Editor's pick: Dial M for morality in a driverless car
While reading Abigail Beall's analysis of the ethics of self-driving cars, it occurred to me that one way to help would be to set the default mode to “full altruist”, which would involve sacrificing the occupants to prevent a collision (21 October 2017, p 11).
To change this default, the driver would need to accept limitations on the performance of the vehicle, with these chosen to reduce the likelihood that it would be involved in a crash. So it might be directed to travel more slowly, or enter intersections more cautiously, for example, or take other measures to avoid situations in which a crash might be more likely or more consequential for others.
Going progressively further toward the “full egoist” end of the scale would require greater limitations on the vehicle. This would introduce some measure of responsibility for avoiding the need to sacrifice someone else. I don't think it would greatly increase the complexity of the underlying code, but it might increase the complexity of the decision-making when choosing the setting.
Fresh thinking needed on dark matter mystery
Gilead Amit describes various explanations to account for the expansion of the universe, and concludes with the quote that “none of it feels right” (9 December 2017, p 28).
I would go further: these explanations remind me of nothing so much as phlogiston or the luminiferous ether – other arbitrary inventions with no physical basis conjured up to explain observations that contradicted existing assumptions.
I wonder if there might be alternative explanations that re-examine the assumptions being made. What if one or more fundamental constants, such as the speed of light or the gravitational constant, varied across time or space, for example?
While these might be unpleasant alternatives, at least we wouldn't have to invoke energy and matter that we can't detect to make our models work.
First class post
From
Told you they were useful for something Michael Rozdoba on the news that sperm have been weaponised in the fight against cervical cancer (23/30 December 2017, p 17)
First class post
While any attempt to shed some light on the origins of dark matter and dark energy is to be welcomed, I would point out that the article by Gilead Amit failed to mention the recent paper by André Maeder of Geneva Observatory, Switzerland, which suggests that both of these may be due to the scale invariance of empty space (The Astrophysical Journal, ).
This proposal avoids both the requirement for a zoo of missing particles as well as an implausible value of the Einstein cosmological constant 120 orders of magnitude larger than the observed one.
The pervasive problems of groupthink
In your article on counterfactual beliefs, you don't discuss the evidence that there is no God, but simply point out that many people have committed atrocities in the name of religion (16 December 2017, p 28).
This doesn't disprove God's existence, any more than atrocities committed in the name of socialism disprove left-wing economics. As violent and intolerant acts can be committed by people with left-wing or right-wing views, and by those who either do or do not believe in God, they are more likely to be the result of other mental traits discussed in your article, such as tribalism and stereotyping.
Without the assumption that my tribe is different to the ones other people belong to, believing that God loves me would make me more likely to think that God probably loves everyone else and wants me to love them as well.
As Stephen Jay Gould concluded, the fact that some scientists believe in God, some don't and some believe we cannot know suggests that science and religion may be non-overlapping magisteria.
The pervasive problems of groupthink
Your feature on stereotypes seems to have fallen victim to the same phenomenon. I notice that in the diagram on the four categories stereotyping can take, those with disabilities are classed exclusively as low-status non-competitors who trigger feelings of pity.
However, those of us with mobility disabilities will be aware that the sight of someone with a disability using reserved disabled seating, a “blue badge” for parking in special bays or a Motability rental car all too often provokes envy, or worse, rather than pity.
Perhaps the research needs to consider national or cultural differences, or indeed history. I fear at this time of year, the ghost of Tiny Tim haunts the pages of 快猫短视频.
Environmental fighters are on the ropes
Your recent leader suggests that we should be optimistic about the future of the biosphere (9 December 2017, p 5). I don't share this optimism.
When I graduated in the late 1960s, nobody was an “environmentalist” – the concept didn't then exist. However, my career has led me down a path that identified me as an environmental scientist. In this role, I have worked in many countries, for client, consultant and contractor, to champion the environmental cause.
Sadly, the overall impact that I have had has been pitiful, a sentiment shared by my peers. We haven't been effective, despite a strong desire to protect our planet. Simply put, the power brokers, developers, politicians and investors have done little more than pay lip service to the environmental cause.
The adage that every victory is temporary and every defeat is permanent summarises the view of those who care about our planet. In more than 40 years, I have seen many defeats and very few victories. The health of the biosphere isn't going to get better, only the rate of deterioration can be ameliorated by those who care, and there are precious few of us with any power to affect change.
Where are the leaders who advocate a better environment for our children?
No sex please, we're viruses
Unfortunately, the idea of an “extinction drive” won't work for poliovirus, as suggested by Bruce Denness (Letters, 16 December 2017). The method is based on sexual reproduction, and a virus doesn't reproduce sexually.
On the hunt for Japan's master setters
I just finished reading Douglas Heaven's review of Puzzle Ninja, Alex Bellos's book on Japan's brain-teaser industry and the enigmatologists who power it (2 December 2017, p 46).
Though I have been spared an addiction to the country's most successful export, sudoku, I recently downloaded an app called Logic Games and find myself playing it at odd times of the day. As its tag states, it truly is a time killer.
I checked the credits and sure enough, most of the puzzles are credited to the magazine Nikoli and Miyamoto, one of the puzzle masters mentioned by Heaven in his review.
Can big tech shield us from cyberweapons?
Your analysis about the situation we all may be facing from cyberweapons gave me much food for thought, particularly concerning the limited efficacy of various governmental and international agencies in dealing with it (9 December 2017, p 22).
The role of international governmental organisations such as NATO and the United Nations will always be key to controlling cyberweapons. However, as these directly threaten the internet and various computer systems, is this perhaps something that might best be solved by major companies such as Microsoft and Google?
I can envisage these companies setting up a joint agency that would hire the very best experts to research weaknesses and threats, and find solutions to those issues that ultimately threaten their customers and therefore their businesses. This agency would avoid sometimes inappropriate and conflicting government agendas.
Government organisations that create and distribute cyberweapons, even accidentally, would have much to fear from such a privately funded agency, which could provide strong independent evidence and advice to NATO, the UN and others.
I don't generally see corporate agendas as possible routes to salvation, but in this case, they might be.
Signalling other planets is a dangerous gamble
Douglas Vakoch glibly dismisses fears that sending signals to other worlds might pose a risk to Earth (2 December 2017, p 24). Quite a few illustrious thinkers disagree with him, including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Geoff Marcy. They believe that deliberate transmissions of this sort are too dangerous and so we shouldn't send them.
It is the height of irresponsible arrogance for Vakoch to override such concerns and broadcast nevertheless, as he has just done. He is gambling the entire future of humanity upon his personal assessment of the risk posed. Such unilateral action is completely unacceptable and ought to be illegal.
Prices that turn quicker than an avocado
I was saddened to read that David E. H. Jones, better known on these pages as Daedalus, had passed away (Old 快猫短视频, 2 September 2017). In the past, Daedalus was always my first port of call when reading 快猫短视频.
One story stuck with me. He described a supermarket where the price of articles changed as they were sold. If something was selling quickly the price went up, and went down if it wasn't moving. I seem to remember reading this when computerised supermarkets weren't common. A good bit of prediction.