Oct 1, 2003 12:00 PM

RANTS & RAVES

RANTS & RAVES

"Hooey!"

| Dynamic Duo

"Hooey!" said one reader pooh-poohing August's Super Power Issue. "Any junior high biology student knows that fish breathe the same O 2 we do: It's just dissolved in water." (Memo to R&D: Deep-six those steelhead fuel cells.) Others set their sights on Wil McCarthy's invisibility cloak: "He doesn't mention that every single hyperpixel would need to know its exact position and orientation." We're looking into it.

But the biggest turnout was for "How to Sell Your Body for $46 Million." The common complaint: "You forgot to include contact information!" It wasn't just LA models and lazy entrepreneurs who looked deep inside themselves and saw dollar signs. "I am a Turkish lady," began one gut-wrenching tale. "I think to sell my one kidney to go to university again." Another ode to the painfully high price of education: "I would like a list of potential buyers for bone marrow and DNA. I have worked hard all my life, but don't have much to show for it.

I have four kids and want to help with college costs." Love hurts.

Eight is Not Enough

You missed a few ("8 Super Powers," Wired 11.08): Satellites and UAVs provide the equivalent of remote viewing, and telepresence represents a fair approximation of astral projection. The Land Warrior system can produce battalions of Batman-like soldiers. And we've had supervillains for decades. What else could you call Hitler or Stalin? We even have superpests á la Mr. Mxyzptlk – spammers. Andrew Zeiter North Fairfield, Ohio

Some people might think your superpower issue was a little out there. What, for example, would possibly prompt you to use artificial gills? Here's one application – increased survival odds in a heavy storm or shipwreck scenario. A possible list of ingredients and instructions follows:

Artificial gills
24-hour survival suit
GPS locator (like the ones used to find buried snowboarders)
Shark repellent
Flashlight
Colloidal food tubes

Now submerge yourself 10 to 20 feet (think: watery storm cellar) and stay put until the chaos above subsides. After all, what's more ridiculous: taking your chances in a little lifeboat being hammered by 100-mph winds and giant waves for 12 hours, or becoming Aquaman? Rob Hartzell Watsonville, California

My Other Car Is an X-Ray

I've been screaming about a version of this technology for years ("Being Invisible," Wired 11.08): Make all big trucks and SUVs have a screen on the back hooked up to cameras on the front so we can see past them on the freeway. I don't want them to be invisible; I just want everything else to be visible. As long as I'm whining, what's up with people whose windows are so tinted that nobody can see the traffic ahead of them? Gunnar Swanson Ventura, California

Revolutionary Uplift

Clive Thompson's "The Antigravity Underground" (Wired 11.08) states that Tim Ventura is the source of the global lifter phenomena. In fact, he is, and always has been, a minor player. True credit for the promotion of this technology and encouragement of experimenters and hobbyists should go to Jean-Louis Naudin of France. B. A. Tilgner Ottawa, Ontario

For the Man Who Has Everything

| Craig Maxwell "Please Turn on Light," by Greg Shelmerdine.

"How to Sell Your Body for $46 Million" (Start, Wired 11.08) was interesting, especially because to reap the full $45,618,575.82 in cash, the body for sale must have the reproductive organs and the hormones of both a male and a female. This person is at once selling sperm and egg cells. This obviously makes no sense whatsoever. A more correct total body worth would be $45,332,818.04 for a male and $44,485,295.82 for a female. Also, you seem to have completely forgotten about skin, which is needed for transplants for burn victims and other cases. Nick Rutkaus Taos, New Mexico

I read that selling body parts and fluids could earn some money. Well, I am a 19-year-old guy who wants to makes some cash, and I am down for anything. Steven Stella Tewksbury, Massachusetts

Not-So-Naughty Bit Player

| Ian White

I have been working closely with Gary Kremen in the fight against child pornography and was dumbfounded when I read your article about him ("The Prisoner of Sex.com," Wired 11.08). You made Gary look like a sleazy businessman trying to make a quick buck in the adult industry. That's not the case. Gary is an astute man who had the foresight to recognize a business opportunity, as he did with Match.com. I first met Gary when he called Adult Sites Against Child Pornography and said, "What can I do to help?" He currently contributes $2,500 per month to support the cause. Joan Irvine executive director, ASACP Los Angeles, California

Waiting For a Cure

With regard to your article "The End of Cancer As We Know It" (Wired 11.08), I have to be a bit of a wet blanket. The "bold" prediction that in 10 years suffering and death due to cancer will be eliminated doesn't do much for me. I have a malignant brain tumor that typically kills in less than a year. While the FDA is taking 10 years to approve new treatments and drug companies are investing in wrinkle creams, brain cancer patients are basically being treated unsuccessfully the same way they were 40 years ago. AIDS treatments were developed so quickly because activists weren't satisfied with time frames like 10 years. I feel the same way. Mike Coda Alexandria, Virginia

Memory Lapse

David Vaskevitch presented a very interesting and thoughtful prediction for digital photo management (View, "Your Permanent Record," Wired 11.08). Yet how can a megacompany like Microsoft have a CTO who is so passionate about digital photography and watch as Apple releases iPhoto first? I have a strange feeling that when Mr. Vaskevitch's predictions come to fruition, we'll be seeing them on Macs or even Linux before Windows. Kamalesh Thakker Beverly Hills, California

Paging Nurse Ratched

One has to wonder if it's AI that's brain-dead or Mr. Minsky (View, "Why A.I. Is Brain-Dead," Wired 11.08). I might not take issue with robotics invading some human arenas, but to suggest that machines should take up the slack in that most humane "industry" – tending to the elderly, frail, and sick – is absurd.

Our nursing shortage is not a problem of overpopulation, and the cure is not technology. Plenty of people want to become nurses, yet American universities are turning them away due to budget shortages.

I'm not against research in AI. But let's not think of it as a panacea for human economic and legislative shortsightedness. How can we possibly expect to create intelligent technology if we can't act that way ourselves? Stephen Montagna Madison, Wisconsin

In Defense of DRM

Hollywood's attitude toward Microsoft and the PC is not "don't ever play a movie on a PC," nor is it the imposition of some sort of "media lockdown," as reported in "Bill Gates, Entertainment God" (Wired 11.07). On the contrary, entertainment companies continue to work tirelessly with the tech sector to enable the PC as a viable entertainment platform.

However, technologies like DRM are essential to this effort, as they address the PC's current inability to distinguish one bit from another. Without this capability, and the ability to differentiate types of data and content, the only PC-based business model would seem to be "all or nothing," an outcome that holds no long-term value for either producers or consumers. Further, to suggest that Microsoft's role in the digital entertainment market is to "weigh one interest group (consumers) against another (content providers)" totally misses the forest for the trees. Microsoft's role, and that of its competitors, is not to dictate or arbitrate the terms of the digital entertainment market. It's to aid in the creation and development of that market by providing tools that enable choice and provide value to both audience and creator. J. Scott Dinsdale digital strategy adviser Motion Picture Association of America Encino, California

UNDO

Resynchronize Your Watches: The crew of Apollo 13 wore the manual-winding Omega Speedmaster Professional (Start, Wired 11.07).

Low-Rider: The Trabant 601 had 28 horsepower (Start, Wired 11.07).

Focus!: DLP stands for digital light processing (Play, Wired 11.08).

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