Letters

THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY

I enjoyed your special issue on technology in this century and the next [VISIONS 21, June 19]. You asked the usual questions: Is technology safe? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it going too fast? Is it dehumanizing? It's senseless to ask whether technology is good or bad. The value comes from how we humans use it and the purpose of its use. When we question technology, we the users are the only ones accountable for its effects, no matter how advanced or extreme the technology may be. ANTONIO VELARDE Mexico City

Gadgets will never be the panacea that technopundits predict. Some of this stuff is handy; some is intrusive; but most of it is downright dispensable. It is merely more junk to market to the masses. DAVID BAILEY Kenmore, Wash.

I applaud Bill Gates' article on genetically modified foods. He offered an articulate viewpoint on how biotechnology can play a role in 21st century food production. It takes courage, foresight and a genuine understanding of the full benefits of technology to bring valuable new scientific developments to the public. Gates has provided this with his vision of the personal computer. Agricultural biotechnology can help do the same for food production if given the chance by a broad-minded public. COLM LAWLER East Lansing, Mich.

I'm sick of the future! Why don't we try living in the present for a change? STU FEGELY Apalachin, N.Y.

I hope for the sake of humanity that not even half the predictions posed in your articles come true. I am 20 years old and a loyal member of the dotcom generation. As much as technology plays a role in my life, it is obvious that a line needs to be drawn for our progression into the future. A computer in every house? Yes. In every head? No. LUCAS LaBREE Harmony, Maine

In his article "Is Technology Moving Too Fast?" Stewart Brand wrote, "Radical new technologies are often seen as moral threats by conservative and religious groups." Indeed, many religious myths have depended on static dogmas for their survival. As science and technology move forward at an ever accelerating pace, the faith of the true believer is stretched to the limit as, one by one, the sacred mysteries of life are peeled away, making it ever more difficult to hide from the terrifying truth that all we have in this universe is ourselves. JAMES M. RIDGWAY JR. Tucson, Ariz.

I wish you would stop this "Visions of the Future" nonsense and just give me a newsmagazine. I live in the here and now. No one can predict the future. LOUIS DIXON San Francisco

Can we make a perfectly sane and emotionally stable artificial consciousness from scratch? Not bloody likely. We should stick with the mindless drones. TOMAS INGUANZO Kalamazoo, Mich.

THE DEMISE OF SYRIA'S LION

Anyone who thinks the death of Syria's ruler Hafez Assad [WORLD, June 19] has dealt a blow to peace in the Middle East is wrong. Assad wanted to force Israel to meet all his demands before the two countries resumed talks. Syria's economy is a shambles, and its people live in poverty. Assad murdered and tortured his own people. JERRY LEVY Walnut Creek, Calif.

Assad's only legacies were terror and fear. He squandered his country's available resources and mutilated its economy. In the early 1980s, his army killed 20,000 innocent people in the northern Syrian city of Hama. I went to Hama last year, and I could still see the fear in the people's eyes. Some legacy! ADAM FARRA, AGE 14 Ann Arbor, Mich.

A BAND FOR ALL AGES

I was delighted to come across your profile of the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian [MUSIC, June 19], but I felt it was my duty to object to your description of the group as inspiring "cultish adoration from folks too old and too smart to be hanging posters on the wall." I would remind you that youth doesn't have a monopoly on good taste in music. If my parents' friends are finally beginning to like the songs of Belle and Sebastian, then more power to them. Maybe the band has created not only an album full of incredible songs but also a bridge over the generation gap. EMILY WALLACE, AGE 17 Topeka, Kans.

TESTING HAS ITS SUPPORTERS

I was very disappointed to read TIME's one-sided article on student testing [EDUCATION, June 19]. Contrary to your views, the so-called backlash against such testing is not representative of public opinion or teacher opinion. Surveys have consistently shown that public support for assessment of student achievement is high.

You blew out of proportion any expression of discontent with testing. For example, in Massachusetts a few hundred kids boycotted the state test, but 99.8% did take the exams. Tests provide teachers, parents, school officials and public officials with information to address education problems. The recent spate of state exams has spurred unprecedented attention to the needs of low-performing students. Education cannot function without reliable information about its effectiveness. DIANE RAVITCH New York City

SHAQ: A CLASSIC

In this cynical age of corruption in sports and politics, it renews one's hope to have someone like basketball's Shaquille O'Neal for youngsters to emulate [SPORT, June 19]. As you noted, Shaq has dipped into some serious treatises. What a wonderful world it would be if a kid should say, "When I grow up, I want to be just like Shaq," and then proceed to pester his parents to buy a copy of Aristotle's classic work Nichomachean Ethics. FRANK DOOLEY Whitesboro, N.Y.

No one doubts the dominant presence of O'Neal on the court, but why must everyone adopt a policy of selective vision? What about his inflated salary, obscenely palatial home and the fact that he is an unwed father twice over? Do we really want to lionize a man who, for all his laudable qualities, also exemplifies excess and social irresponsibility? LISA AND JOSHUA VELTMAN Columbus, Ohio

MICROSOFT AND POETIC JUSTICE

In his letter to TIME, Michael Schmid said Bill Gates has the right to protect his ideas from the competition [LETTERS, June 5]. Gates' genius, in fact, was for imitating the Macintosh operating system and its user-friendly elements, which were then introduced in the Windows operating system. Considering this, it isn't unfair for Gates to have to give away some of his ideas. Mac users would say it is simple poetic justice. LUCA TIFI Ancona, Italy

What if the judge forced Microsoft to produce computer-software applications for other operating systems--say, making Office 2000 for Linux? Who would care about Windows 98 or Windows 2000? This would really attack the heart of the Microsoft monopoly without the need to break up the company. DANIEL RAMOS Bogota

MEMORIES IN A BOOK

Your story "Only The Best Scraps Go Into These Books," about the increasing popularity of compiling scrapbooks [LIVING, June 12], contained many belittling comments and implied that scrapbooking is a hobby for dumb blonds who like to cut and snip to "turn inconvenient realities into Kodak moments" and for those who believe "the past is perfectible." I am not a blond bimbo but a university graduate who works in the financial-planning profession. Yet I relax by creating scrapbooks to record my family's activities, ranging from everyday happenings to big occasions like the birth of a first grandchild. If my grandparents and parents had kept more records of important events, their pictures would have much more meaning for me. I would be able to identify my ancestors and the occasion being celebrated rather than feeling sad about having photos that hold no meaning for me. LEISA CAIRNS Victoria, B.C.

I am a middle-age accountant, mother of three, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt and family historian. I make scrapbooks to preserve the history of my family for my children and their children so that, unlike me, they will not one day peer at photos with no names and wonder who the people are, what they did and whom they loved. I have included photos of myself in miniskirts, in ugly school uniforms and even pregnant because, unlike your idea that scrapbookers try to make the past perfect, I depict things as they actually are and with great pride. Yes, I decorate pages, using borders and stickers but, above all, with love and words about the all-important pictures that represent our lives. DEBORAH WOO Vancouver

TREATIES STILL MAKE SENSE

Whew! Charles Krauthammer is at it again in his commentary "The End of Arms Control" [ESSAY, June 12]. Maybe no one actually wanted to notice George W. Bush's proposed new nuclear doctrine because of its sheer ridiculousness. Krauthammer says that in all of history prior to arms-control agreements, "if you needed a weapon to defend yourself and had the technology to build it, you did not go to your enemy" to get his approval to make it. Yeah, and next up is clubbing to death a person who won't let you have the possessions he's got that you want. One would think mankind had grown a bit more civilized than to hold to this primitive mind-set. But Krauthammer apparently has not--really. In a world in which more Old World orders crumble and eventually fall each year, treaties still make sense--with Russia as well as with any other nation. ANDRE FROMME Paderborn, Germany

QUESTIONS ABOUT ECSTASY

Public use of the club-drug ecstasy [SOCIETY, June 5] seems to raise the same problems as the debates over guns and abortion; everybody has an opinion. But in the case of ecstasy, no one will take a definite stand on prohibiting the drug, even though it is illegal in some countries. Working as a crowd controller at many venues like rave dances, I see how widespread the ecstasy problem is. How do you stop the drug if it is a threat? Many young ravegoers promote the idea that you do not need ecstasy to enjoy raves. Whether ecstasy is a demon or not is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps people should not decide until they have tried resuscitating a 16-year-old suffering from ecstasy's overheating effect. RICHARD JOEL COWARD Adelaide, Australia

Happiness does not come from a night of partying; happiness is a deeper and more permanent feeling. Ecstasy is just another way of making young people believe everything can come easily and in the short term. Valuing such qualities as effort, struggle and permanence is on the decline. For the time being, that is the real effect of ecstasy. YANELA ELIZALDE Mexico City

HEROES ON BOTH SIDES

Your article on the pullout of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon [WORLD, June 5] was completely one-sided. Arab and Israeli cultures sometimes meet and sometimes collide. Heroes and courage can be found on both sides of the border. MAHMOUD WAZZAN Beirut

VALUE OF ACADEMIC DECATHLONS

The piece on the Academic Decathlon, "Dumb Questions for Bright Kids" [EDUCATION, June 19], included some misconceptions. Some of the complaints from teacher-coaches related to material used last year, which admittedly was not as strong as it should have been. Still, while some lower-level questions appeared on the exams, most of the questions were relevant and challenging. Hundreds of decathlon coaches support and appreciate our providing the resource guides to direct and structure their research. The resource guides level the playing field and provide an integrated curriculum. Also, the illustration with the article using a figure of $1,000 distorted what USAD materials cost. You can equip a nine-player team for only $370. And although it is a competition, the Academic Decathlon, as an extracurricular activity, should be about learning, not just about winning. JAMES ALVINO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR U.S. Academic Decathlon Los Alamitos, Calif.

Your expose of the U.S. Academic Decathlon merely scratched the surface of the crisis that currently plagues this once prestigious academic competition. As a veteran coach of 14 years, I have had the unfortunate experience of seeing a meaningful and rigorous academic competition turned into a pedagogical farce and bureaucratic cash cow. The USAD has consistently ignored the concerns of top coaches around the nation and has published mediocre materials. Is it a nonprofit organization promoting academic excellence? I think not! KURT LUEDKE Iron Ridge, Wis.

CORRECTION

Our story on the photographs of Mary Ellen Mark [PHOTOGRAPHY, May 29] mistakenly stated that Mark produced the 1984 Academy Award-nominated documentary Streetwise. She did not; the sole producer of the film was Cheryl McCall.