Nightmare

The recent article about Beyond War was inspiring and hopeful. Clearly the organization offers a way out of our present-day nuclear nightmare. By starting with ourselves and changing the way we think, we can learn to resolve any conflict. The simple idea, that we are one, is not new, but it is imperative that we learn it once and for all. Perhaps the Beyond War package will succeed where others have failed. I think it's our only hope. CHERI WOLPERT Thousand Oaks

The riots concerned me! It must have really scared my dad because he took his rifle in his truck wherever he went. He also left one by his bed at night. I hope this nightmare will end soon. MATT MILLER Los Angeles

Boa constrictor snakes, black widowspiders, guillotine decapitations, electrifying electrocutions, sadistic insane asylums. Welcome toAlice Cooper's walk-through nightmare. The "Alice Cooper: Welcome to my Nightmare" maze at Halloween Horror Nights 2011 turns the shock-rocker's songs, characters and theatrical concerts into a walk-through haunted attraction. I took a tour of the Alice Cooper maze this week in the Jurassic Park ride queue at Universal Studios Hollywood with Horror Nights creative director John Murdy.

Re "Computers Push the Limits of Artificial Intelligence" (April 24): We are well into the industrial era. What we have to show for it is a huge percentage of our population that is "redundant" and sitting idle in large ghettos. Most of us are working harder and harder to make ends meet. The promise of industrialism has turned into a nightmare of social disruption and pollution. What on Earth is a smart robot going to do, if it is so smart, besides shut itself down as a favor to mankind.