Visions of the 21st Century
The arrogance shown by your theorizing about the future of space and science [VISIONS 21, April 10] was staggering. Who can say what discoveries will be made in the next 25 years that will fundamentally alter our perception and understanding of the universe? Time and again, history has proved we are not as clever as we think we are. DEREK RAMM Toronto
Congratulations! Finally a major publication has taken the giant leap into the outer world, answering the great challenge of the new millennium. It is incumbent upon Americans to show the way. So that all humanity can benefit, we must take the leadership role as explorers, pioneers and innovators in seeking new worlds. "Up, up and away!" should be the new battle cry. GEORGE H. GEORGERIAN Haverhill, Mass.
In the future will we be able to live on Earth? Be able to explore one-zillionth percent of the universe? Be able to provide water for all people? Morally survive the ability to clone human beings? STEFAAN VAN LANGENDONCK Heverlee, Belgium
One more mind-boggling question: Will we ever get a TIME magazine with complete pagination? LIBOR BROM Barrington, Ill.
...Will we still exist? ERIC BERNHARDT Kindhausen, Switzerland
Thank you for a most entertaining and imaginative issue. One of your articles addressed the question "Will We Discover Another Universe?" I am a big believer in alternate universes as an explanation for lost items. Somewhere in a parallel universe, another Alan Perlman is scratching his head and wondering why the devil he suddenly has three identical brown belts and two CDs of Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard. ALAN M. PERLMAN Highland Park, Ill.
The exploration and mining of resources in space are hugely important to the future. There are literally millions of asteroids containing material and energy resources floating in our solar system just for the taking. We need to appreciate the energy resources within our reach if we merely look up. WILLIAM HUBBELL Buenos Aires
In this newborn century--in which accumulating evidence points toward a multiuniverse cosmos where component universes, our own included, are continually created and die--your cosmic analysis can be summed up with some very brief words: What a lot of crap! JAMES C. RITCHIE Glasgow
New Sources for Energy?
In your article "will Someone Build a Perpetual-Motion Machine?" [VISIONS 21, April 10], you stated that the theories of inventor Joseph Newman are "considered nonsensical." Having assisted Newman in his work for 17 years and edited his book The Energy Machine of Joseph Newman, I find your assessment to be inaccurate. A special master appointed by a U.S. district court found overwhelming evidence that a prototype of Newman's invention showed that "the output energy exceeds the external input energy." Newman's discovery has extended the law of the conservation of mass-energy into a new electromagnetic domain. Such extensions of natural law into new domains are typical in the history of scientific progress. Newman has produced a revolutionary electromagnetic technology for the 21st century. EVAN SOULE JR. New Orleans