More activism against horse racing please
Christa Lest茅-Lasserre’s view on the horrific lives of racehorses comes across as a one-sided apology for a brutal sport in which more and more of these animals are injured and die while entertaining human spectators (20 May, p 27).
Activists aren’t to blame for the downsides of horse racing. Their passion and feelings call attention to the rampant abuse of these highly emotional animals, and their concerns can 鈥� and do 鈥� lead to better science.
Plenty of research shows that there is nothing anthropomorphic about viewing horses as animals that feel deeply. Social media isn’t exaggerating the truth of what racehorses are experiencing. The reality is that ever more horses are being killed, and a growing number of people globally are tired of how these animals are being treated as unfeeling objects rather than as sentient beings.
Clearly, animal welfare science has failed these amazing animals. Highly emotional activists are a major reason why more people are learning about, and becoming fed up with, the miserable, largely ignored lives of horses that are trained and raced to death. Let us hope science pays careful attention to what they are saying.
Quantum gravity could do with a rebrand
Jon Cartwright’s discussion of the incompatibility between general relativity (GR) and quantum mechanics (QM) touches on something crucial: stories (13 May, p 38).
GR has a compelling story. It says that what we call “gravitational force” is essentially just objects travelling along the equivalent of straight lines through curved space-time. QM has a counterintuitive story. Can a cat in a box be simultaneously dead and alive? Is this GR’s advantage, or is it better to only ever be assessed on the merits of mathematics, like QM?
When we use the term “quantum gravity”, we give the impression that QM is right and GR is wrong. In fact, we aren’t looking for quantum gravity, we are looking for a new physics theory from which the current maths of QM and GR both emerge.
Therefore, we shouldn’t think about “quantum gravity” at all. We need a better term, one that doesn’t presuppose the starting point of our imaginings.
On the potential power of the new generation of AI (1)
Perhaps we have trouble saying whether AI can be conscious because “consciousness” isn’t a single thing. For example, we all think we recognise grass 鈥� a short, green, blade-shaped, densely packed, fast-growing plant 鈥� but then we have wheat (tall, yellow grass), tussocky grass and artificial grass, which resembles the real thing, but isn’t. There is no such single property as “grass-ness” (Letters, 13 May).
Likewise, consciousness may be defined by several attributes, including self-awareness, the ability to distinguish self from non-self, sensory inputs and the ability to analyse, reason and act on them, as well as the capacity to think abstractly, without relying on the senses at all. AI could be called the artificial grass of consciousness, in that it resembles consciousness but (probably) isn’t.
On the potential power of the new generation of AI (2)
AI will never be able to successfully handle the inherently irrational aspects of human politics and religion. These governing factors of human existence can’t be defined or analysed to result in anything approaching predictive behaviour. For AI to achieve sentience, it must somehow accept irrationality as an element of being, which is impossible for anything based on 1s and 0s.
On the potential power of the new generation of AI (3)
If you are wondering what life will be like once AI becomes all-powerful, just ask any creationist. They have been telling us about a world ruled by an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent non-organic life form for millennia. Start praying.
Why Australia was right to ban the import of vapes
The crucial thing to note is that the import of vaping products is now banned in Australia, which will stop vapes containing nicotine from being sold to children by other children, rather than retailers. Some kids are addicted to nicotine because of the vapes they get from other kids via social media, without needing to buy them in a shop. These vapes are all over schools in New South Wales (13 May, p 20).
Certain vapes that children use are promoted as containing 5 per cent nicotine (50 milligrams per millilitre). Adults looking to replicate the effects of a cigarette usually choose a vape with between 3 and 15 mg of nicotine per ml of vape liquid.
There is now an epidemic of nicotine-addicted children. Their parents are taking them to family doctors for patches and gum.
With AI, history may be repeating itself
John Cherian suggests regulators should limit access to AI to those trained and appointed to use it. This would create a class of people with control over communication between us and our information overlords, and who might demand money and obedience in return for access to it. There are enough historical precedents to show where that would end (Letters, 20 May).
A story I wish I wasn't having to share with you
After two episodes of viral encephalitis, my family noticed in July 2022 that my physical impairment had appeared to progress, while hallucinations and losses of memory had returned.
In February 2023, after a brain biopsy, we learned that this wasn’t a third bout of encephalitis, but a stage 4 glioblastoma. Oddly, there was no direct link, despite the tumour developing for the past six months in the same area where my original brain injury occurred.
Unfortunately, the prognosis is poor, with no treatment options and quick progression. My dream is to appear in 快猫短视频 and share my story 鈥� I wish this wasn’t the story I had to share!
For the record
Of the caves in Caraj谩s National Forest, Brazil, only 10 currently house large bat populations (27 May, p 9).