RE: “WE CAN BE HEROES”
“Let’s hear it for
the nerds!”
—University of Southern Maine Libraries, via Facebook
RE: “MISSION OUT OF
CONTROL”
I want to call WIRED on its bro-
centric recounting of Apollo 11’s his-
tory. The only mention of women
was in reference to them as weav-
ers of the copper wire that con-
verted “code to machine-readable
binary.” However, Margaret Hamil-
ton was a major contributor to the
development of the software dis-
cussed in the article, and was con-
spicuously missing.
—Candace Egan, via wired.com
RE: “THREE YEARS OF
MISERY INSIDE
SILICON VALLEY’S
HAPPIEST COMPANY”
Nitasha Tiku’s article is great, but
it fails to point out the hypocrisy of
Google’s reluctance on Project Maven
while benefiting from dual-use sys-
tems like GPS for free. Googlers
apparently didn’t want to associate
with a defense program that could
potentially aid drone strikes. What
do they think makes those drone
strikes work? Hint: It’s not AI, it’s the
very thing that powers Google Maps
to the tune of a billion dollars or more
per year. —Louis, via wired.com
This story pretty much summed up
all the reasons I recently left my job at
Google after six years there.
—Kathy Ray, via wired.com
RE: “WE CAN BE HEROES”
Sometimes a piece of writing is
so good and so powerful and so
truth-telling that you just have to get
out of its way. I saw my own expe-
rience and trajectory—from being a
nerdy kid alone with their modem,
writing stories set in other worlds
and forging communities that way—
described exactly by Penny. I sent
the story to many similarly minded
friends. Some wrote back that they
were crying to see themselves rec-
ognized and celebrated. Everyone,
without fail, said the essay made
them feel empowered, powerful,
Readers share their wonder,
anger, and advice:
FAN LETTERS
In our July/August issue, Stephen Witt
recounted how Apollo 11 nearly crashed into
the moon because its guidance computer kept
glitching. In our September issue, Nitasha Tiku
chronicled the tumultuous past three years at
Google, and Laurie Penny wrote an exultant
essay on how authors of fan fiction have gradu-
ated into the writers’ rooms of major TV shows.
Then in October, Lauren Smiley told the story of
a murder whose chief witness was a Fitbit—and
whose chief suspect was a 91-year-old man.
GET MORE WIRED
If you are a print subscriber, you can
read all wiredstories online.
To authenticate your subscription, go
to: wired.com/register.
↙
and motivated. —Kaila Hale-Stern, via
The Mary Sue
Fanfic writers and lovers—this brilliant,
beautiful piece by @PennyRed is for
you. —Michael Sheen (@michaelsheen),
via Twitter
No, I’m not crying on the train. You’re
crying on the train. (:sob:)
—Janina Woods (@Kaori_Ino), via Twitter
RE: “THE TELLTALE
HEART”
The main subject of this story,
Tony Aiello, 91, died shortly after
the magazine went to press. New
details about his criminal case were
also made public. The story has
been updated on WIRED.com.
—The editors
008
ELECTRIC WORD WIRED 27.
