UTOPIA ACCORDING TO: JONAS SALK OPRAH WINFREY KURTVONNEGUT ilil CATALOG WMMMIT AWISHBOOK coREnA scon KING FOR THE NEXT MAX HEADROOM CENTURY LINAWERTMULLER JESSE JACKSON EIGHT WAYS ROY ROGERS TO HAVE AN STEPHEN JAY GOULD OUT-OF-BODY AND MANY OTHERS onnrui EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KEETON EDITOR: PATRICE ADCROFT GRAPHICS DIRECTOR: FRANK DEVINO EDITOR AT LARGE: DICK TERESI MANAGING EDITOR: STEVE FOX ART DIRECTOR: DWAYNE FLINCHUM CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD National Health Care Mary Slout 6 OMNIBUS Data Bank 10 COMMUNICATIONS Correspondence 11 FORUM In Search of Utopia Murray Cox 14 SPACE The Mind in Space Alcestis Oberg 18 BODY The Pasteur Institute ai 00 Judson Gooding 22 EARTH Reptiles that Heal R Edward McNeil 24 CONTINUUM What's Love Goi to Do With 11 27 PARADISE TOSSED Personal Utopias of Elie Wiesel. Tammy Faye Bakker, Ma/ Headroom, Hans Kuna. Coretia Scott King, Stephen Jay Gould, Jesse Jackson, Grace Slick, David Rockefeller. Kurl Vonnegut, and others OMNI'S WHOLE UNIVERSE Artifacts, Technology, Lxe:;;ises. Pullout CATALOG and Fantasy Items for the Future; Out-oi-body Experiences, A HANDFUL OF HORROR Fiction: Five Tales of Terror Edward Bryanl 44 Patricia Highsmith Dan Simmons Pat Cadigan Michael Swanwick INTERVIEW R. D. Laing Anthony Livers dye 56 PORTS OF RECALL Unraveling the Mysteries of Bruce Schechter 64 Memory ASTRAL ABSTRACTION Pictorial: Imaginary Galaxies Nina Guccione 77 FRAGMENTS OF PAPYRUS Fiction William Kotzwhkie 84 FROM THE TEMPLE OF THE OLDER GODS ANTIMATTER Seven Ancient Aliens, etc. 91 STAR TECH The Consumer Electronics Show 116 GAMES Mr. Wizard Scot Morris 120 LAST WORD Humor: Telltale Appliances Joe Queenan 122 A crystalline globelet— NYKXP =365 I , reminiscent of planet Earth— ' (ranges pmn MsBfiSns PosiOflieeBo*.30*i Had ' IA; Numtisi Cppyriom i 085 /--> lures a drop of water :- II5.J ,;.,- : i l-i :-! from the depths of a stagnant by i CTCdilh/Rurdfl Corp nclri , i :., .'.il mountain reservoir i, West Dray Ion, Lon. .-Jl roar in this month's cover, an untitled illustration i ...!',. US. ^FO ; dCi.-.^w :.ji:?nfonr: Si»! conceptualized by Japanese ::, i: .'?£!:Jl's I !-:i- I artist Motohisa leda. A OMNI : Ame.fsca has boon struggling for decades aisle , afli n.h,. I came iore tnd to formulate aeationa health care pokey, more people are exhausting her' lilc 1. 1., . !,.;, ^niortunaiely today's healln care system . ii vi ''' i .' I'fl, tfiis : ' . Agamsl backdrop, ore asks . w-ii i ' i : . tor future rise 'rem p':ji ". i . : ! ! " n 'I i anyining the : -O; i! tl V gooc Decision Sciences, calls : a moss." Ameri- the ashes of today's health care mess. can hee'fh care is darn ly mat a noitcy I believe changes etc bound to come, but prepared for -he future. What we nave? ;f will oof fie an easy process. instead is a patchwork of se'f-.eusiainc-d As we apptoa-ch the year 2000. i nave health cs'e delivery systems, duplicating nepo that we will beam the revitaiization the n necessary to cream a new health care - out sick I ' !'.": !,:'. n w.il properly care to; I! ; . that C'.l! :\. ! system , :i: !.':; ;.;:,;'. f fj capcai -mi. 1 in ! iang eded include a ii-iio eocieiy of i-f.-e enterprise wrioro net'-,; 1 i i i I- 'I I 'I' heed hpSp . I !"i h':;: 06! S I , delivery :, . .1; create system isim :: n: i r oiiOiOd [he would a common public a vaiioiy of hoaitn camoppuhunl- for pat'ent care, aeon m. out health ties, but I: has also Stimuiated costs arid a common strategy "ci all ' that most peoo : e simply cannot afford to care' needs. pay. Vany oi these individuals end up i oe-eve we need a health: cere system . : . :! : i , with impropoi care or no care a: all. con! n mu j: 1, i -isumers. wtlt tn interest of tne oubic It is a yisgraco when one of the wealth who act the est coanlncs in ins world, which spends rathe' than in the interest of she hosoltai %Suu billion :o $600 bilhfvi on health care corporations. The current trend calls each yean allow;-; scores of peon'e r e for doctors to run 'he large health care '', . 1 1 1 ,. ; :: ," .w.\ : as wo as ,: i , i: nedcal .are Tr;:S figure exceeds by far tne momes sport by ears lot the sick making irv.-'.v rcsponsioe UUORD other Western countries or; their health ifies lar too compi-cared A consumer- care systems. rue hosp tat system womb take p-essute By Mary Stout A major cause of these high costs off the medmai -ield ano directly confront 'i,i, .: em i i.i i. eaioc purcn e;e oi the patients' needs. : <m\ believe wen&eda such new. sfalo of the -a rt hLglvpowered The state of the wood's' health a so ce.-s , into; national ' of : , i - I development an - to- the national health care system i c r: : mmc ax:ai.tomiography {CAT) and magnetic network to cove global hea'th problems that 's controlled and Primarily i as i i , i i 1 i i , , . ..:: m. ,,1 1. ano ; wee managed by consumers, wh choosi mi .ns o: lol if: eaei io ,;," ens toeewpt eooa : tacl c tending inousands of eeople m the inro will act in the who : "" iroataole loesses 1 tro suefi i World t 1 wuh those k c ' • u' use 1 v me •• interest of the public rather made m the miaest of tno public but as cholera. malana hepatite, and measles. the and Ihc glory of hospital Finally, we neec to tackle tee eternal in ths interest for power ^e than '! ','.,! !.;. ,i ! 1 :. , 1 :. itseif. A CAT scan, to; instance, may bo f hospital corporations' ofthe avaitanm a: ton hospitals in a smglo break tlvocgl community where in fat;; only one hospital science at such a rate that he hasn't needs to provided. stopped to property confront some of the ..: .... health Net c,r;fy is the nations health cam i ,w uov\ face ei the policy i'anng as a whole, hut tno system ;s care t.elo' W ais thin the separate to transplant organs 'torn one human being institutions. Tiic Veterans Adm.inisfraeon to another ana soon we w:H have the abikty le seleo! the of out children , with a $10 billion sex ,, <y. budges serves in the eyes of many Ti 'oegf'Qencl'c .. nn w r.u v-e , 1.1 .*. life. !." i Is veterans and observers, as a primary purpo cl il , Bet wh;C \< :! , \rv \ wnogoi iivei trail in i ui, ...Mid Io* m h- . capabieef d. slodonts- --not as a domain for iho care ct or wtio gels that heart'' is 1 et'h rta ft; !,., .1 !,,. gins than cr vice versa? . relai es ih< v. ieeed more boyo. '; he tragic aspect' 0! this system of Arid how far uo the evolutionary scale : he" health oete. it has boon driven far afielri new possloio from; ."s oriyfna; mission. VVnen confronted \ believe 1 is to ceate a with combat related "^edtoal conditions. nee fh care dofvery svstee^ for ton cjrrow si. the uffereo- luring the VI, nam that :s : ittegrated. effcrdable. interoepend- W= a, cannot ent, interactive, anci eternaticnaleed. A even resurrect the tosatu! ona! memory oi cenirsfr/ed eernputer 1 now to deal wan these conditions, tot w'll Iretar-latioously provrtle tne avaiabl:- -1 a-one marshal t.ne necessary resources to i.ly of c ! ot :, "-os. ' .1' lllC! : |h: rncet the ctemanos. I MK.'t.i : MCll. C. Wnaf we have in the overall neaeh care made availafiie to es today wil; oe :!.; ..!: = 1, ;..- seecessajtiy applied ct American man: beeaeuomb by scpcrsfais ct today's medicnc w : H give extraordinary waste, inoimttiency. and wa-j /en system '-, '.; , .1 , ' :-v u :! . :u : r \ev- of and for ihe [et'tte e.CXD = = 1 - : = i 1.1! . : : : misplaced orr riMe Marv no ss.-vec s We have a maze of confusion in wince rno-e and more people arc less and less — —— CONTRIBUTOR! onnrui PARADISE -OSsLLi in vivid or ^% I here the cosmos could you dreams hallucinations, OBEs are look al the cre,:i; on of these Utopias, turn ' . I I get a piece of actual Skylab fascinating mental gymnastics. to Forum on page 14. fc» »» debris? Grow the ultimate While com.o ling the cala : og, Colligan Authors Edward Bryant, Pat Cadigan, crystal garden? Buy a personal cloning contacted numerous mail-order compa- Michael Swanwick, Dan Simmons, and kit? You could spend days seeking out nies and Iracked down leads furnished Patricia Highsmith conjure up their own mail-order houses, scouring advertising by Omni staff members, relatives, friends, oVstopias "dgcther their nightmarish flyers, and scanning reader services acquaintances, and probably even worlds make up 'A Handful of Horror." a in the backs ol obscure periodicals. Even strangers. In fact, that guy you saw collection of short stories that begins so, you might not find what you're looking rummaging through the garbage on the on page 44. "The stories range from high- for. Now you can refer to a single source street corner might have been Colligan teci [error :o he angsl of everyday Omni's Whole Universe Catalog, a unique who's become a mail-order catalog living." says fiction editor Ellen Datlow. directory overflowing with offbeat items, junkie. "It was i ke s'lopong without having who commissioned the works. And in fantastic artifacts, and super services. to buy anything," he says. "With all the "Fragments of Papyrus from the Temple "Everything in the catalog had to meet products that began arriving for our of the Older Gods" (page 84) William certain criteria," says senior editor consideration, my office began lo look Kotzwinkle offers a tale ol paradise lost Douglas Colligan, who coordinated the like a shipping dock." because the Pharaoh misses the boat.