re: End Game____Now we know how Francis Fukuyama felt when The End of History and the Last Man hit the shelves. What he meant was that democracy would eventually supersede all other forms of government. But (some) people thought he was saying that nothing would, like, happen anymore. Similar hyperbole got us in trouble, too, as readers responded to our July cover line, "The End of Science," and the feature essay "The End of Theory." Some got the point — petabyte-scale computing introduces a way of doing science that's driven by data, not theory. Others thought we were disavowing science altogether. One reader called the piece "overreaching pseudojournalism." That stings ... but look: The Petabyte Age is like the Internet. It gives us new tools and reduces our reliance on old methodologies. Science lives — it's just never going to look the same.
Survival of the Fittest
Chris Anderson has made a dramatic overstatement in his description of the efforts by applied mathematicians in the atheoretical acquisition of scientific knowledge ("The End of Theory," issue 16.07). While it is true that new ways of compiling massive amounts of data will reveal patterns that we might not otherwise uncover, this information can ultimately be understood only in a theoretical framework. There is a critical difference between description and explanation. As Anderson states, "Data without a model is just noise." It would have been impossible to explain J. Craig Venter's data without the concept of species in the first place — that's a theory. Moreover, the critical role of experimentation for revealing causal relationships between variables is not expendable in our understanding of much in nature. I welcome the Petabyte Age, but as Theodosius Dobzhansky observed, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Sorry Google, Darwin stays.
Greg Bryant
Los Angeles, California
Arrrr! Now Go Walk the Planck Constant.
"The End of Theory" misses the mark. Information is meaningless without a theoretical framework. If, as Chris Anderson suggests, all we need to do is sift through hordes of data, then perhaps an association between the number of pirates and global warming will be found.
Joseph Lachance
Stony Brook, New York
Nuke 'Em!
I wonder if anyone else caught the irony of the geoengineering "movement" being led by Ken Caldeira ("Climate Repair Made Simple," issue 16.07). As a leader of the "no nukes" movement, he is one of the people who led an assault on any nuclear technology. By marrying the Three Mile Island accident to nuclear weapons, they were able to breed mistrust of all nuclear science. This led the US to shun nuclear power — an attitude that is sadly still in effect to this day.
So forgive me if I have a problem seeing Caldeira as a hero as he tries to clean up the mess he is ultimately responsible for creating. Once again he charges into the fray with little concern for the unintended consequences of his actions. Some people never learn.
David R. Deas
Memphis, Tennessee
Hot Air
"Inconvenient Truths" (issue 16.06) was so focused on being inflammatory that it sacrificed reason. For example, your logic goes like this: IF air-conditioning is better than heating, THEN air-conditioning is GOOD. This is equivalent to saying that it is good to eat cherry pie for dinner just because it's not as fattening as chocolate cake. Both heating and air-conditioning involve CO2-emitting processes that could benefit from increased efficiency and better home design. Taking advantage of passive temperature regulation and living in houses suitable to the local climate would be logical first steps toward reducing our CO2 emissions.
You also say that "pound for pound," building a Prius emits more CO2 than building a Hummer. Well, a Hummer weighs far more than a Prius, so a pound-for-pound comparison is misleading. You then suggest that people buy a used car instead. While I agree that buying a used car rather than a new Prius is the wiser approach, people will continue to buy new cars. When they do, I support their choice to buy a Prius (or another hybrid) rather than an SUV.
Marni Koopman
Ashland, Oregon
Show Your Work
I bet Chris Anderson's hypothesis in "The End of Theory" was not arrived at through automated analysis of petabytes of data. There may be a new way to develop theories, but the old way has not reached an end.
Jerry Felix
Cincinnati, Ohio
Humans Unite!
"The Planetary Computer" (Infoporn, issue 16.07) includes a comparison between the so-called One Machine and the human brain. This seems clumsy because for the machines, you count all of them, whereas on the human side you count only one. I suggest you multiply the brain's values by 6.7 billion. We suddenly perform much better.
Joerg Krause
Berlin, Germany
Prufreedin Ur Wurdz
As a fan of LOLcats, I noticed a typo in "One-Hit Wonders" (issue 16.07). You write, "... making it possible for a cult phenomenon like LOLcats to infiltrate yr mainstreamz." That should be ur not yr.
Michelle Pohl
Nutley, New Jersey
Buckle Up, Steve-O
Even in the future, Steve Jobs doesn't seem to understand that when you tuck in a shirt, you wear a belt (Found, issue 16.07). Can someone please get Steve Jobs a belt?
Matt Brady
Lemont, Illinois
Very Much Thank You!
I started reading "Anyone Here Speak Chinglish?" (issue 16.07) expecting the usual prescriptive rant: Our language is being ruined by foreigners and stolen from those who really speak it. Instead, you take a surprisingly level-headed view of language, see change as normal, and even muse that Chinglish and Singlish might one day be considered as proper as (and even better than?) Standard English. As a linguistics professor who constantly battles the binary thinking most people bring to language analysis, I applaud Wired.
Susan Behrens
Brooklyn, New York
Can You Hear Me Now?
Who cares if Verizon and AT&T aren't signed up for Google's cell phone operating system ("The Google Phone," issue 16.07)? The future is in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — not the US. Verizon and AT&T are in denial, while Google and Apple will succeed.
Excerpted from a comment posted on Wired.com by
prestwick
How About Now?
The sooner cell phone companies become dumb pipes, the sooner we can all get down to some serious business on our phones ("The Google Phone," issue 16.07). Until then, Verizon and AT&T are like the Catholic Church in the Dark Ages.
Excerpted from a comment posted on Wired.com by
technophile
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