Return to Sender
Mannequin,
by Pete Bruhn RE: Drugs and Sex
Our story on professional guinea pigs who sign up for serial drug trials elicited both wide smiles and pursed lips. One reader recalled three blissful months spent smoking pot in the name of science, but another put the scold on us. How dare we lionize sneaks who game the system? People's lives are at stake. (Hey, you'd fib to get into a kind bud trial, too.) Other readers want us to take drugs. Regarding our piece on the medicalization of happiness, one techno-utopian suggested the writer get some better meds. (Note to selves, rewatch THX 1138 before upping the dosage.) Oh, and to the reader who had an "intellectual big-O" in response to the April note in this space about the deadening nature of the intelligent design "argument": Call us. We think smart is sexy, and we recently dissembled our way into a trial for a new pill from Pfizer...
Heroes Welcome
Great article about Tim Kring and Heroes (2007 Rave Awards, "The Creator," issue 15.05). It's an amazing TV show that transcends traditional media boundaries with online offerings, and it has inspired an unusual amount of fan- produced Web media (like our show on YouTube). We applaud their vision and risk taking, as well as NBC's willingness to allow such experimentation.
Valentine Sheldon
and Tara Westwood
Creators, Incidental Heroes
Don't Wear It, Fly It
Perhaps I am not "hip" enough for you enlightened ones, but most veterans, including myself, have a hard time looking at photos of people "wearing" our flag — the photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger is a case in point (2007 Rave Awards, "The American"). It is debasing and insulting. Please do us all a favor and try to avoid denigrating something that so many of us have sacrificed so much to defend.
Todd Fredricks
Amesville, Ohio
Any Questions?
Are the developers of Chongming Island in denial about global warming, or do they have a plan to deal with rising ocean levels as the Greenland and western Antarctic ice sheets melt ("Pop-Up Cities," issue 15.05)? Are they planning to be the next Venice, with submersible infra structure? Why not build on higher ground? Why bother to construct future-oriented buildings in places that have no future? Is this just the irrational exuberance of an economy on steroids?
Marc Baber
Eugene, Oregon
Rated R for Responsibility
"The Road to Ruin" (issue 15.05), about Rockstar Games, was a fantastic read. I have a question about the 85-year-old grandmother who sued after realizing that the M-rated game she bought her 14-year-old grandson contained hidden porn: Since M-rated games are the equivalent of R-rated movies, if somebody over 18 purchases such a game for a minor, shouldn't the purchaser be responsible for that child? Parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles are complaining that material in an M-rated game isn't appropriate for little Timmy, and I agree that the adult content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas should not have been there. But whose responsi bility is it to enforce the ratings? If adults are purchasing the games for minors, doesn't that absolve the publisher of responsibility for releasing inappropriate material if it conforms to the Entertainment Software Rating Board ratings? This seems obvious, but for the past few years, denial of personal responsibility has sadly been a growing trend.
Justin Chin
Irvine, California
Northern Exposure
As a reader and supporter of Wired since the beginning, I am frustrated by the lack of information and content about Canada. A prime example is "May the Best Theory Survive" (Start, Atlas, issue 15.05). You present statistics for 30 countries and their views about evolution, but no Canada.
Renee Davis
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Junk Science
Your May issue refers to intelligent design as "the theory that life was created by a higher intelligence" (Start, Atlas, issue 15.05). A scientific theory must be able to make predictions that can be tested by experiment. Intelligent design cannot do this, so it is not a scientific theory.
Al Boyer
Spofford, New Hampshire
Høme Sweder Høme
Pft! Nothing new! Älvsbyhus, also of Svvvvveeeden, has been selling factory-assembled ready-built houses for decades (Play, Home, issue 15.04). It's really weird driving along seeing half a house, sealed in clear plastic, complete with fixtures and fittings, including the kitchen sink.
Robert Jarvis
Hollola, Finland
Head Wounds
As much as technology can make the physical capacity of soldiers bigger, better, and stronger, the real problem is the psychological side of warfare, which can't be fixed with a warm uniform ("Be More Than You Can Be," issue 15.03). Warfare is damaging for the brain as well as the body. Just check out the latest statistics relating to returned Gulf veterans.
Scott Henman
Perth, Australia
A Boy Named Sue
"Drug Test Cowboys" reminded me of an episode in a Dublin pub back in the late '70s. I met a male college student who had undergone a trial that involved large doses of estrogen and progesterone. The payment had been £120 a week for six weeks (a small fortune at the time). I quickly noticed he had budding breasts. Now, we're not talking jiggly-jiggly, but definitely bobbly-wobbly. And his voice, though not exactly high-pitched, certainly wasn't like anything else in that spit-and-sawdust tavern where the pint glasses had been worn precariously thin by manly hands. It troubled me some, but not to the point where it could dislodge one thought from my mind: £120 a week!
In 1979, we had high unemployment in Ireland, and there wasn't a youth in the country who wouldn't have undergone veterinary/human head-transplant surgery providing the price was right and the dog didn't have fleas.
Barry McKinley
New York, New York
The Truth Is Out There
I laughed at Mr. Know-It-All's suggestion for how to keep family and friends from forwarding spam (Start, issue 15.05). My solution is to introduce them to Snopes.com. My mom now checks this site before forwarding any urban legend or chain letter, and she asks her friends to do the same. I reply-all to any email that Snopes.com has found false, letting people know it's untrue and how they can check. I figure if I can get just a few other people to think before forwarding, it will make my cyberlife a little more pleasant.
Katie Walton
Brooklyn, New York
Your Cheatin' Heart
"Drug Test Cowboys" (issue 15.05) crossed the line from playfully flippant to unforgivably callous. I see nothing to admire (and a lot to despise) in people who lie their way into clinical trials, thereby compromising the data. A Phase I clinical trial can have as few as eight people; if even one of them is lying about his physical condition, the data from that trial could be seriously impaired. That could make it take even longer for good drugs to get approved — which means Dad might die while the cancer drug is held up for further testing.
Erica Roedder
Brooklyn, New York
Pass the Soma
David Ewing Duncan needs a little Adderall to help him focus on the inconsistencies in "Down With Happiness," (Start, issue 15.05).
First, he worries that we will become so risk-averse that we won't survive in a Darwinian universe. Then he worries that we imperil our lives seeking out mood-altering drugs and experiences. Isn't it possible that the neuromeds and implants of the future won't be used to make us "blissfully unproductive" but actually more productive, more resistant to hardship, and maybe more intelligent? The ambitions of neuro-enhancement are themselves an exercise in risk management. And it looks like Westerners are ready to lay bets on the pursuit — with the exception of a few shaky-handed writers.
Gunnar Sharp
Sonora, California
