Omni Magazine
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE SCIENCE OF ILLUSION AND THE MYSTERIES OF PERCEPTION PLUS THE WORLD'S HARDEST I.Q.TES onnrui VOL 7 NO. 7 EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KEETON EDITOR: GURNEY WILLIAMS III GRAPHICS DIRLC10R FRA\K DEVINO MANAGING EDITOR: PAUL HILTS CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD Opinion Jack Anderson 6 OMNIBUS Contributors S COMMUNICATIONS Correspondence 12 FORUM Dialogue 16 SPACE Commeni Randall Black 26 ' BODY Health Bill Lawren 30 - : -"i Astronomy Jeff Hecht 32 CONTINUUM Data Bank 35 THE SCIENCE OF ILLUSION EARTH Environment Pamela Weiniraub 20 MIND Er ; Patrick Huyghe 22 KINDLING COURAGE Article Peter Garrison 44 PERCEPTION ON AN ALIEN Article Ronald K. Siege! 52 SHORE HYPNO ODYSSEY Article Paul Bagne 76 ILLUSIONAR1UM Pictorial Shigeo Fukuda 80 TRAPDOOR Ficiion Ray Bradbury 58 THE ART OF ANALGESIA Pictorial Phillip Harrington 62 IMMORTAL NIGHT Fictson Gregory Benford 70 MARVIN CETRON Interview Thomas 0' Toole 36 DEAD RUN Fiction Greg Bear 90 ANTIMATTER UFOs. etc 95 COMPETITION*' Hidden piciures 106 THE WORLD'S HARDEST Games Scot Morris 128 I.Q. TEST VEINED VELVET Phenomena Dan Morrill 130 LAST WORD Humor Mitch Coleman 134 Kar.sa- €;/ ch biographer Michael Radenrjcn sr:d des'gnei Jay Hunt collaborated on this picture. It was originally rendered lor Krg.h Brothers Real Estate for an advertising brochure and represents the conception oi a new project in the mind of an architect. 4 OMNI 3 — . s .' . .,. 'I .i. ' ' : ' hSd' fiiiif \ m apyysofe tM ' ; i so i lafiohs to spa- .' : ity'^nhhemoobandy where such activities will become' ' '.' : : :ment bf Mars. Tneywil! '; harmless. Tf valuable : te,fhe>.modnsof.Satbfi-i aneidDpifsri. "minerais.'nPf pnty lo augment dwindling and ! ; nii,""': .: qi i sustain soclefes ii-spacc. i U/ :::'.:!'. gf| | :. •T^it-ara astronauts will ier-mforrrdh'e' pi tfJiyG 'hrbug! ' d.i'v.: s yinvcorimonisoi' Mars add other bodies, rhes '>.: .:;; egiiklic melting permafrost Info llid-susiuining asSeasidlenow'asiha.Apotomopn .. water and introducing pianfliio thai wilt, in .. n-T i. in time: !i-ii when ; ;V"«i i r a ;fheyw:h.dptspaeewith bright, domed' drawing board': Theouestlon'isnc:; Cat' FKlanoc of humanity laying ;.he foundation fiffi 'IpVIhe' survival of our species Hour planet !:. ' '> , Utirva;-e!y faces destrucrcn uithe-; from --'.' Sac k say;N.AS'A may hobt'h&Jeaef-ai,' 1 cosmic events or home- grown wars. '.- : riiaatftg:Js£rLfea'fot:Geiesi;a!ixaFW8ls^^^'/ While.todays soacc t r i j prepares-' j!-x\cjv ; :v;.:; fe WP sn hath- sub:;':*;:; ro open up future woiids. a also p-omo-'es 1 ;! i .. !.!> 'i I- I! .;: . e pop: I .'I'll , vail oft i ' 1 appropriations for' pork-barrel projects-, enrich or.' everyday life. Huben Humphrey : I: : !i if ! usedto sayifiai the earfnly appiicauons ' "lord to bhase moonbeams. of ft -ifii-c yehavaijrrme-needs'.down..' advances we developed to penetrate it -or- : FIRST arqumt has many years' space, dfealep ar more '.veaith than : . space pace. and-itss. now ,.,i cosi i ihe fi'sl o!a E'his '"' 3 wisdom holds, even truer today, when LAJDRD ia.f tradiiiona' ;obs a-e dwindling as a^resurtob' if But Is an.argument thai rests; an bad' . the deci he of heavy Industry. : By Jad< Anderson :| ered ion riii one. Such now : lending man's. reach :nio-. eleotroniGS. ielecomn "i un lea io r s , robotics, ^For our children, his ,' i in andlnc krowf'edgs: " and I ma 1 - 1 ii 1 :. i . space offers ha 1 ;r m i, . '.:. ii act The ieoeral an. -orma! i n ?.< opportunities on a ' e times more and Ihp space program is .fhep'ee.mfnerif scale previously and inefficiency." ..--'. producefolif!:0!r:eflOi , unimagined—unless nan's future, v : A nafjohaioommifn > i.; ' , and we can enrich the present .; i .' , by doing so. an procv.i i i i fail : ..' we them ': .:. ' n discoveries — dafurPmg way the Eighties has become a whether '.he opening of naw continents or jaded, flaccid time to be young. Ouragey :'. of new. vistas of knowledge— 'hat have seems besei by harmful diversions: pur --: ' been ihe dost antidotes to poverty sauator. 500161/. short on stimuii to vigor and- excel.- : ' _.""- :'.:; and csse.as'e. n was me voyage o- ":: lence. But the young are fascinated with •ejected as impractical first space. The Young Astronauts program will Fohuga;, men by a Spanish allow them the real i that -made becoming pioneers in space sose-nces end most successful antipoverty will enable them to contribute to the large . r --:-'. 1. .p;oe am.in history -- . 1 in. the great migration A' !n of beslitaie peoples to tf e New Wend the successful implencntahon of the :.-- i 'v.ii.m.l: ;! b'-v-:; m program ': : .1';.; i him I i S ino ;y progm tosuct ?,s pays ;".: v. tally needed to arouse children's curiosity a no i about spaoe; Formed ! lei iv d t e stars. the White House and leading American Every generaiicn, sf It Is lo fulfill ;tseif. i I i' . ; > . ''.::'. n iii i >:!!.... I I !!i...l|l ! II .I' ng ' .iH , I ,,0\.: I bbys; and girls between ihe ages of s:k to ennoble it. The distant reaches of space !' :. soac ' ion act as such an incentive. No; since the time Ariel .when Young Astronauts rets its stride by of Columous has the dawn of a new ago . :•..« :.-.----,i I ;.. 1 million el expicratic \evy- y. .':, thai Foi cur chrci'en, the epporiuoiiies wiil av.-siU.-s irv space. -.Here are a few. of the present theniseives on a scale previously at r.a jnimagined-- : uniess we fail Lihem DO !ii:' nf ni.v i h l , !o ... vr Ill 003- unsbietdeddy any- atmosphere, nasbaoh ' ' exposed fpr;eofisft€|fadiafbn;fromfhe'.su'r : :; Aa'-a resh!ty;ive;mdon.;s:an:,i(feats!je frorn ;;;.':. vvi'MCh'to study the mys'fehesof •he.eadh.hhe '' scry and Ihe stars-. * : hidust.'la! opportunities will- 3ccn.pro!rie'a;e IS; |ppb§|; Iffjpl&j StfS^R Earth beeomes " CONTRIBUTORS Dnnrun I ^\ I e live in a world oi illusion, a their subjects to perceive Ihe subtle ebbs explains the anomaly. "Because sound Perce Ptuai extravaganza and flows of the inner body. travels slowly," Weinlraub says, "it shouldn't I .1 I J fc» *» created as our senses receive If people can perceive and influence the reach Earth until seconds after the fireball data from the universe at large. Dazzling body while under hypnosis, they should has passed overhead. But in this instance as our concept of reality may be. it is a be able to do so in other situations as well. the fireball is emitting electromagnetic limited vision, dependent upon the narrow And in this monlh's Mind column ("The energy that travels many times faster than band of energy our sense organs absorb. Awareness Factor," page 22). Patrick sound waves."' The human ear. for example, can pick Huyghe describes anesthetized patients The Earth column describes an aural up the booms and trills of a Beethoven who perceive—and respond to—encour- illusion, but in "lllusionahum," on page 80, symphony but not the high-pitched whistle aging suggestions during surgery. Huyghe, contributing editor Owen Davies profiles used to summon a dog. And the eyes who is currently on a fellowship in science ihe master of visual illusion, the Japanese are sensitive to only a tiny portion of the broadcast journalism at WGBH-TV in Boston, artist Shigeo Fukuda. Fukuda's work plays broad electromagnetic spectrum. We are believes that unconscious perception can with our perceptions, proving that what awestruck by the blazing blues and greens play an increasingly important role in we think we see may not always be real. in the world around us, but we can'i begin medicine. But. he laments, the medical Reality can be distorted in outer space as to fathom the splendor of gamma rays community is reluctant lo recognize the well. In "Perception on an Alien Shore" and X rays, the spectral vibrance of intrared. healing power of the mind. (page 52). UCLA psychologist Ronald K. As Isaac As mov said "Seeing is merely Some doctors, though, have begun to Siegel explains how we might perceive seeing, nothing more." He meant, of course, recognize lhal human physiology may extraterrestrial environments and life forms. that perceptions can be erratic, sometimes be subject to conscious control. In "Kindling Describing biirc ng Nashi-js. adject terror, reflecting the nature of the world we must Courage" (page 44), writer Pefer Garrison and hallucinations of faces from the past, negol mg our percep- explores firewalking— the new fad that has Siegel declares that astronauts must be tions into the schizophrenic and bizarre. thousands of people slriding across trained to deal with an onslaught of strange Whether one's perceptions are peaceful burning coals. Many dedicated firewalkers, perceptions. "Science-fiction writers have or maddening, though, they can often Garrison notes, feel no pain and sustain scripted the etiquetle for alien encounters," be studied and controlled. And in "Hypno not a single blister or burn. The participants, says Siegel. an avid SF fan, "But now that Odyssey" (page 76), writer Paul Bagne moreover, gain confidence because of such encounters may be possible, scientists describes a new generation of scientists the illusion that they have transcended the are also concerned." trying to understand the olio of illusion and ordinary abilities of man. In our own fiction this month. Ray Bradbury reality at the heart of consciousness. The Scientists agree that firewalking is feasible explores some homey perceptions: What's new-age hypnotists, Bagne explains, use if the walk isn't overly long. But when asked Ihe meaning of that funny scratching noise their techniques to pierce Ihe layers of about another hot phenomenon— the: overhead? "Trapdoor" (page 58) suggests human perception, proving that even when strange sound a meleor makes as it.