Editor's pick: More evidence of volcanic impact on England
David Hoey discusses the impact a volcanic event at Laki in Iceland may have had on the English countryside (Letters, 17/24/31 December 2016). I have some parts of the memorandum book kept by a gentleman farmer in Goxhill called Thomas Hardy and later by his son. It recorded the day-to-day transactions of their farm.
I have extracted from it information on yield and prices for arable crops during the years 1781 to 1786. The recorded total yields of wheat, barley, beans and in some years also oats were 14.96, 14.0, 6.74, 16.37, 15.48 and 12.91 tons. This reveals the effect that the 1783 Laki eruption had on this farm: at 6.74 tons, yield was half the six-year average.
In addition to its arable land the village had large areas of meadow and grazing, which probably mitigated the effect upon livestock. Hoey observed “drastic changes” in buildings on a farm in Cheshire. Buildings in Goxhill weren't substantial, as there was no good local stone or durable timber, and local manufacture of bricks and tiles was just beginning.
Don't blame AI coders, prejudice is in the data
Aviva Rutkin suggests that lazy coding is teaching software to be sexist (17/24/31 December 2016, p 19). I contend that algorithms aren't biased, but the data is. The bias shown by artificial intelligences may point to institutionalised sexism and racism in society at large.
It isn't the coding that is lazy, but the curation and classification of data. I believe the unconscious (and conscious) biases of those assembling and using the data are being exposed.
Some chat in the darker corners of the internet shows there are people who would be happy to propagate such bias.
As AI becomes a bigger part of our lives, I think it will become ever more important to assess the bias it shows – or uncovers.
Don't blame AI coders, prejudice is in the data
As a software developer I am incensed by the suggestion that “lazy coders” are to blame for sexist software output. Removing biases such as gender bias from existing bodies of data would be a big challenge. Most businesses would reject such a project on the basis of cost. The headline “Profit-driven business is teaching software to be sexist” would be closer to the truth.
First class post
Politicians wanting to look over papers before being published is a nightmare
Natasha-Belle Hancock to suggestions that US scientists learn from Canada (4 February, p 25)
Welcome to the internet of pro-privacy states
You report Elon Musk's ambition to launch 4425 satellites to provide internet access to the world (26 November 2016, p 7). Should he succeed, and should he base his business in a nation with little regard for monitoring the net (21 January, p 22), would traffic on his network evade all government monitoring?
Fair pay, the value of work and tax avoidance
John Hockaday seeks alternative ways to introduce fairness into income levels (Letters, 14 January). This is the centenary year of the that led to the UK government setting up Joint Industrial Councils, which developed into wage negotiating bodies.
The government at the time, under Prime Minister Lloyd George, arguably had a basic sense of fairness. It also realised that the troops about to return from the trenches of the first world war would be in no mood to accept a return to the old order.
The councils required every employed person in effect to answer two questions. The first is that of market forces: what can the enterprise afford to pay? The second is much more searching: the value of their contribution to the well-being of society at large.
This notion of “value” isn't wild outrageous idealism – the UK Equal Pay Act determines that workers have the right to equal pay for “work of equal value”.
Today, disparity in incomes has virtually returned to the levels it reached then. Is it perhaps time to revive Whitley?
Fair pay, the value of work and tax avoidance
Hockaday suggests that an 85 per cent marginal tax rate should be imposed on individuals earning more than A$200,000 and companies with profits of more than A$2,000,000 to fund health, education, welfare and other good things.
If I earned more than A$200,000 (which I do not), I would immediately find an accountant to ensure that my taxable income never exceeded the threshold. Or I could emigrate: when the taxation gets tough, the rich get going – to a country with lower taxes.
Spot, thief! The limits of artificial crime detection
So computer vision systems can tell innocent from suspicious behaviour (14 January, p 14)? Some years ago I ran into a town centre car park to renew a ticket, only to be forcibly apprehended by two police officers chasing a shoplifter who took cover amid the cars.
If our highly trained law enforcement officers working face-to-face can mistake an identity, how will automated systems working at a distance fare?
Beware parasitical artificial intelligence
Greg Nuttgens thinks AI won't take over soon because it can't make a body for itself (Letters, 7 January). Perhaps. But we should remember that many life forms – possibly even DNA – started off as parasites. No parasite sets out to kill its host, either as an individual or a species, but it may change its host's health and behaviour. And, as with any organism, a parasite's basic aim is simple: to replicate.
Call Affordable Care Act by its proper name
You often refer to “Obamacare” (for example 21 January, p 6). That epithet was coined by Republicans who, having passed in both the US Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, decided they despised their handiwork.
They have chosen to blame it on (then) President Barack Obama, despite passing it by large enough majorities to override any veto. The proper short name for this law is the Affordable Care Act.
You are a different kind of physics genius
Richard Webb, considering the proposition “You are a physics genius”, writes: “our physics engine is programmed with the equations of classical mechanics” (10 December 2016, p 28). It is highly improbable that our brains use these equations to solve the problems of our motions in the physical world, and far more likely that neural networks or other mechanisms in the brain adapt to our sense experience and build suitable response patterns. That is why we need time to learn when adapting to situations such as riding a bicycle or moving in free fall in orbit. Such a mechanism would also allow our brains to achieve shorter response times than would be possible when using classical mechanics.
Blame where blame's due for painkillers
What exactly are “codeine-related deaths” (7 January, p 6)? Obviously they are regrettable, but how many are caused by codeine itself, and how many by substances that are mixed with codeine in over-the-counter preparations, such as paracetamol?
And as for it being a “rubbish” painkiller: if we banned every drug that “doesn't help people as much as they think it does” we would have few medicines left.
The editor writes:
• A study found that paracetamol or ibuprofen was involved in 55 per cent of the 1200 codeine-related deaths recorded in Australia between 2000 and 2013 (Medical Journal of Australia, ). But it's the codeine that's addictive and contributes to people consuming too much paracetamol or ibuprofen.
Have we found the very latest quantum food fad?
Penny Sarchet reports that exposure to soil may be key to a healthily diverse microbiome (14 January, p 28). Alongside this you answer the question “Should I wash food?” with “raw fruit and vegetables – yes”.
So do vegetables have to be simultaneously clean and dirty, to nurture an optimum microbiome? Should we, in fact, seek out Schrödinger's carrot?
The editor writes:
• This is indeed a conundrum. Exposure to soil seems to be good for children, but it carries the risk of infection with disease-causing bacteria too.
Monogamy is for the birds, or maybe not
David Bird claims that gray jays form pair bonds and don't cheat (7 January, p 24). Almost every time this assertion has been made about a species, subsequent observation or DNA profiling has shown that the so-called monogamous creatures are happy to “play away” regularly.
Still, loyalty has many interpretations and I hope the gray jay gains acceptance as Canada's national bird.
Fearing the shortest of geological epochs
The proposal to label the present as a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – is gaining ground (3 September 2016, p 7). Recent news suggests that it might be the shortest geological age.
Synthetic meat offers surprising possibilities
Sandrine Ceurstemont reports on home-brew synthetic meat (14 January, p 44). Assuming stem cells can be harvested without any harm, why stop at beef, pork and turkey? Couldn't we circumvent the bias against eating some species? People with allergies might brew their own stem cells.