ITJII SPECIAL EDITION: JAPAN 2000 \\_ >* X onnnji VOL. 7 NO. 9 JUNE 1985 EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIHECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KEETON EDITOR: GURNEY WILLIAMS III GRAPHICS DIRECTOR FRA'-JK DEVINO MANAGING EDITOR: PAUL HILTS CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD Opinion Hisako Matsubara 6 OMNIBUS Contributors 10 COMMUNICATIONS Correspondence 12 FORUM Dialogue 14 EARTH Environment David Roe 18 LIFE Biomedicine Marcia Rockwood 24 SPACE- Comment James Kittield 28 BODY Health Kathleen McAulirfe 30 MtND Behavior Doug Garr 34 SCULPTURE The Arts Cree McCree 38 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Computers Peter J. Ognibene 40 CONTINUUM Data Bank 43 U-'.-l i ZED DREAM DWELLING Article Tim Onosko 52 THE MIND LIKE A STRANGE Fiction Tom Maddox BALLOON 60 ROBOTIC SOUL Article Douglas Colligan 66 THE BRAIN' RACE Article Phoebe Hoban 72 EXPO '85 Pictorial Doug Garr 80 THE MAN WHO Fiction Edward Bryant 90 ALWAYS WANTED TO TRAVEL ERWIN CHARGAFF Interview Anthony Liversidge 98 ANTIMATTER UFOs, etc. 107 STARS Astronomy Joel Davis 126 BREAKTHROUGHS Technology Henry Wouk 140 COMPETITION Oxymorons Scot Morris 142 METEORIC SUCCESS Phenomena Ken Cooper 148 GAMES Diversions Scot Morris 152 LAST WORD Humor Al Goldstein 154 This month's cover is a detail OMNI, l KM!" ..-5&£,i :; from a fisherman's festival je [taid „ ,. i.. at Ns«- i;.n ,i ii i .in: ,., .. ; ,n „ , - i;gsh::,=:: Fx--.js-nt.ii N,i 1.11-=-: /....j ,., O-f,,:-: Vf. ,.= :.;;- , coat from the Shirahama : :( lh s&; by Omni P ^ 3 -ssorvss-. :sl. Sl2i .186 S1ijm OVi.-,'l :-: -.- Maritime Museum. The kimono, sfii; i-ss-cWk Or,- f& A by M(-ie(i.;h-3jiiJS r! - Cor; si: sj.r.iMi.ed i.-c U.-i A C=j:ui-;!.l J S "Snii^ Japan's eleganl.national Dis:ribjied m :hs U K tiyCOMAG T dress, illustrates the country's reverence for tradition. lidental. Sijbscr plk.™ :.JS AFO-J?- ;.n= 55 The turtle and the 12.50 in U.S.. AFO, (. iss|..i)f: 1-.51V1-247 1- crane signify and ada ;i.t.'-=j 1 B00-532-1272. ic-.v.h The publisher tl sc's it long lite and prosperity. A OMNI ; .".!' ,:;:. ni" 'i ir, As a rtisuil. Japan was n a m-,.ich better Goi'iic , si. ; ,.;, cathedrae ot Eoiope and gazed pesi'len to dee wJ'n wi . >' i /! i i ," i ! .;: : i finally came. Under mier-se ore; ure archltecluro ir: . - ii '..' ': built ine thirteenm century, !i . i i,' ii'ii, ; ' m creates a powerful, even dizzying, impres- in the mja-tBOOs Japan was i'mafy forced ' sion. While fhese hoc or worship today to a symbolize Ine high point, of Middle Ages progress. Bu: eve:; n acquiescing. Japar;. civilization, fh'eyalsc reflect the mosi bscauseof Js uiiioue social Structure sophisticated technology of their time: in and cultural fab-o. was oetter prepared to : tects accept she encroachmeri o nduslry Irian learned to measure the jhickriess of the any of Js European com empcaries were: pillars, Ihe curvature of the siipportlng arcs, In Europe, as in the United States, an., and the weight o{ the roof. And they were agrarian structure prevailed unit the -Indus- immensely proud of the=r accomp ishmenls. ioal Age. Ckies of 1 mlillor people came Today, however, when architects and into being Only ;n the wai;e of Jus revolution. 1 r engineers ' span Phage. ; oye bays, erect Tnis explosive, chaotic growth caused a"''; y '- skyscrapers of glass- and steel, or. stretch stratiflcaiion of class that undermined' . ;; ' ilberoptic cables across oceans, their the agrarian sooloty. Life became a harsh ; : :: peers arc ess wi; nc to accept inese works nightmare loi ho i n :.-.: .e-e ill ! :..,.'. , |! „ | :Cpji forced to subsist in major circs :--.: an merely shrug their shoulders' and sav. abidmo aversion lo technology resutfed. This.'.-: ' 'That's : justtecnno.oqy." implying thai culture : 'Mi' on! nui i. ihi; ..:... The Japanese, however nao no.sucn '"' In ihe West. It s commonly oelieved that unpleasant exoerlences, Their transition to : ; technology ecu cuiiure rupres-jrv a contra- a riev; presented ni . diction in terms. Traditionalists say Ideological break with the past The -ao' ' Technology i itic: or i I . : red swell, beco WORD creates a spiritual void: technology destroys anc the human analogue " in Japan, no sucn within an ordered nistericsr Irame^.;.-- : ByHisakb MStsubara Stigma exists, those who wish ic reverse insteac of reackng wiih aisdair '.-?-. 1 modem developments are unable tcgalii emoraced these changes wl:.n wonce :; : . 4A fantasy has any sorl d consrltuency arm : •'>: arisen that Japan's - s-'-qi- :h s reason, overwhe^mine Japanese conscousness, '!radit:cna tr-:. 1 1 ir 1 majority of Japanese are om- technology. odei i value ; c : future holds Their -interest In progress has a strong in such harmony. ; no limits, and 200Q historical precsden' The.eahy formation o Technology then, hue become an Integ-'a ' large urban centers In Japan and the part of "he culture. Fh .iiir .:. m i lias become a. '. wilo w-"!'cn the . : . case Japanese learned new iplentisfs and eng.-ne i , ; with: . year glossed a . : urban mores provide important insight. hey give arl s , id ci nun. / GOO 1 .'.' Inr; rosy veneer. ^ yoaf-olb cedar Buddhist temple bu Ii Japan was already a world power 400 so Ingeniously thai !; carv.vith stare a' yea's ago. R;ch in rare rneiais, Japan eauhouaKes and :ypi;oons. Is fio yr-o^ 1 was called the Lane o Sivnr by greedy cherished than low .( ;>\ ora .explorers, wi the> eyes over slxleenih- skyscraper consfn.;cl' :-d over i century maps In 1600 the flew o! silver I lie not want lo crea;o mc Impression ; ii ; th lap i'i t i ..: eti oxea oM'ne ei i mat oblivious \o 10c Chris'ian wo iecr treasures taken by Spanish ships from the life'Buf.ho'maite:' how hea;ed newspaper : pil aged ruins of the Aztecs and Incas eriil The European colonial powers were unsuc- al edge that--" cessful in controlling the land : of silver. can be delected in tne Wesi. ho; -.n ueoau And as the Japanese perceived that their there exists a spirit of conciliation. Neither 1 .. ' r , , i'".:, ! ., i .: ; 3: futurists nor Iradmonaiists seeK lo a enale J-'oy ciosec their harbors, armed tfiei- each other. coosllines. and withdrew to; more ihan 200 Because of this I'ifelleciuai envixcment years—from 1639 to 1653 from 'he she Japanese can handle leounological intruding - gaze of the wodc at large. Jit mas i ii o.nall Jaoa; n; Rut 'menially lightly veiled behind a strength owes miuoh to lis oast And each thick I cover of bamboo screens, ;ife stirred, year when return to Japan, I am amazed in spite 0- its reheat from the world s d;pio- by the euphor a lhat enve'oos Japan's mate orde; Japan remained a very rien modem world. Fhe lairu l:arbors no great nation [he population. surpassed 30 million, hidden rears The reverse seems ;o have and this throng oi humanity was packed occurred, Most .Japanese are rattier oosisLc :; :''!' . l.h: .: :..;. about life at the turn of "he century. A know": today as Tokyo, accommodated more fantasy has. in 'aor. a-sen that the future million '!!.: .' than 1 :. "' : people before New-York hold;, ; I ;:: even existed. rosy veneer: QP As early as 200 yea's berorc- Western Hi 33 indusi! iailzaron. the Japanese were accus- zcaaim.erj novefsr, ;s inn auttior n! Cranea ,:..: tomed oniyto no; the problems of.u'Oan D'.ivk :;...,; ;' life bul also .vitality lo the of the big city : : :..;.... -;: ,-.. The ii: - : . : : ".(;;. people adapted well lo urban demands, ..i. ! -Veil. NTRIBUTOR^ Dnnruii Matthew Perry entered wrapped in red tape," writer Commodore says Phoebe experts I spoke to seemed so confident Edo Bay on the steamship Susque- Hoban. But her story "The Brain Race" they could succeed." hanna in the summer of 1853. His (page 72} suggests that in at least one area But in one arena, at least, that success is mission: to sign a commercial treaty with the the Japanese are moving with dispatch already here. In the Breakthroughs column Japanese, jolting the figurehead emperor into the future. They have identified artificial ("Shopping by Robot," page 140), writer and his medieval nation into the present, intelligence as the most important ingredi- Henry Wouk describes a totally automated apparently against their will. But though the ent for global economic supremacy. Their Japanese store, where smart machines Japanese at first resisted change, they goal, to develop fifth-generation computers manage everything from the stockroom to ultimately embraced modernization, ingest- that simulate the process of human the checkout counter. Robot personnel, ing 200 years of Western thought in less thought, has set the agenda for the rest of Wouk notes, even slice, wrap, and price the than half a century. Although innovations the world. But Hoban .adds, "Despite their cold cuts in the deli. from transistors to tape recorders continued pragmatic approach, the Japanese have an And families shopping in these futuristic to originate in the West, it was the incredibly childlike quality in their fascina- markets may eventually be living nearby, Japanese who developed them beyond tion with gadgets." in another Japanese innovation. In "Digitized the inventors' wildest expectations. Today Once Japan's fifth-generation brains are Dream Dwelling" (page 52), writer Tim writer Japanese Hisako Matsubara notes in complete, they will drive a team of robots, Onosko describes the new field ol computer- First Word (page 6), "Those who wish to possibly the most daring machines ever aided home design. A computer generates reverse modern developments are unable built. senior editor Omni Douglas Colligan a detailed printout of the prospective buyer's to gain any sort of constituency." journeyed to Tokyo, visiting four major dream house, and in less than a month In describing this technological bent, the laboratories and a dozen scientists in search the owner has moved into a factory- Japanese have often used the expression of these new-age drones.