Editor: While I found Mr. Tannigan's article interesting reading, it's sad to see that he, like so many others, has been taken in by the historical revisionism of Redwing and his would-be new elite. If Vick is attempting to strictly analyze why teleportation crumbled amid the revelations of its hidden dangers, why does he uncritically accept the new elites' lie that teleportation was safe until Denny Brogi's error caused people to start worrying? While rules of physics seem to be falling left and right, basic causality remains untouched -- and it remains a very unambiguous logical contradiction to say that the effects of an accident cause those accidents in the first place. If Redwing's explanation holds, then the first accident could not have happened unless that kid somehow doubted himself based on the knowledge of those future accidents! Occam's Razor tells us that the rules of the universe don't change. They didn't change when Redwing "brought magic" to the world; he just shifted the mages' conspiracy out into the open in preparation for his final power play. They didn't change when Denny (and is the kid's name just a coincidence, or rather Dennis Redwing taunting us with the truth again?) botched his spell; the kid was just never taught the proper safety methods by the mage elite -- or perhaps deliberately screwed up to teach the world a lesson. That lesson is: Magic isn't for the public. It's unsafe. Isn't it obvious? What better way to scare people away from challenging his bid for world domination than by making them afraid of the consequences of taking up magic themselves to combat him? He knows traditional resistance cannot hope to stop a mage. He flaunts it at every turn. And now he moves to seal off our last avenue of salvation. Levi White Jamaica Plains -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had an objection to your recent article, "The Death of Teleportation." While most of the information seems to be correct, or at least all that I was able to verify, there is another issue here. The issue is the nature of magic itself. Magic is an act of willpower, enhanced by some as-yet mysterious form of "energy," used to create a definite effect with no apparent cause -- or at least no cause supported by the old model of physics, which must now be discarded -- or, at least, seriously modified. You have just written an article on how incredibly dangerous teleportation seems to be. This will plant the fear that teleportation will, somehow, go wrong in the minds of most of your readers. (I have a similar objection to the laws passed, and the publicity that the earlier teleportation accidents gained.) This subconscious -- or completely conscious -- fear can very thoroughly effect the outcome of attempted magic -- resulting in more teleportation accidents. Perhaps it would be well-advised to write a counter-article. Karen North, Ph.D. Roslindale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, Vick has decided to air his grievances publicly, has he? Not content to berate and ear-bash customers, he has taken to ranting in Boston's counterculture publications about his pet peeves. What he hasn't told us is that he himself was the victim of a teleportation mishap, when he attempted to procure wares by teleportation rather than by conventional means. The wares ended up in the middle of an alley, spoiled and ruined, three weeks after he attempted teleportation. Why aren't you honest for a change, Vick? How about giving some of us mages a go before you go abusing us publicly? But, that wouldn't be your style, would it? Alexis Pataileone, mage Dorchester VICK TANNIGAN RESPONDS: I didn't discuss my own experiences because I was attempting to provide a historical overview of teleportation in the wake of The Changes, but yes, I did botch a teleportation spell in mid-September, and that was a large part of my impetus to write the article. But, if anything, it only serves to further prove my point. If a competent and careful mage such as myself can have a teleportation failure under controlled circumstances -- and if such high-profile accidents as I discuss can occur -- how can we possibly say that teleportation is safe for the world at large? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You know, it is rather sad that, to hear Vick Tannigan tell it, teleportation is dead. With every technological advance comes quite a bit of risk; as a matter of fact, even older technologies still pose problems. Automobile and airplane take lives every year, yet there's no mad rush to halt driving and flying, is there? Teleportation could make life so much easier and would even -- dare I say it? -- cut down on transportation accidents. One is, after all, a lot less likely to crash into another car if there isn't another car for miles. Also, if more people stayed off the roads and teleported to their destinations, reckless transportation would not necessarily have a negative effect on society. If one teleports oneself while drunk, one has only oneself to blame for a mishap. Granted, if people teleported instead of flying, the airline industry would lose money from commuters and those passengers who absolutely must fly. However, the industry could then specialize, catering to those who enjoy flying. Every flier could receive first-class service at coach prices! Society's negative response to teleportation is just one more example of its closed-mindedness. We as denizens of this Earth must get our heads out of the past and into the future. Professor R. L. Black Wolfsheim School for Recalcitrant Youth Downtown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As someone who used to work in Raven's Head Technologies' teleportation department, I felt I had to respond to your recent article on the subject. It bothered me that the author stated "the collective efforts of scattered, individual researchers can do no good if those researchers mysteriously disappear one by one" and then goes on to mention in his footnotes "Matt's Act was a measure pushed through Congress in March 1997 imposing even tighter restrictions on teleportation than had been previously placed on magic in general -- Nearly outlawing it anywhere for any practical purpose" [italics mine]. This is the core of the problem, is it not? Researchers who are successful with their studies in teleportation are hesitant to go public with a great deal of what they have learned. The media is swift to descend on anyone who claims reliable and safe teleportation advances and label them crackpots or worse. The government is just as quick to pass its judgements, promising incarceration and revoking licenses. Mages who work hard for teleportation are unwilling to expose themselves to this sort of ridicule. They would rather not have to negotiate a sea of narrow-minded bureaucrats and hysterical mothers against mad teleporters. Funding was pulled from our most sensitive research at a point where we were very close to our goal of safe small-scale teleportation. The pressure of public interest groups, the incessant federal inquiries, slowly killed the project from the inside. The worst part of it was that "the flap over safety statistics" didn't even involve our statistics. RHT maintains the highest safety standards in the business. At no point in any of our research on teleportation did we suffer any of the dramatic and tragic disasters that consistently befall amateurs operating in uncontrolled conditions. It's ridiculous that laws like "Matt's Act" can even be passed. The bill went through on a wave of public sentiment about an incident that involved exactly one victim -- Matt himself. Millions of people who supported Matt's Act never met or even saw him in person. They were simply reacting to a fantastic "what-if" scenario created by the news media to sell their sensationalist story. As a result an entire area of magic has foundered. As for vanishing researchers, I know of only one in recent years: the former head of RHT's teleportation department, Dr. Tyrone Briggs. Dr. Briggs had reported to many of his former colleagues that he felt he was very close to a breakthrough on his teleportation technique. A week later his wife reported him missing. Police attributed his "death" to a teleportation accident (and fined RHT for "illegal continuance" nine months after we'd already closed our lab). I submit that perhaps Dr. Briggs didn't just disappear. Perhaps he went to Bermuda. Maybe an inquiring journalist should look into that possibility. And of researchers who may have truly slipped into the unknown, it is terribly short-sighted to assume they will never come back at all. I'm pragmatic enough to concede that they could very well be dead, but isn't it also possible they've entered some dimension we know nothing about and won't be able to understand until they return? A few decades ago the world was a narrowly defined reality with clearly marked entrances and exits. Not so anymore. The theri alone are proof that there is more to what we think of as reality than simple life/death linear thinking. Dr. Lorraine Turpentine, PhD, P.O.E.E. Danvers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- People like Vick don't seem to realize just what sort of Pandora's Box they want to open when they suggest widespread teleportation. Indeed, most people fail to even think about what the larger consequences of legalization would entail -- and I'm not writing about these "accidents". Purses would disappear from shoulders by the thousands, at the same time as wallets vanish from back pockets. Unspeakable amounts of cash could be stolen from vaults across the country, without a single lock opened. And I'm sure none of the Vicks out there have ever thought of what would happen should a five-year-old child suddenly disappear from the hand of her mother, or considered the idea that some radical with a ransom could pass through airport security effortlessly because his gun stays comfortably at home until he crosses the threshold. Sit up and think about what you're discussing for once, and how it would cripple this nation, before you amuse yourself with speculation. Gordon Manson Beacon Hill -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THANK YOUS: LJ caribbeanblue, piperdawn, delcan, kistaro, raki