Global catastrophes also threaten to destroy hope
Graham Lawton refers to the latest catastrophe we face 鈥� Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 鈥� and the dire environmental and humanitarian consequences (26 March, p 28). There is another insidious and pervasive impact of crises, global warming chief among them. It is the emotional toll, the erosion of long-term expectations that were once taken for granted.
The assumptions that we could undertake years of study to achieve a qualification, confidently commit to decades of paying a mortgage to buy a house and raise a child in a stable environment have been severely shaken. A different mindset is developing and it is one beset by pessimism. Worst of all, there doesn’t seem to be the leadership to provide a solution.
A site for UK nuclear waste? I pick London
Further to your look at the rising cost of a proposed underground deposit for nuclear waste in the UK, the site remains undecided (5 March, p 19). Nuclear waste needs to be buried in a rock that is impermeable, flexible (so it won’t form fissures through which material can leak), of reasonable depth and with good transport links. The London Clay would seem to be ideal.
Martin Rees gives us some very wise words
The interview with Astronomer Royal Martin Rees is a gem, sparkling with wisdom (12 March, p 46). While we are currently witnessing all too clearly the shortcomings of Homo sapiens, the idea he raises that our civilisation may be usurped quite soon by electronic entities, or other complex intelligence, is actually heartening.
Although there is an increasing awareness among some that a drastic reduction of the human population would spare Earth, Rees’s vision gives us hope that the planet won’t have to wait millions of years for a cataclysmic ice age or asteroid collision to achieve this.
Pandemic niceties may not last for that long
I think we will be fighting a losing battle if we expect personal responsibility on coughing and sneezing in public to endure (19 March, p 27).
I recall a public health campaign in the UK about 75 years ago, when I was about 10. Through directives, humour, jingles and slogans, it aimed to stop people spreading infections 鈥� which cause lost time at work 鈥� and thus delaying their part in “economic reconstruction” after the second world war.
That message didn’t lead to a long-lasting change in behaviour. It seems cultural transmission doesn’t operate when it comes to respiratory tract infections.
Language was surely the bedrock of early humans
Your look at the evolution of language reminded me how amazing it is that most infants start to speak so early and how quickly motor and intellectual development of speech outstrips all other skills (26 March, p 38). Speech must have been a very early development in the evolution of our species.
Stone Age peoples would have spoken 19 to the dozen. It is only our arrogance, ignorance and prejudices that lead us to assume they were primitive, and physically and intellectually stunted.
A world without rabbits would be just fine by me
I disagree with Graham Lawton, rabbits should be eradicated (19 March, p 43). If places outside Australia and New Zealand want to have limited populations of these pests, that would be their choice.
Another reason not to go down nuclear power road?
For proponents of nuclear power, Russia’s shelling of nuclear sites in Ukraine has shown that no reactor can be safe (19 March, p 7). You can’t design against military ignorance: attacking reactors, severing grid connections, threatening all with severe contamination worse than that of the Chernobyl disaster.
If hit by hypersonic missiles that can outrun defence systems and breach all containment, any working reactor or waste facility instantly becomes a dirty bomb.
True AI can only succeed if we capture life's mystery
“Making a mind” asks whether psychology or neuroscience is best for making artificial intelligence that thinks like us (19 February, p 38). The quest, I believe, lies more in translating into AI the mystery of life’s purpose and how we interact with all living things 鈥� not “merely” copying the brain’s complexity.
Does a mountain view really lead to generosity?
Jess Craig tells us that people exposed to awe-inducing stimuli, such as sweeping panoramic videos of mountains, were more likely to act more generously (5 March, p 44).
Does this mean that peoples who permanently inhabit such vistas, such as the Swiss, can be distinguished from the rest of us by their inherent generosity?
Deep freeze will dispatch your slugs and snails
After amassing slugs and snails using Rory Mc Donnell’s bread-ball bait, the question arises of “termination” (5 March, p 48). I use a method I learned decades ago from a gentle but determined gardener. Collect your molluscs into a bag, seal it and place in the freezer where they naturally “go to sleep”.