Self recognition
At the end of your very interesting exploration of “the self” (23 February, p 32) you slip into the dichotomy of subjective illusion and objective reality, with the self in the first category.
I suggest it is more profitable to remember that objects, from our bodies to quantum dualities, are also constructed by our consciousness via observation. Yet we remain confident these are “real”. So is it unreasonable to say the self is real too?
I think that what is wrong with the metaphors Jan Westerhoff gives for the self is that both a string of pearls and a rope are objects (p 34), but the self is a process.
A better metaphor would be a fountain. The fountain’s shape exists as long as there is water flowing, and ceases when it stops. The self is the shape, not the water. The water represents the operations in the brain. This idea is not mine, but I cannot recall where I first encountered it.
Blind River, Ontario, Canada
Your series of articles opens with the assertion that everyone has a self. Try telling that to a Buddhist. Nowhere is there even a passing reference to the Buddhist idea of anatta 鈥� no self 鈥� nor of its associated analysis of the self into five “heaps” or “skandhas” 鈥� physical body, sensations, emotions, thinking and consciousness 鈥� all impermanent.
鈥� Science does appear to be falling into line with ideas such as these, as well as the arguments of historical thinkers such as the philosopher David Hume with his view of the self as a bundle of sensations. Fortunately, our thinking need no longer be based purely on introspection, and can incorporate what we now know about the brain and how it shapes the mind. Now we can probe our experience of the self in interesting new ways.
A beta way
In his account of the optical illusion known as the beta phenomenon (23 February, p 34), Jan Westerhoff rules out the hypothesis that our brain constructs the image we experience after it has received all the data. He concludes that “there is not enough time for a delay of sufficient length to explain the beta phenomenon” in this way. He bases this assessment on the timing of people’s “conscious responses” to visual stimuli.
However, this seems to neglect the possibility that those supposedly conscious responses were in fact planned and initiated subconsciously while the image that the experimental subjects experienced was still being constructed. Maybe this would mean sufficient delay is possible for the hypothesis he dismisses.
Don’t the processing errors cited by Westerhoff refer to the perception of self, not to the self “itself”? Our perception of the material world is just as shaky, but this doesn’t prove that it doesn’t exist. Far from self being a useful or necessary illusion, maybe we just haven’t cracked it yet.
Self deluding
In your self special (23 February, p 32) you wrote: “Some thinkers even go as far as claiming that there is no such thing as the self.” They think, therefore they are not? I’m reluctant to heed the opinions of a nobody.
Surely the greatest trick the mind has played is to convince people there is no such thing as the self.
Witney, Oxfordshire, UK
Taxing troubles
In his letter, Peter Ryan suggested tackling carbon emissions by making the consumer pay via a direct tax on goods (22/29 December 2012, p 41).
However, like all logical and fair systems there is a downside. Presumably there will be a commission to determine the CAT (carbon added tax) and an appeals tribunal to correct “errors”. This will no doubt be a money-making machine for lawyers and affordable only by wealthy multinational players, who will secure lower CAT for offshore manufacture.
Tribal peace
Fifteen researchers who have worked with the Yanomam枚 Indians for long periods during the past five decades wish to respond to Daniel L. Everett’s review of Napoleon Chagnon’s book Noble Savages (2 February, p 44). All consider the Yanomam枚 to be generally peaceable. As many traditional people do, they occasionally engage in inter-village conflicts, such as ritualised raids and duels.
Yet the number of casualties is extremely low, compared with those resulting from the violence and disease inflicted on the Yanomam枚 by the gold panners and cattle ranchers who invade their lands.
We absolutely disagree with Chagnon’s characterisation of the Yanomam枚 as a fierce, violent and archaic people. We also deplore how governments throughout the years have used such work to deny the Yanomam枚 their land and cultural rights, and may continue to do so.
Material concerns
Paul Marks calls aluminium alloy in aircraft “tried-and-trusted.” Tried? Yes, and revealed as a treacherous material whose strength can be destroyed by a little crack.
If a crack in a stressed section has grown too long it will race across the alloy, snapping it in two. The more heavily and often aluminium is loaded, the more cracks form. Fortunately, we know (very roughly) how many times and how heavily it can safely be stressed, and we inspect it for cracks. Safe use of aluminium results from our distrust of it.
In fibrous materials, from cables of suspension bridges to carbon-fibre-reinforced composites, little cracks do not become catastrophic ones.
Marks reports problems with the Dreamliner aircraft (9 February, p 28) including concerns over extensive use of composite materials. This reminded me of two serious accidents I witnessed while sailing 20,000 nautical miles. One involved a yacht with titanium fittings. The mast came down in a moderate wind, eventually sinking the boat. The other incident was in a storm. A yacht near me had a carbon-fibre mast which snapped.
Both were the result of using high-tech materials that had not been properly tested.
Cape Town, South Africa
鈥� Emerging composites have many advantages. But their very newness is an issue. Certifying them as safe as possible for flight, and maintaining them, is a new discipline in which few people can claim to be experts, as this report from the US General Accounting Office makes clear:
Herd instinct
Further to your interview with Brian Hare on the importance of dog domestication to our own evolution (2 March, p 30). We know that human lifestyles changed from hunter-gatherer to pastoralism. This was a crucial step in human cultural evolution.
The practical possibility, and hence probability, of the advent of pastoralism must have increased when dogs were able to follow human hand and voice signals to help control livestock.
In the past, as now, such working dogs would have been valued and bred, producing selective advantages.
Down the pan
As an organic farmer, I have long argued that we should “close the loop” and return sewage to the land, as advocated in your look at the use of human waste (16 February, p 48).
In the 1980s, such a scheme was promoted in the UK, and we were poised to use treated sludge from a nearby sewage works.
However the project collapsed when analysis of the sludge showed unacceptable levels of heavy metals, including mercury, chromium and cobalt. The most likely sources were considered to be cosmetics, toiletries and paper, with only some from food.
I worry that soil might become contaminated in countries that take this route, especially if environmental standards are lax and increasing affluence leads to more use of such products.
Neanderthal art
If you were a Neanderthal being hounded by humans, what time would you have for child’s play, burial ceremonies or art (23 February, p 28)? To verify this you might compare creative pursuits in the UK during the last war and, say, 10 years later.
Wrong diagnosis
It is interesting that the immune system can be primed to fight off infections that have chemical similarities to those it has already encountered (16 February, p 16).
But does it mean that some people may have been misdiagnosed with chronic diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C because they appear to have antibodies to them?
鈥� The diagnostic tests look for antibodies, and are geared to detect only those that are highly specific for the disease. So a misdiagnosis is unlikely.
Copy that
In your article on Amazon’s plan to enable the sale of second-hand MP3s and ebooks (23 February, p 22) you state that US company ReDigi is selling second-hand e-music, and that “software checks the seller does not retain a copy”.
I understand how it can check for copies in online and cloud-based storage, or even a hard drive and devices linked to the seller’s computer, but what about a spare laptop or digital Walkman?
For the record
鈥� Theories of reality don’t measure up, and neither did our decimal places. We should have said the average density of baryonic or “ordinary” matter in the universe of 0.426 yoctograms per cubic metre equates to 0.25 protons per cubic metre (2 March, p 40).
鈥� Our opinion piece on water grabbing (2 March, p 28) refers to a company called Citygroup. We meant Citigroup.