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Omni Magazine iE COSMOS -THE UNBREAKABLE CODE LIFE ON A NEUTRON STAR SHAPING TOMORROWS DREAM CARS ROBERT SILVERBERG RETURNS ! INSIDE THE HALLUCINATING BRAIN annruiSEPTEMBER 1980 EDITOR & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE EXECUTIVE EDITOR: BEN BOVA ART DIRECTOR: FRANK DEV1NO MANAGING EDITOR: J. ANDERSON DOWN -IC'ION I-JITOR -:05E="S-z: __ z EUROPEAN EDITOR: DP EE~ - : .'." 1 ." DIRECTS ;":F ADVER" E -I T -".-.I CXECUI VI- VICn-PRESIDEf-r iRWINEB"""" CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD Bernard Dixon 6 OMNIBUS Contributors 8 EARTH Environment John J. Berger 16 ..--: LIFE E : "t Bernard Dixon 18 SPACE Commert E-=- I _LE" 22 MIND Ee-= : Pster Evans 24 BOOKS/THEATER The Arts 28 UFO UPDATE Report --:- -eoefcon 32 CONTINUUM Data Bank 35 -: ACCELERATIONS Ariic-ie :=.=- 44 OUR LADY OF THE SAUROPODS Fiction RdbErt 5*»erberg 50 CARTOGRAPHER OF CONSCIOUSNESS Article El e- :; :? 54 LIFE ON A NEUTRON STAR Article Roben L Forward 60 "£ :" C. NORTHCOTE PARKINSON Interview E- : I 68 " SPACE WITNESS Pictorial : :_i-: 72 IN THE HEREAFTER HILTON Fiction E:: E"= 80 UNBREAKABLE CODE Article '---. =e::t: 84 THE CURIO SHOP Fiction •BfarnKotzwnkle DO CARL SAGAN'S COSMOS Article =. 04 ~-~- ONLY YOU, FANZY Fiction . --- ;- 08 >-== PEOPLE Names and Faces : : 18 ;- EX PI ORATIONS Travel E-- e 21 STARS Astronomy :-=_:_ El : : 33 LIQUID CRYSTAL Phenomena : " Et 24 GAMES Diversions Scalta-s 28 - LAST WORD Opinion := : - .. li- 30 Vienna's master oi (aplastic realism Rudolf Hausner produced the cover art far this month's Omni. Laocoon in Orbii. done in tempera mixed with resin-and mounted on Novopan sheet, visualizes the singularity oi progress and space. Born in 1914, Hausner has been painting for 50 years. 4 OMNI 3 h . ' WORDFIRST By- Dr. Bernard Dixon than the. objects ot <m little. action has been taken global act to mobilize the planet's astronomical reserves of microbial talent sources of evetr g with licra- e now thai T33a S royed - !:XiriX precious = _ ::" "ei used to . "? " " .-:-". _ . _ "i; little _ __ = L 7-7" . : . : mobi ze barrels of =: = -_-:---: icrobfal :- o make ammonia is 7 t. Tii - :-c -? p . = - 'L-asin apace— = ^ -z-- -^ 3f;sWer is pur .-^- - : - \':B iliCi -yield - ^- --rower oJprir epend naked A von' of break- Dgen-fixing mical needs tfie '; ' --:-- - exper a g - ecst Dfien tnjsti our - - - it a - ef&iar rt miracle drugs ". -. - =_: ": Society . :-::.-_ essons are sthe c:ea' Hai 'z Sfpertmuch of the past nrjohh m that, centm) dewe cc Fig weapons to deploy "!".""_—" ag5 ":t 7 .-.e "usi think afresh. xeessiye V\te needle Ems iiae strategies for working 3 . - :,-: a armyof inyisi ie ne?;c e igineering allies. And the need is urgentOO aruiruii of Nuclear Power: The Unviable Option Focusing on a controversial topic Ing took a stab at it himself, creating the this month in "Cartographer of Magnum GT Coupe. His article (Dell, 1979), Berger recently published a . Consciousness" (page 54). Brian "Accelerations" (page 44) stresses the detailed analysis of the emergency re- Van der Horst profiles the work of functional aerodynamic designs that sponse to the Three Mile Island nuclear experimental psychologist Ronald K. American and foreign auto companies accident for a German news anthology. Siegel. Van der Horst traces the scientific must soon adopt. "The American com- Employed by the Lawrence Berkeley study of hallucinogens and their effects on panies are pressed almost to the wall right Laboratory, Berger has served as an en- human consciousness as recounted by now," says Ing. "They are beginning to ergy consultant to several organizations trained "psychonauts." With a mischie- recognize the significance of the fuel and has testified on energy issues before vous tinge in his voice, Van der Horst. crunch and the recession." According to federal and state agencies. Silverberg ("Our Lady of the author of more than 1 ,000 articles and Ing, American Motors will be the new Robert first appeared on several books, admits that he finds trendsetter as it shares ideas with Renault, Sauropods," page 50) Timothy Leary-like quests and other creator of the futuristic EVE sedan. the science-fiction horizon in the 1950s. drug-related research "passionately Besides designing survival equipment, During the last 20 years he has produced intriguing." "Drugs are part of the essential Ing has written two novels, as well as three a seemingly endless stream of books. fabric of our society," Van der Horst says. short stories for Omni. Winner of four Nebula awards and two "They're what make us human. There is "I'm a frustrated professor. That's why I Hugos, Silverberg also served as not a human being alive who has not write," says Dr: Robert L. Forward. The president ol the Science Fiction Writers of employed some consciousness-altering physicist, who has written several articles America. His more notable works include Nightwings Tower of Glass (1970), drug, be it alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, for Omni during the past year, has just (1969), or whatever." completed his first novel. Dragon's Egg Dying Inside (1972), and most recently Van der Horst cites intense scientific (Ballantine), published in May of this year. Lord Valentine's Castle (1980). investigation of drug potential as the first The novel is about tiny, dense, intelligent Joining Silverberg this monfh is British step toward societal "enlightenment." The creatures on the surface of a neutron star author Bob Shaw ("In the Hereafter Hilton," of author himself was once involved in drug who live and think a million times faster page 80). An enthusiastic reader research; he began his diversified career than Ihe humans who study them.The science fiction since childhood, Shaw at when he as a marine biologist, studying alkaloids. If story concerns the attempts of the two fried his hand writing was story asked to volunteer for psychonaut duty, cultures to communicate on converging twenty and sold his first short to the Van der Horst says he would gladly par- orbits despite immense differences in their New York Post. After an absence of several ticipate in the adventure. rates of thinking. "Life on a Neutron Star" years he returned to writing in 1966 with Writer Dean Ing worships efficiency, (page 60) is a synthesis of Dr. Forward's "Light of Other Days," one of the most While a young aerospace engineer, notes for the novel, which are also incor- anthologized short stories in science he was struck by the faulty engineering ot porated into the book's 5,000-word, fiction. In 1967 he produced his first novel, averaged standard cars. "I knew damned well cars 14-diagram appendix. Night Walk. Since then Shaw has could be designed a lot better than they This month's Earth column, "Greening a book a year, one of which, Orbitsville, for were," Ing says. "Any number of people the Seashore" (page 16). is by renowned won the British Science Fiction Award could do better than the auto industry." So environmentalist John J. Berger. Author Best Novel of 1975. DO a OMNI onnrui LETMS _^ CDfUinJlUnJICMTIDRJ5 Mass-Molded awareness test, but it may also be from In her article "Psychographics" [July another world. A U.S. spacecraft carrying 1980] Bibi Wein confesses that "the ad- one from a distant world returned to Earth vertising community's reaction was VGry last year with an alien on board looking negative" toward brain-wave analysis. Yet much like the toad. We may be destroying the author apparently ignored the moral the last of a species from another planet. It subtleties involved. may be the only species like it in a billion The larger issue of increasing control worlds, including our own. over public opinion is a complex one and Sieve Conklin must be caretully evaluated. Where do we Las Vegas, Nev. draw the line between advertising and brainwashing? To what extent do we want Re: "Save the Toad!" our attitudes scientifically mass-molded? Confucius say, "He who puts tongue in Propaganda campaigns can lead to cheek should beware of biting sarcasm." frightening conformity and a dangerous Suzanne J. Helder lack of individual thought, whether ihey Gulfport, Miss. are conducted in Russia, Nazi Germany or McCarthy Era America. Brain-wave Because of the overwhelming response analysis may constitute great progress Omni has received from television and in advertising, but we cannot allow radio stations, newspapers, and libraries, technology to destroy the freedom of nationwide, the Environmental Protection individual thought. Agency has asked us to report that it has Laura Collins failed in its efforts to arrest the precipitous Winthrop, Mass. decline of the flying vampire toad. Golfing welfare recipients seem unwilling to serve Bufo Buffoons as hosts fo the ornery bloodsuckers. — Ed. Say it's truel Tell us there really are giant flying vampire toads [Last Word, June Equal Time 1980]! It's about time we fought back Omni quoted Sir George Porter as saying, against the weak-kneed hypocrisy of "If sunbeams were weapons of war, we today's conservationists. Slobbering, would have had solar energy centuries slimy green things have rights, too. ago" [Continuum, June 1980], Where can we obtain more information In light of the nuclear-energy debate about our brothers and sisters the vam- now going on, I would add the following: ". pire toads? Here in Athens we have been . .and antisolar organizations." waiting for a worthy cause that we S. W. Peters could sink our teeth into. Save the toads! Potomac, Md. Athens Friends of the Toads Athens, Ga. Women in Space In general I have found Omni to be a I read Norman Spinrad's Last Word refreshing look at the future through the concerning the giant flying vampire toad eyes of the present. Although I have (possibly Bute acodsucKus?) with a great disagreed with some of the contributors' deal of enlightenment.
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