1 W MAY 1981 $2.00 FUTURESCAPE 2081: GERARD O'NEILL OIM THE NEXT 100YEARS- RAY BRADBURY'S HOME-MADE MUMIT RENT-A-CONSCIE THE MORAUTY OF 5 FUTURE SCIENCE - ALIENS IN OUR SEAS' THE IMPOSSIBLE BOX: MAGIC IN THE 4TH DIMENSION onnrui EDITOR & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT fi ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: KATHY KEETON XECUTIVE tD "OR- BfN BOVA ART DIRECTOR: FRANK DEVINO MANAGING EDITOR: J. ANDERSON DORViN -oiON rnno-' ~:obe.'t sheck ev •. ;--::.-:' ll^:;- dp .--v-.r.m d'xon DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING BEVERLEY WARDALE EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT: IRWIN E BILLMAN SENIOR VI CE-PPLS :,:.," ;V, ViRiAN'-jr HOWATSON ASSOCIATE PUBLISI tER [INT L) FRANCO ROSSELLINI CONTENTS FIRST WORD Opin i on COMMUNICATIONS Cor res ponder FORUM Dialogue EARTH Enviro Gordon E Sander LIFE BicvTiariic: SPACE MIND FILM/CASTING/BOOKS The Arts 30 UFO UPDATE Report Paul Dong 36 EXPLORATIONS Travel Kenneth Jon Rose 40 CONTINUUM Data Bank 43 2081 Article Gerard K. O'Neill 52 JOHNNY MNEMONIC Fiction William Gibson 56 SOLAR CHRONOMETRY OLAF HELMER RE NT-A-C ONSCIENCE STELLAR TECHNICIAN ALIEN IN OUR SEAS Robert L. Forward MAGIC MAN PEOPLE Names ana Faces SFTABLE OF ELEMENTS Humor Allan Ki;:h Ancirw» STARS Astronomy Allan Hendry CLOUDS Phenomena Paul El Lewis GAMES Diversions Scot Morris LAST WORD Humor James Randi ''.'oifgung Huilsr. a leading OMNI. 1981 (ISSN 0149-8711), U.S. Vt interpreter of the Viennese school of fantastic realism, is this month's cover artist. Soft-color hues and striking composition are indicative of Mutter's work, which hangs in major European .'Sir US A=0:SS2£.M-:r,-d= RO. Box 903, Farrnin go museums. Hutter currently teaches and paints in Vienna. i-ropary 4 OMNI 3 o fell rath have -"' es'.: Seminars -are science ficuc i. Aft if ait, they rea -chen' f'vcZ i-.- : :; :: science fictic j!p literature - meetings' English teachers ani at-' therefore tra's i. Un llrieadyentc United' n magazines A'ere" . St a es an organization of'teache small in size nd c dilation,, and ndreaearchers-onmesubi - of them featu Bd !ij id covers- dep cling has beeh'fc rmed; It s called Science - grptes-quaal in nx nsiers. Rotion Res earch As ' ., . vjooddidlit ero improve science . ArtheUr f Kansasrin ta^ons-imag iq.the' nation Lawrence, i lumo-iF- r-long seminar on- .educators. For eve /200T.ASp.b teaching- st l! ionisheldeaehye Odyssey that came 'to. the screen underth&c iJames'Gunn.a were dozens -;-V3L d. films, isatuf ence-'k :ion writer and a even more gr ::.:: e alien mens profess or -o English Michigan State Andliterar .. ; University nnuaiiy 1 a osts the Clarion' . .' c'!il iSemre?" Workshop f vasa.n.unwntten.rric among them science'fictio :" Here at;C azsne, science fict begodd; if If Jtean.-'tbest 3 i mtegralpart ofour-editoria '^Mrot l.G VeH' t ^rfirinlnri P'oo^i ice : ; ' • Yet. young, r sader sieved sclent 0^)M.s th maga;-:! ieof tomorrow." ou : tion,.kep;.b.uy rjg.th Dseputp mag . afrrns td.ex future' in everywa : ' flocked totho sevapid;mdvies:. ar that' we can 'A.'==h fee tire .art idles, col.- : FIRST : pestered tbei libra ansfor scien urnnsofsu ieots as diverseastefevi- ' : oooks. Most oi the strdnaut'swh 3 -have • sionand.'as ronomv. ntery.iewsofihe, UUORD walked on the • world's; leap rsg-.hiisk 3rs.--.ahd with set- ested'in spac sand science throu : en ee- fiction in fact, etence fiction alto 8y.BenB.ova reading, '. scier Listopre.se ; dimen lons'offhefiitureth sr-cs citon is an en ! j other way ".: y - 'f°^t?-.^ :. ^T" '•Science fiction' eid. r angingailthe Back'bef horn stainless stories of rob t'he.ubiquiio is often considered the s .today, aircraft spaceships. iser^ .jr-JKqhiGC rnsnu'fa'ciur -rs usee sandbags io test:.. literature of : change-. sr-'-fif tooulrightfar ted the. structur 1 ig T bf hew planes. A It has. arisen to explain, orincesses, rr ia)-:!i! thewed warr prototype p m. ,vc: to warn, to. explore; .- . Then mere isamiddie range of ' .to humanize -the future at deal with future societies, the modem knowledge. ext;asensc inceptions, arid the politics and oraiitie'softdm.drrow.' e.reac'er {and writer) the la'ges; iaginadls; the entire universe an e past, present'; and future. On a thing i.hatall good science- xies have in common is inal ihe- ; the differences ate reiati*. ntieth century in wbiebnu Tot discovered, in other ca ail cases the sibi also shows, the k -:;-, ;h!S rjij: impact in a tionfictit That is why- we publish : sc Today's' readers understand wit! bediffererit'lrom today, tp science fiction !o. catch "g future possibilities, to forest df future shock. .-'.. NTRBUTC DRJirUIBU! we survive these dangerous decades, think tanks have come of age." In "Rent- competition to put an ant experiment on ifthe human race will be unkillable, a-Conscience" (page 85) Colligan ex- the shuttle. While working as a reporter for because it will have begun to spread plores the new ethical revolution in the Philadelphia Bulletin, Vrazo covered throughout the solar system," writes science and tells of its influence in the children's experiment. "I'm excited Gerard K. O'Neill in his new book, 2081. determining grant bequests. A general about young people putting their energy Not since Alvin Toffler's The Third Wave science writer, Colligan has published into the space program, and I hope NASA has a forthcoming book generated such such books as Creative Insomnia and will have the patience to continue this excitement. A sneak preview of this The Science of Coincidences. novel idea of bringing space exploration landmark work, prepared exclusively tor Ray Bradbury's first original short story and city school students together," Vrazo Omni readers, begins on page 52. for Omni, "Colonel Stonesteel's Genuine says. Recently Vrazo and two fellow Combining the scientific facts of today Home-made Truly Egyptian Mummy," reporters at the Bulletin received a with his years of experience as an applied begins on page 76. Over the past four public service award from the New Jersey scientist and Princeton physics professor, decades. his stories have appeared in Press Association for exposing job O'Neill foresees a century of dynamic magazines as disparate as The New abuses in Camden's city work force. technological innovation. Interviewed in Yorker and Weird Tales. Bradbury's In this month's UFO Update Paul Dong, Omni's July 1979 issue, the man who remarkable novel Fahrenheit 451 and his the American editor of the Chinese wrote the best-selling The High Frontier books the Martian Chronicles and Journal of UFO Research, gives US and invented the mass driver talked about Dandelion Wine won him international firsthand glimpses of China's response to his ideas on space colonization. In 2087 acclaim. His most recent book, The UFO sightings, which were previously he predicts that space colonies, com- Stories of Ray Bradbury, is a volume unavailable to the public. In "Mainland puters, automation, energy, and communi- of his 100 best, published by Knopf. Mysteries" (page 36), edited by Harry cations will determine the course of the Accompanying Bradbury's story this iebeison, Dong discusses the reasons next 100 years. A second excerpt will month is William Gibson's "Johnny behind official Chinese sanctions of an appear in next month's issue. Mnemonic" (page 56). Gibson is a academic UFO study group in Peking. Can the people we turn to for moral full-time writer living in Vancouver, British In "Stellar Technician" (page 100) support, for example, our religious Columbia. His work appears in two award-winning science-fiction illustrator leaders, guide us through the labyrinthine anthologies, Universe 11 and Shadows 4, Vincent Di Fate provides Omni a visual ethical issues now being raised by sci- both published this year by Doubleday. survey of the mechanical wonders of a ence and technology on their ever-widening How can city schoolteachers keep their future technocracy. Di Fate, an SF art frontiers? This issue dominated the World students interested in science? One way historian and lecturer on the subject, says, Conference of Faith, Science, and the is to involve them in a special project nick- "If science fiction and the art that illu- ," Future, held at MIT more than a year ago. named "Orbit 81 an experiment to be minates it have a function beyond that Douglas Colligan, after reading about the conducted aboard the space shuttle. of merely entertaining us, it is to remind us conference, wanted to know more. "There In "Tigers in Orbit" (page 72) Fawn Vrazo of our ingenuity and of the value of human is a greater need for experts in ethics writes about a group of disadvantaged dreams." Di Fate has three paintings in the because of the moral complexity of Camden high-school students, who, permanent space art collection at the science issues. To fulfill that need, ethical with some help from RCA, won a NASA National Air and Space Museum.DQ a OMNI ETTER5 connnnuruicATionjs Divine Alchemist Beast. Contact Paul Watson, c/o Sea As an American art student on extended Shepherd Conservation Society, 1926 study in Vienna with Professor Ernst West Fourth Avenue, Vancouver, British Fuchs, I enjoyed seeing his concepts Columbia, V&J1M5, Canada; The Beast, reach a more diversified audience, but 2 Blenheim Crescent, London, W1 1 INN, I was disappointed by the brevity of England. Copies of this quarterly can be Thomas Weyr's article [January 1 981 ]. obtained singly al $5. 75 (airmail) or $4 Fuchs's subtle visions are tempered not (surface); annual subscription $26 only with the ferociousness of the con- (airmail), $21 (surface).