Editor's pick: Neural correlates of consciousness and a theory of mind solution (1)
Catherine de Lange discusses the hunt to understand consciousness (30 June, p 30). It may not be particularly tangible. Consciousness is associated with the information patterns carried by nerve signals. It is what information feels like when it reaches a certain kind of complexity.
In artificial intelligence research, neural networks try to mimic the way the brain works by making huge numbers of connections between nodes. Machine learning distributes its discoveries across this network in an impenetrable manner, analogous to the way a hologram distributes every part of an image across the whole recording. Neither can be understood by analysing what each node or pixel is doing. This suggests that the physical “seat” of any particular information in the brain may be widely diffuse.
Two identical neural networks presented with the same learning material and procedure will develop different connection patterns. We also know that people can differ widely in the way their brains develop and learn to respond to stimuli: for example people who are blind may process touch data within their optical cortex. So the physical seat of consciousness may be moveable, diverse and of no real value to cognitive science. Unless we are brain surgeons, we would do better to focus on the information.
Editor's pick: Neural correlates of consciousness and a theory of mind solution (2)
De Lange's summary of consciousness studies could have been subtitled: “how to be conscious about thinking”. Having a theory of mind –”I think that you think…” – is a well-understood concept applied to many social primates, including humans. Doesn't it also apply to our sense of self? If we hypothesise our thoughts and feelings in the same way as we do others', the “mystery” of consciousness disappears – it's simply how we think we are thinking.
Cataloguing climate change contributions
Roger Taylor suggests compiling a list of all the things that might be contributing to climate change (Letters, 25 June). There is already such a list, and it also shows how to reduce emissions already in the atmosphere, with rankings, costs and benefits, in great detail. Paul Hawken's book Drawdown has a website at .
First class post 鈥� 11 August 2018
It's sad how secret miscarriages are, or how much they are viewed as a taboo
Gachiru to the news that women have more miscarriages than live births over their lifetimes (4 August, p 8)
Autism, acceptance and altering attention
Your interview with Anna Remington mostly does a good job of describing the strengths as well as the difficulties associated with autism, and helps counteract the negativity of much writing about autism and autistic people (14 July, p 32). But I am bewildered by the idea that it is the result of too much unoccupied attention. Most autistic people would tell you the opposite, and years of research backs up the idea that we have very focused, uni-directional attention capacity, so asking anything extra of us tends to show that we can't divide our attention between stimuli.
I am very absorbed, focused and “in the zone” when writing an academic essay, to the point that it is painful to emerge. Yet if someone parks their car outside with the radio on, I cannot process that stimulus and keep up concentration. That asks too much of me, not too little.
Anna Remington writes:
• We still don't fully understand attention, but our research and that of others suggests at any one time, rather than having unoccupied attention. This extra attentional capacity can result in useful skills, but, as your experience shows, may also lead to distraction. Many autistic people have told us that this concept of increased capacity – with its positive and negative consequences – fits with their sensory experiences.
Intelligence scores, correlation and cause
Linda Geddes writes that around 50 per cent of the difference in intelligence between people is due to genetics (21 July, p 33). There is certainly a correlation, but correlation does not necessarily imply cause. Indeed, you took a different approach in an article on sexism, arguing that the cultural amplification of small biological differences results in a huge gap between how men and women think of themselves (21 April, p 37).
I argue that genetic differences in intelligence are amplified by the environment, through interactions such as praise, motivation and opportunity. This seems entirely consistent with the observations.
In particular, it immediately explains why the correlation between genes and IQ becomes stronger with age, which is otherwise difficult to understand.
It matters what kind of jobs robots aren't taking
You report a study finding that robots won't be taking our jobs (21 July, p 5). In our societies, where individual welfare is largely determined by having a job, the displacement of human jobs is an important issue.
But the increased spending that is supposed to follow might not be a cause for celebration. Will it have a large ecological footprint and be for the monetary benefit of a few? Or will it fit within the safe space for planetary ecology, and be for the benefit of entire communities, even if that means what some call ““? Jobs are not always a measure of collective progress and well-being. They can be a measure of destruction and misery.
The last thing the world needs is aircon in Canada
Discussing heat-related mortality, Michael Le Page says that more than a dozen deaths have been blamed on a heatwave in Canada (14 July, p 25). He concludes that without air-conditioners, large numbers of people will die in future heatwaves.
Over 50 million people die in the world each year. It's estimated that around a million of these deaths . But at high latitudes, far more people die from cold than from heat. Milder winters may actually reduce overall mortality rates here.
Heatwaves kill increasing numbers, predominantly in the tropics. The last thing the world needs is for Canadians to install air-conditioners.
Did life get started between sheets of clay?
Penny Sarchet discusses whether life may have originated in an ocean vent, a hot spring or a geothermal field (16 June, p 30). What about clay that consists of stacked, charged sheets? The distance between these varies with the amount of water and dissolved ions present, and they can separate completely in brine.
Consider clay that's part of a soil intermittently wetted by rain and tides. Its charged sheets could act like membranes, allowing organic species to assemble, compressing and stabilising them, and then releasing them.
Our Christian duty to our neighbours in time
Katharine Hayhoe's perspective is a welcome Christian insight on approaches to climate change (7 July, p 40). It may be a surprise to some, but Christianity's prime directive is to .
Looking at the current state of play, we have a big problem with this. In terms of the environment, it must be acknowledged that we also have “neighbours in time”, some of whom may, we hope, be our descendants. We are robbing these neighbours blind when we extract resources and fossil energy from the earth.
Then we pass the resulting mess on to them, expecting them to clean up for us or to live with the consequences. Truly, may God forgive us.
More stupidity of smart electricity meters
Colin Foan suggests that smart electricity meters can reduce the problem of peak demand exceeding supply (Letters, 7 July). This would be more directly true if the meters could communicate with smart appliances – for example, to ask your fridge to turn itself down for a while.
The “smart” meters currently being rolled out in the UK have no such capability. No protocol for such interactions has yet been agreed in the UK or EU.
Not only are we wasting money installing the current generation of “smart” meters and throwing away the existing ones, we are going to have to do it all over again in five or 10 years once such a standard is agreed. It would make far more sense to stop the roll-out immediately and resume it only once that's in place.
People picking plastic pollution could get paid
What to do about plastic (19 May, p 25)? On most roads in England I see miles of verge littered with thousands of pieces of plastic, much of which will end up in the rivers and sea. If governments are serious about plastic pollution, why not declare a month in which people bring bags of plastic waste to recycling centres and are paid, say, £1 per kilogram? This could redistribute income too.
Space is the place but Sutherland isn't
Does anyone else question the wisdom of the UK's first spaceport being in the remote Sutherland area of Scotland (21 July, p 5)? Consider the distance that payloads, fuel and staff will have to be transported, and uncertainty over any future relationship with Scotland, given that it may not remain a member of the UK. Sutherland launches will be called off if more than an inch of snow falls or there is wind.
For the record 鈥� 11 August 2018
• The planet 55 Cancri e is nine times as massive as Earth (21 July, p 38).
• The crucifix ground beetle is extinct in many localities but not in the UK as a whole (28 July, p 28).
• Odds off: in the long run, a 50:50 chance of a £6 pay-out should return more than a guaranteed £2.70 per round (21 July, p 10).