Readers said the Force was strong in our George Lucas profile, but then they lit up their red lightsabers and showed us the power of the Dark Side. Real estate agents threw epistolary lightning bolts at our story on the "Freakonomics" of home-buying - we were "in violation of truth," said one. Hey, if you can't handle the dismal, get out of the science. Another reader was ready to telekinetically choke Bruce Sterling for his column on fixing health care: "If you're not living in California, you need to move there to join your other drugged-up, hippie, fruitcake friends." (Psst: Those aren't Sterling's friends, they're his students.) A droid army emerged to battle Steven Johnson's assertion that video�games make you smarter. All we know is, they am makes us brains bigger.
The Force Behind the Force
Thanks for the excellent article "Life After Darth" (issue 13.05). I very much appreciated Steve Silberman's exploration of George Lucas' early influences. I saw Revenge of the Sith twice and was blown away. It's by far the darkest and most powerful of the series.
I'll take issue, though, with the contention that Star Wars somehow represents a detour for Lucas. To me, the films are, as Silberman put it, the far-out art films that he was born to make. They're highly successful attempts at contemporary mythmaking - they're outrageously inventive, tightly structured, and visually and technically unprecedented. In the final analysis, their heart is in the right place: They espouse compassion, honesty, and peacefulness, and their ultimate climax is a heroic moment of nonviolence. Their sense of wonder is among the very best cinema has to offer.
Jurgen Fauth
Astoria, New York
The Audience Is Listening
I'm writing to point out a glaring omission in "How Star Wars Changed the World" (issue 13.05). Tomlinson Holman, my sound professor at the USC School of Cinema-Television, was the rerecording mixer on Return of the Jedi. He was instrumental in the development of modern cinema audio as we know it, coining the term 5.1 surround sound and authoring the standards by which theaters, both home and multiplex, are deemed THX-certified. In fact, THX stands for Tom Holman's eXperiment!
Luke Pebler
Los Angeles, California
Think Litigious
Lawsuits against Apple's own ("Think Belligerent," issue 13.05)? From the world's most arrogant computer maker, it's no wonder! The iPod should've taught Apple something: If you keep trying to lure those awful PC users to your peachy little world, you'll stay right where you are - at a small fraction of the market. For Apple to really succeed, it will need to overcome its arrogance and start crossing that Mac-PC divide more often. It was arrogance that had it dying in the '90s, and it was the iPod that crossed the divide and has kept it afloat ever since.
Jonathan Posey
Atlanta, Georgia
They're Not Worthy
Re: "The 2005 Wired 40" (issue 13.05): The only thing worth noting about Electronic Arts is its largesse and muscle. Its exclusive deal with the NFL is nothing to rave about - for the next five years, we gamers will no longer be allowed to choose the better NFL game because there will be no choice. EA simply plays the ancient game of buy-the-nearest-competitor. That's hardly a sign of a master of technology and innovation. Too bad size and money, not talent or the innovation you claim to honor, are what gets a company on your list. I also noticed your number one pick, Apple, is mentioned for its very innovative strategy of suing its biggest fans in another story ("Think Belligerent") just 17 pages before the Wired 40 list.
Jonathan Allain
Ladson, South Carolina
How am I supposed to take seriously a list that considers Intel to be the 19th-most-nimble master of technology? I think not: AMD is eating Intel's lunch. With dual-core processors and 64-bit technology that doesn't slow your tried-and-true 32-bit apps to a crawl, AMD is way in front of Intel, and it's chipping away at Intel's once-dominant market share. Intel needs a wake-up call.
Dave Rosen
Syosset, New York
Survival of the Smartest
In his story about intelligence ("Dome Improvement," issue 13.05), Steven Johnson writes that "g is largely an inherited trait. We're certainly not evolving that quickly." In fact, it's been demonstrated that finch beaks change shape within a few generations to respond to drought conditions. It's possible that between 1947 and 2001, people changed what they sought in a mate in response to changes in the job climate, as intelligence became more valued than the physical strength and manual talents needed in the past. Smarter mates produce smarter offspring. I submit that we are indeed evolving that quickly. It is simply natural selection in response to the environment.
Terry Kaufman
Topeka, Kansas
Rage Against Globalization
Thomas Friedman calls for greater investment in science ("Why the World Is Flat," issue 13.05). Today, the best and brightest look at those fields and see (relatively) poor salaries and uncertain job prospects. They will naturally turn their attention to more prosperous and certain opportunities. How can one with all honesty tell a young person to go into computer science when you see the unemployment, the downward pressure on wages, and the outsourcing of jobs to India? Few in the right mind will make the sacrifices for the greater good of the country. Globalization inevitably leads to higher unemployment, lower standards of living, lower quality of life, and bleaker prospects for the future. Is that what we want for our children?
Paul Herbig
Angola, Indiana
How's My Robot Driving?
I liked the robo trucker in "Found" (issue 13.05). But something bothered me, and then I realized what was missing: Where was the futuristic license plate?
Samuel Arbesman
Ithaca, New York
Home Economics
Although "Cracking the Real Estate Code" (issue 13.05) did provide some insight into the real estate industry, it shouldn't be news to anyone that for-profit, service-based industries don't have the customer's best interests at heart. Ambulance-chasing attorneys and doctors practicing defensive medicine are in business for the same reason that any real estate agent is - to make money. A more original article would have proposed a way to better tie the best interests of the consumer to the profit of the service provider in a significant way.
Andy Stafman
Deerfield, Illinois
Going in Reverse
I enjoyed the article on earth-friendly folks generating their own power ("The New Power Generation," issue 13.05). But I got a chuckle when I closed and set down the magazine. On the back cover was an ad for the Hummer, about the most earth-unfriendly device on the planet!
Doug Crist
Oakmont, Pennsylvania
I Spy Other Means to Stop Crime
A 25 percent drop in killings to 445 in Chicago (with 2.9 million citizens) is a nice improvement ("The Spycam Force," issue 13.05). But compare this figure to European cities -�for example, Berlin, where with 3.4 million citizens, 71 people were killed last year. This suggests that there are factors influencing crime that are more important than modern crime-fighting methods.
Hans-Christian v. Bothmer
Hannover, Germany
Undo
• Medtronic is headquartered in Minneapolis ("The 2005 Wired 40," issue 13.05).
• The illustration of Thomas Friedman was based on a photograph by Fred R. Conrad of The New York Times ("Why the World Is Flat," issue 13.05).
