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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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THANK YOUS:
LJ caribbeanblue, piperdawn, delcan, kistaro, raki