Rants & Raves
The Sci-Fi Top 20
We asked for feedback on our list of sci-fi films ("Futureplex," Wired 10.06, page 108) — and by Dune, we got it. (And not just in posts on Slashdot or Plastic.) Our biggest crime, by consensus: "A sci-fi Top 20 that does not include Forbidden Planet is a farce, pure and simple." First runner-up: "How could you forget Metropolis? Most of your choices are either variations or rejections of Fritz Lang's vision." Other glaring omissions: 12 Monkeys. Ghost in the Shell. Logan's Run. "E. fuckin' T." Best lit crit name-dropping: "Essentially your list was action films in science fiction drag. Samuel Delany put it best: 'In science fiction, the episteme is the main character.'" Favorite flame: "Gattaca? If that film caught fire and I had to take a leak, I'd aim AWAY!" For the record: We love Feyd-Rautha and Robby the Robot. Just not as much as you do.
Amazing Stories
Mozart took his craft to the next level, as did Newton, Monet, and Twain. Steven Spielberg has done the same for film ("Spielberg in the Twilight Zone," Wired 10.06, page 104). Tapping into our fears and fantasies, anxiety and happiness, he has touched the core of our humanity, and in the process woven stories that stimulate not only our vision but our sensibilities as well. The technological framework of his films results in breakthroughs in cinematography, yet story and character remain the driving elements.
__ Clifton Tipon cliftont@mac.com __
Plan Overboard
Your article on the Philippines ("One Nation, Overseas," Wired 10.06, page 138) was fascinating, well researched — and somewhat misguided.
You can dress up the export of labor in fancy terms like "distributed economy" and remark on flashy new ways for foreign workers to send messages home. But remove the modern veneer and we are looking at a mass movement of people that is tragic for many of the same social, economic, and historical reasons that fueled the Irish Potato Famine and the Dust Bowl.
The Philippines has a well-educated, English-speaking workforce; demand overseas is testament to good minds and hard work. But the exodus of talent reflects crippling domestic conditions — a primitive financial system and decades of corrupt, ineffective government — that have utterly stifled the creation of an entrepreneurial middle class.
President Gloria Arroyo will be a true savior to the bagong bayani when she presents these returning "new heroes" with listings for jobs within the Philippines. Until then, she's no more effective in improving the average Filipino's lot than Imelda Marcos was in throwing wads of bills to admiring crowds in the far provinces. You make the Philippine experience out to be an economic miracle. It looks an awful lot more like a country throwing in the towel on being a true player in the global economy and settling for a pawnbroker's share as the society liquidates its dearest asset.
__ Jim Pollock myrejim@spire.com __
Keeping It Simple
Very interesting and well-written article about Stephen Wolfram ("The Man Who Cracked the Code to Everything," Wired 10.06, page 132). What is astounding to me is that the "single rule" he postulates is shrouded in such mystery. After grasping the concept it becomes abundantly clear that it is even simpler. The rule is a single word: survive.
__ Stu Sjouwerman w2knews@tampabay.rr.com __
Cold War Love
"Tools of the Spy Trade" (Wired 10.06, page 74) brought back a yearning for the good old days, when spies were spies and came equipped with wildly imaginative gadgets and killing devices. The lethal Kiss of Death lipstick, with which a '60s Soviet seductress could fire a 4.5-mm bullet into a Western agent at the height of passion, was at the time beyond belief even for a Bond audience.
My favorite was a recorder, developed by East German intelligence, that used thin strands of wire, in a tiny case, to record clandestine conversations. I found it an invaluable tool throughout the '50s for legitimate interviews with European heads of state, foreign ministers, and honchos at summit meetings.
__ Wes Pedersen wesped@aol.com __
Gilder on Gilder
I found Gary Rivlin's visit to the Telechasm a gripping read, particularly when I could escape the realization that I was the goat ("The Madness of King George," Wired 10.07, page 112).
I take exception, however, to the idea that I "immodestly" named Gilder's law after myself. Ordaining that bandwidth rises three times faster than computer power, this projection was being called Gilder's law by Wall Street analysts by the mid-'90s. In 1997, Kevin Kelly dubbed it Gilder's law in the pages of this magazine. Greg Papadopolous of Sun, among others, became its champion. Checking Google, I find references by others, none by me. I did let my editor include Gilder's law in the appendix of one edition of Telecosm; he said it would "help the marketing." Perhaps that confused the issue.
This law, like Moore's law, relates only to the capacity of equipment. It does not pertain to particular deployments of bandwidth or to the continued annual doubling of Internet traffic. Even in the face of the current crash, the law is not an extreme or unlikely projection. My frequent estimate of an 8-petabit-per-second capacity of fiber by 2004 reflects the present reality of actual Siecor cables on the market that hold as many as 1,168 strands, transmissions at Nortel and Lucent that reach the 40-gigabit-per-second level per lambda (wavelengths), and demonstrations of as many as 10,000 lambdas in industry laboratories under the leadership of Terry Turpin of Essex and Simon Cao of Avanex. By contrast, my petabit projection of 864 strands, 1,000 lambdas, and 10 gigabits per lambda for 2004 seems modest. Do the math.
__ George Gilder gg@gilder.com __
Where No Motion Path Has Gone Before
Today's CG animators too often approach character movement from a physicist's viewpoint, and not an artist's ("Why Is This Man Smiling?" Wired 10.06, page 120). The movement onscreen nowadays still has too much motion-path acceleration and deceleration. Eyeballs glide to their focal point. Eyelids open and close like Star Trek turbolift doors. Every movement looks as if it can be charted as a series of integral equations.
Real people, on the other hand, don't move that way. Eyeballs flick, and the left and right aren't perfectly aligned on some invisible vanishing point. Eyelids twitch, asynchronously. Muscles jerk non-deterministically.
The final touch with the best real actors is the ability to subtly exaggerate without being distracting. The focus on duplicating real-world physics is exactly what makes most CG character acting appear dull and lifeless. Until they figure out how to incorporate lifelike movement and exaggeration into characters, the CG holy grail — a digital William Shatner — will still be out of reach.
__ Tom Lundin rymac-tom@uswest.net __
Regarding the Redesign
I thoroughly enjoy Wired's modern design unveiled in the June issue. Finding my favorite departments will take some getting used to, but that's understandable. However, two aspects of the redesign don't make sense. One: The use of sans serif fonts in the body text of all features and departments, especially in pieces that are long and text-heavy (e.g., "Why Is This Man Smiling?"), is a pain in the, ah, eyes. It's well-known that using serif fonts for body text increases readability and reading speed. I suggest you decrease your form/function ratio in this case. Two: The Test product reviews now include an Overrated category. Why? Information on what to buy is much more useful (and nicer to manufacturers) than what not to buy. How about a scale like Fat, Meat, and Bare Bones, or Giga, Mega, and Kilo?
__ Ethan Decker ehdecker@outdoornetwork.com __
UNDO
Lost in the Clouds: Contributing writer Scott Kirsner wrote "Citizen Plane" in Wired 10.07. Where Eagles Soar: The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration ("One Nation, Overseas," Wired 10.06, page 138) does not sanction the use of predatory birds.
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