« •:' I UH HANOTECHNOtOGY : MOLECULAR MACHINES THAT MIMIC LIFE ROBERT JARVIK'S THE FIGHT TO FREE ".1 , ANIMALS [•] i L«Kfi l?i!J LAB NEURAL NETS: SOVIET TO THINK ART onnrui VOL. 9 NO. 2 NOVEMBER 1986 EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KfcETON FjIiOR dAIHC l ADCROFT 3HA-Hir;s JIFLCICR =r'ANK DEVINO EDITOR AT LARGE: DtCK TERESI .V!A,\AG.NG EIJIiOr>- STEVE FOX ART DIRECTOR .AMY SEISSLER CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD Preventing Nr.c:ea: Bernard Lown and 6 War Evgueni Chazov. M.D's OMNIBUS Contributors 10 COMKAJMCAIIONS FORUM Reac'ions ;o Coil mum EARTH STARS Mark oi the Quark Marcia Bar'usia-; EXPLORATIONS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Owen Davies CONTEST SPACE CONTINUUM TINYTECH Molecular Machines F'ed Haogood 56 INHUMAN BONDAGE Animal Rights Roberl Weil 64 TATTOOS Fiction Jack Dann 68 SPIDER MADNESS Pictorial: Dava So be I 72 Webbed Feals THE WORLD ACCORDING TO Medical Qu« Marilyn vos Savanl 80 DR. JARVIK OUR TOWN Fiction Kim Stanley Robinson 88 ARTISTS OF DETENTE Pictorial: Children's Judith Hooper 96 Space Art THOMAS T. NOGUCHl Interview Douglas Stein 104 NEURAL CHIPS-. Thinking Computers Erik Larson 112 ANTIMATTER UFOs. etc. 119 STAR TECH Tools lor the Year 2000 151 GAMES New Measurements Scot Morris 166 LAST WORD Hum Virch Coleman 170 The force ol technology—its power, beaut/, and =. cQSII.IASTEn S»nc ability to duplicate, or even improve upon, nature's own miraculous processes—-* shown in this month's cover. work created = The was . .!" o =:. by Dale O'Dell, a Houston-based photographer 4 OMNI Astonishingly, 40 years into the Atomic already exists for our leaders to follow: the ; '':' .': ....... ' limited test bah agreement reached -on ' unforeseen, catastrophic gfobal conse- July 25, 1963, by the United Slates, quences o< nuclear war. ' Nuclear explo- : T ' : i . sions, parflcuiauy ground lif'L bursts, proscribing atmospheric, underwater, enormous quantities of fine soil into the and space testing of nuclear weapons On " atmosphere, causing what : is commonly June 10, !963, President Kennedy- referred . to as nuclear wiriter. In the event announced that the United. States ; would'.:: I that such disasters were to occur, survi- o longer vors of a nuclear winter would face period's i of extreme cold, wafer shortages, ' and commended the American. leader and perhaps a total lack of food and fuel. staled that in response the USSR would They would also bo exposed to severe discontinue production of strategic radiation, chemical pnisoning of tine bombers, i hree weeks later the Soviets, environment, raging nodical eodernics stopped atmospheric bomb tests.' The ana unprecedented psychological whole process of negotiation had required stresses -all to be ''.''"':: endured under a pall only a matter of weeks. o* pervading, frigid darkness. ' li would be naive to .imagine that' political'" The implications of these findings . are leaders acting atone were solely respon-. : as p'obend as [rev are oisouiefing. stole for this historic achievement. What A firaf strike oy ins Um\ed Slates against energized political leaders and provided Sovie; land-bascc missiles, even without them with the will to act was- the ground- r ; s(3 iat!or. ' by fne Russians, vvcubi ; make swell wor a public opinion thai had both countries uninhabitable complete ' The reached a crescendo <n 1963. Nine.years extinction of our species cannot be before, the momentum had begun when "'.!. 1. ;,, < i as a 1 the United States conducted an atomic Given such imminent dangers, there is test, ironically called Bravo, on the Bikini IAJDRD an urgent for need a new direction in atoll ii; the Marshall Isianbs. The exolosien combating this suicidal nuclear VBy Bernard Lown, M.D. race, li is spewed radioactive, -fallout over nor enough Ic beseech the leadership thousands of kilometers of-the . I. Pacific, ; Evgueni Chazov, M.D. of the superpowers with specific reason contaminating the. Japanese fishing trawler able proposals. A question needs souous Lucky'Drngon, more than 1,000 kilome- :^How is it possible that a pondering: How is if possible that a ter away. Tine test also aroused the quarter century Quarter ccmury oi arms negotiations, world's nuclear consciousness, if ' as the involving mere than 7.000 sessions, has mushroom of arms negotiations cloud specter oi Hiroshima had not resulted in the dismantling of a single refer neo ador a nine-year absence has not resulted major nuclear weapons system? in large While the United Staves government pari the absence o f a result jih the dismantling of even relates to" -denied that strontium 90 released by the the vefv process :; disarmamom negod- a single major fes's threatened children, the Physicians atlons. They are cameo our in secret for Social Fiespenslbllily--working in nuclear by the wrong people in a snail-paced, ! weapons system?? co' abo-af:on with the St. Louis Commttee piecemeal way tor . Nuclear Information— provided scien- What, then, are the elements of a more tific oaia to T,q contrary, in 1963 Professor promising process? Simply staled, it ores frem demands that global leaders respond to 9000 of the worlos leading scientists that initiatives set in motion by pubiic opinion . validated the narm caused by tne nuclear worldwide. Jus: hs important, one of ialloui. Ho doubt the politicians and the superpowers needs lu be persuaoeti diplomats involved in the d.saimament to launch a significant, unilaterally nega^afions heard the scienfisis message sponsoreo miriative. If- this is matched, These examples show what people additional steps will be : undebakei by trie can do 'I ihey act upon a common other superpower. The function of Inter- problem. /\ -. national Physicians for 'he Prevention an initiative bye po.iiicai leader, a positive of Nuclear War fiPPNW), begun by us in resp .. .. 'nse by ii i -. on; wei Ic i ; i960, is ;o neb iostcr a climate o world overture by another can ali lead to opinion Id encourage reciprocaton. expeditious arms agreements. Instead of heightening confrontation the History nas provou that ellcen involve- people and readers of the twe superpow- ment can accomplish what governments ers must launch a competition to reverse cannot. We are hv;ng the arms race. The first that i step- of .: : ii ,< i; peace-Nil co is te nee I real public interest— would nuclear desfruofon. where peace is the dimmish widespread passivity and nonin- concern not only of raaicai fringe groups voivemeni of millions of people. World out of theent i do public opinion would resume its appropri- ate role in compelling government;; 'o i'c-; E',-ni.'c:v ' Cmmt.v adopt this new course. ... are cmo-vm/m:-; m iniemut'onsi Phyxk:T,r,i .';;,- Meaningful communication between ,, ; ' ", .- . ;..,'.. .. : .... nations is a- vital first step on the road- in '965. This esszy <r, adapted 'mm Peace: ;o preventing nuclear buildup. Creatine! a A Drearn Unfold no. 3 cm* tna; mi! oe reduction nvC.fened r'/;c; mem/i by S/eira Ciub Book-, in a realistic goal for the luture is aiscot !!:s United Stales and bv tester & Owen prime importance. A nislorical oreceaer" , NTRIBUTORS annruiB mythological shepherd operated elsewhere, it would be like The creatures. "Inhuman Bondage" (page 64) Proleus wen! to great lengths to being in two or more places at the same is Omni features editor Robert Weirs guard his omniscience. Seeking time. It's intriguing." exclusive account of the ALF break-in at his advice, querists had to entrap and When think, we the brain's cells talk to the University of Pennsylvania. The most bind him to get an answer. And even then, one another. Or more scientifically, the radical of the animal-rights groups, the Proteus would escape by transforming neurons fire in particular patterns corre- ALF is a tightly organized underground himself into a lion, dragon, tree, or whatever sponding to specific thoughts and network. Gaining members' trust was no served his purpose. Unlike this old Greek, memories. cell These assemblies, or easy task, Weil reports. But during months however, we will probably never be able neural nets, cncone everything we know. of phone conversations and clandestine to willfully metamorphose. But according It's an incredibly sopn s'ica'ed system meetings, they began to tell their story. to some scientists, it is possible lo that computers can't imitate. Or can they? "It was tough battling these people, trying produce objects— from food and clothes In "Neural Chips" (page 112) freelance to keep a reporter's perspective. They lo homes and vehicles that not only writer — Erik Larson reports on the work of wear you down," he says. change form on command but also scientists who are attempting to create Jack Dann's "Tattoos" (page reproduce 68), themselves. thinking computers. Already, neural meanwhile, concerns a Jewish artist using The ability to manufacture such goods, computers can perform some tasks far his talent to free people. Dann's last and to do it on the microscopic level, is more quickly than even the largest digital story for Omni, "The Gods ol Mars" (March known as nanotechnology, and it's going computers. In the future such machines 1985), which he wrote with Gardner to revolutionize our world, according to may guide autonomous robots, identify ozois and Michael Swanwick, Fred was Hapgood's "Tinytech" (page 56). aircraft, and understand human speech. nominated for a Nebula Award by the Taking its cue from nature, the technology "The more we see what computers Science Fiction Writers of America. relies on a computer the size of a single can already do and how far they have to Art comes in a variety of forms. "Spider molecule, This nanocomputer can produce go before they can actually think, the Madness" (page 72) illustrates how such a single object, atom by atom, that then more we can appreciate what humans drugs as LSD affect arachnids' web reproduces.