive orbits, they could be brought down to Colonel Heimach, who has spent more countermeasures that would make U.S. replace the destroyed primary satellite. than 20 years working on satellite attack military satellites harder to locate. One Yet another defensive measure would be and defense for the Air Force and Defense possibility is maneuver: If attack seems to build lots of redundancy into the whole Advanced Research Projects Agency, imminent, move the target out of the way. system. The Global Positioning System is not alone In his concern. "War in space By the time the attacking weapon arrives used for navigation, for example, will work

is now a practical matter," declares it where was aimed, the target will have with 18 satellites and could use many Ronald T. Petty, editor of the authoritative moved somewhere else. more. If some of the satellites were lost, Jane's Weapons Systems. Petty believes Other countermeasures are designed planners believe that the system as a that space wars using killer satellites. to mate the target less visible. These whole would "degrade gracefully": The high-powered lasers, and particle-beam techniques are similar to those that will service it provides would be less complete weapons are now the deadliest threat go into the Stealth strategic bomber. and the accuracy would be reduced, to the global balance of power. There are, for example, painls or coatings but it would still exist. Already satellites have become a that do not reflect radar waves well, An attack, not yet feasible, on the three keystone of military preparedness. We making for a smaller blip on the enemy's U.S. missile early-warning satellites depend on them for warning of a nuclear screens. We might also call upon operating under the Defense Support Program would pretty much wreck the whole early-warning system. Ball Aerospace Corporation, in Boulder,

Colorado, has suggested that it could build many small missile-detecting satellites, which, combined with decoys, would be almost impossible to destroy. The Ball engineers think they could launch the whole system in one shuttle trip. Still another way to neutralize an antisatelliie attack would be to launch replacements for the destroyed hardware. Pentagon studies refer to this idea as "reconstitutable satellite systems" and

usually consider it for use during a nuclear war in which the principal launch centers at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, and Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, had been destroyed. Some ballistic missiles, such as Tridents hidden in submarines, might be able to launch small communications satellites into

relatively low orbits. If the chief geosynchronous communications satellites had been knocked out, these Up in the high ground of space, military observers argue, this country's defenses a replacements might restore some ia OMNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 151 IF A CAR IS REALLYAN EXTENSION OF ONES PERSONALITY WHAT KIND OF PERSON WOULD DRIVE A SAAB?

Notlongago, aleadingcar they sponsor an event called an Saab the carrying capacity of a magazine called Saab owners Autocross. Much to the dis- station wagon. "the lunatic fringe of the may of the local townspeople, And not only does his Saab American car-buying public." club members roar their Saabs have plenty of room for lug- Yet according to our statis- against the clock through staid gage, it also has plenty of room tics, the average Saab owner suburban parking lots. for people. More, in fact, than is male, age 38, college-edu- Beyond thefringe. many elitist cars. cated, works in a managerial At the other end of the For those who insist on job, and earns over $40,000 a luxury spectrum is the Saab owner for luxury's sake, Saab year. He is married and has has who is largely responsible for made one concession. 1.2 children. the respectable statistics that Some turbo models are now The fact is , both descrip- were cited earlier. equipped with an Exclusive tions are accurate. He bristles at Saab's cult Appointments Group that Thefringe. includes car reputation. He thinks of leather-upholstered seats electric Some people call this per- car clubs in the same light as and sunroofs. son a driving enthusiast; others motorcycle gangs. (That's really two concessions, call him a car nut. Nonetheless, he does isn't it?) Whateveryou call him, he realize that many of Saab's W3 SAAB PRICE* *US7 buys a car for one reason. "radical" innovations like turbo- 9003-door m-t-it-or. Economy? Who cares. charging, front-wheel drive, .SUMii Luggage space? 90QS3-dnor Who needs it. and aerodynamic design have 900S4-doar His 900Turbo3-daor. attitude is if a car broader applications than just 900 Turbo 4-door. SUiMlti doesn't give you goose bumps blowing your neighbor's BMW A ittvntatk hmisniissmi $370 addiltumtl. when you drive it, what's the off the road.

point of owning it. He sees the safety in high Even with leather uphol- For him, even a drive to performance every time he stery and sunroofs you don't the supermarket should be ex- merges onto a crowded free- have to open manually, Saabs hilarating. way or passes a truck on a have not replaced Mercedes For that, Saab's front-wheel two-lane highway. and BMW as the standard- drive and taut suspension give And, in a Saab APC Turbo, bearer at the country club. him the cornering ability of a this performance is attained But for Saab owners, what- sports car. without sacrificing fuel econ- ever type they may be, the And every time Saab's new omy. In fact, the APC system experience of driving a Saab APC turbocharger kicks in, he actually improves gas mileage; outweighs the lure of status. feels like he's just engaged He sees the logic of Saab's It has to. warp drive. front-wheel drive and four- How else could they get a Engineering philosophy wheel disc brakes, especially practical car that drives as well doesn't interest him. Results do. after the first snowfall. Or the as most wildly impractical cars? Often, he belongs to a car last rainfall. A car that appeals to their emo- club. Even Saab's hatchback de- tions as well as their intellect? Not the kind with leather sign, which some find uncon- So what kind of person jackets and secret handshakes. ventional, he finds practical, drives a Saab? But every month or so, considering that it gives his A very satisfied one.

*Saab9005-speedAPCTu,-bo:^rr • luaiihci: Artuai lugkn-tiy milcnei mil probably be it r ;. \ManuJacturerss!ius^lalyetm!pna's.\ otim:n

nerve:

By Doug Garr

r. Terry Hambrecht flips on the patient remains tethered to a computer paralyzed. Hambrecht holds a degree in video-cassette recorder, and a and must depend on technicians to start electrical engineering and is also a young man in a wheelchair the program. Eventually, however, Dr. medical doctor; his dual qualifications appears monitor. on the The man is a Hambrecht plans to replace his PDP-11 make him a natural leader in this relatively quadriplegic he has no feeling — in any standing frame model with a micro- new phase of bioengineering, In fact limb but in — a few seconds the camera processor worn on a belt. Since most he did his internship in surgery, thinking reveals the results of some remarkable quadriplegics retain shoulder movement, that most neural prostheses would research. slowly The man grasps a paper they could use their elbow to flip on the eventually need to be surgically implanted, with his cup right hand, gently cioses microprocessor. And with further like today's cardiac pacemakers. his fist, and raises it to his lips to drink. advances, Hambrecht speculates, it may Happily, scientists are already past that His gingerly movement could not be eventually prove possible to design a stage. The actual electrodes, stainless- called graceful, it yet is not entirely neural prosthesis that could be voice steel wires only 600 microns thick, are awkward either. activated. Then, a very complicated and implanted with hypodermic needles in of range Out camera is a PDP-11 sophisticated program could carry out what is a fairly fast and uncomplicated computer, which commands a system the intricate muscular coordination procedure. The physician inserts the that is eventually wired to the muscles in 'required for decent mobility. syringe and then applies an electrical the patient's forearm. The system is Hambrecht directs the neural-prosthesis current to see how the muscles contract. known as neural prosthesis, and, although ' program at the National Institute ot When the wire's in the right spot, he it has been tested on only a dozen or Neurological and Communicative extracts the needle. so quadriplegics in the United States, Disorders and Stroke, a federal agency. The electrodes stay in place because researchers are hopeful that more refined, His program has existed tor only a they have a barblike tip that grabs the portable devices will someday restore decade, but he has been dreaming of muscle, much like a fishhook. reasonable mobility to paralyzed limbs this kind of work since he was graduated Though medical science has known for even to the point of walking. from college in 1959. That year his best centuries that muscles contract when The current experiments rely on what friend was incapacitated in an auto- electricity is applied, the big mystery was will ultimately be regarded as a rather mobile accident. This prompted him to how it could be done in a manageable cumbersome, primitive system where the wonder what could be done to help the fashion. The solution appeared to be far in the distance until the advent of the Computer Age. Why not have a microprocessor direct the action — bridge the gap. so to speak— in the disabled nervous system? "We discovered that the computer could do most of the bookkeeping," Hambrecht says. "It could decide how much to stimulate which muscles and in what order, thereby coordinating the intricate pattern of muscular contraction that underlies even the simplest of

movements." The computer gives its directions, sending out a pulse that moves the muscles. Both the duration and the frequency of the pulse determine how much the muscle will contract. Some of the more advanced neural- prosthesis work is being done at the Rehabilitation Ergi needing Corner at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio. There Dr. Hunter Peckham, the director, has succeeded in teaching patients two kinds of grips with the system. One is called the key grip, which uses the thumb and forefinger, allowing a user RJIIfUD By Barbara Ford

on't ever mention the word possible way but the appropriate one. those alerted responded to hurricane landslide in Kodiak, Alaska. In Now social scientists who have been warnings, only 18 percent to tornado 1978 the U.S. Geological Survey studying this phenomenon think they have warnings, and 12 percent to flood warn- alerts (USGS), which the public to some insights into why it happens and, ings. "And by responding, I mean in volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, and more important, have a variety of any way at all," says sociologist Dr. Robert other geological hazards, notified local suggestions on how they can get the K. Leik, the principal investigator in the officials that a section of Pillar Mountain, public to pay better attention. study. "The only thing a warning does is just above the city's busy harbor, was What the experts have found is that start people asking questions." likely slide into to the water at some time when a warning of a severe storm or other Colorado State University sociologist in the future. The harbor, which is the disaster is broadcast, few people take Dennis Mileti, who has written a book of the city's home fishing fleet, is an precautions. Sometimes the public on the public's response to earthquake important element in the local economy. gets angry at the bearer of ill tidings, as predictions, believes that we tend to When alerted to the landslide threat, happened in Kodiak. Sometimes the ignore warnings of natural disasters the citizens of Kodiak reacted with fury. reaction is even more perverse. "The -first because for most people natural hazards Just about that Dr. time Thomas F thing most people do when they hear a are rare events. He points out that where Saarinen, of the University of Arizona, a tornado warning is go out and look at the natural hazards occur frequently, public geographer and expert on perception sky," says Dr. Fred Ostby, director of compliance with disaster alerts is high. of environmental hazards, was doing a -the National Severe Storms Center, in For example, just about everyone in public-attitude survey. He found that Kansas City, Kansas. And tornado Japan believes he can and will experience the people of Kodiak came up with several watching, he adds, can be particularly an earthquake. Similarly, much the same names to describe the USGS geologists, dangerous, because the twisters are attitude is found in areas of the United the printable of most which were ones so unpredictable. States like Topeka, Kansas, where like idiots and dingbats. Sometimes there is no reaction at all. tornadoes strike with some regularity. This kind of response is not news to to According a recent study by University To counter the indifference found in government officials. For years they've of Minnesota social scientists, the majority most other areas, though, Mileti says known that when people are issued a of Americans simply fail to heed all there are some simple approaches public disaster warning, they react in every warnings. They found only 35 percent of otficials can use. His suggestions: Be specific, be consistent, be confirmative, be authoritative, and be personal. By being specific, he means stating exactly

when and where the disaster is expected to occur. The identical message should also be delivered through a number

of media for maximum effect. "If a little line comes across the bottom of your television screen saying, 'This area will flood tonight,' you probably won't do

anything about it," he says. "But if you

also hear it on the car radio, you'll be more

likely to believe it." Even better is getting the warning from someone in authority, a mayor or governor. "In the Three Mile Island disaster," he notes, "most people believed the governor."

But the best message of all, Mileti says, is a personal one. "During the San Fernando Valley earthquake of 1971, the police rode up and down the street

with a loudspeaker, saying, 'This street is subject to flooding. You have an hour

to evacuate.' It was very effective." Saarinen adds that hazard notices for When warned ol nanus: disaster /e.v pcoc:e bo;r,er .'o nead for the hills. more distant events should also include COVT-NUED0NPAGE152 — —

THE EDDY By Patrice G. Adcroft

was a walking !ime bomb, are finally seeing She into the brain such vulnerable areas as the tissue below (hough neither she nor her immediately before, and even during, the speech center— can now be biopsied doctors knew it. A few years surgery, thanks to a development called or excised. Surgeons can plan their earlier, surgeons had removed a blood ultrasound imaging. By removing a descent through the so-called silent areas, clot from the young woman's brain, but small portion of the skull, sometimes no where incisions do not harm the paiient's the headaches and blackouts continued, bigger than a burr hole, and by barely functions later, and monitor the deft She went to five medical centers, touching the ultrasound instrument to the maneuvers of catheters and cannulas. searching for an answer. All the tests dura, the neurosurgeon can view the Through a darkness ultrasound makes X rays of her brain and blood vessels- brain's internal structure on a TV screen. visible, they can watch as they drain came back negative. This technique allowed doctors at the abscesses and clip aneurysms. In the brain there's no chance for a University of Chicago Medical Center to The image that gives the surgeon so surgeon to finger the furrowed regions the pinpoint and remove two small bundles much information—the depth of the tumor way he can reach in and touch the liver of abnormal blood vessels— one the size or cyst, its general size, and the best or bowel. Unless brain tumors are of a blueberry, the other even smaller angle of approach—would reveal little lo extremely large or so close to the surface buried like land deadly mines in the the rest of us. The slice of brain being that they bulge the kid-glove-like dura— young woman's head. scanned appears on the TV screen as the protective covering that drapes Suddenly [he most delicate and only a fan-shaped shadow. the brain— the neurosurgeon operates .complex system on Earth, the human Ultrasound works on the same principle without eyeing his mark. Guided by CAT brain, has become far more accessible as sonar, bouncing sound waves off scans and angiograms taken before to the pioneers who try to repair it. Using objecfs to determine their location and surgery, he tunnels blindly through the the eyes of ultrasound, "we have size. Only the instrument's scanhead delicate tissue to the affected region, performed surgery we would not have touches the brain. This vibrator-shaped, For patients, some including this dared to do otherwise," Dr. says George rather intimidating shaft is sheathed in woman, this procedure could be too Dohrmann III, associate professor of plastic to keep it sterile. The surgeon holds risky. Doctors occasionally opt for radiation neurosurgery at the Surgery-Brain Institute, the scanhead:s tip, less than two or drug therapy, with varying degrees University of Chicago Medical Center. centimelers in diameter, to the skull's of success. Now, however, many doctors Deep-seated tumors— those rooted in peephole, while dripping a saline solution on the dura to conduct the sound waves into the tissue. It's actually the scanhead's transducers— three hidden crystals, each with a graduated frequency—that send the sound waves into the cavity, The sound travels from one tissue boundary to the next, echoing back some of the energy at each obstruction.

When the sound returns, the energy is converted into electrical signals, which a computer processes and translates into grayish images on a TV screen. Because the echoes fire in rapid sequence, you can watch movements in the brain as they occur, from the pulsing of a blood vessel to the insertion of a needle. After surgery, doctors can pause before closing, using the scanner to spot such dangerous complications as hemorrhaging. By turning the scanhead slightly, the surgeon can view the gray matter in 90-degree arcs throughout the brain, not merely what lies under the peephole. The image can be a few centimeters deep Conventional or can penetrate to the other side of 26 OMNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 138 cemetery monastery remember it myself. Poor President Jackson - able to a full word: millinery confectionery You add You must remember that it is distillery stationery adapt, adaptable; work, workable. permissible for spelling to drive - words that end in (as in paper) You add able to you crazy. Spelling had this effect g— just remember to drop the final on Andrew Jackson, who once Here's another easy rule. Only e: if the word love, lovable. But blew his stack while trying to write four words end in -efy. Most people ends in two e's, like agree, you keep a Presidential paper. "It's a damn to spell misspell them- with -ijy, which is How them both: agreeable. poot mind that can think of only By John Irving usually correct. Just memorize these, - ible if the base is not You add one way to spell a word!" the Presi- the 13 different ways the sound Beside every word I look up more too, and use -ify for all the rest. full stand on its a word that can dent cried. "sh" can be written: than once, I write a note to myself own: credible, tangible, horrible, stupefy' putrefy When you have trouble, think -about WHY I looked it up. I have - if the root shoe suspicion rarefy terrible. You add ible of poor Andrew Jackson and know looked up "strictly" 14 times since liquefy responsible. You sugar nauseous word ends in -ns: that you're not alone. 1964. 1 prefer to spell it with ali- speller, I have ocean conscious As a former bad add - ible if the root word ends in as in "stricktly." I have looked up What's really important issue chaperone learned a few valuable tricks. Any -miss: permissible. You add - ible "ubiquitous" a dozen times. I can't how-to-spell book will teach And remember what's really nation mansion good if the root word ends in a soft c remember what it means. important about good writing is schist fuchsia you more than these two, but these Another good way to use your badly pshaw two are my favorites. Of the not good spelling. If you spell dictionary: When you have to look 800,000 words in the English lan- but write well, you should hold Now the good news up a word, for any reason, leam- guage, the most frequently mis- your head up. As the poet T S. and learn to spe([-a new word at "Write for as The good news is that 90 per- spelled is alright; just remember Eliot recommended, the same time. It can be any useful audi- cent of all writing consists of 1,000 that alright is ail wrong. You large and miscellaneous an word on the same page as the word possible"-and don't be basic words. There is, also, a wouldn't write akvrong, would you? ence as you looked up. Put the date beside you you should overly concerned if you can't spell International Paper asked .h hi Irving, method to most English spelling That's how know this new word and see how quickly, "miscellaneous." author of "The wiirlJ A^omling to Garp," and a gteat number of how-to-spell write all right. "The Hotel Hampshire, " or in what way, you forget it. Even- Also New and "Set- books. Remarkably, all these books The other . ting Free the Bears, "among other novels— tually, you'll learn it. propose learning the same rules! trick is for the J[S ? ft f* fl and once a hopelessly had speller himself— Almost as impottant as know- mprehensibilities - Not surprisingly, most of these truly uorst I1WW z^l to leach you htnc to impwee wur spelling ing what a word means (in order * spell conectly books are humorless. spellers. I mean to spell it) is knowing how it's pro- write well- Just keep this in mind: If you're those of you who and Let's begin with the bad news. nounced. It's government, not still be misun- .familiar with the words you use, spell so badly that you and If you're a bad speller, you goverment. It's February, not you'll probably spell them cor- can't get close enough to derstood. Hold your probably think you always will be. Febuary, And if you know that rectly-and you shouldn't be writ- the tight way to spell a word in head up about that, too. There are exceptions to every and - means against, you should ing words you're unfamiliar with order to even FIND ir in the dic- As good old G.C Lichten- spelling rule, and rules the them- spell know how to anti dote and you're looking said, "A book is a mirror: if anyway. USE a word-out loud, and tionary. The word ie the longesi English i berg selves are easy to forget. George of antibiotic and anti freeze. If you more than once-before try for is there, of course, but you in common use. But don't Set the length of an ass peers into it, you can't Bernard Shaw demonstrated how you know that ante - means before, you a u-ord frighten yoti There's a rule for how writing it, and won't find it the way you're trying expect an apostle to look out"- ridiculous make sure (with a some spelling rules are. iii uric, you can leam it." shouldn't have trouble spelling spell [his and cor- new word) rhat you know what it to spell it. What to do is look up whether you spell "apostle" By following the rules, he said, antechamber or antecedent. means before you use it. This a synonym -another word that (but remember to drop the final e!): rectly or not. we could spell fish this way: ghori . means you'll have to look it up in means the same thing. Chances force, forcible. The "f" as it sounds in enough, Some rules, exceptions, and a dictionary, where you'll not only are good that you'll find the word Got that? I don't have it, and the "i" as it sounds in women, and two tricks learn what it means, but you'll & you're looking for under the defini- I was introduced to that rule in the "sh" it as sounds in fiction. I don't have room to it's spelled. tion of the synonym. prep school; with that rule, I still rules how Choose a With such to follow, no touch on all the rules here. dictionary you enjoy browsing learn one word at a time. one should feel stupid for being It would take a book to Demon words and bugbears in, and guard it as you would a bad speller. But there are ways do that. But I can share a diary. wouldn't lend Everyone has a few demon You printed word is more vital than ever. Now there is to improve. Start by acknowledg- a few that help me Today, the look right, even a diary, would you? words- they never better, affile better, and ing the mess that English spelling most: more need than ever for all of us to read when they're spelled correctly. is communicate better. in-but have sympathy: English A tip on looking it up Some spelling prob- medieval . Three of my demons are International Paper offers this series in the hope that, even in spelling changed with foreign lems that seem hard are every I Beside . word ecstasy, and rhythm I have learned influences. wrote a small way, we can help. Chaucer "gesse," really easy. What about look up ii to hate these words, but I have nor but "guess," imported If you'd like to share this article with others- students, friends, earlier by -ary or -ery? Just remember tionary, I make learned to spell them; I have to the invaders, finally employees, family- we'll gladly send you reprints. So far we've sent Norman that there are only six a mark. look them up every time. it. early printers 9,000,000 in response to requests from people everywhere. replaced Most words in out over And everyone has a spelling of the Printed Word," International in England came from Holland; English that Please write: "Power rule that's a bugbear- it's either too they brought "ghost" "gherkin" Paper Company, Dept. 12X, RO. Box 954, Madison Square Station, and end in -ery. difficult to leam or it's impossible with them. Memorize New York, NY 10010. cnu, international paper company to remember. My personal bugbear If you'd like to intimidate your- them, and COMPANY among the rules is the one govern- /^INTERNATIONAL PAPER self- and remain a bad speller feel fairly ing whether you add -able or -ible . \±S We believe in the power of the printed word. forever— just try to remember secure that 1 can teach it to you, hut I can't all the rest end in -ary THE ARTS By John Clute

^^•ritish best-selling author Brian gave w.-ite-s a chance ;o experiment ignoring human interest in favor of I Aldiss is in London to talk about with C^E everything from the way their stories scientific problem solving, that the British his latest novel. Heliconia k^^v Spring, were written to the Ihemes they tackled. NewWave rebelled against. People, a hard science-fiction epic set on a very These stories did not have a chance after all, were the real problem. Stick half unusual planet that orbits two suns. As of being published in the United States, a dozen adults into a complex environ- he greets you in the Skyline Lounge of because they often contained a ment, and they might solve a few his hotel, you'd never guess that he was depressing visipn of the future, an outlook technological puzzles — or they might die once one of those notorious New Wave that did not appeal to American editors. trying— but sooner or later the rhythms writer's whose chic radicalism and smart- Although some of these writers, like Aldiss of human lives and loves will take over the alecky literary experiments offended so and J. G. Ballard and Thomas M. Disch mental foreground. And this is the many old-order editors and readers. and Moorcock himself, had been territory that should be the stamping Tall, tanned, conservatively dressed, flourishing as professional writers for ground for a real novelist, whether he is he is clearly at ease with the broadloom years, they managed to shake up the old Charles Dickens or Larry Niven. and morning vodkas of his chosen hotel, traditions SF and form a New Wave. But in Heliconia Spring, Aldiss has whose picture windows overlook the Traditional SF tale-telling was defined created a binary-star system that burdens offices of the government-sponsored BBC by the popular American SF writer Poul its occupants with a year the length of where he appears frequently these Anderson in an essay he published some 2,500 Earth years — too long for human days, both on radio and television. Today years it ago. In he laid down the ground memories, or for human cultures to he looks like a successful executive rules for creating complete solar sysfems adjust to with any competence. The enjoying a break after wrapping up of It a out whole cloth. was not that easy Heliconians are victims of their unfailingly particularly complex project. lo play God. You had to think and plan dramatic environment. When your winter This is an unusual image for a man before you leaped. Before you peopled lasts 500 years, as it does on this planet, who for a brief time in the 1960s held a ypur world, you had to make it work; you what kind of society can possibly exist? place in a constantly shifting roundtable of had to be methodical, obsessive, and In answering this question, following friends and colleagues that centered rigorously obedient to the scientific his cosmological scheme to the letter and on Michael Moorcock and the radical requirements of the scheme. strictly obeying the dictates of his magazine New Worlds. This magazine It was this kind of traditional SF writing, system, Aldiss found himself venturing into territory more familiar to authors like Anderson and. Niven, who set themselves a scientific problem and then put their

characters to work solving it. This does not mean that Aldiss has completely forsaken his New Wave humanistic origins. He continues to wriie

as if the human condition were his main

concern. It is part of Aldiss's message that his characters cannot grasp their whole world, but they live vividly all the same. The ultimate influence of the New Wave movement on SF should be measured by the spirit of experimen- talism (hat persists and the conviction that SF novels should be written to expose and dramatize the human condition.

Perhaps if we want people to recognize the difference between a coffeepot and the space shuttle, we have to show them what it has to do with their own lives and those of future generations. Perhaps we need more novels like Heliconia Spring that can successfully combine the traditional technological schemes with contemporary humanistic values. DO —

} HOTOGRAPHY THE ARTS By Esther Wanning

they were very sorry, Ihey chemicals have to be light-sensitive, have the reporter personally survey the mo,said, but the reporter could not they are delicate. Black-and-white photos computer seemed to stem from the see the Painting Computer in may last quite a few years, but color facts that the process itself is a secret action. The reporter certainly might talk to tends to fade at a shocking rate. With and a more mechanical mind than this the project head, they added, or other scanamurals, you can take a bitty photo. reporter's might divine how it works—and heads. The company would be happy to even 35mm, and produce an extra- the work-in-progress is likely to become accommodate her in any way—short large, colorfast mural. On canvas. some corporate ad campaign not yet of letting her into The Presence. Thus It's a latter-day wonder. public. And clearing the press for visiting spake the 3M Company, the only producer The original invention came out of reporters is not done lightly. We're of scanamurals in the U.S.A. Japan. The story goes that one day a talking expensive computer time here.

Scanamurals are, in the world of graphic designer, a Mr. Gisen, had to The reporter took it well, for she is a rea- photography, a giant step. Since 1826, make a backdrop for a show, and it was sonable person, with secrets of her own. when Joseph Niepce astonished and going (o have to be handpainted. He This is, however, what the reporter delighted the world with the very first said to himself something like this: "This would have seen: An operator wraps a photograph, the advances of photography is a job for television. A television beams machine-ready transparency, made from

have been multifold. But problems have electrons. If I could just get it to beam- the original picture, around an optical remained. Size, for one. When enlarged, paint, I'd have my backdrop." Eureka! He tube. A beam reads the picture and splits photographs tend to "break down" did. Fuji Telecasting then developed the it into four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow,

(become fuzzy, grainy, and ultimately process in Japan, where it's been used and black. The color and density are unrecognizable). This is particularly true mainly to make giant banners that hang converted into electrical signals, and four of color photographs. And so you don't from tall buildings advertising movies. sprayheads pointed at a large drum are see photographs the size of The Last In 1975, 3M acquired the license for activated. Material to paint onto (the Supper around, which is a source of the United States. substrate) has been wrapped around the chagrin to photographers who would like 3M adapted the process for the drum. This material can be of many to compete with painters on every American market arid now has three different, flexible types, although canvas ground, including size. Durability is Painting Computers in Canoga Park, is the most popular, and it can be up another problem. Because photographic California. Management's disinclination to to 15 feet wide and 10 feet long. The optical tube and the drum roll simultaneously, reading and painting. The Painting Computer can paint a picture in about an hour. The cost is essentially payment for computer time.

And the cost is high. I may wish to blow up a picture of my wedding cake to the size of the dining-room wall, but

the bill would run about $2,500. Therefore,

I will not. But then again I may, because scanamurals can do things nothing else can. Unlike photographic enlarging, scanamurals get better as they get bigger. With every revolution of the drum, the sprayhead advances two millimeters (Vie inch}. So, proportionally speaking, the more you enlarge, the finer the dis- tinctions. However, fine resolution is not in itself a characteristic of scanamurals. They work best with large pictures, to be seen from a certain distance. The image can be printed on canvas, polyesters, vinyls, carpeting, and some papers. Vinyl is used in hospitals and food

service areas because it can be cleaned DeSana's kinky scanamural: Unlike a photogi easily. There's an antigraffiti coating 32 OMNI — a

18 feet picture of flowers with an abstract float- that broadens the scanamural possibilities scanamural 6.5 feet high and soon. ing look—is now in the Desert Museums in public places. There's a polyester wide. And permanent collection. (Guilford 701} that works for sound This, Rinehart says, was a perfect Scanamurals have a distinctly absorbency. There's a canvas with a scanamural job. The prints in hand were dark; so would get the original scanamural look: The scan lines show paper backing that makes it hang like a little he the texture of the substrate is wallpaper. Various cottons give slightly transparency from which to make a and that is, one somewhat rough. Some like it, some differing looks. Some materials render machine-ready transparency— don't. Some work with it. Jimmy DeSana deeper saturation than others. They scaled for enlargement. (The machine paints on top of it. DeSana, a painter can be made fire-retardant with a spray is programmed to enlarge only by factors turned photographer, has had great or be done on a fire-resistant polyester of 24, 36, or 48.) And scanamural is viewing, fine success with what he calls "kinky fabric. And thus they conform to the ideal for television because the imagery" (a nude wearing spike heels public-building fire codes. This is another resolution isn't a problem. Although three options floating facedown in the water; lovers on inslance of contrast with photographs, station might appear to have the beach, wrapped in aluminum foil). which are highly flammable. in setting up this backdrop. Rinehart the only "As just a color photographer, it's almost Mot surprisingly, this adds up to a lot of later explained, scanamural was impossible to think about large-scale, corporate and institutional use. Says feasible one. "They could do it publicly funded works," he says. "I heard Bob Rinehart, of General Graphics, in photographically, in which case they of the 3M process two or three years San Francisco, an authorized dealer, would have a great number of panels and ago and tracked it down to Imero "Scanamurals are not much used in the the joints would show. The optics of and Fiorentino Associates, who are dealers home market, because nobody has gone lenses make it hard to maintain focus matching in New York City. after the home market. I'm certainly not color balance at the edges. Try beginning now to use the they could have it "I'm going to. It's hard to reach, and there's just a sky. Then, for painting, but still would scanamural as a ground not enough money there." Though you handpainted, which is done but square inch of I don't paint over every need only ask, as Mario Andretti (the be. impossibly expensive here. So that canvas. The quality can be disappointing racing-car driver) did, and a wall of racing compared with the sharp photos I'm cars can be yours. A staircase of used to, which is one of the reasons I Muppets? Jim Henson. the Muppets' started painting over them. Before they creator, has these. Or you might want to just weren't quite there. Of course the cover the walls of an elegant room with ^Someday I'm bigger get, the better they are. Now garden murals made from eighleenth- they I'm applying to do a seventy-five-foot- century French engravings, as did one of going to have someone take long scanamural for a shopping mall." This San Francisco's grand hotels, the a full-length would be large, but somewhere in Taiwan Fairmont. picture of in the nude, there's a scanamural 240 feet long; a Still, it's in trade shows—where $50,000 me aviation that was made for set history of is not considered a great amount to which I'll have Boeing. up a booth—that the price of scanamurals printed as a scanamural onto Darcy Gerbarg, an artist who does becomes attractive, in fact cheap. After computer paintings, was one of the first all, lor the price, you get something that canvas. And then I'll to try scanamurals. "I paint directly with will fold up easily to go on board an have it made into a suit3 television light, and what I see on the airplane and then can be erected on a screen has no corporeal reality. As a fine nomadic frame. You get an exact to something people artist, I need have representation of your product. You get can hang on their walls. The only available something that won't burn up. You get techniques for turning my paintings into something big. You can attach magnets "which objects have been film and photo to a scanamural by hanging it against a leaves scanamurals," he added, printing techniques—such metal background. have no problems." enlargement, in as silk screen and etching—and now "You'll see some bad. seedy Many of you are already tuning to Gerbarg considers photomurals around," Rinehart says, "but scanamurals. Behind Johnny Carson are scanamurals." best not the twinkling lights of Burbank; that's scanamurals by far the biggest and they're not mine. I tell customers when' you're not mode available to her at present. "The fhe process will work for them and when a scanamural. In San Francisco artist's seeing the skyline on Channel 4 news. scale is great, the ink will work on it won't." You wouldn't, for instance. 2 in Salt canvas, and from a distance the image want to use scanamurals for an illustrated That's a hanging. And Channel scanamural of is perfectly sharp. You can see one of lecture on the birth of a baby. Lake City has a daytime these from two hundred yards." Her Scanamurals just don't do detail that the Wasatch Range, which makes way at scanamurals are 9' x 12' and8'x20'. precisely. For a picture in the wedge, over night for a vista of the city. from 35mm transparencies, which the fireplace, you can probably do better Photographers, painters, and interior made photographically you couldn't print lhan a scanamural. But perhaps you're decorators have had their fingers up 30"x40". decorating an airport? Miami Airport has in the air for a long time, waiting for wind larger than Dunn, a Gerbarg agrees that scanamurals are 13 scanamurals— all scenics of Florida of something like this. Nancy expensive, but she points out that a along the concourse. They are painted photographer, remembers fhe very day comparable work by a young artist in on smooth vinyl and, added together, are she heard about scanamurals. "I read in other media would run in the same price longer than three football fields. As they about them in the New York Times scanamural range. She does hers in editions of ten, say at 3M, "Nature didn't make white November 1978. I went to a which don't have to be printed all at walls. People did." demonstration and was so impressed saving on ordering multiple While Rineharl was demonstraling the by the size, texture, and flexibility. And the once. The the look copies is not great, since the drum rolls finer points of different substrates to sense of them in space, And canvas." for only one at a time. As Rinehart puts it, me, a television station designer came in they get from being painied on "They're expensive compared with with a model" in his hand for a When the Palm Springs Desert Museum wallpaper, but they're cheap compared broadcasting room he wanted to set up. gave Dunn two huge walls for a show, she hiring Larry Rivers to paint a mural." The three walls were covered with an realized that she would have a chance with any. Nancy Dunn is sanguine about the aerial shot of the San Francisco Bay Area to display her scanamurals, if she had scanamural look. 'As soon as you use any taken from a U-2 airplane. He needed a She does now, and one of them— CONTINUED ON PAGE 112 35 —

\E ARTIFICIAL irUTELLIGERJCE By Owen Davies

buy or not to buy, thai is the a veteran computer user, occasional on the microprocessor, the chip that question that nags would-be To Omni contributor, and Byte columnist. "If does the actual computing in your computer owners. If you buy now, all you want is to play games, it doesn't candidate computer. A computer's power you can start to use your computer much matter when you buy it. If you depends on many factors. Three are before the day is out. But if you wait six run any kind of business, you should have built into the processor: the number of months or so, the same machine will bought one three years ago. The point bits of information it crunches at a time, its probably be cheaper, and far more of having a computer is not the hardware; "clock speed," and its "instruction set." powerful ones will be available. it's what the machine will do for you. If A "bit" is the smallest unit of information,

It's a real dilemma, and this year the write, if you you do any significant financial equal to the flip of a single switch in the problem is its at peak. According to analysis or record keeping, then the computer's processor or memory. For some estimates, new computers are efficiency you gain in the next six months practical use, bits are assembled into units appearing on the consumer and business could repay the cost of the computer," of 8, known as bytes, or 16, known as market at a rate ot about one a day. if That is, you pick the right one. It may words. One byte is roughly equivalent to Yet most computer users claim that not be easy. "It's possible to buy a good one letter of text. In the computer's there's really no decision to be made machine without worrying about binary arithmetic, far larger numbers can other than which machine to choose. technical data," says Mark Garetz, be expressed in a word than in a byte; 'At any given moment there's a valid president of CompuPro, ah Oakland, so heavy number-crunching usually goes reason to buy now; it's just a different California, computer with maker a faster on a 16-bit computer than it does reason for different people," says Carl reputation for building high-quality on an 8-bit machine. Helmers, a widely respected industry equipment for the knowledgeable A computer's clock speed is the analyst who began his career as founding "hacker." He cautions, though, that "it's number of times each second that the editor of Byte magazine, the micro- also possible to buy really bad machines microprocessor can flip the switches in computer world's first mass-market with specs that sound really good. The which it stores information —the smallest publication aimed at nonengineers. 'specsmanship' that people play in unit of work it can perform. A micro- "It depends on what you want to do," this business is really incredible." processor running at a clock speed of 6 science-fiction adds writer Jerry Pournelle, Much of the jargon you'll face centers megaHertz, or 6 million cycles per second, can do three times as much work in an hour as an identical processor running the same program at a clock speed of only 2 mHz. Most of the current microcomputers offer speeds some- where within this range.

By far the most complicated factor is the microprocessor's instruction set—the vocabulary of primitive orders that

controls the microprocessor. Ignore it. Promotional fliers often babble about the powerful instruction set of the chip used by the machine being sold, and in general it's true that a large, well-thought-out instruction set makes for a more powerful

processor, while a limited one makes it difficult to write versatile, easy-to-use programs. But only a skilled programmer will ever notice its existence. "How important these technical details are depends on what you plan to do with the computer," Garetz observes. "For simple word processing, a well-designed

eight-bit machine is more than adequate. The big advantage of sixteen-bit Circuits "Hip switches" million: computers is not that they are more 33 OMNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 150 —

FLYS-EYE RADAR BREAKTHRDUEH5 By Owen Davies

new radar-imaging system string experiment last ^^\ summer, the fast minicomputer specially designed for promises to let air-traffic inventor used M^^K a single antenna, shifting if the complex mathematics required. # » controllers five years from now around periodically and combining the How soon these predictions will come see from as much as 20 — miles away "photographs" later. Yet the results true depends not on technology, he whether an incoming plane has towered its were far better than normal radar could adds, but on money. 'An airport installation landing gear. Military surveillance aircraft have given, Steinberg reports. In scans would cost about five-million dollars for may use the technique tell to friend of a small town about five miles from the electronics and considerably more from foe at far greater distances than is the antenna, buildings, streets, and even than that for ancillary equipment," he now possible, and spy satellites could gain a truck could be seen. He says greater notes. "We are ready to it design today. I remarkably improved vision. detail should soon be available. don't know what a next-generation Air-traffic-control systems will be the For military use, the system's promise AWACS system would cost. Most of it easiest to develop, says electrical is clear. America's Airborne Warning would go to designing an airplane with engineer Bernard Steinberg, the University and Communications System (AWACS) the antennas built into the skin. That of Pennsylvania professor devised who and Hawkeye surveillance planes are is probably ten years off." the imaging method. "Modern airports are designed to keep track of all aircraft in a Ironically, the more difficult and costly three to five kilometers across," he battle zone, coordinating friendly forces application seems likely to come first. explains, "and much of that space is and warning of approaching enemy craft. Steinberg reports that well-heeled wasted. If we could put perhaps a Steinberg believes radar-imaging planes Pentagon officials are beginning to take thousand antennas into those wasted could far better do a job. "The AWACS notice of his work, but money for air- areas, we could get clear images of the and the Navy's Hawkeye are exquisite traffic safety seems hard to come by, airplanes, not just fuzzy blobs." designs, but they dale back to the NEW PRODUCTS The key to Steinberg's technique is to Nineteen Fifties," he comments. make all those small, separate antennas "This could be the next generation." It is only the size of a "boom box," but work like a single, much larger one, just Many small antennas, each the size of the Music Processor is actually a as the new "fly's eye" telescopes use a dollar bill, would be built into the compact digital-recording studio for multiple mirrors to form a single image. airplane's skin. Images would be musicians on the run. The portable system The clarity of radar, he says, varies with processed in the plane itself by a large, includes a double cassette recorder, a the size of the antenna in the same way graphic equalizer, a two-way detachable a telescope image depends on the speaker system, and a synthesizer size of the. lens or mirror. keyboard that generates four types of The diameter of a two-inch telescope rhythm, three types of tone, and variable mirror is 100,000 times the length of a tempos and pitches. The Music single wave of light. To achieve the same Processor's microcomputer memory resolution as the tittle telescope, a stores up to 340 notes, and the keyboard conventional radar unit— focusing radio can- be played manually or switched to waves roughly a million times as long automatic playback. The machine also as light waves— would need an antenna features high-speed dubbing and some 20 miles across. editing functions and can record in In practice, even if room could be analog or digital form. (About $650, from found for such an antenna, its parts would Sharp Corporation, 22-22 Nagaike-cho, flex so much that it could never be Abeno-ku, Osaka 545, Japan.) focused. "The position of each point of the antenna must be known to within The Safe House Personal Alarm looks one tenth of a radio wavelength littie —as like a doctor's beeper and clips incon- as half an inch," Steinberg notes. spicuously to a pocket or belt. But this To get around this, he uses a beeper has a string attached: A wire minicomputer to build a single image connects it to a thin plastic card stashed from many small antennas, much as radio in the bearer's wallet or purse. Pickpock- astronomers create star maps from eting attempts cause the device to emit a signals received at many distant shrill alarm instead of the standard beep. observatories. Each antenna has a ($6.95, from Radio Shack, a division of microchip to calculate its own position. Tandy Corporation, 1800, One Tandy To keep costs down in his first shoe- Thousands of "eyes" could sharpen blips. Center, Fort Worth, TX 76102.) DO 40 OMNI CDfUTinjuurm

WEAPONS BUILDERS SPEAK OUT

all and scientific activity now tak- all started innocently enough when, at the age of sixteen, 50 percent of the engineering Warren Davis was "discovered" in a Ford Foundation hunt for ing place in the United States is defense-related. It Stein, an engineering graduate student budding scientific minds. It was 1 958. The Soviet Sputnik was HTPP member Josie the Jet orbiting the earth, and the space race was on, That summer at MIT, knows this all too well. Last year she worked at Davis and 40 other whiz kids were placed in an intensive sci- Propulsion Laboratory, in California. Happily, her assignment ence and engineering program. By sixteen, Davis had secret was nonmilitary. She was designing an observational device for Halley's Then the clearance and was assigned to space project research, "I wanted a spacecraft scheduled to fly past Comet. of Air Force to be a scientist," recalls forty-one-year-old Davis, who as a lab's reins of power shifted into the hands former youth had dreamed of putting man in space, even on the moon. Chief of Staff Lew Allen, A major policy change ensued. Defense preference over civilian projects, and "I loved the work." contracts suddenly gained seeking a cloistered setting But that youthful idealism was sorely tested. For, although Stein left. She returned to school, the Davis never wanted to build tools of destruction, some of his and time to think about alternatives. Instead, she found same in her department handiwork soon ended up in Poseidon and Polaris missiles armed moral dilemma. Most of the research projects she with nuclear warheads. Like many high-tech pros, Davis was were funded by the Department of Defense. That's when willing to work on weapons from time to time, in hopes that a decided to join HTPP. only strong U.S. arsenal would actually deter nuclear conflict. But To date, the 1,400-member organization has placed 2 when President Ronald Reagan started to say we could actually out of 200 job applicants. But a full-time manager has been survive and win a limited nuclear war Davis began to fear that hired, and prospects are looking up. Eighty new companies contacted, the weapons might actually be used. dedicated to nondefense-related work have been are regularly called Until last year, Davis worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical resumes are going out daily, and candidates Lab, in Massachusetts. He was designing a space telescope ten for interviews. employment? times as powerful as the one soon to be launched by the space Why don't all the members sign up for peaceful

it really exists. "I signed up last year in hopes shuttle. Then, in 1981, it was rumored that NASA funding for the Some don't believe high-rank- project would be replaced by Department of Defense money. Davis of finding a nondefense job," admits Tom Forman, a of leading weapons developers threatened to quit if that happened. 'And when money ran out this ing manager at one America's Forman's request). summer," he says, "they just showed me the door." (the company's name has been withheld at development, I've To make sure the weapons he has built will never wreak de- "I've spent my whole career in weapons and

it. I never believed you could get struction, Davis is now channeling his energies into High Tech- always felt reluctant about But often nology Professionals for Peace (HTPP). He is now president of out." Though HTPP has been unable to place Forman, he at the the year-old, Massachusetts-based organization, formed to speaks against nuclear weapons for the organization— technological protest the buildup of nuclear arms. In addition. HTPP operates risk of his job. "The nuclear-arms race is not a engineers should an employment service that tries to place high-tech pros in non- issue, it's a political issue," he says. "More

. . protecting their jobs." defense-related jobs. speak out, but they don't. . They're it was," "We get about a hundred resumes a month," Davis explains. Forman fears his colleagues' silence. "That's how he under Hitler." I in Germany, They pour in from those who have spent their careers in weap- says, "when was a student are protesting ons development and want out. And they come from those who Nevertheless, many high-tech pros in America alternatives. They find building arms morally objectionable. the weapons buildup and actively seeking But these engineers and scientists face a major problem: As hope their stance will prevent them from one day having to tell were "only the Defense budget skyrockets, the number of nondefense jobs an international war crimes commission that they dwindles^- According to a study by a Ralph Nader group, some following orders."—RICHARD LEVINS ——

caruTiruuunn

EARTHQUAKE disasters — is not a me- hated one another before EUPHORIA first form of panic but a the disaster suddenly massive, neighborly high. becoming the best of Remember the movie "When people go through friends. They even share Earthquake? The hundreds : a disaster," Mileti explains, each other's clothes." of thousands of panic- 1 "they don't panic; they Mileti, now an associate stricken people clawing and don't loot and try to steal professor of socidlogy at gouging one another, their from their neighbors. In- Colorado State University, humanity forgotten in their stead, they experience a bases his conclusions on a wild surge to escape? burst of altruism II goes review of more than 300 Well, if a Colorado sociolo- shooting through their bod- university studies on reac- gist is right, you may as ies like adrenaline. They tions to disaster, including well tear up that script. Ac- , want to go around rescuing the 1971 San Fernando cording to Dr. Dennis Mileti, one another. earthquake in southern Cal- a former research specialist "This feeling of good, this ifornia. In every one of for California the Seismic euphoria, is definitely con- these studies, Mileti says, To train his rodents, Nolan the real Safety Commission, tagious." he maintains. "You the euphoria response held first inserts electrodes into human reaction to earth- find blacks and whites up 90 percent of the time. an area near the hypothala- quakes—and other natural and Chicanos who mav have But don't expect this rush mus, the brain's pleasure of benevolence to last. center. The electrodes "During the disaster," Mileti deliver a highly rewarding asserts, "people do things stimulation whenever the rats they wouldn't dream of press a treadle bar. But doing before the disaster the rats have access to the occurred. And a few days bar only while TNT vapors afterward, when they've got are present. After the rats things patched together, are trained. Nolan can learn they wouldn't dream of just when they smell TNT doing them again." and anticipate pleasure' — Bill Lawren simply by monitoring their brain waves on a computer. "The doors of heaven and Nolan foresees the day hell are adjacent and identi- when his specially trained cal: both green, both beau- rats, hooked to a micro- tiful." computer that analyzes brain —Nikos Kazantzakis waves, will be sent to the field in remote-controlled RAT PATROL vehicles. Every time a

rat smells TNT, its expecta- One of the more distaste- tion ol pleasure will register

ful tasks a soldier faces is on the microcomputer, to go into a minefield to which could then radio back look for mines. But for spe- to military headquarters cially trained rats, the the exact location of the experience might actually mine. be a pleasure. At least Nolan adds that most that's the hope of U.S. Army mines are now uncovered Dr. Raymond Nolan, who by toot soldiers carrying has recently been teaching electromagnetic detectors rats to sniff out mines by through the field. "Ob- associating the smell of TNT viously," he notes, "that's rihquake depicted natural-disaster victims as panic- with pleasurable brain very dangerous." selfish. The truth is something quite the opposite. slim .latio —Jim Cavuoto "

forbidden by law to spend type radio receivers spe- even a cent on SETI. cially designed for SETI will NASA scientists dedicated Defeated, NASA officials be plugged into radio to the Search for Extrater- and sympathetic scientists telescopes in an effort to restrial Intelligence (SETI) began a small-scale lobby- monitor as many as 8 million were sorely disappointed a ing campaign on behalf separate radio channels tew years ago when Sena- of SETI. Today that low-key simultaneously. Specially tor William Proxmire gave approach has succeeded: designed computer systems their project his Golden Though Proxmire still insists will be developed to ana- Fleece Award for wasting that SETI is "silly," NASA lyze this monstrous amount taxpayers' money The will once again fund the of data. senator's accusation made quest. In fact the space At the end of five years a big impression on Con- agency will spend $1.5 mil- NASA hopes to begin a gress, which decided it lion in 1983 to get its SETI large-scale, and presumably would no longer support program under way. permanent, program based attempts to detect intelligent NASA's restored SETI on equipment and concepts the red cell we keep: we've radio signals emanating program is beginning as a light-years beyond the just created a new mem- from deep space. By Octo- five-year research-and- earliest SETI efforts. brane for it," explains bioengineer Irving Miller, ber 1, 1981, NASA was development effort. Proto- —Robert Sheaffer E dean of the University of Illinois graduate school and "Science belongs to no one codirector ot the project. country. Miller says that besides its —Louis Pasteur superb oxygen-carrying capacity, the substitute can be given to recipients of any blood type and will A new kind of synthetic probably have a much blood that carries oxygen longer shelf life than regular with enormous efficiency is cells have. Moreover, be- being developed at the cause the synthetic cells University of Illinois at Chi- have a maximum size of one cago. The still-experimental micron (a tenth the size of blood functions so well an ordinary red cell), they

because it is made from a could penetrate areas that marvelous substance with genuine blood cells cannot just the right properties: reach. That might be of real blood. potential benefit to stroke Researchers at the uni- and heart-attack victims. versity and at Chicago's Furthermore, Miller says, Rush-Presbyterian-St. the capsules stand up to Luke's Medical Center have mechanical pumping better succeeded in making the than natural cells do. He synthetic cells from human foresees the day when : and animal hemoglobin, patients undergoing open- the blood constituent that heart surgery will be in-

'. carries oxygen. The hemo- ; fused with artificial blood

: globin is stored in synthetic while they are connected to ; : the heart-lung machine. capsules made of fatty i

', lipids, and the tiny capsules 'After surgery, we would put are suspended in a syn- the patient's own blood j his throw thetic plasma. ! back into body and

"Whatever is there inside : ours away."— David L. Dreier 45 —

CDruTiruuunn

network of paranoid beliefs LOCH NESS BOMBER aggravated by the impaired sight and hearing that What lies buried under typically go with old age. 230 feet of water in the peat This sensory deprivation, Dr. sediment of Scotland's Petrie says, makes them fabled Loch Ness? Answer:

unable to understand their a World War II twin-engined surroundings fully, and bomber, number N2980, they become even more now dubbed the Loch Ness suspicious. Wellington. "They tend to shoot first Ditched in Loch Ness and ask questions later," during a training exercise Petrie adds, on New Year's Eve, 1940, The five patients with late this is only the second paraphrenia were judged Wellington bomber out of the most dangerous. Seven more than 1 1 ,000 to have other violent patients had survived until today brain deterioration caused The Loch Ness Wellington by senile dementia or was first located in 1976, alcoholism. Another five when Marty Klein, of Salem, suffered from known mental New Hampshire, was hunt- illnesses (schizophrenia ing the Loch Ness monster or manic psychosis), and with sonar equipment.

one had a paranoid disorder Heriot-Watt University, in that could not be identified. Edinburgh, has since used Six in the group had been a remotely operated under- attacked at home by intrud- water television system to An eighty-one-year-old woman threatened a maintenance man ers or mugged on the examine the Wellington. with a butcher knife and fired a gun through her open front door. street in the year preceding Recently the Loch Ness their own violent outbursts. Wellington QERMTRIC VIOLENCE Association at imagined burglars Petrie believes that this was formed to retrieve the were suffering from late personal history, as well as aircraft and display it at The elderly, so often ihe paraphrenia, a paranoid easy access to firearms, a museum. They hope to victims of violent criminals, disorder that usually appears combined with paranoid rescue the bomber as soon sometimes fall victim to in people over sixty-five. ; thinking to predispose these as they raise enough money, psychiatric disorders that ! Late paraphrenia involves people to violence. Only thus disproving the old make them commit acts of of the none confusion or one patient had struck out Scottish belief that the loch violence themselves. A memory loss that character- violently j before the age never gives up its dead. study of 222 patients admit- i izes less dangerous ag- of sixty. —Dava Sobel —Joseph Zarzynski ted to a Nashville, Tennes- ' gressive behavior in the el- see, geriatric psychiatry derly, according to Dr. unit found 18 incidents of William (vl. Petrie, of the de- | assault with deadly weapons partment of psychiatry at by men and women whose Vanderbilt University. In- average age was seventy- ; stead, those who suffer from four. late paraphrenia are alert Five of these— including and coherent, capable an eighty-one-year-old of living alone and carrying woman who threatened a ; out detailed plans, such maintenance man with ! as buying guns to protect a butcher knife and fired a their property, : gun through the opened But beneath their apparent Sonar image of bomber in 230 feet of wa front door of her apartment composure lies a volatile of Scotland's Loch Ness: A by-product o 46 OMNI FOILING OIL ping them in oil samples. RUSTLERS According to R. E. Bel- lows, who, as president Like the cattle barons of Micro-Dots, Inc., in Ed- who preceded them, Ameri- mund. Oklahoma, is carrying can oil tycoons are starting out Farmer's idea, the dots to brand crude oil in the thrive in oil for at least 60 hope of thwarting thieves. days. And since they burn Oilmen from Kansas to up in the refining process, California would have taken they do not have to be up Ihe idea long ago, since filtered out at the refinery they swallow multimillion- like the costly dyes and dollar annual losses from oil chemicals used in past theft, but oil-branding identification efforts. technology simply wasn't Branding the oil is a simple available. Now a Pond- matter o! tossing one or creek, Oklahoma, man has more "eggs" of microdots come up with the idea of into a tank. The egg, a tossing hundreds of tiny dots polystyrene cube measuring of film into a tank of oil for 1.5 inches on a side, dis- irrefutable proof of owner- solves in seconds, releasing ship. "One of those little up to 500 microdots, or dudes," contends inventor enough to label 100 barrels

John Farmer, "could put of oil. a thief in the penitentiary," Computer-generated Farmer said the idea identification numbers on came to him when a news- the microdots are changed paper reporter covering regularly as part of the Black rhino: Because the rhino's horn is worth $250,000, its num- widespread oil theft com- service. Bellows says, and bers have dwindled in Kenya. Next stop: Glen Rose. Texas. olained that owners couldn't would be almost impossible put a serial number on to counterfeit. It works out, RHINOS IN TEXAS They'll also be free of the their oil. "Well, that got me he adds, to about 17 cents poachers who contributed to to thinking," he explains, per barrel for microdot The black rhinoceros of the decimation of the spe- Maybe you could put the protection.— Dava Sobel Africa is one of the most cies in the first place. (An serial number in the oil." endangered animals in the eight-pound horn, proc- Soon he was out photo- "How to tola" a diaper de- world. Since 1970 its num- essed to make aphrodisiacs, graphing lease signs on pends on the size of the bers have fallen from medicines, or ornaments, drilling property, miniaturiz- baby and the diaper." 200,000 to fewer than can bring $250,000.) Con- ing the pictures, and drop- —Dr. Benjamin Spock 20,000. In Kenya, a former servation experts agree that rhino stronghold, no more the rhinos will undoubtedly than 800 remain. reproduce far more rapidly Now a Texas rancher at Ihe Waterfall Ranch than might be able to do some- in zoos, where cramped thing about the situation. cages and unnatural envi- Tom Mantzel, owner o! ronments render breeding the Waterfall Ranch, in Glen difficult or impossible.

Rose, is ready to take in If the ambitious breeding six Kenyan rhinos by spring, program is successful, According to Mantzel, Mantzel adds, some of the rhinos roaming a 1,300-acre rhinos' offspring will eventu- section of his ranch will be ally be sent to Kenya to

Microdots lor tagging crude oil: "One ol thase tittle dudes, able to flourish in a climate restock that country's wil- tends their inventor, "could put a thief in Ihe penitentiary." similar to that of Kenya. derness. — Paul Raeburn 47 "

CDruTiruuunn

PAfNT YOUR TEETH completed, a Rembrandt application should last three Want a bright, white. to five years, depending movie-star smile without the upon the eating pain and cost of conven- and smoking habi tional dental procedures? patient, say: , ibsen Have your teeth painted. "The fact E A new technique devel- is easily modified or oped by Den-Mat, Inc., changed is one of its bene- of Santa Maria, California, fits," Ibsen claims. "That's permits dentists to etch one of the chief drawbacks teeth with a mild acid, attach of so-called permanent bonding resins, then paint restorations, like caps. The your smile. Called Rem- teeth in our mouth are brandt, the technique parf of the same process of requires some color-match- change that affects the ing artistry on the part of rest of our bodies as we age. the dentist, but it costs only at What's done age ten is , adds, was further acceler- a third of similar cosmetic not going to work, or look the ated by torrential rains, work, such as capping. same, at age sixty." The Chimu Indians oi : called el nifios. which occur Completely painless, the — Allan Maurer northern Peru built a huge about once every 16 years. technique does not require and highly sophisticated According to Chicago injection or drilling. A recent "/ have yet to see any irrigation system more than scientists excavating the clinical test found that the problem, however Compli- 3.000 years ago. The net- 400-mile network, ancient resins used "do more than cated, which, when you work, a series of canals that canal designers employed

I fill cavities. They seal fis- looked at it in the right way, carried water from nearby concepts of fluid dynamics, | sures, cover enamel defects, still rivers did not become more downhill to crops i implemented by Western and repair porcelain." in the field, complicated. sustained this I engineers only in the last 100 Dr. Robert Ibsen, presi- —Poul Anderson great society for centuries. years. In fact the Chimu j dent of Den-Mat, calls But about a,d. 1200 the brought 35 to 40 percent the technique "the crowning "They came to a round hole Chimu were conquered by more land into cultivation I it touch that makes virtually in the sky . glowing like the Incas, and their canals than irrigation ! systems impossible tell tire. to that any . . . This, the Raven eventually crumbled. do today. " restorative cosmetic work said, was a star. Scientists have long Modern irrigation systems. has been done," Once —Eskimo creation myth assumed that the Chimu Feldman comments, are canals failed because of no more protected from the design, inadequate But re- , movement of the earth's cent research from the crust and el ninos than the

Field Museum of Natural i highly sophisticated Chimu History, in Chicago, indicates I system had beBn. Canals that much of the system can be extended for miles,

still if might be standing not ! he adds, but if the earth's

tor the continual upward I floor is inching upward,

movement of the coastal ' water will eventually be re- river basin. As the earth's routed the irrigation | and crust crept upward, ex- system will be doomed to j plains Dr, Robert Feldman, fail.— Francesca Lunzer

of the Field Museum, it prevented water from flowing "// a both | man can see

down to the canal open- i s'des of a problem, you ings—and from there to the know that none of his money Betore-and-alter photos ot failure Rembrandt patient The teeth are crops. The of the , is tied up in it." etched with a mild acid, treated with bonding resins, then painted. irrigation system, Feldman — Verda Ross 48 OMNI "

nia at San Francisco, agencies and physicians into who make buying decisions checked some 500 j

for large hospitals. It is drug products— medicine- i staples like antibiot- common for drug salesmen chest |

ics, fever reducers, and ' to offer these individuals birth-control pills— free Mercedes-Benz, marketed , a nonindustrialized new home, a new wing on in coun- i a

tries by 155 manufacturers. i the hospital, or cash. They found that only four "Bribery is a way of life of these drug companies are there," Silverman reports. doing a responsible job in "The trouble is, with drugs,

terms of the reliability, i it's a way of death." He

accuracy, and honesty of I mentions the prescribing of

the information they supply ' appetite stimulants and to physicians, high-concentration vitamins i countries "All the rest," Silverman ! in Asian where

says, "are fudging." He ! most people are too poor to that his group could buy enough food: "All ARTIFICIAL TONGUE device. Leonard and Gillis adds i is their are adding computer simu- find no significant differ- ! these drugs do make A California woman may lations to their research in ences in promotion practices starvation more acute."

Oe me first person to use an an effort to make an even between drug manufactur- i The research report has ----- cal tongue designed better artificial tongue. ers in capitalist countries been published as a book, in socialist Prescriptions for Death: :z Tiprove speech as well as "We're considering using and those and l Communist nations. The Drugging of the Third Id aid eating. the patient's mouth and j

filter three years of testing, throat muscles," Leonard American companies, \ World, by the University

it influenced by 1977 of California Press, Berke- speech pathologist Re- explains, "to get to do however, j

Decca Leonard and dentist something predictable every legislation, are not heavily I ley.— Dava Sobel = :Der; Gillis, of the Univer- time she rounds her lips, engaged in bribery, Silver- "/ scent ol : California Medical for example. Even a small man points out, but the j have just got

7 created the silicone movement, elevating the tip, others "bribe like crazy." some fossil bones of a

tongue that Geraldine say, migh! lead to a dra- The most frequent targets of \ mammoth; what they may

3o*"don now wears. Fewer matic improvement these bribes are govern- ! be I do not know, but if gold artifi- —Allan ment officials who decide will get them, they shall nan ten people wear Maure' j

= mine." : tongues of any type, which products may be be txjt Gordon's, besides purchased by government —Charles Darwin — -easing the range of ^ccs she can eat, improves lea = seech as much as Large. repu'at>.e corpora- BO oercent in intelligibility, tions that push drugs in

e tongue is one of the the Third World promote their - si implicated muscular products by lying, cheating, jres in the body," bribing, and keeping mum Leonard says. "It contracts about dangerous side -- = =oeed rivaling that effects, often with fatal con-

: a pupil responding to sequences. This is the

s also larger than it unhappy conclusion of a r acoea s only half of it is ten-year investigation carried

e : ' actually extends out in more than 20 coun- to the meeting ol tries in Latin America, Africa, a* and neck." and Asia. Jon, who lost her The research group, .r^g^e to cancer, now uses headed by Milton Silverman, Pills in the Third World can be deadly. Appetite stimulants and - (th revision of the of the University of Califor- high-concentration vitamins can make starvation more acute. —

coruTinjuurm

CITIES MAKE THEIR around them." But particu- OWN RAIN larly they increase rainfall. 'Air moving into a city Large cities manufacture looks at the mountain of some of their own weather. buildings, moves up and University of Illinois scien- around, and produces tists have confirmed in upward air currents. Heat a recent study. from the city adds to this "Urban effects in the effect. The cooling towers Chicago area and other of heavy industry add cities of one million popula- moisture. Pollution contrib- tion or more can cause utes the small particles rainfall to double in certain on which moisture collects types of storms," explains in essence, cloud seeding," meteorologist Stanley Changnon explains. Changnon, director of the All of these effects to- study. The Chicago project gether set up convergence caps 15 years of research zones over cities that be- on how large cities affect come favored areas for 1 climate. Wrinkled'} Shopping lor a facelift? Plastic surgeons now say lasers cloud development. This are not trie answer, that the beam cannot tighten up loose skin. "All big cities change results in more showers. their internal weather in —Allan Maurer

LASER FACELIFTS l lightens the loose skin every way you can change that forms wrinkles. DENOUNCED | weather," Changnon says. "He who defines the terms I Finally, John Amaro, the "Inner cities are warmer and wins the argument." Claims made for laser Overland Park, Kansas, windier than the rural areas —Chinese proverb facelifts (see Continuum, chiropractor who devised March 1982) are pure the method, concurs: Claims hogwash, the American that "nonsurgical laser Society of Plastic and facelifts remove eye wrin- Reconstructive Surgeons kles, mouth lines, sagging charges. skin, and bags" are unjusti- Oddly enough, the tech- fied. He calls the treatment nique's developer agrees. "laser toning," and he

"We have been unable to stresses that it cannot re- find any scientific basis place surgical facelifts. But for the medical benefits Amaro says it does improve j claimed for laser facelifts," skin tone and reduce wrin- says Dr. William Porterfield, kles so that more than | president of the society, 90 percent of tiis I patients which recently asked the see some improvement Federal Trade Commission , in their appearance. to act against "false and The Food and Drug misleading" advertisements Administration has yet to j touting the technique's credit ihe treatment with i any benefits. Porterfield is joined . effect at all, But as long by Dr. Joel fvl, Noe. codirec- as the laser beam stays out tor of Harvard's Beth Israel of the eyes, they say, there

Hospital laser unit, in Boston, is little risk of harm, who calls the "so-called —Jeff Hecht laser facelifts ... a pure hoax." He says the laser "Our dreams dream us." Increased rainfall in cities of J million population or more is due beam neither removes nor —Anonymous to tall buildings, heat, and cloud-seeding pollution particles. 50 OMNI -.:•-: — ——

What is known is that the NSA uses an fessor of computer science and one of the van and an antenna. It wouldn't need to be estimated eight acres of computers country's to break leading experts in the mathe- very fancy. You could use a small dish and the ciphers ot foreign governments— allies matics of cryptography. But as he strolls cover it with a radome, a little plastic cover- as well as adversaries. The also the agency sun-drenched campus of the Univer- so no one could tell what you were up to routinely intercepts and records sity of Southern California, telephone he has a lot more and then point it at the [microwave] and cable communications between the on his mind than ciphers and machines. tower. . . . Then you'd need something to United States and other countries. At "In the future," home he says, "we'll be leaving translate its [the-microwave's] frequency the NSA sometimes runs "black hat" op- electronic traces everywhere we go with to a standard frequency." erations under the code name each financial TEMPEST transaction and each at- Where would you get all this equipment? to test the security of tempt computers used for to communicate over the telephone 'Uust look in a few communications-sys- military and diplomatic communications. It system, A trace on you will essentially be tems catalogs," he replied. was that sort of operation that the agency's available in real time [that is, instantly]. And Of course, not everyone could make such special team mounted against the I think it will State undermine our whole sense of a system work. "You'd have to have a com- Department. freedom our freedom — to move, to be munications engineer behind it," Magill said.

' Eavesdropping on a computer is not anonymous if like, very we'd to communicate And it would become considerably more difficult. Computer-security experts, for with one another." expensive for someone who wanted to do example, routinely impress potential It clients is such a beautiful day as we walk highly sophisticated eavesdropping. Trac- by showing how a cheap cassette tape across the re- campus that it's hard to focus ing a call to its origin, for instance, would cording of the sounds of a computer's on so dark a vision of the future, Yet Adle- be both difficult and costly. Yet it is well transmission signal over a telephone line man is seeing clearly. within the state of the art. can be translated into words and numbers. Take something as essential to modern Computers would be required parts of It is somewhat analogous life to counting the as the telephone system. About 70 per- such systems. A machine could be pro- clicks made by an old-fashioned dial cent phone of all long-distance calls are trans- grammed to read the phone numbers to learn the number a person has dialed. mitted by line-of-sight microwave repeat- technically known as digital headers—that For its raid on the State Department, the precede a call and then automatically re- NSA used more exacting methods. cord only those calls going to specific The State official was expecting the NSA numbers or exchanges. team to arrive in a small, specially equipped With a device called a dial pulse de- van; instead, he saw a tractor-trailer jammed coder, which reads these digital headers, full of concealed antennas and sophisti- 6/\ decade ago a foreign agent gathering political intelli- cated electronic listening equipment. most of us assumed that gence in Washington, D.C., could, for ex- Parked conspicuously on the street, the computers were the ample, program his computers to record NSA experts were ready to snoop on the all incoming phone calls to numbers be- department's new computer. servants of mankind. Now we ginning with 456 (White House), 224 (Sen- Whenever something is typed on a com- realize that ate), or 225 (House of Representatives). By puter keyboard and displayed on a cath- coincidence— if not downright stupidity— ode-ray tube (CRT), the TV-like computers may be used screen at- the United States allowed the Soviet Union tached to the computer, electromagnetic as weapons to to build its new embassy on one of Wash- signals radiate into the atmosphere. Even ington's most prominent hills, assault our right to where its an- shielding the computer and the privacy.^ cable with tennas can easily intercept the microwave lead will not block out those keyboard sig- transmissions not only of Ma Bell but of a nals, which were precisely what the NSA's special Pentagon channel as well. gear was trying to pick up. Satellite transmissions are even more State's new computer passed the test vulnerable, because when they are beamed but for the wrong reason. it turned As out, ers that can each carry nearly 15,000 voice down, they cast an enormous electronic the console was not properly shielded. Yet channels. Because microwave signals fan footprint on the surface of the earth. A well- there was so much radiation emanating from out, they can be intercepted at nearly any equipped electronic snoop could inter- the building that the computer's electronic point along the way with the right kind of cept and record thousands ot data streams, pulsations were lost amid the flurry of other antenna. Ten years ago outfitting a vehicle or conversations. signals State was unintentionally broad- to intercept microwave transmissions would All that would be necessary, Magill ex- casting to the outside world. have cost over $1 million. Today an enter- plained, is an Earth terminal consisting of A decade ago most of us naively as- prising individual could do it with off-the- a dish antenna and ancillary equipment. sumed that computers and other elements shelf electronics for about $50,000. "How big a dish depends on how many of high technology were the servants of it What would take? I put this question channels are multiplexed [combined] to- mankind—the delivery boys of the Infor- to Thomas Magill, associate director of the gether, because you have to have suffi- mation Age. Now we are beginning to re- Telecommunications Science Center at SRI cient signal strength to demodulate [sort alize that computers may also be used as International, a well-known California think out] the channels. If they've got a whole weapons to assault our right to privacy. To- tank. He ran a hand through his gray- bunch of them tied together, then you've day only the NSA and other well-equipped flecked, sandy hair and smiled. Then, in a got to have a pretty big dish." With the dish and well-financed organizations can steal casual, rambling style, he described how a listener would simply take in a large num- computerized secrets from behind closed a well-financed individual or group could ber of transmissions beamed to Earth, doors. But technology is advancing so assemble the equipment necessary to In the intelligence trade, this is known as rapidly that what is now available only to a sweep up hundreds of phone calls. the vacuum-cleaner method, so called be- handful of government agencies eventu- "Well, to start, you'd probably have to cause it sucks in every transmission in its ally will wind up in private hands. out go and buy a Hewlett-Packard spec- path. The NSA routinely uses this method "Technology races ahead so quickly," trum analyzer for about ten thousand dol- to record phone and cable traffic between says Leonard Adleman. "What is breaka- lars to see whether there is a signal being the United States and other countries.; it ble by the NSA today will be breakable by put out, and maybe another few thousand even has speech-recognition computers the kid with equipment from Radio Shack for a multichannel analog tape recorder to that can sort through recorded conversa- five years from now." With his modishly long tape what you pick up." He leaned back tions to single out those in which certain hair, open shirt, and jeans, Adleman looks in his chair and put his sneakers on the key words or names are spoken. Appar- like more a graduate student than a pro- desk. "Oh, then, I'd guess you'd need a ently it was just such an operation that led 54 OMNI NOW YOU CAN GET THE BEST SCIENCE BOOKS AT BOOK CLUB SAVINGS. Take any 3 books for $1 each and save up to $86.85

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computer-readable form, it would take only a few seconds," One form of communi- Canon can't make paying taxes pleasant. But a Canon preparing a cation particularly vulnerable to this sort of PalmPrinter or PocketPrinter can make them lot easier. interception is electronic mail. The PalmPrinters use plain-paper tape and provide With electronic mail a message can be 10-drgit fluorescent displays with live memory. The popular sent from one computer over a special net- P5-D runs on rechargeable NiCd batteries. The cost-effi- to more terminals, where it will work one or cient P3-DII, on penlight batteriesor optional AC adapier. their per- be stored until the recipients use And the compact P6-D, on a rechargeable battery. sonal electronic key (usually a password typed into the terminal) to gain access to the message. With this system users can communicate instantly with one individual or with hundreds. Several corporations are already developing electronic mail. A leader in this rapidly growing field is GTE-Telenet, which links more than 125 companies and 6,000 subscribers in some 275 cities. Left unprotected, electronic mail would be easy to scan for valuable information, such as a firm's research data or market-

it would ing plans. I asked Hellman what cost to do this. The bearded, dark-haired The PocketPrinter features quiet thermal printing and engineer leaned forward. "I've made a very an 8-digrt fluorescent display with memory. It's small wilh special-purpose rough estimate that enough fo take anywhere, versatile enough to work on equipment that sorts electronic mail for key penlight batteries or optional AC adapter. words you could search a billion words for So, this tax season, make things a little easier for your- one dollar. You could then record all the self. Use a Canon Printer to figure out your taxes. And give of course. interesting stuff on a cassette tape re- the IRS the sfip. Figuratively speaking, corder," he said. "So, you see, the cost of spying on computerized data is very, very low. And because the United States is the most computerized country in the world,

we stand to lose the most it that information

is not protected."

But protecting information as- it travels between computers is only part of the se-

curity problem. Sometimes it is the com- puter itself— specifically, its main, or op- erating, program— that is most vulnerable. No one knows this better than Robert Abbott, who spends most of his waking Free gift offer! hours trying to make operating programs more secure. He does this by subjecting the programs to attack, though he prefers the word audi!. A large man, with an easy laugh and a powerful baritone voice, Ab-

bott is the president of EDP Audit Controls, a computer-security outfit in Oakland, Cal- ifornia. He believes that he and his staff of 30 could steal information from almost any computer.in use today. For this reason, government agencies and corporations hire him to discover Caiioti PalmPrinter/Pocket Printer ELECTRONIC CALCULATORS weaknesses in their computer programs. Given enough time, invariably he does. —a

five "During the years we have had EDP tem's memory, which he could then read that are sometimes used to exchange in- Audit Controls," he told me, "we have never or even change. formation on how to penetrate computer failed to achieve a breakthrough— a pen- Usually the operator has little control over networks or the phone system. etration, if you will —when we were asked what data get appended to his file. Imag- The technology and skills for committing to perform these kinds of assaults." ine letting the stylus of a turntable skip computer crimes are no longer rare, he has But that less dramatic term, audit, is a across the surface of a record, and you found. The vandals Brown has collared fall more accurate description of what Abbott will have some idea of the haphazard way into two categories: computer crashers and actually does. He begins by analyzing a this works. "In most cases," Tokubo indi- computer hackers. "The latter," he said, system's software- for weaknesses— cated, "you're just randomly scavenging "are people who just like to get in and ex- process that can entail poring over millions data. But once you know where data are plore somebody else's computer and see of lines written in COBOL, a programming being stored and how big the records are, what's there. They're sometimes called language commonly used in many busi- you can position yourself to go to data that tourists, because they just wander through ness systems, That kind of work tends to don't belong to you, and you may be able and look at the data without taking any- be more tedious than glamorous. to skip up the file and read things you're thing or disturbing it. But a crasher will come

' Nearly every computer has quirks that not supposed to read." in and erase files and leave obscene graf-

it make possible for clever program- Abbott and Tokubo routinely discover fiti in their place." mers—as well as dull but persistent hack- flaws like that when they audit operating He told me of one seventeen-year-old ers— to use the operating program in ways programs, including some of the Defense he arrested who had crashed a computer the designer never intended. Shig Tokubo, Department's most sensitive systems. For- operated by U.S. Leasing Company, in San a vice-president in Abbott's firm, de- tunately for the government, they use their Francisco. Posing as a technician em- scribed one method. expertise to protect computers. ployed by the computer's manufacturer, he In programs, most he explained, the end There are a number of people, however, called the company and said he was in- of each distinct block of data, known as a many of them teen-agers, who have be- quiring to see whether the firm was having "file," is signaled by an "end of tile mark." come the vandals of the Information Age. any trouble with its system. In the course

It is to of a block data what a period is to If they live in California and are unlucky of the conversation, he persuaded an em- a sentence. But with some computers, ac- enough to get caught, they are likely to ployee to give him passwords and account cording to Tokubo, if you stop abruptly while wind up staring into the rugged counte- numbers that would allow him to gain ac- you are writing something new into a file- nance of Robin Brown, an FBI agent in Los cess to the system by telephone. Calling by turning off the machine, for instance Angeles who is one of the bureau's experts after hours, he got into the system and de- the computer will lengthen that file by add- in computer crime. stroyed its computerized records, The ing from data another file. So, by shutting A former Air Force pilot with the frame of company, which leases a broad range of down and starting up his machine over and a defensive tackle, Brown continually mon- electronic equipment, had to shut down over, a computer operator could siphon itors underground publications and com- operations for several days. more and more information from the sys- puterized electronic "B" (bulletin) boards In another case the FBI tracked down a COiVTIVUFDONPAGEII LAST CHILD INTO THE MOUNTAIN

BY MICHAEL BISHOP AND LEE ELLIS

I

and I found the kid in a place called Ozymandias, a pinball and video-game arcade in a shopping mall just outside Tocqueville. Georgia. Greenish fluorescents glowed overhead, ashes and candy wrappers littered the lavender carpet, and a familiar tang in the air told us why some of the locals spelled their town's name Tokeviile. Deep inside Ozymandias. the object of our search was hunched over the controls of a Black Hole Blaster

machine. Ito and I queued up behind the other onlookers— kids in jogging shoes, Pac-Man T-shirts, designer pantaloons, and so on— to watch their pudgy hero enfilading the video enemy with electronic laser light. "Goll-E.-D., wouldya lookitthat!" PAINTING BY FERNANDO BOTERO

62 OMNI "Way to fire, Chip!" the only remaining spectators at the kid's tion of Tocqueville. The name Yasunari Ito

Chip Sands had no time for their cheers. machine. Dodd, the manager, looked to had rung a small, silver-plated bell in David His luminous blip ship was wafting peril- us—two sore-thumbed, fiftyish adults—for Sands's mercantile memory. ously close to the Black Hole at eleven support. He had my sympathy. I dropped o'clock. Disregarding the warnings of the to one knee and unplugged Black Hole How could anyone who reminded you of crowd, he shot down an approaching Ogre Blaster. a Silly Putty sculpture achieve the status Raider and hyperspaced to safety. His blip The machine made a funny burping of a national hero? Chip Sands's owlish face ship reappeared in the upper-right-hand sound, and its screen went blank. Time and schoolboy obesity—well-known to comer of the screen, firing salvos of comet- stopped in Ozymandias and seemingly in everyone from his television ads—were not tailed brilliance at the enemy cruisers re- the entire Tocqueville Commons'Mall. especially endearing, and yet the Com- grouping between six and nine o'clock. Al- Chip Sands looked down at me. His eye- putakil ad campaign centered on his per- though several ot these blips exploded, brows beetled, his nostrils dilated, and his son had sent the company's sales sky- scattering geometric debris, another hos- lip began to guiver. I stood to my full height, rocketing. Try to figure out the American tile tleet materialized near the Black Hole enjoying his discomfort. The boy turned to buying public. spiraling lazily in the lower-right-hand cor- Dodd. As soon as David Sands opened the door ner. Despite this threat, "I new a triumphant never want to see this man in here of his family's stately home, I figured out shout went up. again," he declared. "If you let him in, I'll how Chip had come by his nickname. The

I "What gives?" asked my partner. . . . I'll tell Computakil to stop sponsoring son was a reduced, three-dimensional "Chip's just scored more points than this your door-prize nights." Xerox of the father, who greeted us warmly

Computakil game can tally," I to said. "He's "Chipper," Dodd wearily admonished the and led us through a vast, antique-fur- ." gone all the way off the tote board." kid. "Chipper. . . nished sitting room to an elegant Tudor sofa. "Then he's the one?" Ito stepped forward and put his hand on "Upstairs," David Sands ordered his son.

"Listen, Phil, Computakil Recreational my shoulder. "Chip, this is Phillip Barrett. "It's past your bedtime." Systems are notoriously stingy with their I'm Yasunari Ito. chairman of Tomioka-Lott The boy hesitated. advertising dollars, but don't forget, they've "Your mother and I won't decide any- already sponsored this kid in two national thing without consulting you." competitions." Half-jocular, half-menacing, Chip re- "Both ol which he lost." plied, "You wouldn't dare, would you?" He "Yeah, well, he placed a respectable turned away, then climbed the marble QDesperate, I tried second in April, the first contest he'd ever staircase to the long gallery on which his entered. And in October, out in Hawaii—" to work a britches leg up bedroom door opened.

"I know, I know." As soon as he was safely behind it, his alternate sides of But Ito refused to be interrupted. "Rocket mother said, "We really don't understand Ruth Lee defeated him in a game for which the small portion of the what you want of Chip." Emily Sands was she'd devised her own program. Five'll get topmost screen. the sort of woman you would expect to find you ten. Phil, the courts uphold Computa- married to a svelte former quarterback Chip rooting for me. kil's protest. Vid Lite Industries haven't got began rather than to a world-weary Kewpie doll a leg to stand on." Heartened, I in a three-piece suit. That her husband "You guys gonna jabber or glorn?" de- pressed my advantaged owned Piedmont United Mills, the area's manded an acne-ridden wraith at Ito's leading industry, had probably accounted shoulder. "Chip's settin' records right 'n' tor her initial attraction to the man.

1 left, but you're mouthin off like a coupla "Mrs. Sands, would you and your hus- standups at Famine Relief Night." band be willing to give Chip up for the Ito turned a ferocious stare on the grous- Christmas holidays?" Ito asked. "Maybe a er, who lowered his gaze and sidled out of Electronics, a Japanese-American com- little longer?" eavesdropping distance. puter firm you may have heard of." "But he's just come home from a two- "Punk," Ito murmured. "Chip's not a contract breaker like some week tour for Computakil!" Meanwhile Chip Sands— Captain Video vidders." Dodd told us warily. "I think you "The kid just can't stay away from Ozy- Reincarnate, Jedi Knight of the Sensitized dudes should know that." mandias," David Sands said, winking at Screen—was disintegrating Ogre Raiders "We don't want to steal his endorse- me. "Says the place recharges his battery, with all the inborn elan of a frog zapping ments away from Computakil," Ito replied. puts him back in touch with his origins as dragonflies. "This is political business, not business a vidder."

"Oh, yeah," Ito told me, "he's definitely business. If Chip chooses to accept the "I'm sure he comes home to see us, too," the One." assignment we have for him. he can return Mrs. Sands reprimanded her husband. Two hours later we were still watching to the professional circuit as both a player Then: "Who are you people, anyway? What our obese Boy Wonder running up uncom- and a- company spokesperson right after do you want Chip to do?" putable points on his original fifty-cent to- the Christmas holidays." Chip's father laughed. "Honey, Mr. Ito's

ken. My feet and eyeballs ached, but I could "What assignment?" Chip asked, the biggest thing to come out of Japan since hardly that Right Stuff. doubt Chip hadThe "Let us drive you home," Ito said. "We'll . . . well, since the raid on Pearl Harbor, I Finally, blessedly, the manager— a mus- put the proposition to your parents. Thir- guess. Last year his computer conglom- cular young black man in a.floppy leather teen-year-old kids need all the adult guid- erate signed a multibillion-dollar contract hat—came over to tell everyone that the ance they can get." with the U.S. government. Which agency, mall was closing, "How do I know you dudes aren't kid- or what sort of contract, the Wall Street "Ten o'clock, Chipper. You got io stop." nappers from Vid Lite or Fission Vision?" Journal didn't specify." He let his voice - "There's nothin' at ten o'clock, Mr. Dodd," Dodd demanded, putting an arm around dovetail into innuendo: "And, strangely, Chip barked. "Can't you see I'm skatin' this the boy's shoulders. there's been nothing in the papers or on mother's event horizon?" He was, too. He "Call his daddy," Ito advised the man- the television news since." was.deliberately tempting destruction, his ager. 'A prominent business leader like Mr. "That first story was the result of a po- blip ship riding was amazingly close to the Sands, he'll have heard of me. No sweat." tentially compromising leak," I told the rim of a slowly forming Black Hole. Dodd telephoned Chip's daddy. It was Sandses. "We took steps to keep it from

Not counting a pair of baby-faced zom- no sweat. Ten minutes later I was driving happening again." " bies of indeterminate sex, Ito and I were Ito and the kid into a swank residential sec- 'We'?" Mrs. Sands inquired. 64 OMNI —

"Phil iroubleshoots for the Aerospace an array of video consoles built into an im- "Holy cow," said Ito, his eyes widening. Defense Command," Ito said. pressive mahogany bookcase. Here, "Why hasn't Computakil put this baby on "Computer conglomerate? Arrow Space smirking, he released us. television?"

Command? None of this makes any sense, "Is your game more challenging than Tri- "It ain't Computakil's," Chip replied. "It's David." Mrs. Sands revolved one hand in angle Triumph? Grab those joysticks." mine."

the air, if as to stir these revelations into a Triangle Triumph, as Chip had called it. "Well, it's a little masterpiece of video- coherent pattern. involved two distinct levels of compefition game programming," Ito told him, ob- ito, whose grandparents of ra- had died on a pyramid of three small screens. I had viously sincere. "By the way, who won?" diation sickness in of little asuburb Nagasaki, a rhombus to maneuver while Ito had I had not thought the matter in doubt. explained that the threat of nuclear holo- a tiny ellipse. We took turns using "our char- Although the scoreboard showed Ito lead- caust grew more and more real every day. acters to connect the luminous dots strewn ing me by better than seventy triangles, Yesterday the Soviet Union had concluded across the three screens. A player's first surely, as in chess, the fall of your oppo- a brutal mopping-up exercise on the gore- goal was to keep his opponent from cre- nent's most important piece decided the spangled docks of Gdansk, and our angry ating a triangle that captured his charac- game. Indeed, when Chip pressed a but-

first-term President John-Ernest Farrell had ter. Secondarily, though, each player tried ton on the control console, our totals in- acted on strict Christian-Constitutionalist to create the most "pure" triangles—that stantly reversed and an additional one principle to declare a retaliatory naval is, figures that did not enclose a stray dot hundred thousand points clicked into place blockade of Cuba. This morning a coup from the backgrounds of the screens. on my side. in had occurred socialist Yemen, and Far- As Ito and I shaped our triangles, a dig- "You have to count off a to; for getting rell had threatened to send our Rapid De- ital scoreboard above the screens re- captured," Chip explained. "If you didn't, ployment Force to the area to prevent the corded them. Chip's hostility gradually gave some players would get caught just so they Soviet Union trom way to immersion in our game. Soon he could have the funeral." "Yes, yes, I'm aware of all that," David was murmuring impartial advice to of "Ito can't claim both any such motive," I Sands interrupted. "What do you want Chip us. Despite my combat-win familiarity with pointed out. for?" He smiled. "How about a rematch?" Ito told him. Directly. And in detail. Chip let us play again, and Ito thrashed "But he's a mere boy," Emily Sands pro- me. As before, the memorial service was tested. "Global politics doesn't interest him stirring, but this time the mausoleum re- any more than baseball does, and base- sembled a Mayan tomb and the music mOnce inside the ball doesn't interest him at all. His only in- consisted primarily of bells, wood-block terest in life is video games." hollowed-out heart of the percussion, and the haunting glissandos "Which is precisely the reason that we of flutes. A shiver ran through me. mountain itself, he want him," I told her. "Triangle Triumph's great," Ito con- "If you convince him," David like can Sands _ twisted on the seat fessed. "But it still doesn't compare to the

said, "Emily and I will reluctantly surrender a visitor from the game awaiting you in Colorado Springs." him for the Christmas holidays." The kid made an ugly scoffing noise. "David!" Stone Age. This gloomy "If you get past our challenge, and if you "Joseph and Mary did as much, babe. intramontane ever find yourself fed up with the promises You can't keep a potential savior under and products of Computakil, you've got an city he had not expected^ wraps." executive-level job with Tomioka-Lott. That's "Don't be blasphemous, David." a real promise, Chip." "It's all for a worthwhile cause, Emily. "Ito." I cautioned my friend. What's good for Yasunari Ito is probably "Oh, come on, Phil. I'm not trying to raid good for Piedmont United Mills." a competitor's chickenhouse. I'm just trying the joysticks of supersonic fighter aircraft, to show the kid how much I think of his When the boy failed to answer our knock, Ito was using his stick to hypotenuse me talents. A paycheck's the sincerest form of

Ito and I the opened door and walked in. into a bind. Desperate, I tried 1o work a flattery."

Chip did not even look up. He was sitting britches leg up alternate sides of the small Chip put his hands in the pockets of his the of an overstuffed on edge chair, glassy- portion of the (opmost screen still untaken. pleated pantaloons. "I'll come," he said. eyed and winded. It immediately struck me Chip began openly rooting lor me. Heart- "Christmas around here's a bore, anyway. that he replaying in his imagination was the his I ened by unexpected support. pressed Last year I had to go caroling with the Bap- of game Black Hole Blaster on which I had my advantage and captured Ito's ellipse. tist children's choir." unfeelingly pulled the plug. My hands came away from the joystick

"Chip," I said, "could we talk to like in you a shaking mockups a wind-tunnel test. Ito and I spent the night inaRamadalnn few minutes?" "Not bad," Ito said. "I really thought I on the outskirts of Tocqueville. The follow- The kid started and rose clumsily to his had you there." ing morning we gathered up Chip in our feet. "Nothing's sacred to you jerks, is it?" "Keep watching," Chip cried. rental car and drove him to Warner Robins

I told him we wanted to take him on a Ito's captured ellipse began acting out Air Force Base, just south of Macon, From vacation to Colorado. Ito explained that by a preposterously ham my death scene, there we hopped a cargo aircraft bound coming with us, Chip might be able to help staggering back and forth inside my tri- for Peterson Field, in Colorado Springs, his country preserve its its people and in- angle and wobbling as it staggered. At last where an Air Force staff car was waiting stitutions. These things were reasonably it went horizontal. Its demise triggered an for us. sacred to us importunate jerks. astonishing response from the triangles in Pikes Peak loomed up to the west like a

"What a load of bull-dooky. Besides, I all three screens. After falling in symmet- huge stone eagle in a painting by Maghtte, don't like vacations. The only thing I never rical ranks, they reconstructed themselves snow mantling its head and outspread get enough of is vidding." into a meticulous blueprint of a kingly mau- wings, but our driver took us south on Ne- Ito said, "On this vacation, Chip, we'll soleum. Music cut in from the speakers on vada Avenue toward the ivory escarp- give you a shot at a game even more chal- either side of the screens —the raucously ments of Cheyenne Mountain, the fortified lenging than Black Hole Blaster." mournful strains of a New Orleans dirge. headquarters of the Aerospace Defense "Is that so?" You could almost see a dixieland band Command. After nearly three months of To our enormous surprise. Chip took Ito swinging through the French Quarter in winnowing candidates. I had finally begun and me by our hands and dragged us to spats, striped shirts, and derbies. to relax a little. Our prize was in hand. 66 OMNI —

Chip squirmed excitedly as we passed through each manned security point on our steepening route to the citadel. Once in- side the hollowed-oul heart of the moun-

tain itself, he twisted on the seat like a vis- itor from the Stone Age. This gloomy

intramontane city he had not expected. I was reminded of "The Pied Piper of Ha- melin" when all the children but one have disappeared forever into the mountain. This analogy, which came to me unbidden, made me profoundly uneasy. Each monolithic building inside the

, mountain rests on huge iron springs. Their

purpose is to cushion the buildings from the shock of any nearby nuclear blast in- sufficiently powerful to knock out the com- plex. Chip laughed at the Rube Goldberg whimsicality of these springs. The setup appeared to strike him as unworkable. As for the likelihood of imminent Armaged- don, the thought had never deeply im- pressed itself on his mind. Ordinarily, after

all, he lived inside the tlickering dimen- sions of his game screens. Eventually we got out of the car and walked through a chilly tunnel to the deep- est of the ADC buildings. Inside this struc- ture we led the boy past banks of sophis- ticated equipment to our special "arcade." Through a Plexiglas partition, three inches thick. Chip could see an enclosed room whose far wall accommodated five rows of television screens. Fifteen rubber-gripped joysticks protruded from the long console beneath this forbidding arrangement. "Wow!" Chip exclaimed reverently. "Let me in there."

"You've got to practice first," I to told him.

"I'll practice when I'm in there." "Impossible! You'll spoil the program."

"It only works once?" the boy asked in- credulously. An Unforgettable "We've got a simulator in the cubicle where you'll be sleeping." I said. "You can Experience play the mockup to your heart's content so long as you take time out for meals and sleep." see Wild Turkey rising Ito explained that once the real contest To a began. Chip would be locked in our spar- from the forest floor is an awe- tan little game room until the game was over. This seemingly peculiar precaution some sight no man is likely to would keep anyone from pulling the plug wing-beats on his fun, forget. The bird's "Honest?" Chip asked, eyeing me with resound like thunder claps, remembered indignation. "Honest." and its feathers fan out in Somewhat mollified, he let us coax him down the hall to the cubicle with the mini- grand display. ature mockup. Here, without even taking Wild Turkey is the off his jacket, he activated the program and The began working the finger-sized joysticks largest native bird capable like a drummer playing uptempo Brubeck. Hurriedly Ito tried to run down the game's of flight and an apt symbol object and scoring. You won points by destroying enemy for America's greatest native blips and bases, just as you did in Black whiskey-Wild Turkey. Hole Blaster, By contrast, though, a player could win additional points by preserving the friendly bunkers at the bottoms of many of the screens. These bunkers—with des- ignated values of a thousand to two hundred CONTINUED ON PAGE ISO SOLAR SEEKERS BY MARCIA BARTUSIAK

n the cosmic scheme of things, the sun is just another middle-aged, yellow dwarf star that smolders m ihe outer reaches of the Milky Way. But when viewed close up wilh the multispectral eyes of Ihe Solar Maxi- mum Mission Satellite. Ihe sunscape bursts forth in a fireworks show, its corona (above) unveiling some of the stellar secrets in a palette of computer-generated color. Using such exotic equipment as the Solar Max satellite, launched to study the sun during Ihe recent peak of sunspot activity, and a small arsenal of mountaintop solar PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAN McCOY/RAINBOW Solar Wax's digitized view observatories, astronomers have been keeping a faithful vigil over this seething nu- (Sop) of a solar Hare; the clear furnace for decades. And at last their patience is paying off. The last ten years satellite's occulting disc of solar research has shown just whal a mercurial personality the sun has: that if blocks out the sun's bright that "breathes," that is. expands and contracls; that it resonates like a giant bell; and face (middle), revealing percent— quite suddenly, in a matter of days, it can dim its radiance by a tenth of a

1 percent a particularly worrisome discovery since it is estimated thai an extended coronal gases that extend drop could plunge the earth into an ice age. Most recently solar astronomers from ihe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and elsewhere have discovered rivers of magnetism coursing the around the sun. It's believed that when these magnetic rivers punch through surface, sunspots appear as great looping arches of flame. scieniists are not The final chapter on solar astronomy is not written, but solar pressed for time. The sun is not expected to burn out for several billion years. DO at the NOAA Patrol Telescope, in Boulder,

it dim its radiance* &The sun breathes; it resonates like a giant bell; and, quite suddenly, can Behavior is spawned in seas of neurochemicals whose ebb and flow are drawn on CHARTS OF THE SOUL

BY JUDITH HOOPER

mother still has a ican Medical Associatior tacts are that a vial of blood or phrenologist's map of would no more run a phrenol- spinal lluid or the serpentine trail electroencephalo- Myher skull, dating from ogy advertisement than i of an a consultation in her early would trace a patient's trou gram can reveal quite a lot childhood. Fortunately for my bles to a "bilious humor." Iron- about character. The scien- siblings and me, the "love of ically, though, the old pseu- tists, studying these signs progeny" area is well-marked, doscience of detecting the would use other, less Victorian as are her "marriage" and in the language of the body terms, of course, but the up- "philanthropy" bumps. (A slight could become one of tomor- shot is the same. prominence in the region of row's exact sciences, Here is a sampling of some "cupidity" scarcely mars the The "new phrenologists" are of their recent findings: picture.) From our vantage neither fortune-tellers nor • Neuroscientists in several point, my mother's head char quacks, however. They make high scientific sanctums are recalls one of those quaint, sea no pretense of omniscience. closing in on what appears to monster-infested medieva Sometimes they astonish be a biochemical marker of maps ot the world: for nowa- themselves with their own suicide. If their hunches prove days the Journal of the Amer- prognosiications. The bare right, future chemical tests will PAINTING BY PETER GOODFELLOW '

spot the suicidal, and even forecast whether have come and gone, some with the fleet- his life history and gave him a lew stan- a patienl will try a drug overdose or a leap ing flash of Paris fashions. Remember the dard psychological tests. There his con- trom the Golden Gate Bridge. A suicide- jolly, sattig endomorphs, thin, brainy ec- dition was diagnosed as a borderline per- prevention pill could also be in the works. tomorphs, and muscled, aggressive me- sonality disorder, psychiatric shorthand tor • Violence seems to have its own partic- sornorphs of pop-psychciogy'ame? Coined the baffling cases that are neither simple ular neurochemical fingerprints. So far evi- by Harvard scientist W. H. Sheldon around sociopathy nor psychosis—the gist being dence has lurned up in two groups of vi- 1940, these categories haven't fared well that Ernie was sometimes troubled by de- olent, insubordinate sailors and marines and in subsequent research. The thin man isn't lusions and jumbled thoughts but was not among murderers and other criminals. always bright, nor the fat lady jolly. truly psychotic. Then, in a scenario remote • "Sensation seekers" are born, not made, Hans J. Eysenck came along in the 1950s from the flyblown pool halls of his youth, according to a University of Delaware psy- to divide mankind into introverts and ex- Ernie went on to make medical history. chologist's 20-year invesiigation. Much as troverts', on the basis of nervous-system The trouble with Ernie, brain researchers medieval physicians distinguished the diiferences. But the introversion-extrover- from the nearby National Institute of Mental "phlegmatic" temperament from the "san- sion school is a bit too vague to be hard Health (NIMH) divined, was a biochemical guine" using putative bodily humors, real science, either. jinx not unlike diabetes. And while no one biological markers today can separate the Why ihis lepidopteristlike urge to clas- has yet concocted a cure for what ails him, James Bonds from the Walter Mittys. sify human tempe'arrcrr.s along biological his case could lay the groundwork for a Many teen-aged street-gang leaders may lines? Shall we leave that to the astrologers future suicide antidote. But this is getting be creative artists gone astray, one edu- and the party-game psychoog'sts and get ahead of our story. cational psychologist proposes. High on with real science? In a series of well-documented studies, creativity and juvenile del nouency are two On the contrary. The quest lor funda- the brains of violent lab animals have be- sides of the same biological coin: an un- mental correspondences between psyche trayed defects in serotonin transmission, deraroused nervous system. The opposile and soma is no more metaphysical than usually related to abnormally low levels of is of extreme, hyperarousal, might be the hid- microsurgery is. It is, in fact, the hardest this neurochemical. (Serotonin one den cause of autism and schizophrenia. about 30 known substances in the brain At a home for delinquent boys in Wis- that spurt from nerve cells, carrying chem- consin, a simple series o\ physiological tests ical messages thai excite or inhibit neigh- foretold with frightening accuracy which boring cells.) But because scientists can- young inmates would run away—and how not peer into the living human brain, the researchers long each would be on the lam, £The chemical basis of Homo sapiens' violence has remained unfathomed— until recently. But if Clockwork Orange visions of brain- seem to have stumbled loom before rest Serotonin— as it is metabolized—breaks tampering doctors you, onto a provocative assured that the biology-of-temperament down into a chemical called 5-HIAA, which field really isn't a field at all. Or, at best, it's fact: The rampages of shows up in a person's blood, urine, and a decidedly fragmented one. Half of the Jack the Ripper cerebrospinal fluid, practitioners are psychologists who spend NIMH neuroscientists Gerald Brown and are distinct from the quiet their days probing the autonomic nervous Frederick Goodwin reasoned that spinal system for degrees of "arousal" and sim- homicides of fluid 5-HIAA levels might tell them some- ilar phenomena, while the other pieces of thing about aggressive human beings. a brooding euthanasiast^ the puzzle belong to hard neuroscientists. Working independently of the psychiatrists For the most part the behavioral research- who had made the clinical diagnoses, the ers and the "neurohardware" people don't researchers assayed the spinal fluid of a speak the same language or swap refer- first group of 26 aggressive and mal- hospital ences in their papers. adapted servicemen at the naval To the scientists who track radioactive of the mine" sciences these days. And in- in 1978 and found low 5-HIAA levels. When chemicals in liquefied gray matter, the old- terpreted with sophistication, the research Ernie's gang of 12 turned up two years later, fashioned autonomic geography of elec- has the potential to save lives. the scientists had refined their tools, and trodermal readings, salivation rates, and a stark picture emerged. SAILORS. SUICIDES. SEROTONIN "orienting responses" to stimuli seems a Not only did the truculent sailors have land of vapors, too distant from the cortex "Ernie"— a composite of several real generally low 5-HIAA levels, but the more to make a difference. To the stimulus-re- sailors—was the sort of hyper-, semiweird violent each one's life history and psychi- sponse psychologists, on the other hand, character whose eyes you instinctively atric profile, the lower his 5-HIAA. So ele- the brain is a forbidding swamp filled with avoid in an all-night diner His love-'em- gantly did biochemistry mirror personality largely nameless flora. and-leave-'em romances, sketchy job his- that a. graph of 5-HIAA levels and "mean You might say that modern personality tory, bar brawls, and hair-trigger temper aggression scores" on tests approached typology was born the day when Ivan Pav- made a lot of people in his hometown ner- a perfect inverse relationship. lov noticed that some of the dogs in his vous, and no one, least of all his bewil- Statistics this clean are rare in the infant early conditioning experiments were pre- dered parents, minded too much when he science of psychobiology, and the re- ternaturally frisky. Constantly sniffing around left home and joined the Navy. But Uncle searchers' second finding was more ex- and quickly bored by repetition, they stood. Sam couldn't seem to make Ernie shape perimental manna. Quite a few of their wild apart from their fearful, docile, and more Up, either. High-strung and unpredictable bunch had also attempted suicide, it turned easily conditioned cage mates. as a traumatized laboratory animal, the out. When Drs. Brown and Goodwin looked Borrowing from the ancient lexicon, the young sailor routinely thumbed his nose at more closely at the suicidal seamen, low father of stimulus-response psychology authority, got drunk and pulled a knife on 5-HIAA turned up once more, and a neu- christened the first type of canine "san- strangers in a bar, and cooled oul more robiological buzzer sounded. Was this the guine" and the second "melancholic," at- than once in the brig. One night, Ernie got telltale chemical fingerprint of hostility to- tributing their dispositions to "strong" (un- an urge to load his rifle, go AWOL, and ward others and hostility toward self? reactive) and "-weak" (excitable) nervous shoot out the windows of a passing train. "If a man was very aggressive, he was systems, respectively. Variously reincar- After his d'shonorable d scharge, Ernie likely to have low 5-HIAA," Brown sum- nated, these personality types went on to landed in the hushed wards of the National marizes. "If he was suicidal, he was also haunt the human scene. Naval Medical Hospital, in Bethesda, likely to have low 5-HIAA. If he was both Since Pavlov, temperament typologies Maryland, where psychiatrists took down aggressive and suicidal, he was almost 74 OMNI certain to have unusually low 5-HIAA." aggression? "I wouldn't be surprised if we A psychoanalyst-cum-brain researcher, find slightly lower than average 5-HIAA Brown lakes a certain philosophical plea- levels in successful aggressive people, proposed, such as courtroom lawyers and business What's sure in his figures. Since Freud back in the pre-psychopharmacological era leaders," Brown reflects. "We know there that suicide is actually aggression turned are normal people— neither antisocial nor inward, (he theory has floated in the pale suicidal—who have low 5-HIAA. Though, aRustyNail? with penumbra of psychoanalysis, of little prac- interestingly, we've yet to find anyone tical concern to researchers exploring brain high 5-HIAA who is impulsive and aggres- hardware. "But my work has convinced me sive. The question is. What else is going that Freud was right," Brown confides. on to mitigate the effects of low 5-HIAA in "Suicide and aggression have the same these people?" source in the brain. Such speculations stir up another old 'Just the other day," he offers by way of Freudian ghost, the concept of "sublima- anecdote, "I got a letter from a woman who tion." This process, wherein lower emo- wants to be a subject in our next study. She tions like rage are channeled into patrio- might wrote that she will commit suicide on No- tism or a crusade for social justice, level, Brown vember 28 if we haven't started our study occur at the neurochemical "In most brain tracts serotonin is by then. It turns out that November 28 is thinks. the day her boyfriend plans to leave on a inhibitory," he explains. "Inhibition is one a) the hot new principles govern- hunting trip; I'd bet you she's plenty angry of the basic biological punk jewelry fad. about that. Not depressed, angry." ing our apparatus. Without it. you can't That volcanic rage should seethe be- regulate your biochemical pathways, and neath the stone-gray surface of suicide things go awry, This was the case, if you makes sense to scientists familiar with the will, with our impulsive, antisocial service- anatomy of despair. The isolated, mother- men. Freud saw inhibition as the basis of deprived monkeys in psychologist Harry civilization; in order to have judgment, you Harlow's classic experiments protested first, need to pause, reflect, delay." and only later seemed to despair, illustrat- Meanwhile there's more news on the su- ing how anger precedes angst. "Rage is icide front. The first inkling that low 5-HIAA might hidden suicide warning was a more basic emotion, I think, a primary be a discharge of the limbic system," Brown serendipitous. Two years before the first muses. "Depression, guilt, despair, and Brown-Goodwin study, Asberg and L. suicide are secondary; they are learned Traskman were analyzing the neurotrans- behaviors." (The limbic system, a set of mitter metabolites— products of chemical nerve structures forming a loop around the breakdowns— of depressed patients. The inside of the brain, controls emotional be- researchers turned up an unexpected cor- havior, from ferocity to apathy) relation between 5-HIAA and a history of By itself, the NIMH study would be only suicide attempts. Now the grimmer se- a small island of lush data.'You cannot make quel: The men and women with the lowest bold generalizations about human behav- 5-HIAA, it turned out, had almost inve ior from the bodily fluids of 38 disgruntled ably tried to do away with themselves sailors and marines, nor can anyone say olently—with a shotgun, say, rather than a b) an exotic dancer with precision just how closely the metab- run-of-the-mill drug overdose. When the from Philadelphia who serotonin scientists split the group In two on the ba- olite 5-HIAA mirrors the state of has a special way with to in the brain. But the violence/low-5-HIAA sis of 5-HIAA levels and returned them "Jingle Bells." link has just reared its head again in three two years later, they found to their horror studies of European criminals, suggesting that 25 percent of the low-5-HIAA bunch the victims of suc- that it is no mere laboratory curio. were already dead, A group ot intractable, rule-breaking cessful —and violent— suicide, French prisoners (the possessors, also, of Add to all this necrology a new autopsy the crime-tainted 47-XYY chromosome study, just published in Science. Knowing abnormality that has been a cause cel&bre nothing about the Brown-Goodwin stud- in courtroom psychobiology), another ies, pharmacologist Michael Stanley, of group of extremely violent Finnish mur- Wayne State University, in Michigan, com- derers, and a third group of Swedish mass pared the brains of nine suicide victims

murderers were all found to have low Spinal with those of nine matched patients who fluid 5-HIAA levels. As a macabre footnote had died of other causes. In the suicides' to the Swedish mass-murder story (which brains he found unmistakable signs of a For the first time the is so recent it is still unpublished), a single serotonin disorder: culprit had normal 5-HIAA. But he was not biochemistry of suicide was tracked into your garden-variety mass murderer; he was human gray matter itself. a mild nursing-home attendant who had What Stanley and his colleagues at La- calmly performed over two dozen mercy fayette Clinic, in Detroit, actually did was killings of aged patients. The researchers, to "count" the serotonin receptors—the headed by Karolinska Institute neuro- active target sites where serotonin fits into c) the delicious combination scientist Marie Asberg, seem to have the neurons—with a technique called tri- stumbled., upon a provocative fact: The tiated imipramine binding. Imipramine is of equal parts of Drambuie rampages' of a Jack the Ripper are an antidepressant, popularly known as and scotch over ice. neurobiologically distinct from the quiet Tofranil. When tagged with tritium, a radio- homicides of a brooding euthanasiast. active isotope of hydrogen, imipramine And what of socially acceptable kinds of binds to the serotonin receptors and per- "

mils scientists to estimate their number and a Big Brotherish pharmacologic fix for Er- "stickiness." The receptors in the suicides' nie the Sailor's headstrong ways, though brains were sparse. These self-destructive in one experiment the antimanic agent lith- people. Stanley deduced, suffered from a ium (which increases brain serotonin, functional serotonin shortage— a finding among other things) did turn chronic prison that echoes Brown and Goodwin's report rule-breakers into model felons. It's pos- of low spinal fluid 5;HIAA in would-be su- sible that a customized serotonin-boosting icides. And. although Stanley hadn't set out agent will one day make a better treatment to gauge degrees of violence, he did no- for human violence, but, as Brown puts it, tice that the brain with the fewest serotonin "Well have a suicide treatment a lot sooner, receptors was thai of a man who had I can tell you." jumped from a window in a tall building. THE ANATOMY OF SENSATION SEEKING "But the which-came-first question still answers." Stanley cautions. "Did begs low It is easy, speaking of murder and may- serotonin cause these people to commit hem, suicide and senseless violence, to suicide? Is it an aclual 'marker,' o; just a imagine biochemical forces at work in the by-product of a temporary slate?" mind's storm-tossed outposts: harder, And if low brain serotonin is a biochem- somehow, to visualize their influence on ical marker for suicide, how exactly does Main Street. But other research confirms that translate to 5-HIAA levels in cerebro- that biology holds sway over such behav- fluid? level of spinal At what precise 5-HIAA ioral trifles as eating habits, hitchhiking, and does a person fall into the high-risk cate- perfume preferences. gory? Since serotonin is only one of a grand Why, for instance, do some people feel sea of neurochemicals that aftect the an urge to climb Annapuma while others psyche, what other chemicals are mixed get their kicks from reruns of Charlie's An- in suicidal up the pattern? gels? This is the sort of Middle American These are some of the nuts and bolts to koan that fascinates personality psychol- be tightened before a simple chemical test ogists, not excepting the University of Del- for suicide risk becomes a reality. More aware's Marvin Zuckerman. who is the pa- practically, until a simple blood or urine test tron saint of "sensation seeking" theory It supplants the spinal tap as the mode of was Zuckerman who. in the early 1960s, diagnosis, psychiatrists won't spot sui- fathered the widely used Sensation Seek- patients cide-bound the way today's in- ing Scale (SSS)—with its colorful sub- ternists catch incipient diabetes. But that scales. Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS), day may not be so distant. Both the NIMH Boredom Susceptibility (BS),, Experience' and the Detroit teams are launching follow- Seeking (ES), and Disinflation (Dis). As studies identify the suicide-prone, up to and Fodor is to travelers, so Zuckerman's SSS they'll in assay 5-HIAA levels blood plasma is to modern-day temperament theorists. as well as in spinal fluid. A few samples from the questionnaire: "The of findings, those beauty our and "I dislike all body odors/I like some of the of Brown and Goodwin, is that we're no earthy body smells." "I dislike 'swingers'/I longer dealing with diagnostic category a enjoy the company of real 'swingers, I like schizophrenia or depression," Stanley would not like to try any drug that might tells me. "We're looking at a specific be- produce strange and dangerous effects on havior, suicide, and finding this common me/I would like to try some of the new drugs biochemical thread that cuts across psy- that, produce hallucinations." Other ques- chiatric descriptions. That's the wave of tions explore the test-taker's attitudes to- the future, and it's very encouraging. ward parachute jumping, nonconformist Where there's a cause in bioscience, a friends, spicy foreign cuisine, trips to the cure can't be far behind. So I asked Brown upper Amazon, sexual variations, hitchhik- about the likelihood of future suicide-pre- ing, gambling, extreme heat and cold, vention drugs. He mentioned trazedone. a amusement-park rides, life insurance, brand-new tricyclic antidepressant that adultery, motorcycles, and hypnosis, blocks reuptake of the serotonin at the So what? you may ask. Well, it turns out synapse—the point of contact between that your SSS score can accurately predict nerve cells—making more of the chemical a few things about you. Whether you're a available to the brain. "Since trazedone's political liberal (high SSS) or conservative effects appear to be short-lived, I dont think (low SSS), for instance. Whether you go in

itself it will 'cure,' " that by be a suicide he for scuba diving or automobile racing (high points out. "However, a pharmacologist at SSS) or intercollegiate bowling (low SSS). Eli Lilly has just published an animal study Whether you're likely to be a social worker in which a drug similar to trazedone had (high SSS), a conscientious student (low long-term serotonin-enhancing effects SSS), an encounter groupie, a jazz aficio- when combined with tryptophan, an en- nado, or an avant-garde art connoisseur

that is a serotonin precursor. I zyme don't (high SSS). If you're a jogger, you're prob- want to raise anyone's hopes prematurely, ably not much of a sensation seeker, but if but something like trazedone in combina- you've ever streaked, your SSS score is tion with tryptophan turn may out to be an probably in the upper octaves, antisuicide agent." Furthermore, you can now toss out your When they contemplate an antiaggres- daily zodiac and your astro-compatibility sion pill, however, red flags wave in most charts. The well-known like-marries-like law researchers' heads Few wish to propose that psychologists call "assortative mat- ing" has lately been proved as true of sen- Zuckerman decided, didn't need external non-sensation seekers, and that seems to sation seeking as of I.Q. if you stimulation And do per se but situations that trig- be so, Zuckerman says. If MAO is indeed choose a mate with a comparable SSS gered new kinds of internal sensation. And a neurochemical damper what does that score, you'll be better off, a recent Zuck- the isolation chamber, like psychotropic mean? To put the case a little crudely, the of erman survey compatible, and troubled, drugs, launched the mind's own Folies brains of sensation seekers, especially their couples indicates. The worst of all possi- Bergere. By 1969 he shifted his focus from monoamine-rich limbic areas, may be a ble marriages, on the other hand, is the the autonomic nervous system to the array good deal "juicier." Brain scientists now Madame Bovary .syndrome of a high-SSS of brain chemicals that govern our desires believe that chemicals coursing through the female wedded to a low sensation seeker. and loathings, our hopes and fears. limbic (motivational) pathways make up the By Zuckerman's theory, marriage coun- Why should some brains be more re- brain's internal reward and punishment seling for the Bovary family will be difficult. active to intense stimuli while others ap- systems. And that belief gives Zuckerman Sensation seeking, he suggests, is a "basic parently have a built-in damper? The an- ideas that might spawn future research. biological trait," related lo exploratory be- swer seems to involve MAO, or monoamine Maybe, he suggests, sensation seekers havior in other species, like rodent maze oxidase, a brain enzyme that breaks down and non-sensation seekers differ not in running. It is programmed in our very genes. the monoamine neurotransmitters —do- overall arousal but in the relative strength Actually, what our genes apparently en- pamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin— of the neural reward and punishment sys- code is the biological or chemical machin- at the synapse, preventing their accumu- tems. Does the prospect ot exploring the ery— specifically, certain "juices" in our lation. The animal kingdom provided the Amazon basin stir up "pleasure" chemi- brains' emotional pathways— that propels first hint of MAO's surprising soothsaying cals in the born sensation seeker and anx- us toward life's jagged peaks or its more abilities. Blood-platelet levels of the en- iety juices, or perhaps nothing at all, in the level plateaus. zyme predicted the personalities of mon- low sensation seeker? latest Zuckerman's theories depart from keys in a social colony. NIMH researcher MAO's alchemy is by no means pre- the latter-day extroversion-introversion Dennis Murphy discovered a few years cisely understood. Now is not the time to school, which basically views sensation back. While low-MAO monkeys rough- plan your life, or that of your loved ones, seeking as a variation of extroversion and housed and socialized, the high-MAO around this humble enzyme— as a Salt Lake traces it to a chronically underaroused monkeys skulked in the corner. Human City housewife who recently phoned Zuck- nervous system. The idea made to sense beings, only an evolutionary notch above erman discovered. "I read about these MAO Zuckerman, too, at first. Then, initiating follow monkeys, similar behavioral pat- levels," she told him, "and wondered if there sensory-deprivation experiments, he no- terns; subsequent studies have linked low was any way to raise them in my son." ticed that his volunteers were clustered near MAO with human ego strength, optimism, What was wrong with her son? "He does of the high end the SSS continuum. Ac- high activity, mania, even club and orga- dangerous things like riding his skate- cording to the reigning doctrines, sensa- nization affiliations, and high MAO with sol- board downhill at thirty miles an hour, and tion seekers should hate extreme under itude and depression. he's having an affair with an older woman." stimulation; why were they volunteering foi In light of the evidence, sensation seek- When the son turned out to be nineteen a sensory void? High sensation seekers ers ought to have lower MAO levels than years old, Zuckerman explained that his behavior didn't sound pathological. "But that's not how he was raised." the dis- traught mother objected. There might be a lesson here some- where. Maybe some parent-child conflicts are rooted in biological differences. MAO levels do tend to rise with age, while sen- sation-seeking scores decline from the age of approximately twenty-five on, Zucker- man suggests, is biochemistry the hidden cause of the generation gap? "How much a parent can discourage a high sensation seeker or encourage a low

one to be more adventurous is still an open

question," he adds. "We've found that first- borns tend to be high sensation seekers. Parents who assume that lots of early stim- ulation is necessary to future intellectual development may create future sensation seekers rather than intellectual giants." Nobody in this business claims that bi- ology works like a rigid Sophoclean fate,

and unquestionably sensation seeking is shaped by environment as well as genes. "If you're middle class and have these sensation-seeking tendencies, travel and risky sports like skiing are available to you,"

he notes. "But if you live in a restricted, lower-class environment and work at a dull factory job, say, you're liable to find an out- let in drugs or alcohol." ~ DELINQUENT MOZARTS

Frank Farley goes a step further. The University of Wisconsin educational psy- chologist sees a biosocial message in the bored assembly-line worker. "Look at ihe cases of industrial sabo- hits, with a television set blaring in the answers. Low arousal peop.e tend to do tage in Detroit—the workers who throw a background to boot. A disciplinarian pre- very well at parallel (simultaneous) infor- wrench in a Cadillac transmission. I think siding over orderly rows of desks would mation processing associative, nonlinear that these are sensation seekers who are teach stimulation avoiders to memorize logic, and something called "hypostati- unable to tolerate Ihe routine." he says. Boyle's law, while those who. crave stimu- zation and transmutation" (the ability to Pity the poor General Motors saboteur. lation would learn Boyle's law inductively, translate from the abstract to fhe concrete 11 Farley's theories are correct, he may be generalizing from specific-examples. All of and back again). -Take the discovery of a creative artist gone rotten, an inner-city Ihe children would spend a great deal of DNA structure," Farley says. "Watson and Cezanne never given a box ot paints. time at computer terminals, where they Crick had to work with the mathematics, The reasons, Farley explains, are bio- would learn about European monarch's the theory, the crystallography, and so on, logical. At the cofe: of Ihe sensation-seek- while the computer simultaneously moni- but they didn't arrive at the answer until ing theory he subscribes to is the notion tored theirfidgetiness, pupil size (an index they built the little model of the double he- of physiological arousal. Sensation seek- of interest), heart rale, and other physio- lix. They transmuted the abstract into the- ers, according to this school of thought, logical signs. When Johnny lingered over concrete. It's not unlike metaphorical crave stimulation to compensate for a low certain highly charged material, the com- thinking, which is essential for the highest level of neural arousal while high-arousal puter would note it for the school psy- levels of creativity in art or science." types eschew overwhelming stimuli. chologist; when Jennifer started to squirm, Farley has, in fact, analyzed the nervous Hyperactivity and many learning diffi- the silicon instructor would pick up the pace systems of visual artists with a tool called culties are actually "disorders of severe or move on to the next lesson. the two-flash threshold technique, which underarousal." Farley notes, or they are In the meantime. Farley warns, some of measures the brain's response to light sensation seeking gone amok. At the other Ihe most creative children'are hot-wiring flashes. A panel of art critics, meanwhile, end of the spectrum are autistic children cars and running numbers, especially if they rated the subjects' paintings. When bio- and schizophrenics, whose too-arousable happen to have been born to Ihe wrong logical readings and aesthetic critiques nervous systems are likely to lead thern to set of parents on the wrong side of town, were compared, the low-arousal artists were withdraw from the hustle and bustle into "I believe that high creativity and delin- udgcd the most creative wan private chambers of "flat affect" and quency spring from Ihe same source, like Now for the darker side of the story. Many understimulation. Janus, an underaroused nervous system," studies have iound a connection between If Farley had his way, educators would Farley says. "So few good things are said the low-arou.sal high : sensation-seeking map students' "biological aptitudes" and about'delinquents. But I work with a lot of physiology and adolescent smoking, teach them accordingly. His of classroom delinquent kids, and I think of 'them as an drinking, drug dabbling, sexual promis- the future would look much like this: While unlapped natural resource of creativity." cuity, delinquency, and other excesses, the high-arousal children (who shun stim- The evidence? First, there's a connec- Farley reports. To add to this research file, ulation) read Keats's reflections on a Gre- tion between the low-arousal, sensation- the psychologist and his colleagues toted cian urn in a quiet library, the. low-arousal seeking temperament and the thought theirtwo-flash gizmos into an institution for kids would study to Ihe tune of punk rock processes that underlie creativity, Farley delinquent boys in Milwaukee, where they stumbled upon a 1984-ish phenomenon. Dividing the group into two on the basis of arousal scores, the r esea-chers c sev- ered that the low-arousal sensation seek- ers were a full seven times more likely to run away from the detention center. Did their physical makeup demand the sights, sounds, and razzmatazz of street life? Probably, says Farley. And his second finding was the icing on the cake. "We figured that, among the kids who escaped, the lowest in arousal would be out the shortesi time because their tre- mendous stimulation hunger would get them into trouble right away," he relates. "That was the case. The runaways with the lowest arousal scores we-e picked up after only three or four days, on the average. The higher-arousal kids, in contrast, were gone about a hundred days." When the boys' home study was repeated at a cenfer lor delinquent girls, virtually the same pat- tern showed up. What makes some low-arousal types creative and others criminal? Farley wanted to know. loo. "We've just

completed a study of low-arousal kids, in which we divided Ihe group into high and low socioeconomic classes." he explains. "We found exactly what we expected. The probability of delinquency was greafer in the lower-class group; of creativity, in the higher-class group, "I think that upper-middle-class families can provide for the low-arousal child's stimulation in socially acceptable ways." he extrapolates. "A tower-class child with

COI*. I INCEC DM PAGE 13? V

END OF

WORLD NEWS BY ANTHONY BURG

Brodie woke lo da

- Vaiand near tranquillity. Willett, half-Scot, halt

"How do you t "A little bit better. That really one hell of a night."

the others, 1 should imagine. 01 "

York, New the for "No, I world that matter, had and don't care where it is. You and Grill, a hostelry they could_ not recall hav-

seen the worst. Val held his peace. After I stay together." ing seen before. It smelled of a very damp breakfast he would talk to Wlllett. Periodically, in this fine tideless summer grave, but there were drinkers and a He talked to Willett up in the living room weather, they would "go out onto the bal- cheerful barman. over a bottle of Presidio cognac. cony and look —"You down at the rapid restora- "Scotch," Val said. "Very large." know." Val said, I "or think you know tion of the old civic pattern. The bone-dry "Very expensive," the barman said. "Yes?" streets had been cleared of the dead and "There won't be no .more scotch when ex- "That its all going to be over." other debris by a kind of pressed militia isting stocks is finished, friends. There ain't Willett nodded vigorously with even a sort under brutish men with guns and mouths no more bonny Scotland," of satisfaction. The satisfaction of ever with insult not hav- ready and obsceniry. "Jesus," said Willett with awe. "Look at ing to leave the party before it finished? Val and Willett were subsisting, not too that, It's a television." "What precisely is going tastily, to happen?" on canned goods they had lugged The other drinkers had been watching a "There's from going to be a brief period of various hotel storerooms. blank crackling screen, waiting. Then there peace calm. Optimistic and clearing up. I In the clothes closets of their two bed- came the cheerful face of the President. suppose, and a lot of free money around. rooms they had the entire spectrum of Hiss "Christ, he looks old," Val breathed. A lot of goods to be used up. The sensible Soups, Seth Low Tasty Stews, Mensch The President said, "My friends, I speak will know the worst irom the fact of the gen- Spongemeats, Piccirilli Pasta Yums, Mos- to you from the White House, Dallas, Texas, eral prosperity. No more future to for, chowitz Puddings. save Kosher They had cases, the present center of government until such no virtue in thrift after all. No money spent agony to manhandle, of hard liquors and time as a certain other White House, in a on war, defense, feeding the starving halt Marquis de Lafayette Good American certain city in the District of Columbia, has of the world." Wines, well as as some genuine vinous rel- been rebuilt and restored to its former glory. "How about the moon?" Willett ics of asked. dead France. Spain, and Italy. The We have had, to say the least, difficult times. "The moon?" It seemed, the question, on face of much debated over these same, Now we count our dead, in resignation to it, a frivolous question. was: "The moon," Val What were they going to do? the will of heaven, and, in obedience to the

said, "is, I think, already being drawn into law of life, start to reconstruct our shat- the gravitational field of Lynx. , Lynx's mass tered country. You will hear rumors, put is very much greater than Earth's. We'll miss about by the forces of subversion for its the moon during our period of tranquillity. own sake, to the effect that the worst is not No more destructive tides. No poetry, either. yet over, that the destructive planet Lynx No popular songs. lot of ^Frame's eyes A our literature will will plunge back into our, alas, now moon- become meaningless." looked poisonously on less sky and resume, on a greater scale "Not meaningless," Willett said. 'Dust sad. than before, Bartlett instant, its wanton work of destruc- My son," he said, an "is on the I moon. used tion. This rumor is wicked and false."

to get letters from him. I don't then suppose and they looked on Willett and Val looked at each other over there'll be any more letters. Has there been nothing. His head their whisky. One never believed a politi- trouble on the moon?" collapsed cian. Or did one? Some of the drinking . on his shoulder. "Moonquakes? Without a doubt. And now watchers were believing. the is dragged moon away from us. But it Dr. Adams led Warmth, warmth, human warmth flooded will be back." the few in. Scotch was fifteen dollars a shot. Girls "With Lynx?'" who shed a tear.^ came in, and Willett with famished speed "With Lynx." Val traced ellipses and cir- had his arm round one gat-toothed gig- cles on the coffee table with a brandy-wet gler, "Honeybunch," he called her, "pig- finger. "Lynx is entering into its first year gesnie, heartsease, bedworthy bundle-

as a member of this planetary It system. snuggle," and so on. She giggled. Then will be a brief year, not much more than Willett grunted, not unkindly, and said, two men in uniform came in, one with a two hundred days. There seems to be some "We might risk a stroll through the city. I clipboard, the other with a pistol in a ver- ancient inexplicable law about distances wonder if there's anything really happen- digrised holster. Their uniforms were a sort having to be maintained between planets. ing down there." He went to the balcony to of overwashed blue, denoting some store I've had it explained to me, but I little peer was down at the street scene below. Peo- that the floods had got at. They wore cloth the wiser. Remember, I'm only a writer of ple, no cars. "Christ," he said, "there are brassards, which said nyc cleanup. fantasies, not a scientist at all. Am," then fights he coming on." "Work card?" said the man with the clip- said bitterly. "Why do I keep saying Val am?" came to see. board. He was the overbearing sort who "Go on about Lynx." Somewhat furtively they went out into the never learns humility, not even from cosmic "Remember that Earth itself goes round corridor, locking the door with the lockcard disaster. the sun. ironically enough, our present that po- had been kindly awaiting them on the "Never heard of work cards," Willett said. sition is favorable to us. We could have hallway table when they first entered. It was "Sounds like an unwholesome innovation. been much closer to Lynx. But in the fall perhaps no surprise to find the elevator I am an actor. Freelance, naturally. I work the solar two 'orbits will be very close in- working. This did not, however, elate Wil- when I'm able to work. My friend here is a . deed. The gravitational pull of Lynx, which lett; he did not altogether relish the end of university professor." we're feeling already, will be irresistible." the days of anarchy. But in the reception "Work card?" "I take it," Willett said, "that this place area below they lound nobody. Some quirk "What /sail this?" Val asked, where you were going was not exactly what of a time switch somewhere had brought "If you've no work card, you get tem- you said it was." light and power back to the hotel. Cau- porarily drafted into the city clean-up force. "No. A spaceship taking civilization in tiously they went out onto the sidewalk. They Thirty dollars a day and anything you find." microcosm into the great darkness, look- walked south of a very green, though tree- "What do we have to do?" Val asked, ing for a light, new a fresh habitable planet." less. Central Park and found a few people capitulating.

"But you don't know where it is?" walking dogs. "Mad, mad," muttered Wil- "Wait outside there with Officer Grogan

lett uneasily. "It's almost it From The End of.the World News, by Anthony as though never till we collects ten. Then you march." Butgess. Copyright € 1983. by Liana Burgess. ' happened." They saw signs of reconstruc- Reprinted by permission of tion work: men working McGraw-Hill Book nights, tloodlamps In Sloansville, Kansas, lying quiet in a Company. Published in the already flooding. United Kingdom by On West Fifty-seventh little white room in the cat (Center of Ad- Hutchinson Publishers. Street they entered Jerry Towle's Bar and vanced Technology) hospital, his respira- 86 OMNI "

tor plugged into the mains (the camp, of anybody to go. I think, however, I ought to lett's room, she found him affable. 'A drink?" course, its had own generator), often un- have Bartlett in here." he said, going to his fruit and vegetable der sedation, his heart action kept steady "You won't have him in, Father. He's not juice cabinet. She shook her head and told if faint through Dr. Sophie Haas Fried's a schoolboy, and you're not a school prin- him her father's request. "Yes," he said administration of the drug Diegerlicon 5, cipal. He might one of these days deign to thoughtfully. "He has a certain claim on my Professor Hubert Frame was informed come in." time. Though he must have read the prog- regularly as to the progress of the great "I think I have certain rights. Perhaps if ress reports." work by his daughter, Vanessa, also told who you him I'm going to die. I am, of "He finds reading increasingly difficult." told him frankly about the unhappiness of course." 'I'll go now, No need for you to come." the team, the fervent "I'll and growing dislike ask. Request. Bow humbly and be- He gave Vanessa no time to confirm or and fear of Bartlett. Boss Cat seech him." contest but marched out. When he got to "I heard story of some exemplary harsh- "I ought to have a talk with him. The Bart- Frame's room in the hospital, next hut to ness. I'd like to the truth know about poor lett file— it just doesn't give any real idea. Project HQ, he entered without knocking. young Nat Goya," file? Does any I've been thinking of some- "Good of you to come, Bartlett. Do sit "Bartlett says it was the military going one else —someone with a useless file. Val, down." too far. But there's now I O'Grady ready to mean. Before I—go— Bartlett remained standing. He said, "Was try the latest astunomological techniques "Don't talk about going. Don't talk about there anything particular you wanted to see on dissidents. Maude Adams has been Val." She held back a sniff. me about?" turned into a most I efficient automaton. "He wouldn't have lasted five minutes "When' will you be ready?" never the necessity saw of an astunomol- with Bartlett, from all you tell me of Bartlett. "Six weeks to the day, by my calculation. ogist on the team." Or— mad, isn't it?— Bartlett might not have Everything is going as planned, except for "Hmm," Frame went, in the faint lasted voice five minutes with him? some extra work still to be done on the that was nearly all exhausted breath and "What a strange thing to say. You never gravity apotha. It seems to be a matter of very little glottis, "It comes from the Greek liked. Val. You despised him." accepting natural pull in the initial stages for 'policeman.' Policeman sounds horri- "I I suppose despised in him what I de- and then effecting a tangential glance-off, ble, of course. O'Grady is highly skilled in spised in myself— self-indulgence chiefly. using Jumel's megaproagon." techniques of pacification." My self-indulgence lobacco. this proj- "I've no doubt of your having every tech- "That horrible, sounds too." ect. His? Drink, fornication, science fiction. nical aspect of the venture under your iron "Yes, think You O'Grady ought to go?" Perhaps I should have fornicated more and control," Frame sighed. "Have you, how- "I think Bartlett ought to go." smoked less. Val at least had the grace to ever, ever considered what the venture is "We're not in charge of the project, Va- keep his science fiction between hard or really for?" invented nessa. We it." soft covers. Do ask Bartlett to come and Bartlett smiled meagerly. "The salvag- "You did." see me. I shall have to sleep soon." ing of Western civilization in "But we're not in charge. We don't tell When Vanessa was admitted to Bart- Your phrase. I think." "Ridiculous, isn't it, BarElett?" Bartlett

smiled still, though less easily. "How much do you believe about that civilization non- President, sense? When I spoke to the

months ago, eons ago, I spoke of man's achievements in science, art, architecture, music, philosophy. False political rhetoric. things? What do I care about such What do you care?" Bartlett held his smile but let the uneasiness out, like a slowly ex- pelled breath. "This project was designed tor the glory of Hubert Frame, scientist and smoker. But who will give him the glory?" "When our America reaches America 'Nova, the name Frame will be given to the

first community established there. That is already laid down in the conspectus." 7 "Again I ask, what do you care What's

in it for you, Bartlett?"

"I was chosen. I do my duty." "You do your duty," Frame echoed with

all the sarcasm his dyspneal voice could emit. "But what reality do you serve? " Beauty? Love? Truth 7 'Power.'' Ba'tle": said w : thout hesitation.

"Power is the reality. Manifested at so many levels—the power of one heavenly body over another, of one man over many—" "Fifty men and women." Frame said, showing no surprise at Bartlett's avowal, "Not many to have power over." "You're wrong. A race of my making will colonize America Nova, wherever it is." "So your fellow astronauts are in for an unhappy time. At least you don't give me the hogwash you give to them, or so my daughter informs me. A time of totalitarian discipline to be followed by an endless era of happy freedom," "Unhappy," said Bartlett, having picked out that one word and disregarded the rest of Frame's breathy flow. "Human emotions

are a great nuisance. I have fine brains and fine bodies working for me— for the their emotions project I should say— but are a great nuisance, a damnable source of ultimate sabotage. Soon there'll be lei- sure to eliminate emotions— love, hate, that sort ot hindrance, that sort .of nonsense. What we take with us into space is not the whole of human experience, just a part of

it, the useful part. No literature, music, art. Those are disruptive, the stuff of disst- dence, Man will have a new chance. A chance to understand the nature of power."

"God help them. God help me. I can't give you my blessing, Bartlett. But there fro other snips going into space, Bartlett. other Americas. Remember that." "Space is very big," said Bartlett, "Big enough for more than Homo bartleitianus. Have Well, then, I go without your blessing. you anything more to say?" "No more commerce between us, Bart-

lett. None."

"You're probably ready to die, I should think," Bartlett said coolly. "Shall I—pull the plug on you'' A corporal work of mercy.

as the Christians put it, Pull out the plug,

wait five minutes, push it back in again. Professor Frame is dead. A grand burial, with the buglers blowing taps." —

"I should like." Frame said with equal waste. A child crushed in the ultimate ruins. and well and get furlough." Jonathan's coolness, "to the- see great ship before I "Edwina," Aunt Melanie said one morn- mouth was open wide. "Don't show what go, See what might better have been left ing, bringing her ungrudgingly her break- you're eating, dear. It's not nice." as a dream— a hunk of science fiction. Will fast tray— coffee, toast, papaya juice "Cat. you said? CAT.? The moonship you grant me thai?" "Edwina. Jonathan's coming home." project? Gosh, Mom, that's where I was." "Gladly. Some day next month?" "Jonathan?" "But you said you were working on elec- "if I'm still alive," "Oh. come, child, my Jonathan, your trical generators in-Kansas, dear." "Oh, lhat can be arranged. Keeping cousin Jonathan. Private. First Class I Jon- "Yeah, know, Mom. I didn't say more people alive is one aspect of power." And, athan Putnam, my son. Now you'll have 'cause it's still supposed to be, you know, with no more words,, he left. somebody your own to talk to"" age Top Secret. TS, as they call it. We were told

no talking about it on furlough. But that's Edwina Goya was with her Aunt not Melanie Jonathan was Edwina's age; he was what it was, the moon job. Finished our in Fort Worth, Texas. Aunt Meianie was a somewhat younger, demonstrating youth work; so off we march. So that's where he widow of pre-Lynx vintage, not badly off, in pimples and gawkiness. Edwina came is, was. Small world, kinda. What's his living for the day, a player of bridge, a greal down from her room to the fine homecom- name?" skeptic who called that big light in the sky, ing dinner Aunt Melanie had prepared. 'A Spanish kind of name. Not Jewish, I our moon circling about it, a lot of wicked "Come, dear, eat," said Aunt Melanie. know that, just the opposite. There was nonsense. She saw little of Edwina. "Remember, to you've two feed." some great artist with it, Edwina tells me. Edwina kept to her bed, nursing her belly Jonathan at was slow taking in the Goya. I said before, Jonathan dear, don't (everything just fine, going little lady, Dr. meaning of this; He was still only a private open your mouth like that." McBean said) and reading devotional po- firsl class in the Engineers. But then his "But I know about the guy. Doc Goya. etry, thinking in a confused way about Nat face beamed. "Gee. that's good news," he He got out." and what might have happened to him, said. "And when do we get a look at your "So Edwina said. He got out and tele- doubting totally that she would ever see husband. Eddie?" phoned to this very house. Then it seems him again. She repeated to herself the name "Never, as far as I can tell," Edwina like they took him back in again." of the town Nat had uttered on the tele- sniffed. "Never, Excuse me. I think I'll go "Yeah, they did that all right. And then I phone, Sloansville. It meant little, as there to bed." She got up from the table. was on the incinerator party. He's dead, .were some fifty Sloansvilles in the United "Oh, Come, girl," said her aunt. But Ed- Mom. Gee, that's terrible. Eddie's hus- States. And the trouble was that, with the wina could be heard running upslairs. band. There was a lot of, you know, talk growth of the child in her womb, the mem- "What happened to him?" Jonathan about it. This guy they had in charge, Boss ory of Nat became dimmer in inverse pro- asked. "Was he in the coast floods?" Cat they called him, gosh, he was terrible." portion. To resume love, Nat herself, and "No, he was in a thing called Cat or "I think she ought to know, Jonathan. for the brief time left? Less important than something, and they wouldn't let him out. You're the one who knows the truth. You're io ensure the survival of the child she car- She hasn't heard from him. Of course, as the one to tell it, dear." ried. Otherwise, what colossal I ke'ep telling wicked her, Jonathan, he may be alive Two evenings later Edwina consented to go out with Jonathan in his Poe Speedbird.

Edgar Allan, as he called it and as other Poe owners called theirs.

The Florentine Hotel was massive, gaudy, not at all Florentine. Its Italian connections

were not at all northern. It was, after all, owned by Gianni and Salvatore Taglia-

ferro, who were very southern. "I like it." Edwina said, brightening as she sat at the huge leather-bound bar in the main gam- bling hall. People were gambling away C notes like quarters,

A handsome, broad, sleek man in his thirties, in space-depih-blue tuxedo, white- tooihed, abundant black hair, armed with a controlling vitality she found disturbingly familiar, came up to the bar and said to the head barman. "Put the new price plan into operation at nine-thirty, Jack. All brands." "Check, Mr. Gropius." "Everything okay, Jack?" "Everybody thirsty, Mr. Gropius." The man laughed and turned away from the bar. Edwina put a hand out and touched. He turned, politely smiling. "Your name," she said, "is Gropius?" "That's right, miss or madam. Dashiel

Gropius at your service. Is everything all right?"

"Are you, " she could hardly get the words out, "any relation of?" "I'm always getting that question," Gro-

pius said. "The answer is yes. My father is, for his sins or mine or somebody's, the great "About these toy bombs, what is their pretend-kill capacity?" Calvin Gropius.'" And, smiling sardonically but pleasantly,

CONTINUED ON PAGE 126 The famous "Leakey Luck" has guided this young fossil hunter to a find that may provide the missing link in the mystery of human origin irUTER\yiEUU

married Mary, an November 1982 Richard Erskine Leakey, middle son of hu- spected name White African In 1935 Louis years this remarkable team Inman paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey, announced a new archaeologist, and for the next 38 African fossil treasures and toppled discovery: 14-million-year-old fossils of a humanoid creature. unearthed hundreds of East evolution. Only a few weeks earlier colleagues collaborating with Leakey existing theories of human expected of Richard. As soon as he could walk, had lound fossils that were 8 million years old. Both finds lie in No less was trailed behind his parents through the badlands of Olduvai the Samburu Hills, a fossil-loaded area north of Nairobi, Kenya. he neighboring Tanzania, sometimes even crawling over Either group of fossils could lay to rest one of science's most Gorge, in search for early signs of man. Louis controversial issues: the origin of the human line. This is not Rich- desolate rock escarpments to Mary encouraged him to track wild animals, build his own ard Leakey's first stroke of genius. Starting with his conception, and or sit quietly and study the activity at a termite mound, a he seems to have been in the right place at the right time. Like traps, nest, waterhole. Then at night Richard played beneath his father, Richard was born in Kenya, with Kenya in his blood. bird's or a his parents fingered their newest finds, talk- Louis Leakey was born of English missionaries in a mud-and- the camp lantern as fervently of bones, stones, and human origins. thatch hut in Kabete. As a boy, he had learned the bushcraft of ing a teen-ager Richard was a competent nat- the Kenyan grasslands from local Kikuyu playmates and was By the time he was in Swahili, skilled at bushcraft, an ardent Kenyan initiated into the Kikuyu tribe, among whom he earned the re- uralist, fluent PHOTOGRAPH BY ANTHONY WOLFF —

patriot. But he was not a student. He pre- has become widely known as "Leakey's Leakey is reluctant to talk national in paleontological about these hanson thinks his bones from Hadar are category that would be difficult to change, has a resource ferred the out-of-doors and dropped out Luck." Lake Turkana soon became a new-found fossils for reasons of politics and specifically, remains, he influenced the Kenyan Parlia- early Australopithecus, not Homo. even if it were incorrect. More of high school to spend his days escorting motherlode of fossil bones. And the same protocol. But he readily discusses procedure through a sec- Months later he examined casts of Mary this new category, represents Johanson's ment to establish a visiting scientists around his parents' dig may be true of the new site in the Samburu riddle: the events that expeditions work in ond happened after Leakey's fossils from Laetoli (ihe ones she theoretical point of view: that Australopith- which non-Kenyan at Olduvai. Then, to become independent Hills. In his own words, "It may provide the Ihe fossil void. 2 million the National Museum of About years ago thinks represent early Homo) and an- ecus appeared first and then later on conjunction with of his heritage, he entered the safari busi- turning point in our science." two varieties of hominids lived Africa he adds, "there is a in nounced that they resembled the fossils he evolved into Homo. Kenya. "This way," ness. But this didn't last. Shortly after his Leakey might be right again. For the re- Homo (the direcl aneestor of present-day endeavor in all this." had found in Ethiopia, Australopithecus. He And in the New York Times in December cooperative twentieth birthday he set off to investigate cently uncovered fossils were deposited at man) is digging for bones, and Australopithecus (a hominid categorized the fossils from both areas to- 1982 New York University anthropologist When Leakey not out some deposits in northern Tanzania and particularly thrilling times in human history. of Museum contemporary of Homo that eventually died gether and dubbed them a new species. Noel Boaz reports that new dating tech- he is the director the Mational found a hominid fossil bone. He returned It is known lhal our tree-dwelling ances- out). Today among anthropologists there of Kenya, Africa's largest natural history Australopithecus alarensis. If Johanson is niques indicate that Lucy may be as much home an anthropologist. tors, the dryopithecines. had died out 17 is a significant controversy over which has set up a United States- right, then Mary Leakey is wrong and her as 700.000 years younger than earlier es- museum, He Over the following months Leakey com- million years ago and thai between 14 mil- group appeared first after the fossil void, research foundation, FROM (Foun- fossils can't be those of early Homo. Of timates— 2.9 million instead of 3.6 million based pleted his last two years of high school and lion and 8 million years ago new creatures, or into Origins of Man). Homo Australopithecus. course Mary Leakey has disagreed stren- years old. This could mean that the bones dation for Research ihe passed exams for entrance to a university the ramapithecines. appeared. Anthropol- This people in the U.S., controversy, which the newspapers uously with Johanson's interpretation. were wrongly classified. Johanson, how- "There are many young in England. As restless as his father, how- ogists have long wondered whether the portray as a bitter argument, in need money, and began 1976, As does her son, although, as you will ever, stands by. his original hypothesis and Kenya, and Europe who ever, he again skipped to join school one ramapithecines descended from the Irees. when Mary found it to set a source of support Leakey footprints and see, for different reasons. And there are states that the new dating does not dimin- is my hope up of Louis's research teams, But this wasn't Leakey's new fossils, dated 14 million years fossil in Laetoli. It during a recent visit to bones Tanzania, that were several reasons why Johanson s claims are ish Lucy's significance as a member of a for them." was satisfactory, either. As he recalls, "I wanted ago. may finally answer lhat question. over 3.5 million old. that Lea- years She thinks both disturbing. He has given the fossils a new distinct and more primitive species. FROM my own show." The 8-million-year-old fossils found by footprints and fossil bones the key spoke about represent name, thus fixing them in a new taxonomic Richard Leakey steadfastly asserts that in 1968 Richards break came. in the He had teammates Samburu Hills may prove genus Homo. the First Family fossils vary too much to be the Samburu accompanied his father to Washington, even more exciting. Between 8 million and Don Johanson, a paleoanthropoiogist those of one species. And the new dating Hills and other D.C., where Louis was presenting his plans million 4 years ago there is a blank, a void and director of the Institute of Human methods add weight to his side of the Lucy prehistoric sub- to his sponsors, the Research Committee in the fossil record. And directly alter this Origins, in jects with an- Berkeley, California, does not controversy, It is possible, now, that Leak- of the Nalional Geographic Society. When void there are fossils proving if\ » thropologist that our agree with Mary Leakey. In 1.974 Johanson ey's new discoveries in the Samburu Hills the business was over, Richard astonished ancestors walked fully erect. Fisher. Thus, the looked for fossils along the Hadar River, in will answer some of these questions and Helen E. everyone by mapping out his plans mystery period II own between 4 million and 8 the Afar Triangle area of Ethiopia. There he end the controversy. Omni: for a new dig in an unknown area of Kenya— million years contain within it strikes ago may the unearthed about two fifths of an ancient Leakey is not just good at finding bones; me around Lake Turkana. Then he asked his day our hominid when lineage branched skeleton, which became widely known as he has his parents' farsighfedness as well. that we might father's sponsors bill. to foot (he Agog, they off from the ape stock and started down Lucy. Some months later Johanson found Although ihe press magnifies the glamour be on the did, but with this warning: "If you find noth- the road toward the modern human. This the "First Family," of individuals verge of remains 13 and mystery of fossil hunting, it also ex- ing, you are never to come begging at our divergence from the apes was a key event who he claimed had died together in some poses ihe academic backbiting and jock- estab- door again." in human history, and Ihe 8-million-year- swift disaster. All were originally dated 3.6 eying for access to precious fossil-rich sites. lishing If Richard Leakey is endowed with his old fossil from the Samburu Hills may ex- million years ago (Mary Leakey's fossils Leakey has put an end io this competition when father's perspicacity, he also acquired what plain how such a divergence occurred. date from that same time period), But Jo- in Kenya. Realizing years ago that Kenya man

*fc

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^ For a delicious change of taste, Just add cream or milk. And do - Maidstone Wine & Spirits Inc., P.O. Box 8925, Universal City, CA 91608. before. More than Valley, north of Nairobi, in anything we've found and the ancestors of the apes diverged, side of the Rift won't because I don't want I simply say an area that goes under the general des- that, and in what respect human beings have away. I will tell you It's a very this to get carried But think that's so? ignation of the Samburu Hills. evolved. Do you in the Sam- area and has a very that we now have a second site mysteries will be solved large and rugged Leakey: I think both probably about geology: pockets of sediment in buru Hills that is older— I'm sure ot it. The only complex during this century. million years old. potential of fossil finds. fourteen million to fifteen whether, in fact, man which there was the I would ask is thing recently unearthed twenty Dr. Ishida discovered a piece of And we have the ever really did diverge. It is And here and apes teeth jaws. and five teeth, two pre- fossils— mostly and perfectly obvious from the genetic story, upper jawbone three molars. Omni: Who found them? the molecular story, and the evolutionary molars and A member of my team. Omni: What is the present dating on them? Leakey: story—documented by fossils—that the years. Omni: So you can talk about it? distinguish us from Leakey: Approximately eight million only things that really very, transition Leakey: No. But this is going to be a chimpanzee and the gorilla are that we Omni: That could be the critical the There are a lot of higher evolution during which the very exciting area. walk upright and that the present-day spe- period in human there, and we may solve the hominid lineage may have diverged from primate fossils cies of human is more intelligent. teeth heavily question as to what Ramapithecus is. complicated tech- its ape ancestors. Are the We have much more suggested that change in diet Omni: It has recently been course, but the biological differ- enameled, indicating the nology, of ramapithecines are ancestors of associated with the adaptation to living on the Asian ences are so small that I wonder whether trees? the orangutans. Do you plan to remstitute consider ourselves as the ground as opposed to living in we should really Kenyapithecus, which your father Leakey: The specimen is unlike the earlier ihe term having split or whether it is just a question too originally proposed, for the fossils you have dryopithecmes. But I can't go into much of documenting bipedalism [walking up- it yet been recently found? expan- detail about it, because hasn't right] and encephalization [brain suggested concern is that Leakey: Yes. Other colleagues hominid ancestors.' studied or compared, My sion] in our genus, so we have. up his discovery it as a valid African Omni: "Fossil of Humanoid Creature May Dr. Ishida should write his ef- begun to use the name Kenyapithecus. was the heading before anyone talks about it. It was Fill Major Evolution Gap" kenyapithecine fos- credit. Omni: Could your new article last September fort; il should be his of a New York Times hominids, the so-called What significance do you think the sils be the earliest [1982] discussing the discovery—made by Omni: link? " have? missing you and Dr. Hidemi Ishida, of Osaka Uni- discovery will Leakey: It's too soon to say. They could it prove to be one of the more versity—of a jawbone and some teeth ai a Leakey: may be a four-legged ape or an in- important tossils we've found in that it may turn out to new site in Kenya. What exactly did you the cipient hominid. They are quite unlike the significant in provide a link in the relationship among find, and does it fill a gap teeth ramapithecines, and Asian ramapithecines, though their human evolution? dryopithecines, the display thick enamel. The environment I know do hominids, I say, it may. don't Leakey: For three years Dr. Ishida and his the later in which the fossils were deposited may it will, but it certainly has a mor- team have been working in conjunction with whether turn out to have been forested. More I will phology suggesting that it is quite unlike some of my own people oh the eastern

Va&j

,: live, but that's it!" Okay! I'll give you six months more to no! say. excepl that we've now finally got the site where we're going to obtain evi- dence to answer your question. Omni: Why are you so reluctant to talk about your own site? too Leakey; Because I don't think we need much popular dramatization of discovery

at this stage. It gives the public at large quite the wrong impression of what we're trying to do. This isn't a grand competition

among egocentric scientists. It really is an attempt by serious scientists to sori out human origins. Although we have used publicity to try io raise money, the publicity ' often of the mark in terms of the is so wide |

importance of the issues. I simply want to

cool it. Omni: Speaking of grand competitions, you INSTANT WINNER GAME probably didn't see the November fifteenth [1982] issue of the San Francisco Chroni- cle in which Jon Kalb—the geologist who discovered that the Awash Valley area of Ethiopia was rich in fossils—accuses col- leagues of falsely portraying him to Ethio- Silver security agents as a CIA spy, Kalb a pian Win has been absolved, but his career is on the rocks. Kalb hasn't mentioned any names, but his long-standing disagree- ment with Don Johanson is known to any- 1982 Corvette one who has read Johanson's recent book. over Lucy. And it was Johanson who took PLUS THOUSANDS OF OTHER VALUABLE PRIZES! Kalb's sites after Kalb was ousted. More- article, Kalb claims that over, in this same The 1982 silver Corvette with found the three- when Johanson famous deluxe Alpine sound system is million-year-old knee joint—which proved a Grand Prize worth $22,500! that, by that time, some hominid was walk- All you have to do to win the : erect at Hadar concealed - ing totally —he Grand Prize, or any one of more . it it from his teammates, then announced than 65,000 other valuable prizes^ at his own press conference in Addis Ababa is to look for specially-marked [the capital of Ethiopia], TDK multi-packs of D, AD, and Now the Ethiopians have proclaimed a SA audio cassettes and T- 120 moratorium on all digging. In fact, they video cassettes at your local parti- asked more than one American paleoan- cipating TDK dealer. Inside you'll Playback thropologist to leave their country last discover your "Pleasure It make you an summer. No one can. get into the Awash Game" card. may instant winner and qualify you Valley, What are the Ethiopians doing? for a second opportunity to win a Leakey: Basically, the philosophy of Ethio- total audio, and video home enter- pia is the same as the philosophy of Kenya. tainment center in our bonus We are young developing countries, fac- prize drawing when you follow ing great economic difficulties. We have the instructions on the back of very few resources, and we simply don't the-card; - I'll resources of paleontology and want the So visit your local TDK dealer archaeology— part of the cultural heritage todav and play the "TDK $350,000 of our country—to be overexploited by for- Pleasure Playback Instant Win- wel- eigners all at one time. In Kenya we ner Game." You're always a ;

FIRST PRIZE : carry out re- -'--{ foreign groups to : : come winner with TDK. : v':\

search, but it must be done in a way that is acceptable to our national philosophy of SECOND PRIZE

development. I think Ethiopians are very

similar to Kenyans in this respect. As I un-

derstand it, they are simply thinking through appropriate legislation — appropriate pro- DRAWING cedures that will enable the Ethiopian gov- BONUS Complete Audio and Video Home ernment to monitor the exploitation and development of this scientific material. Omni: What is your reaction to this Kalb- Johanson incident?

Leakey: Lthink it is tragic to have to tight about this issue in the popular press: And another person for being if one is criticizing &TDK unethical, it doesn't help to be unethical oneself. To attack Don in the press won't ancestor of both help scientific research in Ethiopia. large. There are many individuals, and there same one that is the man Omni: You and Don have had your own is a lot of variation among the individuals and Australopithecus. You have to go fur- earlier australopithe- conflicts. Do you think the press made too withinrthe samples. It's been lumped with ther back to find the ancestor much of them? the sample trom Laetoli, a thousand miles cine type that will be the common Don Leakey: Certainly tar too much. But I'm not away. But there is so much variation within of man and later Australopithecus.

it. I did collection that it is difficult to accept all claimed he found said maybe he sure that the press was unaided. 1 don't the distant places as and maybe he dicing. So, to adjust to that, know. I certainly have always refused to these bones from such Furthermore, are told he pushed back the dates' of his fossils. talk about this issue to the press. .1 have a single species. we dates never studied the Hadar material. I've sim- that all these fossils represent a single Omni: And apparently these now ply expressed the professional view that species because the reputed First "Family have come forward again. How do you feel Johanson has one explanation of its sig- assemblage all died together because of about that? dating nificance, but that there are other expla- some catastrophic event. How does Jo- Leakey: Well, I think we'll go back to some of nations. I've always felt that the material hanson know this? These fossils could have originally proposed, which placed simply didn't warrant a dogmatic position. been deposited at different times, over a the Hadar material at close to three million period of months or years, by a carnivore years old, and some— like Lucy and the Omni: I remember one moment—on Wal- slightly ter Cronkite's television program. Uni- that was selecting this particular species, First Family— at a younger age:

: verse—when you reacted to Johanson s or this particular, group of a species, to feed perhaps 2.5 million or 2.4 million years. If turn out to correct, then theory. J oh an so r had just diagrammed his on. Certainly this assemblage doesn't speak those new dates be the no- model of human evolution. Oldest, in his to me of a single family that all died in one it becomes very difficult to accept species runs from 2,4 million scheme, were his A. afarensis fossils — Lucy place simultaneously, tion that one million years with all that variation. It and the First Family— as antecedents of Omni: So, in other words, Australopithecus to 3.7 also difficult to that it represents Homo and the later australopithecines. afarensis could be. . . is accept of of Then, according to his diagram. A. afaren- Leakey: Two species instead of one. a single common ancestor Homo and later particularly as, sis split off, leading to Homo on the one Omni: Which two"? the australopithecines,

if approximately 2.5 million years ago, we hand and to the ultimately defunct aus- Leakey: I don't know, but you've got two by Africa (later tralopithecines on the other. You drew an species later on. maybe these are the an- also have other hominids in East X through the whole chart. Did you do so tecedents of both later species. All I've said australopithecines) that are as old as the sample, but because you feel that Homo occurred ear- is it's too soon to be dogmatic. Moreover, youngest parts of the Hadar

are different. With the new dating, I think, lier than this—that all of the australopithe- I have never, not tor one moment, sug- apart. cines, including A. afarensis, are a sideline gested that what we are calling Australo- the whole theory falls material are ap- that never led to man? pithecus wasn't ancestral to Homo. What Omni: Casts of the Hadar said to have one austral- parently beginning to circulate among other Leakey; No. I don't think that's the position I've is, we seem opithecine. with Homo at anthropologists. What is most interesting that was taken, and yet I do think there has contemporary is that they are looking at exactly the same been a misunderstanding of it. My concern Lake Turkana, from around three million arriving at entirely different js simply that the sample from Hadar is yeSrs ago. This one clearly cannot be the bones and points of view.

Leakey: This always happens if your sam- ple is too small. The story of human evo- lution is one of how our knowledge is gath-

ered. There is discovery, then debate: further discovery and the debate lessens: further discovery and certain things are _— accepted. It's only when the fossils have been fully described and casts have been distributed that the debate begins. That's

where we are now. I think more fossils will

be found, perhaps at the Hadar, and I hope elsewhere as well. The sample will in- crease, the debate will crystallize, and subsequently more precision will enter into the discussion. Omni: Why hasn't anything been found dating between tour million and eight mil- lion-years ago— the period many believe to be the critical time for the divergence of --aJISiliL— the hominid line? M Leakey: The sites are not well exposed in the part of the world I'm from, primarily be- cause heavy rainfalls in prehistoric times have washed away or covered up a lot of the earlier deposits. '^E! Omni: Where are they exposed?

Leakey; We don't know. I have a feeling it's «!" up in Ethiopia. But the sites are some- where, and we will find them. zmt^g- Omni: Do you think the next five years will be fruitful? years are going Leakey: I think the next five to be as exciting as the last ten in terms of new thoughts, new discoveries, and clar- ification. Yes, I'm sure of that. Omni: Would you trace your theory of the After treating patients all day, Dr. Grayson puts down his stethoscope, picks up his SCOn GRAYSON LIGHTSABER and prepares to do battle with anyone who's up to the challenge. With the STAR WARS * JEDI ARENA™ home video game from Parker Brothers. BY NIG Doc Grayson wasn't born MASTER a LIGHTSABER in his JEDI with hand. But the way he controls the SEEKER to penetrate his opponent's defenses, you'd

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_J>1R4RKER BROTHERS VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGES The Ones To Beat evolution of bipedalism and brain reorga- speciations around five million to six mil- bipedalism. But I'm not sure that bipedal- nization, starting with the environment of lion years ago. ism necessarily calls for being smart So if twelve million to fourteen million years ago? Omni: Why do you suppose man adopted there was initia' encRDhahzal'on around five Leakey: of Africa Much —and particularly bipedalism? million years ago, as Boaz suggests, it cer-

East Africa, is It which now characterized wasn'f I by Leakey: for any one reason. think tainly wouldn't have done any harm. But I desert, scrub, forests, a few mountains, and it was an intricate complex of evolutionary think thai encephalization—the speciation rivers wetter then. It —was probably much behaviors. First of all, those early hominids event that I think led io the development of probably had much more vegetation, and, were probably preadapted to it. Their Homo—came later, perhaps about three although there were, probably areas of ancestors had lived in the trees, where they million to four million years ago. marsh grass and swampland in the low- had spent, most of their time upright, ma- Omni: What do you" think stimulated brain lands, the habitat was really better suited nipulating objects with their hands. On the expansion and produced the Homo line? to forest than to animals open-country an- ground they may have stood on their hind Leakey: I think it came about because of imals. But during this stage there appar- legs to hurl projectiles or to brandish increased meat eating affer initial scav- ently were some significant changes in branches at predators. Surveillance would enging. You can't eat sufficient amounts of weather. These were perhaps brought be another antipredator behavior that would meat to survive unless you've got sharp about by global changes — partly by the tend to favor an upright stance. If they stood implements to cut with, because you can't uplifting of East Africa to create major up on their hind legs, they would of course get through thick carcasses. I think the zones. mountain Whatever the cause, the have had a wider view of their surround- regular use of stone tools — in fact, the or- effect was to create a number of new ings. A third element was an improved igin of technology and culture in a human econiches in a period of just less than twelve ability to carry objects. Walking upright, sense— is related to that change from million years. So some twelve million to nine Ihey had free hands. The same stick waved scavenging. million years ago, the savannas were ap- at predators also could have been used Omni: What do you think made those hom- pearing. Into this niche moves one of the as a tool to dig up roots. And gradually, as inids turn from scavenging to hunting? large apes. Presumably, it will evolve and they became more bipedal —for several Leakey: The unreliability of other hunters

change form. And I would think the first inferacting reasons— the very changes in and the fact lhat predators sometimes

adaptation would be bipedalism. I think we the. feet and pelvis would have forced them contracted feline flu or other feline dis- have to look somewhere between five mil- to evolve even more in that direction. eases and then died off. Suddenly our lion and seven million years ago for the Omni: Noel Boaz recently suggested that ancestors were left without any source of development of bipedalism, because it is an increase in relative cranial capacity oc- meat. So they had to start supplying it for so well established, from both the Laetoli curred among hominids about five million themselves. And finally, perhaps, the feed- tootprints and the Hadar remains, as hav- years ago. This would coincide with your back from eating meat, making tools, look- ing existed by four million years ago. Fi- dates for the beginning of bipedalism. Do ing for food, and selectively scavenging nally this adaptation ties in with the devel- you think encephalization started that early? from successful carnivores got civilization opment of the antelopes and pigs, some Leakey: There could have been a general truly under way. of which went through a series of similar increase in relative brain size lo go with Omni: When do you think language began to evolve?

Leakey: I would think speech was being selected for al about the same time. Omni: So you would place the develop- ment of Homo somewhere earlier than three million years ago and the divergence of the hominid line from the ancestors of the apes somewhere earlier than four million,

Leakey: I suspect between eight and four is probably the time. My preference is around six. It's just a hunch. Omni: As you know, Vincent Sarich and Allan Wilson, of Berkeley, have developed a method of isolating blood proteins of re- lated species, counting the look-alike qualities, and establishing when similar species separated. Through this tech- nique they originally established that man and- ape had diverged four million years ago. They have been in the lab looking at DNA while you have been in the field look- ing at bones, What do you think of their method of tracing what's called the molec- ular or biological time clock?

Leakey: I think the technique is intriguing. As scientists start looking at some ol the microstructures — the DNA molecules—-we are going to understand early man better.

Moreover, their calibration point is very far back. Apparently the clock started ticking at about the time the prosimians [a major group of small furry primates] diverged from the rest of the primate stock. That's forty million to fifty million years ago. So the fudge element of one or two million years doesn't worry me. We are not in disagreement. Perhaps when the technique was first put CONIIMUEDONPAGE142 FROM RUINATION'S

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Blayed behind, as is rig hi t so that the electric circuit does not inad- vertently transmit information outside the PHOTOGRAPH room. No telecommunication links of any CONTINUED FROVi -:-.:,! ;: CONTINUED FROM P) kind are allowed; all data must be carried

New York businessman who was using a into and out of the computer room by hand. process, you change the art as it was con- computer terminal in his office to steal in- As a further precaution, the machine's ceived in the camera. You must accept formation from a rival firm in California. By memory must be purged three times after what comes from it." To her, scanamurals using a password that had been supplied a classified program has run to be sure no are in themselves a new art form and one to him by a member of the firm, Brown said, secret data remain in the system. that has great possibilities for public art. "he was able to get into a special time- The NSA and the Pentagon can afford "Every wall could be a living museum." shared network and read his competitor's the luxury of security measures like cop- The prospects for reproducing the marketing surveys, budget forecasts, per-lined rooms. But what can the rest of world's art treasures on a massive scale pricing plans — all the things that are ex- us do to protect our data and our privacy? are awe-inspiring. Shopping centers now tremely sensitive and would give a com- Adleman believes cryptography holds can, and do, have Renoir's Boating Party in petitor a marketing edge," the answer. Indeed he foresees a day when a size that can be seen from the ends of The California company first realized encryption will be absolutely indispens- their parking lots. Impressionists repro- something was wrong when an employee able in protecting our freedom of speech. duce well, because they're loose images noticed it was being billed for network use "But," he adds, "the control of that en- and the scan lines don't show. An Old at 4:30 a.m. Local police brought in the FBI. cryption must be in the hands of the user." Dutch Master, with its fine-pointed texture.

"We were able to trace it to New York," Adleman is one of several researchers is apt to be rendered less accurately,

Brown recalled. "So, when we saw him on (Stanford's Martin Heilman is another) who though it could be winsome nonetheless. the line, we went to the office with a search have been working on a fascinating con- Scanamurals lend themselves to out- warrant and arrested him," cept called public-key cryptography. {See door displays better than photographs do, The task of keeping up with computer "Unbreakable Code," September 1980.) because they fade so little. The marquee criminals can only get harder. To date, most With most ciphers the decoding key is sim- for Evita in New York City was done by have relied on deception, conning gullible ply the inverse of the encoding key. The scanamural on paper, pasted onto ply- employees into giving them passwords and beauty of public-key systems is that the wood paneling, and thoroughly laminated. account numbers, tor example. As com- encoding, or public, key is so different from It shone for months. Outside the Metropoli- puter security improves, the opportunities the decoding key that one does not have tan Museum of Art, in New York City, a year for small-time crooks will diminish. In the to keep it secret. You could publish it or ago there waved a scanamural of great future, however, more ingenious individu- transmit it openly. Anyone could use it to size, proclaiming the "Turfan Exhibit" with als may find ways to crack even some of send you an encrypted message, but only an image from a fresco. It was done in a the best-guarded systems. you would be able to decipher it. Think of spirit of experiment, and it appears that

Experts emphasize that there is no such it as a strongbox locked with one key but further experiment will be required. thing as a closed computer. Or, as Donn requiring a second key to open it again. Although coated and waterproofed, the

Parker, a computer-crime specialist at SRI Public-key cryptography is still in the material sagged and ripped, beaten by the

International, puts it, "The perfectly secure conceptual stage, where new schemes are New York wind. The lettering was not as computer is one you can't use." Any com- being suggested and old ones are being clear as in an appliqued banner. But the puter that has been programmed can also tested, and sometimes broken. Last year, National Gallery, in Washington, did splen- be reprogrammed or deprogrammed, if you for instance, one mathematical formula for didly with a Gauguin banner, and the fu- know how to gain access. public-key cryptography advanced by ture for masterpieces appears bright. Many computers are vulnerable to ma- Heilman in 1976 was cracked by Israeli The possibilities for scanamural use nipulation through something called re- mathematician Adi Shamir with some as- have only begun to be explored. For in- mote diagnostics, that is, using one com- sistance from Adleman. Former NSA di- stance, we have yet to see one of San puter to troubleshoot problems in another. rector Admiral Bobby Inman also revealed Francisco dealer Bob Rinehart's little proj-

Because, it is costly to train technicians and his agency had similar success in finding ects: "Someday I'm going to have some- keep them in the field, many computer the flaws in it. Though disappointed, Hell- one take a full-length picture of me in the manufacturers now diagnose the ills of a man was philosophical. "It only helps to nude," Rinehart muses, "which I'll have customer's system over a phone line. When emphasize what I've said before when printed as a scanamural onto canvas. And a purchaser's machine goes down, it can people were calling my system unbreak- then I'm going to have it made into a suit." be connected by phone to the manufac- able. The important thing we have to do Here's lookin' at ya, Bob. On you, or on the turer's computer for a complete diagnosis with new systems is test them." walls, scanamurals have made photogra- and prescription. This keeps the machines This discovery did not invalidate the phy life-sized at last.OO running and at the same time holds down public-key approach. Inman himself has CREDITS maintenance costs. But remote diagnos- said there are public-key systems that the tics can also serve an unscrupulous op- NSA still considers "very secure." erator as a cover to extract information that Will encryption be enough? Abbott re- page 22, PeckhanvC erue University; page S4.Pe;e Turns; pag ward Sochu-e*: page might later be sold to a competitor. flected for a moment, then said, "So you 30, Mums Seall Doll 1930 Jimmy DeSana; One specific danger is that the diagnos- encrypt your file to. keep me from stealing =!aincc-A pag Sugar-'Avialion Advar cesi Black Star paga 44 lop, Br. Ray ing computer could implant subversive in- it. Well, it turns out that I don't have to steal structions into its patient. It could search it. All I have to is in J do get there and en- cmves; page 45 top, flaril.-eci

omy; paga 160, Si* II S-.i.-.ot technicians must prepare a commercial line we'll never know who's watching us. "DO 112 OMNI Whree silver-suited aliens hovered above the ground in a beam of light and conversed with an American.^

Colonel Ted Con- On the nighi of De- com- cember 30, 1980. a rad, the base spaceship suppos- mander alleged to with the edly crashed in the have spoken forest near the Bent- aliens, has a more dramatic version of waters / Woodbridge Ihe story: At 10:30 on Royal Air Force Base, thai fateful night, he a NATO installation in recalls, live Air Force England Three sil- ver-suited aliens, policemen sported lights from what they each three feet tall and hovering above thought was a small the ground in a beam plane descending into the forest. Two of of light, repaired the tracked the damaged craft while the men conversing with an object on foot and American base com- came upon a large mander. Four hours tripod-mounted craft. It no windows, later, repairs Com- had with plete, the spaceship but was studded red blue shot off at tremen- brilliant and dous speed lights. Each time the A year later local men came within 50 UFO buff Brenda yards of the ship, it lev- Butler learned ol the Conrad relates, incident from two U.S UPDffTE itated six feet in the UFD air backed away Air Force men sta- and the tioned at the base- One claimed to be an eyewii They followed it for almost an hour through woods and other said he had been dispatched to the scene alter the across a field until it took ofl at "phenomenal speed." Conrad spaceship lifted off and could offer only hearsay. Acting on Ihe reports made by his men, Colonel Incident in the morning. In fear of losing their jobs, both men asked Butler to began a brief investigation of the pattern hide their identity, but she couldnt help revealing Ihe un- He went into Ihe forest and located a triangular likely tale to her friend, housewife Dot Street, a member ostensibly made by Ihe tripod legs He claims that he of the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA'). never observed any aliens, but he did interview two of Ihe Intrigued, and hoping to confirm the report, the two eyewitnesses, and concludes, "Those lads saw some-

it was." women interviewed area foresters and farmers, who re- thing, but I don't know what ported "strange lights and loud bangs" over the air base Conrad's chat with his men was the only official probe the day of the crash. They also met Woodbndge's British ever mounted, and it seems unlikely that we'll ever learn liaison officer. Squadron Leader Donald Moreland. He says, more. But when Dot Street, o1 BUFORA, was asked whether this incredible tale, she opined. "I'll stick me . believed . she "I told them I didn't Know anything and they went away." But Moreland now concedes there was a "minor inci- neck out and say yes." Street's colleague BUFORA di- dent," one that he reported to the British Ministry of De- rector Jenny Randies ventured a theory of her own, how- fence, a couple of years ago. "There were a few lights ever: The alien spaceship, she suggests, is just a ficlion flipping amongst Ihe trees," he notes, "but any talk of leaked by the U-S. Air Force to cover up the crash of a humanoids Is just absolutely ridiculous." plane carrying nuclear bombs.—ERIC MISHARA "

tion in the form of a subjec- tive impression or an espe- cially meaningful dream You don't have to go to a Yet close to 20 percent said seance to speak with the they saw apparitions, and dead. Those who have some 11 percent heard passed on speak with us the voices of the dead regularly during the course speaking to them. As might of our dally lives. be expected, most of the That, at least, is the informants reported that the startling implication of re- experience markedly search recently completed changed their attitudes

by Julian Burton, of the about the possibility of life West Side Center for Growth after death.

and Counseling, in Los Burton is still not sure Angeles. Burton, who saw what his data mean. Instead a vivid apparition of his ot trying to determine mother shortly after she whether these contacts are died, discovered the univer- really communiques from take eight people with me," sality of such visions when the dead, he suggests says, "since eight he conducted a poll on we ask why so many people traveled In the ark." But he the subject. The psycholo- are having these experi- Colonel James B wound up selecting a party gist, whose work earned ences and why they so (above) was the dating of 12 men, with whom he him a doctorate from the In- commonly consider them young astronaut who drove combed the north slope of ternational University of valid.— D. Scott Rogo rhe lunar rover along the Ararat three separate times Los Angeles, began by dis- surface of the moon in Irwin was injured during tributing questionnaires to "/( is Defter to understand a 1971 Today, back on Earth, the first trip last August, Cut psychic-research groups. Of little than to misunderstand he is pursuing an equally off from his group, he was those who returned the a lot. challenging mission: apparently struck on the questionnaire, a whopping —Anatote France searching the cliffs of Mount head by a rock and then fell 76 percent reported a Ararat. Turkey, for the ari< to the bottom of a canyon postmortem contact at some allegedly built by Noah. where he lay unconscious for point In their lives. The Apollo 15 veteran, about five hours. He came Thinking that perhaps his founder of the High Flight to long enough to crawl population was biased. Foundation, a Christian faith Into his sleeping bag, and Burton distributed another ministry in Colorado Springs, the others found him the group of questionnaires began looking for the ark next morning. He recovered to students In several psy- after meeting Eryl Cum- sufficiently to return in chology departments at Los mings, of Farmlngton. New September, though his en- Angeles County colleges. Mexico. Cummings, who ergy "wasn't up to par," and These results were compa- has spent 40 years seeking the third trip, in October, rable. In fact, no fewer biblical artifacts, thought was cut short by a heavy than 55 percent of the stu- that Irwin's fame would snowfall. dents at one rural Christian persuade the Turkish gov- "The ark thus far has college reported contacts ernment to permit an expe- eluded us," Irwin admits, with the deceased. And dition. He was right The "but next summer, Lord older respondents reported Turks even provided a mili- willing, we'll search the such experiences only tary .escort up Ararat, northeast side." slightly more commonly than which Is Just a few miles —Dava Sobel did people aged eighteen from the border between the to sixty. USSR and Iran. "What are we here for?" Burton reports that most

"Originally I thought I'd —Calvin Coolidge people glimpsed the visita- 11$ OMNI Once steered into position nia's Santa Rosa Island, tor between Venus and the instance, recently unearthed Venus was long consid- sun, the asteroid could be a barbecue pit containing ered the garden planet, blown apart with larger charred mammoth skeletons, and carving a world of rain forests, gi- nuclear bombs The resulting spearheads, radiocar- gantic tree ferns, mermaids, dust cloud would block tools. When UCLA and towering clouds. Bui the sun and cool Venus bon-dating expert Rainer analyzed the remains years of research clearly re- down by a few degrees a Berger he found that they were at futed that image, revealing week, making it temperate instead a scorching waste- enough for human habita- least 47,000 years old. then, Goodman land burdened by enor- tion in a decade. Since mous pressures, tempera- As the planet cooled, he contends, archaeologists "raid" tures reaching 90Q°F, adds, most of the lethal have also begun to California museums filled and deadly quantities of i carbon dioxide would drop with fossils discovered long carbon dioxide. out of the air, combining Now, however, a French with Venusian rocks to form before radiocarbon dating ever developed. Re- space scientist says he can earthlike quartz and calcite. was searchers scavenging the San Diego Museum have thus far found one 47.000- year- old Cro-Magnon -type

The first sign of early skull from Del Mar Beach Homo sapiens was discov- and another, said to be ered in 1868, when scien- 45,000 years old, from tists stumbled across the nearby Oceanside. bones of Cro-Magnon man Tc New York City anthro- in a rock shelter near Les pologist Helen Fisher, Eyzies, France. The 35,000- Goodman's theory is "ridic- year-old remains were ulous. Homo sapiens like buried alongside chisellike Cro-Magnon man," she iools and stunning works says, "probably invaded of art—sure proof of prehis- North America when the Strait narrow convert Venus into the The only task left then toric civilization, When Bering —a researchers later found waterway between Siberia Eden we once believed it would be creating breath- similar nearby, and Alaska—froze to form was. All we need to do, able ait—easy enough specimens tens of thou- says astronomer Christian once genetic engineers they concluded that intelli- an ice bridge of years ago." Marchal, of the Ecole Poly- developed microbes that gent life may have evolved in sands But Goodman, who ex- technique, in Paris, is could secrete oxygen. southern France. skeptical scientists to shield the planet trom the Eventually, Marchal con- Now Arizona archaeologist pects scoff at his theory, says, sun until it's cool enough to cludes, the dust cloud Jeffrey Goodman (above) theory: He "America is still number one. support life. How? Just would settle, casting a has another the planet's claims that Cro-Magnon-like Heck, we were the first place the hostile o I shadow over intelligence the moon. shadow of clouds formed central latitudes. But two men, and civilization itself, on shouldn't be the by exploding asteroids lush sunlit regions, each evolved in Hollywood, So why we first intelligence on Earth. According to Marchal, about the size of Europe, California, or at least a Peter Rondinone scientists can get an aster- ! would be left at the poles. stone's throw away. His too?"— oid near Venus by vaporiz- —Judy Re dfearn evidence? Fossils and tools must become an ing part of its Interior with that indicate the presence "You Ignorant again/and see small nuclear bombs. The "I do not think that the whole of intelligent life In the man vaporized rock would then of the Creation has been Los Angeles area as long the sun again with an escape as gas, propelling staked on the one planet as 47,000 years ago, ignorant eye/and see It in idea of it" the asteroid forward with a where we live." Goodman notes that clearly the —Wallace Stevens type of nuclear jet engine. —Sir Arthur Eddington archaeologists on Califor- —

at left) are perfectly triangu- lar, with two legs at the base and one eye on each side of the upper point. Psychotic hallucinations Without three dimensions have been called demons they can't walk around one of the mind. But now news another; therefore, when from the Soviet Union two of them meet, one must indicates they may be more climb over the other to than that; Psychiatrist G. P. pass by. Their social order Krokhalev says he has centers on the question successfully photographed of who climbs and who Is the visions of the insane. climbed upon. Dr. Krokhalev's techniques Though Dewdney did are simple. He places skin- most of the early work on his diver's goggles over the ptanet, many others have eyes of his actively halluci- contributed. English physi- nating psychotic patients, cist Roger Penrose devised Ihen covers the goggles with an ingenious set of gears a camera. The patients to operate 2-D machinery. are Instructed to concentrate Gerontologist Alex Comfort on their hallucinations while created 2-D beings that photographs are taken could move with ease. Oth- of their eyes. ers added a flat steam The resulting prints, ics and its chemistry, own engine and a chess game Krokhalev says, show shad- ecology, and even a race of using only the king, knight, owy forms that resemble Imagine a hair-thin disc Astrians. and rook. the contents of the halluci- floating in a universe wilh Creating a universe in One critic pointed out nations. Though the forms only two dimensions two dimensions, Dewdney that Astria's inhabitants had are not well bafined, he length and width Then pic- reports-, was not easy. fatal flaws. So Dewdney contends, a trained eye can ture the rim of that disc Screws, for instance, can't redesigned them a bit To recognize them. swarming with inhabitants exist without all three di- mark the change, he also Krokhalev's critics charge (ram cats and people to mensions, and neither can renamed the planet; it is now that these "forms" are only juniper trees. wheels with axles. "You called Arde. Rorschach-like misinterpre- This son of two-dimen- can't even design animals Dewdney's notes about tations. But after visiting sional fantasy planet was first with a normal digestive Arde have now grown Krokhalev in his office in suggested in 1884, when tract," he notes, "because enough to fill a book, and Perm, Dr. Stanley Krippner, London clergyman Edwin in two dimensions, any soon they will. As yet unti- of the Saybrook Institute. Abbott Abbott published his opening lhat passes all the tled, his account of Arde will in San Francisco, has con- satirical novel ftatland. way through the animal be published next autumn cluded that, while the Though the book revealed cuts it in halt." by Poseidon Press and forms may not be produced almost nothing about the Given such stringent Washington Square Press in by the cornea, they do nature of life on such a ground rules, Dewdney re- the United States and by warrant more extensive world, it did pique the imag- marks, the planet of Astria Pan in England. examination, ination of Canadian com- could only be an infinitely —Doug Payne Krokhalev says he's puter scientist Alexander thin pancake of molten meeting this challenge: He's Dewdney. who several rock. A single, flattened "The number of ways for trying to tape-record his years ago created his own continent surrounds most of persons to occupy time is patients' auditory hallucina- 2-D planet and named it its nm, and an ocean probably more unlimited tions. He's also eager to Aslria After hours of inten- covers alt the rest. than the number of ways in find out whether he can sive thought, Dewdney The Astrians themselves which matter occupies project visual hallucinations managed to give the 2-D (one of them is standing space." onto a television screen. planet its own laws of phys- with Dewdney in the picture —Laszld Moholy-Nagy — D. Scott Rogo 1)B OMNI "

would alert him to invading blips, he paused slip, and the Russians are shooting back!" to devour two cheeseburgers LAST CHILD and a milk- "Sir, the timing's coincidental. Even the shake. This meal he followed with a lengthy most sophisticated Soviet warning system nap—all without ever leaving the console couldn't pick up the exact instant of launch. thousand points— appeared in vivid com- and its ominous regiment of joysticks. MacAdams was probably right. All I could binations of purple, pink, puce, red, lemon, Over the next eight to ten hours inter- think of now was the magnitude of my own and turquoise. Ito deliberately refrained from national tensions eased a little, probably stupidity. Against -every dictate of common telling Chip that the bunker labeled 200,000 because of the season. blackmail No bomb sense I had packed the defense room with represented Cheyenne Mountain. went off in Leningrad, and in the Carib- five sentimental adults. Now, whether in In the kid's first round, undertaken even bean a moratorium on both hot" talk and sneaky preemptive assault or lightning re- before these explanations, he lost at least actual gunfire it made appear that nego- sponse to our own bungling first strike, the a dozen bunkers. By his third game, though, tiation rather than mayhem might prevail. Russians were definitely coming. The myr- he was incinerating enemy blips with pat- The Middle East was still one noisy pop- iad horsemen of the Apocalypse were ented Chip Sands abandon, and Ito and I corn popper, though, and low rumblings streaking across the sky in the guise of left him to his obsession, of revolt in Eastern Europe had the Krem- radar blips. So it went for four days. As lin's Chip mania- fur-bearing bigwigs singing their old "Mow, Colonel Barrett? Wow?" cally twisted the controls of the mockup, songs of foreign incitement and swift retri- "Commence Operation Slingshot!" I or-

Ito and I monitored intelligence bulletins bution to "thugs" and "parasites." dered the boy, whose patience these last from the CIA and its Japanese and West- During a telephone call to Tocqueville few seconds had been Jobian. "Everyone ern European counterparts. early on the twenty-fourth, I learned from else, get out! Out! Right now!" From Helsinki came a report that a group Emily Sands that their family traditionally My colleagues and I retreated behind of right-wing Danish terrorists threat- was opened their packages on Christmas Eve the three-inch thickness of the Plexiglas. ening-to explode a nuclear device in Len- rather than on the morning following San- Chip's door slid to, automatically locking ingrad. They demanded the releat ta's arduous gift-dispensing rounds. him in, and Ito, summoned by the alarms, several hundred Russian dissidents con- came hustling up from another section of fined in prisons and mental institutions. the building. As in Ozymandias, Chip had Worse, the Soviet news agency Tass had a retinue of transfixed spectators hanging accused the United States of supplying the on his every deadly twist of every toggle. terrorists with enough fissionable material Back and forth through torn wrapping to build their evil "blackmail bomb." 4/(o explained Mean- paper and discarded bows the kid swiv- while in the Caribbean and around the Per- that once the real contest eled his chair, a tubby dynamo showering sian Gulf angry rhetoric had already yielded began, sparks. He was in his element again. The to sporadic exchanges of gunfire. Chip would room's topmost screens were glowing like Cheyenne Mountain to less began seem be locked into our little radioactive fire opals. like a mighty fortress and more like a big game room. This "Sir." said MacAdams, clutching his granite bull's-eye. headset to his temple as if it were an ice "Ito, this can't goon." peculiar precaution would pack, "one of our advanced AWACS air- "It won't, Phil, Any day any hour — —my keep anyone from craft over the Arctic Circle reports that Chip company's computer-linked defense sys- has knocked pulling the plug on his fun3 out at least twenty Backfire tem is going to have to prove itself." III bombers and maybe twice that many Whereupon Chip Sands appeared be- intermediate-range Savage missiles tar- side us, his expression eloquently accus- geted on Western Europe." ing. "I'm bored," he whined. "You guys "That's fine," Ito said. "But the next wave's promised me a challenge. I'm sick of play- taking evasive action." He tapped his fin- ing those postage-stamp screens." "Chip has ainsy- known David was Santa ger on the window. Some of those streak- I understood. His disenchantment par- Claus, Colonel Barrett," the woman said, ing blips, I knew, stood for harmless de- alleled, my own heightened anxiousness. chuckling nervously. coys electromagnetically enhanced to Taking him by the arm, I led him down the Acting on this advice, that evening i led resemble bombers or warhead-bearing corridor to the defense room and direcfed a small group of coworkers into the de- missiles. Chip had no choice but to take him inside. fense room, to bestow on Chip a number these out, too. You could not tell the de- "Take a seat, Chipper. But you can't touch of gaily wrapped packages. Predictably, coys from the real McCoys. a single joystick until you see enemy blips of these most contained batteries, elec- "An AWACS aloft over the Tasman Sea invading the screens on the top row. Firing tronic games, and Computakil video cas- reports a barrage of fractionally- orbited beforehand disqualifies you. Got it?" settes. Chip unwrapped his gifts with one Scarp IVs coming in over the South Pole," He made a contemptuous face. Of course eye on the top level of screens. (Ito, a lapsed MacAdams declared. he got it. Hadn't he played our cruddy Buddhist, was elsewhere in the building.) I cursed. The Russians were avoiding mockup umpity-hundred times? Grimac- In the press of our self-conscious festivi- our Ballistic Missile Early Warning System ing, he sashayed into the room and en- ties Neil MacAdams, my communications (BMEWS) in Britain, Greenland, and Alaska sconced himself in the console chair. I slid aide, accidentally nudged a joystick. A by looping the Scarp IVs over Antarctica the door closed. warning klaxon sounded in the little room. and guiding their several detachable war- Ito approached, and we stood outside Outside the room, other alarms went off. heads to target before the end of their first the big thermoplastic window, trying to es- it, "Damn MacAdams!" I cried. "Watch orbits. Theoretically, no cause for worry. timate how long Chip would have to sit there what you're doing!" The defense system devised by Tomioka- before the "game" began. More than likely Shaken, aide my nodded at what Chip Lott was supposed to thwart even this in- he would give up within the hour— in which had already noticed. Radar blips sug- genious tactic. It employed discriminating case we would be damned lucky to prod gesting both long-range bombers and bal- satellite radar for detection purposes and him back to that wall once the situation truly listic missiles had appeared on two of the cableless electromagnetic pulses to trans- demanded his presence there. topmost screens. mit the information. It gave the operator in Surprisingly, though, Chip assumed that "Now?" the kid asked. "Now?" our Cheyenne Mountain hideaway primary wailing for enemy blips was an integral part "MacAdams, you've provoked a retal- launch control of eighty percent of the silo- of the game. He sat vigilantly at his post iatory response! You've just launched a based IRBMs and ICBMs in Western Eu- for nearly six hours. Then, told that Ito or I battery of European-based IRBMs with that rope and North America, along with sec- 120 OMNI ondary access to surface-to-air and air-to- marines in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of even the United States had escaped blis- air weapons at various sites around the Finland, the Norwegian and Barents seas, tering nuclear havoc and the certainty of Soviet perimeter. and the Indian Ocean. To keep from over- lingering contamination. He was too busy Unfortunately, despite his seasoning as loading the defense-room operator with to listen, anyway. Even a call from Presi- his a vidder and practice on our mockup, data, Ito's company's system did not reg- dent Farrell's shelter in Maryland urging all the zigzagging blips suddenly seemed ister these forces on the ADC screens. The him to terminate Operation Slingshot made to be confusing Chip. He was fumbling for kid was therefore tree to concentrate on no impression, Although we patched Far- handholds like a beginner. enemy blips and bases. rell's voice directly into the room, he seemed

"He's not adjusting!" I told l!o frantically. For thirty minutes— forty minutes—an not to recognize it. As his mother had said.

not i! "He's going to be able to do for us!" hour—the combat raged. MacAdams re- he appeared completely ignorant of poli- "Maybe you'd like to take his place." ported that President Farrell and his cab- tics and politicians,

"But I can't get in there!" inet had long since evacuated to a hard- "What's my score? What's the world "Exactly," Ito said. "Calm down, Phil." ened shelter in Maryland. That was good record? How'm I doin'?" It was hard to calm down. Chip was los- because Washington, D.C. — a ruby-red "Stop," I told him through the audio ing points. Portions of the bunkers as- bunker worth a hundred ninety thousand hookup. "You've won. Even the President signed to his protection were disintegrat- points —no longer existed. Too much en- wants you to stop." ing like gemstones under continuous laser emy firepower had been sent against it for At this juncture many of the blips rep- bombardment. Tiny facets of red or tur- Chip to deflect. Besides, he had worked resenting Soviet bombers and missiles quoise or lemon— glowing brightly, then hard to spare the bunker labeled 200,000. either turned homeward or self-de- (poof!) gone. Those bunkers stood for cit- "There's a hit on Raton, New Mexico," structed. This development enraged Chip ies and their suburbs, and the "points" Chip MacAdams told me. "That's as close to because it deprived him of points. was losing included a staggering number Cheyenne Mountain as the Russians have "Dirtydamn trick!" he screamed. "Dir- of human lives. been able to come." tydamn chickenbleepin' trick! You guys "Settle Ito down." crooned through the Indeed Chip had prevented the com- never let that happen in practice!" audio hookup. plete demolition of all but six of the blocks "The game's over, Chip," Ito said. "You've Chip settled down. He reasserted con- assigned scores of over a hundred thou- broken the world's record." trol and ran off retributive a fierce blitz. sand points— major cities on the North "There's lots of points -left in the blocks MacAdams and the others began to American continent. on the upper level. I'm not gonna lose 'em. of cheer—a shout triumph much like the I "How'm doin'?" he cried at intervals. I'm gonna keep blastin' away, Mr. Ito, till one Ito and I had heard in Ozymandias. "What's my score?" your whole crazy program breaks down." Although Chip did not know it, he was No one bothered to tell him that three To prove this assertion. Chip directed now receiving support from Strategic Air quarters of industrial Russia lay in ruins, another battery of ICBMs into the quadrant Command bombers, European intercep- that fourteen of Europe's most populous of a screen representing a large area of tor squadrons, and missile-carrying sub- cities had taken direct hits, and that not the southern Urals. Good-bye, Magnito- gorsk. Good-bye, Chelyabinsk. Good-bye,

. hundreds of thousands of people . . "You've "Damn you, Chip!" I shouted. ,'- already got the record!"

"I'm gonna put it outta sight. Nobody'll ever break it. Maybe /'// never break it." Ito hurriedly punched in a code request- ing any camera-equipped aircraft in the skies over America's blasted landscapes to transmit TV pictures of the devastation to Cheyenne Mountain. All the screens whose targets Chip had completely de- stroyed went blank, and within two minutes the first of these horrifying pictures began to'appeaf on the blanked screens. Without yet ceasing to work his joystick, Chip paused to look at the grainy transmissions. "Washington, D.C.," Ito said. "Wichita, Kansas. Lincoln, Nebraska. San Diego, ." California. . "Looks like burning day at the dump." Chip observed.

"The game's over, Chip," I said. "These are real pictures of places in your country destroyed by Soviet nuclear weapons. lvt We Have Loved. You're doing the same thing to scores of their cities." "Neat visuals. They look rea.l." For Centuries,You

what I had' just Before I could reiterate said, Ito intervened; "We crown you world champion forever, Chip. No one's ever ! Will Love In Seconds.] going to play this game again. I promise." Since 1608 it's been the same old story. "You really mean it? You're retiring the Bushmills the second whole program?" People love Old "Just release the joysticks." they taste it. enemy "But there's points to win yet. Because Old Bushmills is smooth and bases to blast." mellow. A smoothness not easily come by. 'Just release the joysticks." secret lies in an ancient process "Okay, okay, Geez, though, you guys are The

I the real partypoopers. Even in Ozymandias that goes back centuries to Ireland. To of hassle from the fans." didn't get this kind village of Bushmills, and the oldest whiskey As a parting shot, he slapped one ot the distillery in the world. sticks (thereby launching a last fusillade of pick the local barley ripe for missiles) and shoved his swivel chair away Here we

from the console. Then he swaggered to i harvest in nearby fields. and the door, tripped the automatic lock, We draw clear water from the River Bush, joined us outside the pane of Plexiglas. water born for whiskey. "That's an okay game," he announced. these and other choice "Too short, though. Computakil wouldnt We commit

| I distilla- A touch it. Black Hole Blaster's got I! beat up ingredients to our age-old triple

the other, even with : one side and down tion process. one screen. Shoot, even Triangle I only Then our whiskey matures in Triumph's classier, and I started making his handmade oaken casks. that one up when I was ten." He put years hands in the pockets of his racing-striped When it finally comes of age pantaloons. "You guys gonna let me go label. later, only then is it worthy of our home tomorrow? It'll still be Christmas." Old Bushmills. to answer. I had no idea what But, like 18 generations before you What made the children of Hamelin fol- you'll know exactly what that means. the mountain? What low the Pied Piper into After your very first taste. kind of melody did he play? And who would want to live in such a place forever? The novelty quickly wears off, and the cold and the darkness settle down over you like a shroud. We are all children here.' All that keeps us huddling together in these granite cat- Thetasteyoudonrhavetoaquk. acombs is our desire for warmth and our § fear of the outside. Outside is alien terri- tory. Ito manages an occasional enigmatic smile, but the rest of us are amazed.DQ

Unscrew your standard new product and TV signals, convert them into binary data, able in the form of sophisticated cassette you won't, find too many nuts and bolts. enhance the images, and then display them tape recorders. Both Sony and Technics Inside most high-tech hardware is a minia- on. home sets without flicker or ghost. make Pulse Code Modulator systems that ture maze of "superth reads" — lightweight, But video technology does not have to digitally record and play back any input— slender semiconductor circuits that per- stay at home. By merging video-cassette from live music to radio programs to digital form a variety of heavy-duty functions. Al- recorders and cameras into one miniature audio cassettes. most as fast as computers crunch num- machine, Sony, Matsushita, Hitachi, and One last disc fits into neither the video bers, these Lilliputian links are changing others have created portable units called nor the audio category. The S150 Emergi the way we live, work, and play. camcorders. They weigh less than five Call system, made by People Protection This one-page catalog includes more pounds and record on high-density micro- Products, looks like a computer toy. But than a dozen devices, from prototypes to cassettes. When they become available in the electronic disc automatically dials finished products, that expand our com- the next year or two, camcorders are ex- emergency calls to the police, fire depart- munication capabilities, shrink our offices, pected to make Bmm cameras obsolete. ment, or medical center, transmitting a 25- and convert our homes into computerized Whatever happened to that much-her- second programmable message. castles (or electronic cottages). Whether alded phenomenon, the video disc? NHK If you can manage to tear yourself away they are ferrying billions of bits of data recently announced a breakthrough— the from your electronic cottage, there is a through gossamer-thin channels or are first working model of a laser video-disc whole new assortment of technology-to-go. simply switching miniature light shows on system that not only plays but also re- The Walkman and the Watchman (Sony's and off, microelectronics are the super- cords. Sharp Corporation has reported a tiny TV) make it possible to take your living components that will connect today's similar programmable system. room with you. So why not your office? The technology to tomorrow's. A simpler video disc is being developed Microwriter is a word-processing system One of the earliest forms of consumer by Grolier Electronic Publishing Company. that fits in the palm of your hand. Its 8K electronics— the humble television set— is Using today's technology, Grolier plans to memory stores up to 8,045 characters, evolving into a whole new line of products. create an electronic encyclopedia con- which are displayed on a 16-character liq-

Technology is turning the boob tube into uid-crystal display (LCD) readout, Its an intelligent machine by merging minia- unique, human-engineered five-finger turized video, audio, and computer com- keypad generates a full set of alphanu- ponents into a single, versatile system. To- merics, punctuation, and even afew tech- morrow's television screen may have twice nical symbols. A sixth key controls editing QWith an electronic as many lines of resolution as today's sets and correction functions. do. giving a sharper, clearer image. Sony, encyclopedia, instead of For stock-market watchers on the move, the palm-sized Pocket Quote, made by Panasonic, NHK (Japan Broadcasting reading about Corporation), Ikegami, also in Japan, and Telemet America, picks up trading infor- CBS in America are promoting High Defi- Beethoven, you could mation broadcast on an FM radio band, Its nition Television (HDTV) as the "future of see and hear keypad furnishes the personal touch. It can television and cinema." Increasing the be programmed to display an electronic performance of his scanning lines from 525 to 1.125, this tech- a portfolio that tracks as many as 20 stocks. nology packs more information into each Fifth Symphony options, or futures. The battery-operated frame. HDTV offers the image quality of monitor ($300. plus a $20-a-month sub- or study the original score3 35mm film and provides the perfect screen scription fee) even beeps when Wall Street for displaying computer data— or Direct gets bullish. Broadcast Satellite (DBS) programs. For tongue-tied travelers, the Walking Last summer the Federal Communica; Dictionary, from Casio Inc.. is a wristwatch/ tions Commission established the initial translator. The watch has two buttons. One regulations for DBS technology— a new sisting of video entries, not printed ones. calls up a word on the LCD display; the generation of higher-frequency, higher- Instead of just reading about Beethoven, other supplies the translation. power satellites that feed signals straight for instance, you could see and hear a per- And here are two more for the road. The to small, cheap dish antennas without the formance of his Fifth Symphony or study a Calfax Horn A Plenty does more than pro- need for a cable. One prototype dish, de- reproduction of the original score. tect your car; it offers a bit of comic relief. veloped by Satellite Television Corpora- Video-disc technology has already pro- The combination musical car horn and se- tion, a division of COMSAT, measures only duced one promising spinoff— digital au- curity system greets would-be crooks with two feet across. About a dozen other com- dio-disc (DAD) systems. Sony and Philips an eerie electronic "Hello" or 'Alarm armed" panies have applied for DBS licenses, and have developed Compact Disc technol- before triggering a shrill siren and a radio by 1985 millions of miniature dish antennas ogy, which uses a solid-state laser stylus pager. Its extensive repertoire includes may be sprouting like upside-down mush- built into a portable-cassette-recorder- such sound effects as a chugging loco- rooms from rooftops nationwide. sized unit to play a 4W record. The DAD motive, a raging bull, a sinister laugh, and ITT (International Telephone and Tele- holds a full hour of music on one side only. four James Cagney impersonations ("You graph Corporation) has just come up with These futuristic stereo systems will sell for dirty rat"), not to mention 99 melodies. a different way to improve the program- anywhere from $500 to $1,000. Want to feel like an airline pilot in your ming and processing power of television. But one company, Digital Recording own car? Honda Motor Company, in Tokyo. The company has built the prototype of a Corporation, has come up with a radically has the right stuff: the Electro Gyro-Cator. digital television called the Digivision. A set different design that might be much a dashboard microcomputer that tracks of eight powerful semiconductor chips re- cheaper. The technology replaces the disc your course on a series of road maps. The places some 400 conventional compo- with a small piece of ordinary film on which price ranges between $900 and $1,400: nents. Digital televisions receive standard audio information has been recorded, us- road maps are $90 for a set of five (cur- ing standard darkroom techniques'. An op- rently available only for Japanese roads). Photos on the previous page illustrate three new tical scanner in a cigar-box-sized unit plays Finally a Colorado company, Float to Re- or upcoming consumer products. Film (left) from the 3" >; 5" digital card. The products won't lax. Inc., is offering a sophisticated isola- Digital Recording Corporation captures audio be on the market before 1984. tion tank. But its $5,600 unit will hardly iso- data with photo-darkroom techniques. Electro Gyro-Cator (center) continuously displays a While everyone is still excitedly waiting late you from technology: Features include moving auto's location on a dashboard chart for digital audio discs to arrive at the dealer, a TV monitor, a video-cassette recorder, Casio watch (right) is a push-button translator. digital audio equipment is already avail- and a stereo sound system. DO 126 OMNI which, at the end oi the day's work, Lynx WORLD NEWS and moon in their crescent phase rising, fire was lavishly sel. There was an unoffi- "The blurb says, surely. About a heav- cial team that stripped the bodies of what- enly body preparing to hit the earth, isn't

he reentered the smoky, brilliant electric ever was unspoiled and still useful: rings, it? False alarm. A lot of earthquakes, though. gambling area. watches, dental bridges, money, credit Is that right?" Jonathan said. "Eddie, there's some- cards, and the like. This was the ultimately "Listen," Willett Said. "Listen carefully. thing i have to tell you.. But not here. Over ghoulish. No, not quite the ultimately. There There's a character here called Dr. Bodley. at that table there. See, that guy's leaving." was a dribbling, mad necrophile who had Does that ring any bells in the corridors of "Very mysterious. Why can't you tell me to be kept away from fleshly mauling. He your creative skull? This Dr. Bodley says,

right here?" was eventually shot oy Murphy, the man in 'If I had to choose a site comparatively im- "You may want to be someplace, you charge of Dump 4. mune from seismic shocks, however hard know, dark and quiet. It's bad news, Eddie. it was Murphy who, during the lunch they hit the rest of the American terrain, I'd Does Cat mean anything to you? You know, break one day, came up to Val and Willett opt for a little place called Fordtown in the

C.A.T., Center for Advanced— I mean, I was and their bread and cheese and beer ra- stale of Kansas, midway between Hays and there. My outfit was there, doing the dirty tions. He had a little book in his hand, and Hill City.' Where did you get that informa- work. We weren't supposed to know where he said to Val, "This you'?" He thrust the tion? Guesswork? Pure fiction?" it was, but it was Hays Hill, Kansas. It's book, a lumpy, wavy, water-spoiled pa- "I used to work pretty hard on back-

about, well, I guess you know who it's about, perback, at Val's nose. Val saw his own ground," Val said, brows knitting, trying to don't you, Eddie?" picture on the back cover. remember. "The critics were always quick

"He's dead, is he?" "Good God," he said, taking it. "I'd al- to leap on writers who hadn't done their

"Doc Goya he was known as. Sorry." most forgotten this existed." The title was homework. ! should think that's' a chunk of Not to Call Night. The blurb said, "This bril- exact information. Why?" Val and Willett were employed on the liant first novel by one- who bids fair to be- "Idfot," Willett bawled. "Shiiabed lob- ." ghoulish work of unblocking the Ghersom come a great name in world SF . noddy, foolish loggerhead. Your turd-

Tunnel, which ran under the Hudson and "I had a look in it," Murphy said. 'Ain't strewn catcamp is in such a place. Didn't connected, along with other tunnels and nutting doidy in it." This seemed to be a they ever talk about the kind of site they battered bridges now under repair, Man- reproach, were after? Your wife, your wife's old man?" 'hattan with the New Jersey mainland. Willett jocosely grabbed the book from "A spot," Val pondered, "comparatively

Ghoulish because the blocking had been Val, opened it at random, and began to immune from seismic activity." done by cars with bodies in them, as well improvise: " 'Panting with desire, she seized "That's where we're going," Willett said, as bodies without cars. Val and Willett op- him and said, "Now, now, I can't wait." Then chucking the rest of his bread and cheese

.' erated a Marquet truck on which cadavers she. . " His voice faded out. He looked to a spotted loll-tongued pooch that had were piled. They drove it to Dump 4; they at Vai; frowning. "When did you write this?" joined their party some days before. tipped their freight into the great hole to "The date's opposite the title page. 1990. "You guys are going," said Murphy, who i had been listening intently but without comprehension, "back to woik." Dump 4 was on the New Jersey side ot the tunnel. At three in the afternoon Val jerked the lever for the last time and sent his last freight of corpses thudding into the great smoky hole. The scavengers frisked about like fats, opening dead mouths, tug- ging at dead fingers. "Okay," cried Val. Willett let in the clutch, They were off. Near Reading, Pennsylvania, they ate ham and eggs and cheesecake in a diner and stocked up at a hypermart on canned goods, at a liquor store on liquor. At a mo- tel outside Pittsburgh they stayed the night.

It had been a long drive, but the truck was speedy. They lay on the twin double beds of the room they shared, smoking long turd- colored Columbus panatellas. Rain suddenly burst from' a million si- multaneously pricked bags in the Penn- sylvania sky. When, like a brilliantly orga-

nized hissing high-violin effect, it had played a few measures in moderato tempo, light- ning performed jaggedly on the skyline, visible through the wide uncurtained win- dow, and hundreds of drummers thumped thunder. Then there were, as from extra orchestras hidden in the wings, deeper thumps and grumbles from afar. The Coke bottles on the middle bedside table clanked together, and their contents danced. "An earthquake," Willett guessed. "North of Pittsburgh. We got out ot New York just in time. The tides will be starting again." They were determined to get some sleep on this trip. Val had a bottle of five hundred '

Aupnia tablets., They took three each. sluicing them down with shaky Coke, and settled down to slumber. Sleep came tar-

dily, but it came. Their portable alarm digi- klok woke them at six. Crescent Lynx and PSSV moon setting, the rain ceased, the distant seismic rumbles audible still, with flashes on the horizon. They got up wearily and WANT AN UNLISTED stiffly. "Let's try that one over there." He meant an Abaco station wagon in high- gloss aubergine. !! started like a dream TELEPHONE NUMBER? and they were on their way. >: ;•• They breakfasted at a diner just over the can give you one with !'i hear t dials We 1

i .; Ohio border, five miles or. so from Wheel- . •:....

. ....,,:., ...... ing, and made Columbus easily by mid- the press of a button*

,11 vi.ui phnn. i. It..m day. Again, as they sped on with full bel- rinCtni! That's right. ... . : : ... lies, the sky yawned open and vomited haily . ,: :.. ... rain. Lightning did its act with thunder trun- The press of a button. v;jui :--.-,k ms b',-t-tn ep'iiavJ w>!i dling grumbling after. Just beyond Dayton ...... l.lli . . the car broke down. } : ....,, : . No, we're not MaBeli. pill >i so |H| ||j Hi| ill | |p In Kansas, Professor Hubert Frame had We're inV 1 tcbineS . ;. Corporation \l\d with the press.of a. ' '. his respirator batteries charged and was . >:..'

- button, we mate it possible for you In ; , ...... : ready to examine what was the final con- :.. . , ;:re;-sk ;vA > . . crete expression of his theoretical studies. ..: . i phone . ... : . He could not. of course, walk. O'Grady's ri.m'ii* . v.: .- .. *.: 'hi—:, as ;..«>;. T^; .. '. like hi strong arms lifted him without effort from i! U often as you wan! them. his bed into the solitary wheelchair that the How: With Pi-iveCode- - the Telephone line; So say 'Goodbye" to wrong camp clinic possessed -s daughter stood Access Control Term tear". ..an '. ealhers. Sj; by. sniffling. attovdahie. convenient alternative to "Hdk/"...Mty -^kn w. blubbing, girl." said. "Nothing "Stop he ik'il's L!f:;iMt\: rammer Sysierr,. Jo crealt ^ ' to cry about." Bartlett. in smart black with ..| jji ;-kpli<>r« nui"N( f.irli Here's how it works: unii.ii'J a cat brassard on his left arm (a stylized . . . . : Ji.;;-i \ms, h-LKjCaik into any- modular puss, back view, sitting up straight), was >'(ivri.Vide. 'jack in your home or apartment, turn it ready to escort him. Frame, as he was on. -jnd you're in complete control over r-;\. . trundled through the twilight, gibbous Lynx .-.h... ,.yi n.Kfi --"U >"U -.imp]-, jv-hJh .. .. , .. arisen, admired the wide •' " and moon newly . 3 digit Access Code to people yon want phone. stores. . . - sky, which he had not seen in its fullness for many months. "The increase in size." he breathed, almost inaudibly, 'Astonish- ing. Double acceleration, of course." He was taken to America, great, hugely ele- gant, where the whole team waited. He, Bartlett, Vanessa, and O'Grady got into the elevator and were lifted gently onto what was known as Level A. When the eying "professor appeared on the nog con-

course^ as it was called, most of the team clapped in a subdued manner. Frame waved feeble acknowledgment. He was taken round, elevated to Level B, then to. Level C. There was no doubt of Bartlett's efficiency, alas. alas. alas. The concentration on living space, the human need for sheer spatial freedom, had not entailed any skimping on technical essen- tials. The ploiarcrs.: a'ea. tor instance, where Drs. McGregor and McEntegart flicked their switches in demonstration, made their screens glow, set talking their radiocom- munication devices, was positively pala-

tial. Frame admired the ihree-layered hos- pital, the incredible foodfields. the ample

: dorsal area, which, when (he population Se* a PriveCade denwitsiratiMi todsy, caii ij the PriveCode dealer newest you. began to grow, would still be ample. He PRIVECQDE saw the library, functional and wholly tech- 800-523-0103, Ext. 110 nological, and the audiovisual facilities, (In PA call 21 5.569-1300, est. 110) dedicated. to-knowledge. not diversion. He inquiries invited Dealer . ..' . . admired the automated foremater, which '. v 100 North 20th Street, Department Sis. 112 would fabricate a garment in a microsec- „ .!,. :.' ' ond after digesting the designational in- put. He frowned at the appearance of Dr. "

Maude Adams, the two bibliothecologists, some difficulty, away from Dr. Adams. body from its chair and pathetic apparatus others. They looked dead, like automated, "Hope, my dear. Hope that he'll come to and then introducing the mere chunk of dead matter, going through programmed you." Vanessa, very, white, put her hands morphology to the atomizing chamber. They motions. He said, with a sharpness that was to her face. She couldn't even sob. To the did this, shut the heavy doors, then set the clearly and painfully audible, to Bartiett, assembly at large Frame now said, "La- apparatus working. There was no sound,

life, task of sal- "Have you been pacifying?" dies and gentlemen. I have lived a full no flashing of lights. Silently the full life, carbohydrate, phospho- "It was necessary." and now. I am going to end it. A but vaging protein, potable, Frame asked for a microphone. He said not a successful one. I know much of sci- rus, fluids cleansed and and con- into it, "Ladies and gentlemen, we ought ence but nothing of life. Now it is .too late verting waste to fuel for the ancillary heating to toast our enterprise. Is there any cham- to learn. But it is, remember, now time for engines was consummated. Frame would " pagne aboard 7 There wasn't. Bartiett you to begin. If you want a motto to blazon live in them and for them. frowned. O'Grady shook his head, frown- over that screen there, the one that will show Bartiett said, with the brutality that they ing. Frame grinned bitterly and produced you the pulsing universe you are to travel now knew was stitched into his nature, "So from a roomy side pocket a leather-bound through, that is now showing you Earth and much for the past. Our work is nearly at its brass flask. "Whisky," he said. 'A token sip, Lynx moving inexorably to collision, the end, our work of the present. We now pause doctor?" he said to Dr. Adams. O'Grady motto might be this: Scientia non satis est. to take a deep breath and prepare for our .tried to intervene. Bartiett put 'out an arm, Knowledge is not enough. Let us now see work of the future. There will be a general after dinner. Twenty- saying, 'Alcohol is expressly forbidden— to how well your cadaver-recycler works. Eat meeting this evening certain crew members. A matter of me, drink me. Rather sacramental; isn't it?" one thirty, the usual place. Very well, dis- "A matter of depacifying," said Frame. -He smiled, switched off his respirator, miss." They dismissed. "Its effects, of course, can be dramatic. breathed desperately out good-bye, wide- Dr. Adams said to Vanessa, "I don't feel blue-skinned. His poi- at all well," and leaned on her. Drink, doctor. Drink, I insist." She drank, eyed, eyes looked dead-eyed. An automatic drinker. To Va- sonously on Bartiett an instant, and then "Come to my quarters," Vanessa said. nessa he said, 'A word in your ear, my love. they looked on nothing. His head col- She gunned the frowning O'Grady with her right of woman just bereaved. This is it. I may as well go here." lapsed onto his shoulder. There was eyes, the eyes a "No!" a silence. Dr. Adams led the few who shed "I'll look after you." "Yes. One thing is still on my con- a tear. Bartiett was efficient as always. After dinner, at the general meeting,, the Cat take his place on I team watched Boss science, i lied to you. said thai Val was He ordered Dr. Durante: "You heard what dead. He may be, of course, by now. I'm the professor said. Trundle him into the re- the dais. They feared, with justice if past

I still to trusted, new cur- sorry. I didn't want him on the project. cycler. Not the wheelchair. That may experience were be Dr. of amenity and longer working think I was wrong. I'm sorry. He may be be needed." Pale, Durante obeyed. The tailments

It hours. Instead he said, "The time has come, alive; he may be trying to reach you. I have recyder was to the left of the foodfields. a dying man's hunch." He nodded grimly was a simple matter of disengaging, with as I have already intimated, to think of the at Bartiett, who had taken the flask, with the help of Dr. Sara Bogardus, the spent future. To think, indeed, of more than our

^=J

"Hey, mister, I disapprove of wha! your bumber sticker says, but I will defend to the death your right to display it!" —

It the own future: of the future of the race. We Bartlett turned to Dr. Greeley, the dias- was only Bartlett who saw main have to breed a race, ladies and gentle- temopsychoiogist. yelling his head off in door open and Lieutenant Johnson, head residual platoon, in. Johnson men," he said, frowning as if breeding were the front row and going through the classic of the come a hard necessity imposed upon them by parameters of risory near exhaustion: hand looked in astonishment at the fiftyfold, or the stern daughter of the voice of God. on ribs, finger pointing blindly at the ex- nearly, laughter and was forced, by reflex, "Before we breed, we must mate. As soon citatory cause. "You," Bartlett said, "you, to relax his own face to a smirk. Then he as we are under way into shallow space, damn you," and he came down from the recollected the apparent seriousness of his the mating process will begin." Some of dais, He nil at tear-blinded Greeley. Then mission and said something into Bartlett's grim- them began to stare at him, open-mouthed. the laughter stopped very abruptly. Gree- ear. Bartlett was hardly able to look Bartlett than already did. 'About two hun- He said, "I have spent time and close study ley hit back, The two men tussled. mer he cried, this man under close dred, sir," Johnson said. "Some have gloves on the question of mating. I have not con- "O'Grady, put sulted any of you on this matter; indeed arrest." O'Grady got up, straight-faced, and and wirecuttersand are cutting through the fence. Request there is no one properly to consult, since went down and over io the two tusslers electric We're unarmed. we do not possess a professional zeuga- without conviction. Then, seeing open permission for arms to be issued, sir." pallor where he had recently "Silence," Bartlett yelled anew at the romatologist on our team. But I have com- mouths and

universal joy. bursl into a huge wildly laughing. "Silence. Silence. I have pleted a final list in which' I am confident seen he your that every relevant factor has been taken cackle. This primed Jovian laughter on the disturbing news. This will stop stupid

"Put everybody under arrest," laughter." But it didn't, not yet. DO into consideration. I would ask you all to- back row.

Bartlett cried. That it. Howls, screams pay close attention as I read out the list was next month. and to note carefully the mate chosen for and what used to be called hysteria. ic he concluded

each of you. I do not imply any derogation in putting male names first. After all, the mating process is traditionally initiated by the male," The open mouths opened even wider. Not a breath was heard. The thump- ing earth, muffled by the soundproofing, was forgotten. "So then," Bartlett said. "In alphabetical order. "Dr. David T. Abramovitz will mate with Dr. Jessica Laura Thackeray. Dr. Vincent Audelan will mate with Dr. Gianna da Ver- razzano. Dr. Paul Maxwell Bartlett, head of project, will-mate with Dr. Vanessa Mary Frame, Dr. Miguel S. Cezanne will mate with—" The first one to snigger was. strangely. Dr. Adams. Bartlett looked down at her in total surprise. "Please. Dr. Ce- zanne, as I say, will mate with Dr. Guine- vere Irving. Dr. Douglas C. Cornwallts will mate with Dr. Minnie Farragut— " But now the single snigger had opened the door to laughter. Some laughed, then others. It was a hell of a time since any of them had had a good laugh. They laughed, some, more, more still. O'Grady frowned. Bartlett was frankly puzzled and looked for a cause of laughter: an open fly. a cat micturating against his table leg. He tried to. continue: "Dr. John R, Durante with Dr. Kathleen— Or- linda Eastman. Dr. Mackenzie Eidlitz " But he could not be heard. The laughter was very nearly total. Even the clinically paci- fied weie laughing. Laughing, it seemed, was a solvent of even the most potent chemical conditioner. Bartlett, white, hor- rified, yelled, "Silence. Silence. Silence."

That only made it worse. Dr. Eidlit2 was bellowing like a sealion. Bartlett picked on him and said, "Dr. Eid- litz, control yourself. Mating is a serious business." For some reason that began to touch off a risory nerve in Dr. O'Grady Bartlett did not at first notice: O'Grady sat somewhat to his rear. He said, "If, of course, there are any compatibility problems, Dr. O'Grady will be only too happy to super- vise the clinical staff in effecting adjust- ments." He looked at O'Grady and found, shocked, horrified, that O'Grady was showing big horse teeth and howling. Bartlett could—hardly be heard. "O'Grady Dr. O'Grady " O'Grady did not respond. —

THE SHIRT'S TALE, THE SHORTS STORy

BY THOMAS M. DISCH

f-\h, what

shirt it burst a fine day it is, thought the blue chambray as from the closet one bright May morning. It stretched its arms with pleasure, did up its buttons briskly, and made street without even its way down the stairs and out to the sprinkling crumbs of toast over itself for breakfast. The street was bustling with clothes of all ages, classes, and conditions of wear. There were T-shirts, pleated skirts, blue jeans, fashionable camouflage combat jackets, and antiquated but indestructible fringed leather vests. There were e ven a few topcoats and bulky sweaters that had not grown weary from the spring's warmth and curled up inside wooden trunks for their long estivation in summer's mothballs. But most of the clothes on the street seemed, like the blue chambray shirt itself, to have just that morning fought their way up from the bottom of drawers and out of the back of closets, responsive as grass to the warmer weather and longer afternoons. They were bright, light- weight garments that zipped along with a speed and a swing that made the drab old .winter clothes look like ref- ugees from Good Will Industries. A beautiful day, assuredly— but a Tuesday for all that PAINTING BY DONALD ROLLER WILSON and the blue chambray shir! could enjoy At ten o'clock the flow of business slowed their own cleanliness and that when they the splendid wealher only (or as long as it to a trickle and then to a dead stop. The were past mending, they should be quietly took to reach the Amalgamated Bank, ten tur-quoise pantsuit at Window 7 signaled retired or, as the shirt was pleased to put

blocks uptown from its apartment. There, that it was sneaking otf to the employee it, turned to quilts.

with sigh, it fitted a its plastic penholder lounge for a cigarette, and when the pant- But it was a waste of good weather to into its left pocket and prepared itself suit got back, five minutes later, the shirt think about such things. So the shirt turned (crossing its arm over its chest) for the mo- decided to follow suit. Only instead of going its attention from, the ragged denizens of ment when the gray uniform would open to the lounge, which was windowless and the park to the bright, variegated flow of the the first doors and clothes of the day only slightly cheerier than a toilet stall, the clothes passing along the street. It mar- form would in a line alongside the loops of suit decided to take its break in" the vest- veled at a lovely pleated-front dress of velvet rope— a line forever depleted and pocket park across the street from creamy the bank. Qiana that looked as if it had forever renewed until the doors were locked And if the polka-dot bow tie at the front stepped right out of a Bloomingdale's win-

again at three o'clock. desk didn't like it, then the polka-dot bow dow. Such a dress was no doubt out of the Usually the shirt was able to function more tie could lump it. shirt's league, but dreams are free. Ad- or less automatically at its station behind As it happened, the polka-dot bow tie vancing from the opposite direction, not Window 8, thinking at the steady tempo had gone off to "check the balance of a pair like a dream but a nightmare, came an and low intensity suggested by the bank's of corduroy pants applying for a loan, and overanxious ochre dress that virtually had

Muzak. Usually it regarded the constant to make the shirt's good luck better, the "Quarantine" stitched all over it. Behind the procession of clothes passing before its gray uniform was also otherwise occupied ochre dress, poking along at half the speed, window as nothing but a flow of deposits in explaining the automatic-deposit ma- came a dowdy black dress as old and and withdrawals, not as individual items of chine to a suede jacket. changeless as all Italy. clothing like itself. Usually it didn't resent The class of clothing hanging about in Just as the shirt had decided to head the of freedom the bank's clients to go off the park was of a very different character back to work, it spotted a pair of glossy their when transactions were completed to from the class of clothes frequenting the red shorts jogging on the elliptical path that enjoy the wide world beyond the bank's bank. The shirt suspected that many of the formed a kind of miniature racetrack about glass doors. overcoats and dirty trousers now sprawl- the park. There are certain signs and sig- But today wasn't a usual day. The shirt ing on the benches had spent the entire nals that naturally denote the beginning ot felt constrained, stifled, woebegone. It night here. Perhaps trousers are not to be a season: the first cuckoo of spring, the

well it might as never have left the closet, held responsible for not having a closet to turning of the leaves in the fall, the first told itself morosely. It looked at an orange call their own or for not going to a dry snowflake of winter. For summer it's the web belt sporting a Sony Walkman and cleaner's from time to time, but the shirt, first pair of shorts. thought. / want to move, I want to groove, I which kept itself spotlessly clean and never The shirt, though basically of a retiring want to get out of here! lacked for buttons, was not disposed to disposition, not to say shy, couldn't resist The shirt looked up at the big clock on take such a lax attitude. The shirt believed the impulse to express the high spirits that the wall. The time was exactly 9:26. all clothes should be held responsible for the red shorts had inspired in it. As the

shorts bounded by, it turned sideways and saluted, as an official might salute a pa- rade. Had the shorts noticed? Impossible to tell from the sinuous, shifting, heart- shaped curves of the shorts' retreating view, but somehow the shirt believed they had.

It watched entranced as the shorts con- tinued their circuit round the park. As the shorts approached them, the dirty trousers and ragged overcoats would stir to life, as though a strong wind had swept over them. So foolish, thought the shirt protectively, for the shorts to choose this park to jog in. Though, on second

thought., would it have wished them to jog anywhere else? Such beautiful shorts they were, and such a brilliant red—the red of red-hot candies, of Valentine chocolate boxes, of the lightning bolts on high- voltage warning signs, of August toma- toes, of all things ripe and succulent. On their second circuit past the shirt the

shorts called out to it, "Hey there, cham- bray— shake it!" Taking this to be an invi- tation, the shirt fell into a comfortable stride beside the shorts. The shirt said that the 'weather was lovely. The shorts agreed.

It complimented the shorts on their ap- pearance. The compliment was returned. There was no putting off the next step. The shirt had to decide whether to admit

to the shorts that it was on a break and had to get back to the bank, hoping the shorts would be willing to come back later

in the afternoon. Or it could simply ab- scond from the bank (at the risk of getting fired) and pretend io be leisurewear. the immediate neighborhood there was a shorts about its job at the bank and the

Reluctantly the shirt heeded the call of choice between a Western, starring var- various difficulties it had in relating to the duty—and was rewarded with the shorts' ious famous pairs of Levi's and Stetsons, demands of three-piece sharkskin suits and phone number and a promise to return at and a musical comedy about top hats and polka-dot bow ties. The shorts were sym- 3:45 to meet by the waterless fountain in evening gowns. The chambray shirt's nat- pathetic but not too interested. They ex- the center of the park. ural preference was for the Western, but plained that they'd spent all their life at col- No need to describe the rest of the shirt's the red shorts said they were in the mood lege or simply having fun. They'd never working day. It flew by in a haze of day- for something more romantic, and who worked at any-job, even for the summer. dreams or crept along in a traffic jam of could argue with that? The shirt's high spirits faded somewhat, anxious what-ifs. What if the shorts weren't From the shirt's point of view, it was an learning this. It began to ask itself the dis- there at 3:45? What if the cash in the drawer ideal movie. The musical numbers were couraging question, What could a blue didn't tally with the figures on the machine either high-spirited or sexy or both, while chambray shirt possibly have in common and the shirt got to the fountain late? What the plot was so simple fhat meets gown, with red nylon/polyester shorts? It grew if the phone number the shorts had given hat loses gown, hat gets gown) that it de- nervous and talked too loudly, so that it wasn't their real number? manded only twenty percent of one's at- began to attract the attention of ties and

But the cash did tally, and the shorts were tention. The shirt let its left sleeve droop blouses at nearby tables. It laughed at its there, and the weather was even more glo- casually from the armrest and brush against own jokes immoderately. Then, when their rious than it had been that morning. the shorts. Is there any sensation so de- tacos had been reduced to a rubble of let-

Broken bottles in the gutters glittered like lectable as the passage of soft cotton tuce shreds and grated onion, the shirt, in jewels. Whirlwinds made newspaper bal- across a slithery nylon/polyester blend? But reaching across the table for the pitcher in lets at every street corner. Motorcycles we say no more. At a certain point if words order to replenish the shorts' still-half-full raucously revved their engines as they don't fail, they must be censored. glass, knocked over its own glass. The idled at red lights. They left the movie frazzled with pleas- glass's contents spilled with fatal precision "Do you know what would be great?" ure and with no clear idea of what to do down the front of the blue chambray shirt. said the shorts. next. The hour (just past six) and the pres- The black velvet vest hurried over with a shirt, "What?" said the knowing very well. ence of a good, inexpensive Mexican res- wet napkin, but it was already too late. The "A movie," said the shorts. "We could taurant on the corner decided them. A damage had been done. The napkin served still get in at the matinee price if we went wasp-waisted black velvet vest showed only to spread the stain; it didn't, notice- somewhere around here." them to a table at the back of the restaurant ably, lighten it. It had not been the shirt's first idea of and took their orders for taco-combination The shirt regarded itself with dismay. what would have been great, but on the plates and a pitcher of sangria. Sangria is essentially red wine, and red other hand it didn't entirely contradict that The shorts nestled coyly out of sight be- wine doesn't wash out of cotton. It was idea, either. So they got a newspaper and hind the red-checked tablecloth, and the ruined. It would spend the rest of its life a looked through the movie ads for some- shirt planted its elbows on the table and recluse in a bottom drawer, ashamed to thing they hadn't both already been to. In proceeded, a little nervously, to tell the face the light of day. If such an existence could be called a life! Better simply to be- come a rag wadded up in a plastic bucket with sponges and brushes and bars of yel- low soap. Hopeless, hopeless!

In its distress the shirt had completely

forgotten about the shorts. So it was some- what nonplussed when they got up from the table and, all on their own initiative, took the check for the meal to the cash register

and charged it on their own Visa card. "Come on," said the shorts, beckoning. "We're getting out of here."

"What?" said the shirt, though it followed the shorts willingly out of the restaurant. "My place is right around the corner.

You've got to get that sangria off before it's dry— right?" Hope contended with despair. Indeed, hope did so well that by the time the shirt stood outside the shorts' apartment door, waiting for the last key to turn in the last

lock, il had almost forgotten its misfortune

with the .sangria. Already it was back in- silver-lining territory.

In the bathroom the shorts quickly filled the sink with cold water, added a capful of Woolite, and then, eagerly and hungrily, unbuttoned the shirt's buttons and plunged

it, gasping, into the sinkful of suds. The shorts hesitated a moment. Then they, too, slowly slid down to the floor and bounded up into the sink. The recommended time for soaking gar- ments in Woolite is three minutes. The shirt and the shorts spent the rest of the night

together in the sink, and it was the happi- est night of their lives. DO CHARTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 80 the same needs may hit the streets, join a gang, run away, or get into trouble." Cri- minologists, take note. Correctional insti- tutions rnisguidedly "treat" juvenile delin- says, directing the IS WAITING- quency, Farley by SPACE wayward youngster into predictable trades like carpentry or factory work, the very sort of routine a sensation seeker loathes. r Low-arousal folks can take heart, though, for their promised land, the Age of Arousal, ARE is at hand. "We live in an age of stimulation an increasingly smelly, speedy, eye-strain- ing age," Farley remarks. Low-arousal YOU a people may thrive, but what about their high- arousal cousins? "Crowding, noise, and omnipresent communication may cause them overarousal disorders— like autism, schizophrenia, withdrawal, and anhedonia (the avoidance of pleasure)— because pleasure produces arousal." Farley says. "This may be one reason for the isolation of the elderly, who- tend to have a high- arousal physiology." Seductive as Ihese theories may be, neurosclerosis lUo Gerald Brown don't pay much heed to the science of flash re- sponses and arousal. "Physiological psy- chologists," he says, "are taught to do all sorts of autonomic-nervous-system test- ing —examining .galvanic skin responses and so on. The trouble is, there is no good way to relate that to central-nervous-sys- tem functioning. When they talk about

people being underaroused. I don't know what that means." Even in the psycholog- embers ical brotherhood itself, consensus hardly a dream—the reigns. Farley's theories fail fo convince trialization and Marvin Zuckerman. who doesn't sub- scribe to the simple underarousal theory olved.andthe i keeps you iriTorrr of sensation seeking. "Experiments just lity...in your L-5 Society is working to make this dream z haven't uncovered a difference in baseline lifetime. arousal between high and low sensation seekers," he points out. Yet some of Far- ley's statistics, like the sevenfold higher escape rate of low-arousal delinquents, "This generation has the op astonish. Surely they mean something. and thus ensure that the hum 'Like Kansas tourists marveling at the generation we can accompl strange, -hyperkinetic rituals taking place animals, the harnessing of fir on the New York Slock Exchange floor, we await explanations. The biochemical equations of murder, suicide, and mad- ness neatly solved, we imagine, the mind- chart makers will go on to conquer painful shyness, callousness, nameless dreads, kofth world-weary funks, phobias, and the thou- sand great and small maladies of the soul. SPACE DEVELOPMENT Perhaps they will. Consider the compli- PROMOTING cated saga of Parkinson's disease. "Until International Headquarters • 1060 East Elm • Tucson, Arizona 85719

fairly recently it was a 'shaking palsy' ot policy to restore the U.S. lead I want to help shape our national space unknown cause," Brown says. "Then it in space technology. Please enter my membership! progressed to a neuropathology with basal ganglia alterations. Now we can trace Par- D $20 Regular Name kinson's disease to a dopamine deficiency $15 Student Address in specific brain regions and. possibly, lo Send more City a dopamine-acetylcholine [another neu- rotransmitter] imbalance." information State, Zip _ So. too, may the "brain palsies" of our age be patient y demystified. 00 mean loss of motor function and loss of bowel or bladder control, jtcan affect the BDDY sexual organs," says Dr. Barth Green, as- LIFE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26 CONTINUED- FROM PAGE 22 sociate professor of neurological surgery

the brain. To peer deeper, Ihe surgeon at the University of Miami and attending to pick up a key or a coin. The other is changes the frequency. There's still a surgeon at Miami's Jackson Memorial called palmar-prehension, in which the problem with this, however: High frequen- Medical Center and the Veterans Admin- thumbs, index fingers, and middle fingers cies can't scan deep areas effectively; low istration Medical Center. "This way, you can actually grasp an object, such as a frequencies can, but they don't deliver know exactly where to go to find the pa- phone receiver. "When you think aboul sharp images. The difficulty lies in finding thology. It reduces the chance of "error." opening and closing your hand, that's sim- the This best compromise. has proved particularly helpful when ple," Peckham notes. "But if a person has

Ultrasound is not new to medicine. In 1950 gunshot victims are

Jonathan Rubin, now assistant professor a toy, but less thau a necessity "according a wireless system." It certainly isn't impos- of radiology and chief of ultrasound ser- to Dr. Rand Voorhies. assistant professor sible to envision a transmitter sending the vices at the University of Chicago Medical of surgery at the Mew York Hospital-Cor- computer's messages to electrodes im- Center, began to use ultrasound imaging nell Medical Center. Often tumors are either planted in Ihe muscles. In fact, Peckham during brain surgery. (A few other doctors very large Or fairly near the 'surface, Dr.- says it has been done already in some throughout the country had also renewed Voorhies explains. "We bring out the im- animal experiments. their interest in the concept.) Working with aging equipmenl only when we think it's Another phase of neural-prosthesis re- a company named Advanced Technology going to make a difference." search involves some'ning that might be Laboratories, in Bellevue, Washington, they Right now neurosurgeons disagree -about cuiied a';:-cia leeling. 'How does the pa- developed an instrument called the Neu- hdW often —and in which circumstances-- tient "know" how hard to grip a paper cup rosector. A compact ultrasound imager, it ultrasound imaging can benefit surgeon without crushing it? Could such a system has now been used effectively in hundreds and patient. Some even contend that the sense temperature as well as pressure? of operations, inc uOmg 250 performed by image wont add to their knowledge of the Dr. Andrew Schoenberg and his team at Dohrmann and Rubin. tumor's boundaries. Others retor! that ul- the Utah Biomedical Test Lab are devel- "Now it's almost unlimited in Ihe things trasound can often outline a tumor's gen- oping artificial sensory transducers to it can image during surgery," Rubin claims. eral limits. "That's not saying it can tell you measure tissue compression so that the These images help minimize risks, dis- where every last tumorous cell is. That's force exerted on an object can be pre- close hidden dangers, prevent needless impossible. But it can give us a good sense cisely quantified. Current experiments in- surgery, and in some cases reduce the' of the borders," Dohrmann says. This in- volve Ihe use oi a very thin (28 microns number of operations a patient must formation becomes important when a doc- thick) polyvinylidine fluoride film with the undergo. For this reason, doctors consider tor does a biopsy {the best samples .are trade name Kynar (someihing like Mylar). the $44,000 machine cost eheci.ve. obtained from the tumor's core) or when a This material, made into, a glove, would Dohrmann recalls one typical case in surgeon tries to find out whether most of bounce pulses off objects much the way which an elderly woman operated on tor a the tumor was removed. bats use ultrason cs ;c rav gate. When the brain tumor was probably spared. a mas- Furthermore, a few surgeons behove "ha: reflected signal hits the surface of the film, sive stroke /.-ill r when ultrasound revealed that ultrasound imag ng ar:ilitale -'an/ o:he- it will oscillate at a specific frequency, pro- the cancerous growth had IV jacked part of types of surgery. As the resolution sharp- viding the glove wearer with an artificial an artery. "Had we entered the tumor, as ens and the seanhead shr hks, doctors may sense of louch. originally planned," the surgeon says, "we learn to pinpoint problems Ihroughout the Even this proposal is less than ideal, for would have gone right into that artery." body more. easily, "We may even be able someone must pul the glove on the pa-

Unlike CAT scans or angiograms, which to use it in corrective surgery, such as tient. And that raises the toughest barrier emit radiation, ultrasound poses no health shunting hydrocephalus [releasing water of ail: Technology cannot hope to re-create risks, Rubin adds. During studies con- on the brain] while the baby is still in the real feeling, only simulate it. When healthy, ducted at the University of Michigan Med- womb." Dr. Green speculates. arms are lifted, the brain messages are ical Center and at hospitals in New York, Infants' heads are readily scanned with second nature. For the quadriplegic, the Louisiana, Florida, and even Tokyo, there's ullrasound flhe soft spot means doclors brain must always conscious y dictate whal been no evidence of infection or brain needn'l remove any bone); so for the past it wants the limb to do. As Peckham points damage from ultrasound imaging. several years surgeons have used Ihe out, "The patient has to learn to commu- In more recent months the technique has technique when placing catheters and nicate with his nervous system," been used as a window to the spine during shunts in babies' heads. In other areas, A neural prosthesis may never restore back surgery. An extension of the brain, ultrasound imaging stil meets with some the instantaneous, fine-tuned muscle the spine is also riddled .with vulnerabili- skepticism. One surgeon said, "You know, movement that normal individuals lake for ties; so it's critical that doctors I brain manipulate can biopsy lesions blindly. I don't granted. But for the 200,000 Americans now it as little possible surgery. as during Ul- need your ullrasound. I can just find them." confined to wheelchairs —and others all trasound presents vital information on Ihe Dohrmann agrees fhat in many in- over ihe world — it could mean greater self- exact location of the trouble. "An incision stances this is so. "Butwouldn'l you rather sufficiency and the ability to accomplish one millimeter in the wrong direction can be able to see it?" he asks.DQ tasks once thought impossible. DO 138 OMNI DARWIN'S FOOTSTEP, EXPLDRMTIORJS

fey Anthony Wolff

^^^ shore fit for Pandemonium," nafure lovers, and undifferentiated exciting than a quiet, respectable M^^K remarked Captain Robert Fitzroy tourists, it is becoming nc-easingly difficult parsonage— info a versaiile and dedicated / » of H.M.S. Beagle's, firsi landfall to observe the unique Galapagos natural scientist. He was a quick, sharp in the Galapagos Islands, 600 miles off landscape and its flora and fauna the observer of whatever he saw. Insatiably the coast of Ecuador, in September 1835. way Darwin saw them, With a little curious, he set out in pursuit of exotic "Nothing could be less inviting than the planning and the help of a good guide, sights or specimens, despife danger first appearance," agreed Fitzroy's friend however, a visitor can still avoid the and discomfort. and shipmate Charles Darwin, the crowds and find the islands and their On the theoretical side, his readings in Beagle's twenty- six-year-old naturalist. native inhabitants almost as uncorrupted geology, especially the new works of The Beagle was already almost four as they were 148 years ago. Charles Lyell. impressed him with the years out from Plymouth on what had Darwin himself spent just a month in controversial notion that the processes that begun as a two-year survey of the South the archipelago, visiting only 4 of its shape the earth have been in continuous American coast. Not only was young 13 principal islands. His theory of evolution operation for an immeasurable time. Darwin homesick, but he suffered from by natural selection did not come to The idea that minute but immensely almost perpetual seasickness. The 90- him.in a sudden epiphany. Only later, as powerful changes, accumulating for eons, foot-long Beagle, topheavy with he labored over his collections and his could account for the geological accommodations for as many as 74 notes for the Journal he published in phenomena that Darwin saw in South people, tended to rock and roll '1840 and for Origin of Species, which did America may have carried over in his mind excessively. Despite his discomfort, not appear until 1859, did Darwin fully to explain the zoological and botanical Darwin had written !o his sister from Lima: appreciate the unique importance of his diversity that was nowhere more evident "I am very anxious for the Galapagos brief Galapagos sojourn. than in the Galapagos.

Islands. I think both the geology and the Darwin's Galapagos visit was one of "Most of the organic productions are zoology cannot fail to be interesting." those serendipitous cases of the right aboriginal creations, found nowhere

A century and a half later the Galapagos person in fhe right place at the right time. else," he noted; "there is even a difference annually attract 25.000 visitors who come The years on the Beagle had transformed between the inhabitants of fhe different to see the place where Darwin "discov- the amateur entomologist— a rich country islands." This last point struck Darwin as ered" evolution. With all the scientists, gentleman destined for nothing more especially remarkable. "I never dreamed," he confessed in his Journal, "that islands about fifty or sixty miles apart, and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have been differenfly tenanted." The British vice-governor in the islands (Ecuador had only recently laid claim to them) pointed out to Darwin that any of the various giant tortoises, galapagos

in Spanish, could be assigned to its

native island according to its size and the conformation of its shell. Of 38 plant species peculiar to the Galapagos that Darwin collected on James Island, fully 30 could be found on no other. Likewise, 22 of 26 aboriginal Galapagos plants were found to be peculiar to the island of Albemarle. Though- different from one another, the islands' creatures "all show a marked relationship with those of [South] America," Darwin noted. This led him to conclude that the originally bare islands had

,'i Dapiiro island. <:: .'Vn/rs !o tourists. been seeded by "a few stray colonists" IS ANYONE OUT THERE? THE SEARCH FOR EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL LIFE a very strong, forceful personality? Leakey: He will be most remembered for irUTERVIEUU Leakey: Both my parents were very strong his pioneering work in drawing attention to very charismatic. Both in their Africa CONTINUED FROM PAGL 104 and own way — particularly to East Africa—as the were great people: place where fossils of human ancestors forth there was a little more dogma at- Omni: Did you get along with them? would be found in great number, He also

tached to it to make It a little more dra- Leakey: I don't know whether one would pioneered in demonstrating that you could

matic. Sarich is a very strong personality, say that I got along very well or very badly. observe primates in the wild and that they

and one respects him for being slrong. It was a good relationship, but one based would become habituated to behaving Omni: Do you think .paleoanthropologists on a great deal of independence. naturally in the presence of observers. are unusual tor being so dramatic? Omni: The story is that you had conflicts Omni: Yes, he encouraged Jane Goodall

Leakey: I think some are. with your father and then reconciled with to carry out the first long-term study of wild Omni: What do you think there is about this him before he died. chimpanzees. Then she-was just a young

field that attracts dramatic personalities? Leakey: Well, it makes good copy. We did girl following them in sneakers, with binoc- Leakey; People on the tront edge are often fight on numerous occasions. There were ulars and a note pad, Lo and behold, quite dramalic. In any field, people who intellectual battles. There were parental Goodall saw the chimps staging cooper- are leaders became leaders because they conflicts with the errant son. And there were ative hunts for meat, begging for pieces are unusual. Maybe they are bold, or maybe administrative problems. and sharing them, using tools to fish for

they do strange things. I think if you ex- Omni: Were you the errant son? termites and weapons to bluff their oppo- amine physics, medicine, or any other sci- Leakey: Sometimes one is errant. One nents in status duels. Your father encour-

It ence, you will find the same holds true. doesn't always follow straight. I was in- aged not only Goodall, but also Dian Fos- is just that, because anthropology is a volved in administering the museum my sey, who spent some thirteen years with

smaller field, one is more aware of these father had started. I was doing things dif- mountain gorillas in East Africa, and Birute personalities. There just seem to be pro- ferently from the way he had done therm Galdikas, who is siill living among orang- portionately more in this profession. And, as he was working in the museum utans in the jungles of Borneo. From their

I Omni: What did you think ot your parents' that I was running think at times he wanted work, we know that humans and apes share profession when you were a child'' things done differently. I simply said that remarkably similar behavior patterns. Be-

Leakey: Well, I enjoyed the out-of-doors, I'm running it and we are doing it this way. sides, we have a vastly clearer perspec-

but I never really thought I would go into That's the sort of problem that led to the tive on how our ancestors may have acted.

anthropology, because I wanted to be in- story of our conflict. It was never as serious Their work, and that of others, has changed

dependent. I wanted my own career and as it was made out to be, and, indeed, dur- the landscape of anthropology, Did your my own identity. ing the last nine months of his life we got father realize that so much would come of Omni: Your mother is still active? on extremely well. his good idea?

Leakey: Still digging at Olduvai. Omni: What do you consider to be your Leakey: I think he did, yes.

Omni: Would you say that your father was father's greatest achievement? Omni: It was also his idea to send interdis-

142 OMNI — — —

ciplinary teams into the field. In fact, you Leakey: Because essential to Lovejoy's Your Mind adopted lhal technique in your earliest field theory is his idea lhal chimps in the forest is the expeditions. are fiot successfuL.lt is simply not true.

Leakey: I think most people do that now. Chimps are very successful. Hub of the Universe I'm often credited with having organized Omni: In your book Origins you say that by

the first group expedition, but, in fact, I two million years ago men and women were didn't, The first team was organized in 1967 engaging in long-term pair-bond relation- by anthropologist Clark Howell, of Berke- ships. What are your thoughts on this?

I I it. I said they didn't ley. I was part of took tine idea from him. Leakey: may have been.

You have to draw upon the expertise of say they were. But I do think we've got lo several disciplines if you're going to solve account for the obvious fact that human complicated problems. infants are inadequately equipped lo sur-

Omni: What got you into anthropology? vive if left unattended. There must ulti- Leakey; You must remember that I'm not in mately be some father care for the young. anthropology. Or it not father care, then group care. Any- Omni: What do you mean? way, in Origins the theory was offered as Leakey: I've worked as the director of the a scenario rather than as an explanation.

I National Museum of Kenya since 1968. The Omni: I think I have an explanation. have Know the Underside museum is probably the largest and most advanced the only other recent theory on comprehensive scientTic nstitution in all of the evolution of male-female relations Of The Wheel Of Life Africa. We have research departments in specifically the pair bond. It is the matrix all the natural sciences— bofany, ornithol- of my book The Sex Contract: The Evolu- /\round you revolve myriad Cos- ogy, entomology, ichthyology, mammal- tion of Human Behavior. My theory is that mic forces and energies. Silent, form- ogy, and primatology, to name a few. And bipedalism produced radical changes in less, they await contact with your skeleton. I have a staff of about four hundred per- the protohominid Most important mind; to be transformed into reali- sons. Ninety-five percent of my day and was the shrinking of the size of the birth ties, substances, potential with vast year is not devoted to anything that has to canal. In other words, because of bipedal- possibilities. Extending from you do with bones or anthropology. It is con- ism the birth canal became smaller. Be- like spokes from the hub of a wheel obstetrical difficulty, I think, cerned with totally different things. I have cause of this your senses reach out to draw these a working knowledge of a number of sci- most females died while delivering Iheir ethereal powers to the center of your entific disciplines. As a result. I'm probably young. Bui undoubtedly there were a few being. Five of them—seeing, hearing, as qualified or as experienced in paleon- females who bore premature young, as feeling, tasting, and smelling— are tology particularly human paleontol- there are today. These females lived. Their — commonly known to you. However, ogy— as anyone else. young, lived. And through differential se- to measure all existence by them The point is that degrees don't help one lection early hominid females began deliv- alone is like trying to judge a great understand fossil bones. What is needed ering premature young. This would explain orchestration by the notes played on is a thorough knowledge or background *hy human infanis are so premature, in a single instrument. on which to base one's interpretations. I contrast to the infants of other mammalian the underside of the wheel of would warrant that a lot of the academics species. From radiate other spokes, faculties being produced by schools today simply Needless to say. females were bur- life of are not don't have such experience. Indeed, some dened with young that i-eeded extra care your mind—of which you aware, ordinarily. Only by their dis- of the mistakes that have been made, and during a longer infancy. II must have be- covery and mastery can you increase are being perpetuated at the moment, are come much harder for ihese females io your domain of intelligent living and made simply because people aren't ex- gather, to catch their own small mammals, accomplishment perienced and haven't got that practical even to keep up with the group. Those fe- background. males who were able to engage a male in THIS FREE BOOK EXPLAINS an "extended consort" survived better than Omni: What mistakes are being made? There is an unused part of you,

Well, for I think the others. So did their young. And, with Leakey: example, Owen that is, potential with greatness. Lovejoy's ideas on the origin of bipedalism time, there was selection for our human There are faculties of the mind just and the relationship between males and proclivity to bond. There's a lot more to beyond the surface awaiting your females that developed through food this, but lhai's my theory in a nutshell. command, not magic or fantasy —but

Leakey: I have no real problems with that. gathering .and provisioning are preposter- little known natural taws. Challenge

I information ous. II Lovejoy spent even six weeks in the wish we had a little more about these statements. Let the Mastery of there in field, watching baboons or chimpanzees whether was a shrinkage the di- Life book tell you how the Rosicruci- in Iheir habitat, and had a feel for the way ameter of the birth canal. It would seem ans can help you know about your- the real world works, it would become guile that there was, but we have remarkably self. clear to himthat his ideas simply don't work. little evidence of it. I do agree that the care Omni: My understanding of Lovejoy's ideas and rearing of large primate infants is a is that early hominid males and females difficult matter. This is' unquestionably a ROSICRUCIANS

switched from a sexual strategy of promis- central issue. I think the basic idea is well , SEND THIS COUPON cuity, like that of chimps, to one of monog- worth following up. Lovejoy shouldn't be 1 eiiher. is to Scribe DLP amy. I n this hew strategy the female stayed clobbered, He courageous The ROSICRUCIANS (AMORC) in a small safe home area while the .bonded come out with his ideas. Indeed, while I San Jose, California 95191 U.S.A. male ranged farther and farther and car- was making my BBC film The Making of Pleaae send me the free book. The Mas- ried meat back to her. Because of the extra Mankind, he was the only person I knew tery of Life, which explains how I may nutrition provided by the male, the female who was prepared to stand up and be learn to use ray faculties and powers of ovulated sooner after delivering her child; Mimed telling the world what he thought. mind. therefore, she had more babies. So bond- Omni: Speaking of new ideas, we have a ing increased human fecundity, making our tew heated debates going on in the United Ad dress _ species more successful than the apes, States to which I would like your reaction. which do not bond. Why do you feel that The first has to do with sociobiology. As City State „Zip. this is illogical? you well know, sociobiologists hypotfie- The first conference March 24-26, 1983 and exhibition to Massachusetts Institute focus on the of Technology applications of Cambridge, Mass. photovoltaics.

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is size thai there a biological component It is a very co.'np icatec: ssue. and I think it will continue to do so. It should in no way to behavior, that behaviors like altruism and it is being grossly oversimplified. There is be undervalued as a matrix of life. But the belligerence evolved just the way our teeth always the worry that if you start saying Bible was not intended to be taken literally, did, differential by seleciion. They believe behavior has a genetic base, then you have and I would think that ninety-five percent that some human behavioral patterns are to say that people are never going to be of the intelligent followers of the Christian genetically determined. What are your able to do anything but what they are doing. faith have never taken it literally. They perceptions of sociobiology? Just as misleading, I feel, you get into the wouldn't dream of it, because if they take

Leakey: It is a very big question. The story whole debate about inferior and superior that literally, they are going to have to take of social insects, such as bees and ants, races and social classes. I do think there an awful lot of other things literally, and this

is I quite fascinating, and Ihink much has are differences among groups, but i think simply doesn't work. You can't live that way. been said lhat is quite close to the mark. all human beings have the same innate It seems to me that creationists are an ul- But you run into problems when you then ability to override those differences, given traconservative group singularly limited in apply the same ideas and principles across proper education. their intellectual breadth. Their attempt to the board to humans and other mammals. Omni: There is some new evidence that introduce scientific creationism. as they call

it I think is better to think of human behavior chimpanzees scout the border of their ter- it, into schools on an equal level with the as developing rather than as. evolving. The ritory for so-called enemies, then raid teaching of biology and other natural sci- processes are different. For example, the neighboring areas, kill the resident chim- ences simply has got to be rejected. Cre- development of culture isn't evolution in the panzees, and usurp theirterritory. This isn't ationism in my view is rubbish. sense that an organism evolves, with ge- too different from twentieth-century world Omni: Why do you think it has blossomed netic changes and genetic driff. The de- affairs. Do you think that this behavior in recently? velopment of culture relates to things that chimps is learned/in other words cultural? Leakey: Because this is a time of uncer- can be passed trom one generation to an- Leakey: It might be. You've got to remem- tainty. There is economic hardship, In times other through learning. ber that very few animals left in the world ol adversity all human societies go to ex-

How this relates to genes, I don't know. are living in their original habitats. A lot of tremes. They swing left or right. You are But the most important thing to remember this behavior may ultimately be learned seeing a society that is at the moment at- is that our culture gives us the ability to because ot ihe environment we've cre- tracted to very conservative ideas be- override genetic messages, as bees and ated—an environment that confines them cause people feel that this will bring them

ants cannot. And I think there is very little- within certain boundaries. security. I'm quite certain that when the of human behavior that can't be overrid- Omni: Another issue these days is crea- economy improves and people start think- den. Perhaps there is a genetic base for tionism. What do you say to people who ing about other things, this will disappear. the instinctive smile of an infant. The hu- bombard you with creationist jargon? Omni: Has your knowledge of Swahili and man laugh may have a genetic base, too, Leakey: My position on this is very clear. of Africa contributed to your understand- but laughter is prompted by different sit- The Christian religion has played a very ing of ancestral cultures? uations in different cultures. in important role human 'society, and I think Leakey: Yes. I think that growing up in Af- 144 OMNI — —

rica and being a nEiiralist nave enhanced but very rare in the middle. Then I served

my ability to perceive and interpret some it with French bread that I had also made. of the evidence we have found. Omn'r. Who does the shopping? unlock im

Omni: It seems to me that you are coun- Leakey: I do. terbalancing a trend toward specialization Omni; Does your wife enjoy cooking? m/TCBIC/ with a generalistic approach. Leakey: She enjoys eating,

Leakey: Well, it was not a deliberate effort, Omni: Since you travel the world on busi- but I think that a natural history museum is ness, what do you do for .a vacation? Of YOUft AlflP an important place to do research. The Leakey: I pursue my other hobby, sailing.

tendency in America has been to put Ihese I've got a thirty-eight-foot sloop, and I like studies into the rarefied intellectual atmo- distance sailing— blue-water ocean sail- sphere of university departments. In a ing. No telephone, no contact, and once museum such as the Smithsonian, the I'm gone', I'm gone. American Museum of Natural History, the' Omni: As a second-generation Kenyan, British Museum, or our museum in Nairobi, what do you think of tourists?

one gets the interaction of a number of Leakey: I think tourism per se is a most specialists in the natural sciences who have fascinating aspect of contemporary soci- DISCOVER SELF MASTERY

' a belter fee! for the matrix of life. Naturalists ety. It has its place in development and is WITHOUT SELF SACRIFICE usually are more reliable in understanding important lo Kenya. The difficulty is the Stop Unwanted Habits LoseWeight Better Health the biological sciences. heavy price we pay, both in terms of for- Enjoy With SCWL Subliminal Techniques Omni: What do you read? eign exchange 'or maintaining the luxury

Leakey: I read scientific papers pertaining that visitors want and in lerms of empha- goals qi and simply w truly rer lo subjects that interest me, but 1 do not sizing the gap bet .veer tour sts and a pop- afflu- read any novels, nor do I read classics or ulace that doesn'l have the apparent history. Most of my waking day is taken up ence of the iourists. This can lead to either with administration or with travel, changes in values and can have a demor-

Omni: What do you think about being a alizing effect. Il can in fact directly affect T HIDDEN TALENTS! public figure? morals in the society. racitions that used REVEAL activities Leakey: I thinK being a public figure is fun. to be simply a part of society's

But it seems like more fun before you are become commercially oriented, So I think a public figure and while you are becom- tourism is both good and bad on balance.

ing one than it actually is once you are one. What we really need to do is regulale tour- SCWL TECHNIQUES initially ism to the extent that it won'l damage our Being surrounded by admirers is VOUR KEY TO PERFECT MEMORY very good- for one's ego. But after a while nation's internal development. the public expects you lo be somehow dif- Omni: Provided we solve our global prob- tel: ferent and do special things. And I -don't lems of war and pollution, could you will like do special things. I am a perfectly ordi- me what you think man look a few nary, normal person who does normal, or- million years from now?

dinary things. The other problem is that Leakey: I don't think it requires any imag- GAIN TOTAL CONTROL when one says something, no matter how ination at all, If we are correct in under- Relieve Strait - Overcome Nervoume innocent it was intended to be. it can quickly standing how evolution actually works Become More Self-Confidant be misconstrued or sensationalized. Com- the process by which we retain continuity ments made at lectures take on meaning within- a given species—and provided we that is weighted, which makes one very can survive the comp ications o" wa- en-

cautious about what one says. I have no vironmental degradation, and possible doubl that, as a result of the level of public ccr.ac: with interstellar planetary travel-

attention I've received in the last decade, ers, we- will look exactly the same as we happen. all. I have become a much more private per- do now. We won't change at The spe- USE THE MOST

it is son. I value the intimacy of family life. While cies is now so widely dispersed that POWERFUL SOURCE Science has proven your only limitaiioi I'm at work, I'm a public figure. I work in a not going to evolve, except by gradualism. thai of you r conscious thought — self -im public office, and I'm available to anyone And gradualism is going to be ruled out

for anything. But once I leave my office-, I by medical science. We will grow bigger am extremely difficult to reach. because of better food, but there are not Omni: What do you do in your spare time? going to be any new physical adaptations. longer Leakey: I work a lot. But cooking is my Parts of the anaiomy that are no

I all disappear. if sur- greatest love. I don't cook from recipes. used at may But we OUR BOOK IS FREE Guaranteed to be "one of the most enlighten- use my imaginaiion. My dishes tend to be vive, we will survive unchanged. very French and usually quite rich. Omni: What about the brain? Omni; Can you give me a Leakey recipe? Leakey: The brain is continuing to be used

Leakey: No. They are far too complicafed. to a greater extent than it was in previous technology, but I will try to give you an impression. The generations. We have more I societies be- other night there were twoof us for dinner, more culture, more complex i ffifctaus^ fsMSMtlfn

I I of our intellect. don't think the and I cooked a sauce. used shallots, garlic, cause But butter, and three quarters of a bottle of very size of the brain will change. good red wine that reduced, through sim- Omni: You are. still a young man and you

mering, to less than half a cup. I also in- have already made a tremendous contri- cluded fresh Devon cream from England, bution to anthropology, to other sciences. of the public. which I prepared, gently with the juices of and to the education general

chicken and marrow beef that I had sim- What do you hope will be your greatest

mered the day before. This I poured on a achievement in life?

small piece of steak, very quickly pan-fried Leakey: To continue enjoying it. I'd like to

so that it was very well cooked on the edge die happy. I think I will. DO —

EXPLDEATIDriJB been converted into tourist transports. Ostensibly dedicated to both economic * CONTINUED FROM PAGE 140 * auDia-paeum i o development and environmental protec- * the best in self-instructional from the conlinent, which had subse- tion in the Galapagos, the Ecuadorian gov- quently diverged ernment lacks fareign language courses using — somehow— from the the resources and/or the original type. Among the specimens that reach to do much of either. The Galapagos audio cassettes— featuring he took back to England, Darwin discov- National Park, with jurisdiction over the un- those used to train U.S. State ered.a number of small, dull brown (inches, inhabited 88 percent of the archipelago's Dept. personnel in Spanish, all resembling the South American finch, land area, cooperates with the internation- French, German, but distinguished as species by "the per- ally funded Charles Darwin Research Sta- Japanese, Greek, fect gradation in the size ot the beaks" ac- tion on a variety of projects to assess and Arabic, Chinese, Iaamm cording to the feeding habits of each. "One reverse the damage already done to the fc^CM II might, Italian, and - really fancy," he wrote in the Journal, islands and to avert new problems. They more "that from an original paucity of birds in do a lot, but they lack adequate personnel, a foreign this archipelago one species had been boats, and. money. language on taken and modified tor difterenl ends." The trouble with the tourist traffic is not Just two years off the Beagle, he was so much ecological as aesthetic. The great your ownLSf already that close to the heart of the mat- majority of those who go to the effort and ter. "We seem to be brought somewhere expense of making the trip are fully con- Gal; [203! '153-9794. cr rill ou: near to that great fact," he wrote, "that scious of the values at stake and mindful •and send this ad :o Audio-Forum mystery of mysteries— the first appear- of the rules against taking foreign orga- ance of new beings on the earth." nisms to or from any, of the islands, col- Suite 53-E On-the-Green It took him more than 20 years to work lecting so much as a seashell, or straying Guilford, GT. 06437 out most of the details and to marshal the off the marked tourist trails. Just by the evidence. New beings on the earth— that effects of their numbers alone, however, is, newspecies— originate when spontane- tourists cannot but alter'and diminish the ous variations in individuals of a species experience they are enjoying.

are naturally selected ic thei' survival value. It is possible to avoid the crowds by Only ihose novel traits thai increase the passing up the package tours put together individual's chances of surviving to breed- by travel agents in tavor of a chartered yacht ing age are actually passed on to suc- snared by a family or a small group of d in (chsck si-i-xoi ' ceeding generations. The slow accumu- friends. There are several boats of various D French Q German lation of new traits eventually results in a configurations and degrees of comfort at " Russian : Swaha, new species. In the isolated Galapagos, Academy Say. available at rates ranging sfill quite young in geological terms, lack upward from aboul $250 per day for a party of competition encouraged the develop- of four— little more per person than the ment of variations in immigrant species. package-tour rates — including everything This allowed successful genes— still un- from food and fuel to soap, suntan lotion, OMNI known, unsuspected— to propagate rap- and snorkeling gear. Assuming that the boat idly through the island population. floats, the crucial choice is the captain, who The process of natural selection in the usually serves as naturalist guide, cook, TIME CAPSULES Galapagos was aheady subject to human and on-board entertainer. interference in Darwin's day: On Charles Karl Angermeyer, for example, is a Island he found several hundred "people treasure worth any price. Never mind that of color," political exiles from Ecuador, his boat, the 38- foot. -45-year-old Symbol, subsisting on tortoise meat and on the teral is no more comfortable than absolutely goats and pigs descended from breeding necessary and makes more noise and fewer stock brought by earlier whalers and fish- knots than one might wish. Angermeyer ermen. These introduced species, as well knows the name, address, and visiting hours as feral dogs, rats, even a species of tire of almost every bird, beast, and green ant, continue to upset the vaunted ecolog- growing thing in the Galapagos. He's al- UP ical and evolutionary integrity of the Ga- most seventy, weathered and water- Now the magazine of the future lapagos. Programs to extirpate ihe intrud- logged, but he can go anywhere. In his can be kept for the future. Store your ers have been too little, too late, and only long day he's guided Prince Bernhard of issues of OMNI in a new partially successful. The growing numbers the Netherlands, Thor Heyerdahl, and sev- Custom Sound Library Case made of both permanent settlers and visitors also eral other very important tourists, he's of block simulated leather. It's threaten the islands' continuation as a captained the Darwin Station's research built to last, and it will keep 12 issues unique living laboratory III, In mint condition indefinitely. where scientists ship. Beagle and he's grown slightly

The spine is embossed with a gold can study evolutionary biology. famous and prosperous. In the cool of the OMNI logo, and in each case In 1937, when Karl Angermeyer. our Ga- equatorial -evenings, after a hard day of there is a gold transfer for recording lapagos guide, arrived with three of his nature worship, he tells long, dramatic, the date. brothers from Germany to become the mostly true tales about his adventures and Send your check or leading citizens of Puerto Ayora, the main the islands' history in a Franglo-German money order (S5.95 each; Galapagian settlement, it had a total pop- accent complete with engaging smiles and 3forS17;6forS30) ulation of perhaps two dozen. By 1964, a conspiratorial winks. His cooking is ade- postpaid. USA orders only. Foreign visiting journalist estimated the number at quate. He is often booked months ahead, orders S2.5D for add about 100, plus a few burros, a couple of and he threatens to semiretire, but if he postage and handling per case) horses, and one jeep. When he returned can't take a charter, he'll pass it on to one to: OMNI Library Case, in 1977, there were 800 people, with cars, of his brothers or a nephew or perhaps a RO, Box 5120, Philadelphia, PA 19141, trucks, and motorbikes. Today the popu- friend who will serve almost as well. Just Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery, lation is several times as targe and still write to Karl Angermeyer, Santa Cruz, Gal- growing. Most of the local fishing fleet has apagos, Ecuador.OQ 146 OMNI 9 EARTH

PCB victims at the PCB Project in Sonoma County, California, concurs. He compares the attitude toward exposure victims with the attitude toward rape victims ten years ago. "There is no sensitivity to what the person has gone through. There is, in- stead, the sense that somehow they have brought the tragedy upon themselves. The victims end up feeling like a cross between a guinea pig and a leper." "It's like someone opened our mouths and poured drugs down our throats that no one knows anything about," says Lor- raine Ross, who learned last winter thai the drinking water in her Los Paseos, Califor- nia, community had been contaminated by a chemical leak from the nearby Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation. "We feel as if we had been experimented on— as if we are the casualties of high tech- nology. And when we try to go through all the proper channels to get information, we're treated like hysterical housewives." Psychiatrists agree that the first step to- ward easing the psychological distress of toxic exposure is to provide the victims with accurate factual information. The next step is to examine both their physical and their psychological complaints seriously. Such complaints have been studied in- tensively in the Three Mile Island area, in Pennsylvania, where a nuclear-power pla'ni broke down, spewing radioactive gas that could have endangered thousands of res- idents. One researcher, Maryland -based psychiafric epidemiologist Andrew Baum, has recently found that today, nearly four Quality Inflatable Boats years after the much publicized accident, local residents continue to experience high for blood pressure and other physiological Under symptoms of chronic stress. "Technological disasters like Three Mile $300! Island," says Baum. "produce a different response than natural disasters like floods or hurricanes." In a natural disaster. Baum explains, a victim feels that he has been hurt by something that is inherently be- yond his control. But technological disas- ters create the feeling of a loss of control over something that used to be controlla- , . ,,-p.- Eagle . Sea ble. "We think of technology as our ser- i$P^ " •Holds5adul!s vant," says Baum. "When the situation is BP " • 4 hp capacity reversed, it throws us off balance." • Weighs 43 lbs. i - Is- , Ironically, the accident at Three Mile .:.xm^0if • lTlongx4 8"wtde land recently produced some positive fall- • Costs just 1158 out. On November 1, 1982, the Supreme Eagle 9 can™" $250:. Court agreed to hear a case that will de- termine whether or not it is necessary for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to

j D Semi me FREE COLOR BROCHURE consider the "psychological impact" of the Fishing platform, motor and oceans, Sea Eagles Three Mile Island accident before the re- give you real value for your

boat, yacht tender and now money I actors start up again. People Against Nu- true sailboat. clear Energy (PANE), the community group Sea Eagle molormount filing the suit, ..claims that continued worry boats last toryears, goal- Sea Eagle, Dept. OM33 B, since the accident has skin rashes most anywhere and caused cost St. James, NY 11780 - $250. and aggravated ulcers. If PANE wins its 5180 Or phone: 516-734-9900 Lakes, rivers, ponds, bays case, it could be one small step for the victims of pollution. OQ (r

© ART CUMINGS

Don't just stand the'e do something

1

'" iff,

Aft is a process that evolves

at it's own pace to the way this "lelci is grew ig, "Helmers MOST MEN — — IOITELLIEEOJCE AGREE PJ concludes. "There will be a new crop of tQQG computers every year, As soon as you powerful but thai :ht;y usuai y have a larger understand that, it no longer matters that memory. This cah be important when you yours isn't the latest. Just be sure to get a lets you have a lot of data to work with — running computer that suits your needs." an accounting program, tor example. If you NEW WARES; HARD AND SOFT are doing thai kind of computing, you will _ shave closer also need high-capacity floppy disk The ground shook under American chip drives—or perhaps even a hard'disk—to makers when Japanese competitors an- store your information permanently. nounced the first 255 000-bi! memory chip. than "The way fhe machine and software are Now Nippon Telegraph and Telephone has designed is just as important, though. A developed a 1 -million bit chip; with just eight foam poorly designed sixteen-bit machine is not of these, a computer can store more than likely to perform as well as a well-designed 100 pages of Omni articles. Built of the ele-

eight-bit computer. And software that's in- ments gallium and arsenic instead of sili- efficient or hard to use can undermine the con, the device operates twice as fast as best computer equipment." other memory chips and uses less power. Garetz suggests setting up a personal Look for a new generation of superporta-

"bench mark" against which to measure ble computers using it around the middle the computers you consider. "Figure out a of the decade. (Nippon Telegraph and typical use for your computer, and try run- Telephone Public Company.) ning that program on different machines.

Then take a closer look a[ the ones that The sleek, futuristic-looking MAD-1 is one seem best at what you intend to do. This of the first computers to adopt Intel's new necessarily find the best machine, 80186 microprocessor, big brother to the

but at least it should help you rule out any 8088 found in IBM's personal computer and that are wrong for you." many others. The machine also offers 128K While you're doing that, of course, you'll of working memory, one or two floppy disk run across all those new computers just drives, detached keyboard sculptured for about to enter the market, and the six- comfort, and a 12" green screen. Even more month syndrome will set in again. This impressive than the hardware, the com- year's generation of digital gear could pany says, are the programs expected a make the dilemma even more acute. year from now; Based on artificial intelli-

'"Look for a bunch of new portables," Carl gence techniques, they will, it's claimed, Helmers advises, "They'll have plenty of make today's micros "seem as primitive as memory, a flat-screen display, and two mi- the slide rule." (About S3. 000 to $6,000. cro-floppy disk drives that store fairly large Mad Computer. 3350 Scott Blvd.. Building quantities of information. They won't weigh 13, Santa Clara, CA 95051.) more than ten or twelve pounds, and they'll cost only three thousand to four thousand Two new speech-technology develop- dollars — about half the price of the closest ment systems can digitize spoken words, equivalent now available." then regenerate them for playback. Used

If you can stand to wait longer, he adds. with a 256-word fixed vocabulary, the V4000 the advantages of delay will seem even and V5000 correctly identify spoken words more attractive. Five years from now. Hel- 99+ percent of the time after one or two mers believes, computers will shrink !o the training sessions to accustom the machine five-pound range, yet carry the memory of to the user's voice, compared with roughly today's largest micros— half a million bytes 80 percent for other voice-recognition sys- or so—and the number-crunching power tems. Salesmen could use the device to of a much bigger machine. check inventory and place orders for cus- But be honest. You may not need all those tomers from any telephone— without hu- wonderful new ieatures. One writer here man help from the home office. Pilots of the dithered for two full years, waiting to see future will "talk" to their aircraft to pick up what would come next, then recently set- data on fuel, location, and terrain condi- tled on a computer that had been on the tions—without having to look at instru- market when he first began his delibera- ments or radar screens. (Votan, 4487 tions. The manufacturer's reputation for Technology Drive, Fremont. CA 94538.) quality and speedy repairs, he finally de- cided, meant more to him than state-of- The five superchips in the new HP 9000 the-art technology, scientific computer pack the equivalent of Helmers continues, "My company, North more than 2 million transistors; the largest American Technology, bought several Ap- alone carries more than 600,000 transis- ple computers three years ago. We're still tors— roughly 25,000 in the area of a pin-

using them, and I expect them to be in use head. No larger than most personal com- five or ten years from now. We'll have other, puters, the 32-bit number cruncher could up-to-date computers as well for theoretically hold some 4 trillion items of things that the Apples can't handle. But information in storage. Expected use for Clip And Mail Coupon Today To: what difference does that make if the older the $30,000 unit is in computer-aided de- still perform the work for which mathematical Edmund Scientific, Dept. 8333 2113 machines sign and other simulations. Edscorp Bldg., Barrlngton, N.J. 08007 we bought them'7 (Hewlett-Packard, 3000 Hanover Street, "People are going to have to get used Palo Alto, CA 94304. )DO '

ISwiiiP connection among surviving commanders and their submarines and bombers. Colonel Sieve McElroy, space-launch research-and-deveiopment chief at Air Force Headquarters, in the Pentagon, ex- plains his unofficial ideas about how such capability" me an "advanced space-launch Take might supplement the space shuttle. "Dur- ing peacetime we require certain space assets !o do our missions; I submit that we to bed don'l really need all that in wartime. To all intents and purposes, with space systems we're really at peace up until total nuclear " war. Until the point where we have a nu- clear interchange, it's reasonable to think that our satellites are in sanctuary, be-

cause the Russians need their satellites as «, id,, „,„, b d,„in,d g , BARNES &NOBLE badly as we need ours. So we use the ™" BOOKSTORES INC ESS, d„l,.. shuttle to get up those regular assets for ; "ji ! i the peacetime missions and then make sure l':c' iiid will delight avid ! we can launch the smaller payloads during Cilv or after a nuclear attack." SI hi 7ip Unlike McElroy, Colonel Heimach does not dismiss the possibility that the Rus- sians would make limited attacks on U.S. satellites before full-scale nuclear war broke Iv W tbo biick of ai Exp Da «— soft cover book, plu out. But he envisions countering plans for such attacks by putting up many smaller, simpler satellites to do the jobs now done

by big ones. Once this network is in place. the Russians would have to launch a mas- 1092865 ONLY S29.9 sive attack to have any military effect. With a major assault on satellites, the Russians would signal the United States that war was imminent— and cause this country to mobilize its forces, perhaps even to launch a preemptive attack. FOR But Heimach doubts that the Pentagon will carry out the measures he thinks are necessary to help U.S. military-satellite REFERENCE systems survive an attack. "The problem FUTURE is," he says, "we have been unable to ar- ticulate the function that space can have Movlng? We nee .-, e e for the military and what it can do tor them." annrui He doesn't think there's much point in trying notice of a change of addres: to alert the rest of the military community in the attacned form to the importance of sa:ei- tes: "li s est ! co New Subscription or Renev difficult; there are too few of us.

"Here I am .at the National War College, and there isn't a lecture on the schedule associated with space. ie appn )- nte There's little question that satellite sys- 6-8 tems play an important role in the peace- and allow v

time operations of the U.S. military. The Listing/Unlisting Service? i Russians also rely on satellites, though makes the names and addi perhaps to a lesser extent. If the United of its subscribers available to in war States were, involved a nonnuclear publications and outside anywhere on the globe, satellites would panies The puohcations surely provide useful, perhaps vital, ser- co'"npones seleo'e,.: ').. _a vices to our armed forces. The question is, for their How likely are we to become involved in a screened accepft large-scale war with the Soviet Union that and quality of Tieir offers does not very soon turn nuclear?OQ would like your name rem

from this mailing list please c Copyright £: 1983 by Thomas Karas. From the the appropriate ocx or 'ailhcorning book The New -i'nh Ground, by Thomas Karas, to be published by Simon & Schuster. Printed by permission. direcior ot the National Hurricane Center, As if to illustrate this point, Dr. Brian Brady, ruiiruD at Coral Gables, Florida, says he has al- of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, predicted at ready made changes in hurricane warn- a 1980 scientific meeting held in South CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 ings as a result of what he's learned. "We America that three major earthquakes some estimate of how likely the occur- used to say something like, 'Everybody in would take place in Peru during the sum- rence of the disaster is— a risk factor ele- low-lying areas along the coast should mer of 1981. As the first date approached, ment. Otherwise people would have no way evacuate,' " he notes. "But nobody knew some of the economic consequences oi gauging their reaction to the danger. If whether or not they lived in low-lying areas! drawn out in Mileti's scenarios actually oc- some sort of risk assessment had been So now we might say. 'Everybody east of curred, but the earthquakes never hap- given for the Kodiak landslide, for exam- U.S. 1 along the coast should evacuate.' pened and the U.S. government ended up ple, Saarinen believes public acceptance And we name localities." apologizing to the Peruvian government for would have been much better. The biggest natural disaster that scien- the whole mess. He also recommends that scientists re- tists in the United States will ever have to Actually, a one- or two-year earthquake sponsible for long-term warnings take on face is the 8.3 Richter scale earthquake prediction for California is very unlikely, and, Ihe job themselves of educating ihe public experts say has a better than 50-percent although the Chinese did predict a major instead of leaving it all to the media, with chance of striking southern California in earthquake several years well in advance, their penchant for drama and controversy. the next 30 years. Even though an 8.3 American seismologists have no confi-

That message is getting across to the earthquake is about as powerful as earth- dence they can do the same. Even if they scientists who must alert the public. The quakes get, most Californians aren't very could. SCEPP, the Southern California USGS. Saarinen found, made a particu- worried, because the time frame is so broad. Earthquake Preparedness Project, set up larly strong effort to inform the public about If seismologists were to narrow down the to develop both a prediction system and a the risks surrounding the Mounl St. Helens forecast to, say, a year or two from now, preparedness plan, will not make the mis- eruption, with excellent compliance as a there could be problems. Based on inter- take that was made in Peru. It recom- result. And every year a group with the long- views with people in quake-prone areas, mends that no near-term predictions be winded name of the Natural Hazards Re- Mileti has drawn up various hypothetical made public —an approach that is already search and Applications Information Cen- scenarios that show the economic conse- being followed by government officials in ter, located at the University of Colorado, quences of such a near-term prediction earthquake-prone Japan. in Boulder, holds a meeting attended by would be considerable—perhaps even Right now several social scientists, in- scientists who deal with natural hazards more devastating than the quake itself. In cluding Mileti, are working with SCEPP to and by social scientists who study the anticipation of the disaster, housing values develop warnings that should encourage public's reaction to them. The social sci- in the target area would plummet; com- a maximum response. So if and when Cal- entists describe their findings and offer hints panies would lay off employees; and sales ifornians hear an earthquake warning, it to a very receptive audience. of earthquake insurance would soar to the will be one that is strictly short-term, giving

One regular attendee. Dr. Neil L. Frank, point where it would no longer be sold. them days, not months, to get ready.OO

DAYS OF FUTURE PAST COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION OF OMNI NOW, FILL OUT THE COUPON AMD MAIL WITH YOUR PAYMENT TODAY.

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Tolal amount enclosed S •/:'.." ruEXT Donrui

if the robot is just beqinninq, and to help

4^1

..>,., -as worker, as helper,

i as rival in the workplace; r% the peculiar challenge facing a,, v., ... cialist,Hthe robopsychologist, an expert in incor- porating behavior in in the ultimate robot, a self- replicating machine, could construct energy farms in a desert wasteland,

' t mining and manufactui \iii n without a human in sight,

-contained habitats or spacecraft.

In April the c from Anthony Burgess's The Em

on Sloansvil ship built to i i^M lision with tr respected literary fig

Billl for his main- stream novels as for his science fiction. And J rd finalist for "Going i another po mmmnmy." This chiller is about 3 finds a unique casino to satisfy his need. Hil

Some scientists have grown a biqqer n 1 MUM

plications ot future generations- '

PHERjarUlEfUM

millimeters, ihe smooth wing surface of a morning cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiops) shifts dramatically into another dimension of textures and subtle colors. One of the more common of Norlh America, the mori seems at first glance an unremarkable specimen. But close inspection, s photographer Dennis McFarland, not only the intricate structure of tissue-lighl wing but also other a surface features. The scales, which rub oft as colored powder when a butterfly is

shingles in overlapping rows. They i in texture from smooth to hairy, and on some males they also serve to give off a '.To get this intimate

t the specimen

to his studio and recorded the i on Kodachrome 25 film. His ca a Nikon F, equipped with a belli and a 55mm Micro-I

"%*1

'* —

TMR5 .By Andrew Chaikin

For nearly a decade space But it is only under the powerful scrutiny material, virtually unchanged in the eons scientists have been interrogating of the laboratory's scanning electron since the formation of the solar system. true extraterrestrials. These microscope that the particles' true nature Scientists also believe that the dust has travelers from outer space tell of their becomes readily apparent. not been continuously exposed to space distant origin only under the closest "They're unlike anything we've ever since the solar system was formed. Free- examination. But persistent researchers seen before,"' says Brownlee. Most floating particles could probably survive are learning the secrets ol cosmic dust. particles are aggregates of smaller grains, for at least about 10,000 years before they Once, astronomers could only speculate each one perhaps a few millionths of would be destroyed by repeated

about cosmic-dust particles. It was not an inch across, arrayed in what collisions with one another. Thus, Brownlee until the mid-1970s, when University researchers call the "bunch of grapes" explains, some source must be constantly of Washington astronomer Donald morphology. Individual "grapes" possess supplying new particles, or else they Brownlee sent up modified U-2 spy planes an extremely fine crystal Structure; in would have vanished long ago.

with special collector plates, that fact, an average-sized grain may consist It seems certain that the dust grains adequate samples of cosmic dust became of a million individual crystals. have survived for billions of years as available. The program continues with Under a barrage of high-energy parts of larger bodies. These bodies must high-altitude bombers that soar into the electrons, the dust particles emit a telltale have been fairly small, perhaps no more stratosphere from California's Ames X-ray spectrum that serves as a chemical than a few miles across, and deficient in Research Center. fingerprint. Not surprisingly, this has the radioactive isotopes whose decay In the stillness that exists at 60,000 revealed that the exotic grains contain would have heated the grains and erased feet, where infalling dust can remain aloft many ordinary substances— iron, all signs of their primitive nature. Also, fcr several days. Plexiglas collectors, magnesium, silicon, and other elements they must have aggregated on the fringes coated with highly viscous oil, are common in terrestrial minerals — but often ot the solar system, far from the orbits deployed from the planes' undersides. in proportions that resemble the relative of Jupiter and Saturn, whose gravity

After tens of hours of exposure, they abundances seen only in the sun itself. would otherwise have pulled them toward come back, dotted with specks no more Scientists interpret such unearthly the sun. In these distant reaches beyond than a few ten thousandths of an inch compositions as evidence that the cosmic- the warmth of the infant sun, both across. Most turn out to be airborne dust samples are extremely primitive interstellar dust and ice would have pollutants, including particles of rocket survived completely unaltered. In short, exhaust and flecks of volcanic ash, but a the materials in this collection are precious few are clearly neither man- believed to have served as the diminutive made nor terrestrial. nuclei of comets. Brownlee's group has built up a large The thought that these specks that sit collection of samples from space and cataloged in laboratories are actually

has set up a special ultraclean laboratory cometary material is not as farfetched as

to house its pristine finds. This room- it at first seems, Brownlee explains. "If within-a-room at the University of we assume that our collection is a Washington resembles a biological representative sample of extraterrestrial research lab; in fact, much of the particles, then, from a statistical standpoint

technology it uses was originally alone, it's very unlikely that none of the developed for germ-warfare studies. Yet dust comes from comets." Comets, this collection may someday hold the Brownlee says, are almost certainly major key to the origin of the solar system. sources of interplanetary particles shed Within the Plexiglas and stainless-steel during their brief visits to the inner solar walls, the dust samples are first examined system. And the fragile, porous grains that and prepared for study with implements Brownlee has collected are what no wider than the grains themselves astronomers might expect to find as pipettes a slim five microns in diameter residue from a cometary chunk whose and hair-fine, 10-micron-thick glass rods ice had evaporated.

engineered to microscopic precision If comets are the archivists of the solar for manipulating the particles. Each grain system, as many astronomers think, is studied under a conventional then cosmic dust offers a momentous microscope and then carefully cataloged chance to study the building blocks from according to size, shape, and appearance. which the sun and the planets arose. DO ' 158 OMNI Mobius, magic, and molecules

. By Scot Morris

A burleycue dancer, a pip not the other, you will fail. Draw a line- Named Virginia, could peel in a zip; down the center of the strip until you return But she read science fiction to your starting point, and you'll find And died of constriction you have marked both "sides" of the Attempting a Mobius strip, paper, though your pencil never crossed — Cyrii Kornbluth an edge. Moreover, there is only one

edge on this surface; it is a single closed

In our Last Word column of September curve. If you formed this curve out of

1982, Frank Kendig wrote about the wire and dipped it in bubble solution, the invisible priesthood of mathematicians, resulting soap film would have only one those seekers of "pure" knowledge who surface—a Mobius bubble.

build castles in the air for the sheer Cut a Mobius strip down its center,

beauty of the structure, with no thought lengthwise, and it stays in one piece: It of practical applications. Perhaps becomes a narrow strip with two full centuries later. Kendig wrote, someone twists, having twice the circumference of

comes along, pulls down the castle, "and the original. This is against intuition,

scraps it for the parts he needs." As 'and is rarely predicted by anyone

John von Neumann put it, "It is as if one unfamiliar with it. The topological surprise bought a top hat for a wedding and is commemorated in this anonymous discovered later, when a fire broke out, limerick:

that it could be used as a water bucket." When August Ferdinand Mobius. the A mathematician confided single soundtrack on both "sides"—an German astronomer and topologist, That a Mobius band is one-sided. idea that has also been applied to a first described his familiar Mobius strip in You'll get quite a laugh continuous-loop recording-tape cartridge

1858, it was a pure mathematical curiosity. If you cut one in half, that will play twice as long. There is a An ordinary surface has two sides, but For it stays in one piece when divided. 1963 patent for a dry-cleaning-machine Mobius showed there are surfaces with filter belt that needs to be cleaned on

only one side. To make the simplest If you cut this long loop down Its middle, Only one "side." example, cut a 1" strip from the edge of a you might now expect you'll get an even For many years the chief use. for sheet of typing paper. Bring the two longer loop, but you won't. You get Mobius's discovery was as entertainment, ends together and give them a half-twist two large loops that are interlinked. and some of the earliest students of its (180°), then join them with tape or glue Instead of bisecting a Mobius strip, strange properties were magicians. Magic to form a closed loop. This creates a you can trisect one. To do this, start the tricks based on the Mobius strip have

one-sided surface (below). If you try to cut a third of the way in from an edge. been performed for over a century. The paint only one side of the paper and The cut will go twice around the strip most famous presentation is called the

before it returns to the starting point. The Afghan Bands, a name used by magician result is a thin Mobius band (the central Professor Hoffman about the turn of the third of the original), linked with a double- century. Why this name was chosen sized band that is of the same shape as is not known: quite possibly just for the

the one produced by cutting the original exotic sound and the air of mystery it band in half. This longer interlinked created. (The name Chinese checkers band has two full twists and two sides. probably has a similar origin, reflecting an intended mystique rather than any GADGETS AND STRIP SHOWS historical connection.) Of what use is a Mobius strip? A few At first the Afghan Bands trick was praciical applications have been found, done with scissors and a huge paper ring

none very earth-shattering. The B. F. about 8" wide and 12' in circumference. Goodrich Company has patented a rubber (The previously prepared twists aren't

Mobius conveyor belt that lasts longer noticeable in this large size.) Nowadays it

because it wears equally on both "sides." is more commonly done with red muslin, In 1923 Lee De Forest received patent which can be ripped lengthwise down the

No. 1 ,442,632 for a Mobius film strip middle. This touch makes the trick more on which sound could be recorded as a colorful, dramatic, and faster to perform. " —

The Great Blackstone used a version of research with crown ethers—crown- similar to this, still sold by magic dealers. shaped molecules— in the hope of A long band ot muslin is prepared (as creating synthetic enzymes that could shown at left). The magician tells a story break down sugars. The Colorado group about working for a carnival sideshow started with long molecular strips having and being asked to produce belts for the two ends that tended .to join each other, fat lady and the Siamese twins. The head to tail, to form loops. In about half magician tears the wide band down the the cases, they found, the loops had middle to form two bands. The band a halt-twist: The molecules were Mobius on the left is then torn down its center to strips. When the loop forms without a produce one long band—the belt for twist, as a cylinder, the resulting material the fat lady—and the band on the right is .is a crystalline solid. The Mobius version torn to produce two interlinked belts tor of the molecule is an oil. So far the the Siamese twins, researchers have successfully performed the first magic trick: They have "cut" A TEST-TUBE TWIST the Mobius molecule lengthwise (ozone,

', At long last the work put in by 3 is used as the scissors to cut the [apologists, for the sheer enjoyment of three carbon-carbon double bonds that studying an unexplored area, and by hold the ring together). As topologists chemical properties of those molecules. magicians, for the purposes of mystifying and magicians predicted, they got a Whether the molecular research will audiences, is being reviewed by a few molecule with twice the circumference of lead to other branches of topological organic chemists. They are pulling down the original. They have yet to perform tomfoolery, we don't know, Perhaps the Mobius castle and scrapping it for a chemical equivalent of that second cut someone will create a molecular analog the parts they need. down the middle, which would produce of the Afghan Bands. A better bet is Last year David M. Walba and his a molecule of two interlinked rings. that someone will re-create the curious colleagues at the University of Colorado, At this point the researchers know of three-ring configuration shown above. To in Boulder, synthesized "the first no practical use for their chemical topologists these are known as the molecular Mobius strip." The molecule, curiosity, but since the chemical reactions Borromean Rings— after the coat of arms called tris-THYME, pictured in the a molecule can enter into are often of a noble Italian family. To the rest of colored model below, was the outcome determined by its shape, there may well us the shape is recognized as the logo of be combinations that can occur only Ballantine beer. The rings have an unusual with single-surface molecules. relationship in that, while al! three rings Other molecular magic tricks are being are linked, no two of them are linked.

attempted. Starting with more complex That is, if any one ring is removed, the two

strips, Walba hopes to get them to form others are found not to be joined. If any loops with more than one half-twist. With chemist can create a molecular version two such twists, a cut should produce two of this concatenation, we'll treat him interlinked rings. With three twists, the or her to a beer.

result will be a molecule with a knot in it! There are two mirror-image forms of CORRECTION: a Mobius strip —with either a right-hand In October there was a misprint in the (clockwise) or left-hand (counterclockwise) answer to the "Four Fours" problem. twist. The Boulder group's soup-is a The example of using a decimal point, 50-50 mix. When knotted molecules are with four 4's, to equal 19, should have made, they will also come in two forms read: & + A- 4 right-hand knots and left-hand knots. 19 = .4 No one yet knows whether twisted or knotted molecules ot a given handedness In the published version, the decimal will differ signiticantly from their mirror- point had been removed from the

forms, but it is a bet that denominator. error not our Molecular MaiDkii s'rui.- in ,'.-.'.; icace-lilting image good The was copy model ol tris-THYME, created by Colorado they will, since the asymmetrical shapes editors', but that of an overzealous scientists, hydrogen atom: are white, oxygen of other molecules (DNAs right-handed printer who, trying to tidy up a page proof, are red, carbon black. atoms and atoms are helix, for example) often directly determine cleaned off one too many spots I DO c

Last September the New Ym

reportec r I ,ggie>s. What criminal could

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r B Ooa e cut tarantulas? Many a drug alked'a

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What other But before the geibils coul being iarr Ja wTh aliI ' -- ^..1 tragedy struck. By 'sorts of animals might serve as faw- rodent team was given contan water. short time isle- i cost alternatives to A she e nimal 3 need say 'jr ,_ dope-detecting of an arrest. Simply hopping dogs at airports and Undeterred, me Canadian Gc Service, which conceived the o paralyze the days <:; person prisons? Let us -

' consider the tortoise,^ torn in his suitcase.

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the fear and' respect of -drug' sr jugoifc';-;. -i day we sh tact iheywouic command the customs c tjty at Kennedy Airport.OO

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