On the search for answers to the human condition (1)
In her review, Susan Blackmore says she has learned much from my book, but complains there are already many similar accounts of ontological realms, and that I don’t cite them. I do, in fact, cite the ones she mentions, as well as others, and explain why mine is different. My focus is less on cataloguing which realms are present in different animals and more on how our four realms (biological, neurobiological, cognitive and conscious) make us humans what and who we are from moment to moment (25 November, p 28).
On the question of consciousness, she says I did a great job of laying out the groundwork, but don’t get to the deep questions of subjective experience. I intentionally emphasised preconscious processes that take humans to, and across, the finishing line for the various kinds of consciousness we subjectively experience (autonoetic, noetic, anoetic). The virtue of this is that these preconscious processes can be studied similarly in other animals, especially other mammals, to explore the kinds of consciousness they might possess, even if we can’t prove that they also cross the finishing line.
On the search for answers to the human condition (2)
Blackmore describes three approaches to explaining the so-called “hard problem” of consciousness. There is a fourth: that there is no hard problem at all. Though many people still appear to believe that human brains are in some way qualitatively different from those of other animals, I don’t. Isn’t a dog or a crow conscious of itself and its environment? We have big brains, with spare capacity that allows us to ruminate on our existence. That is the only difference.
Let's see the positive in weight-loss drugs
The weight-loss injection Wegovy, if it lives up to expectations and is used widely, can set the imagination racing on possible consequences. Improved health will surely increase average longevity, with implications for pensions and care of the elderly. Lower average passenger weight will result in lower fuel consumption and lower emissions for aircraft. If progress to obesity is averted, fewer purchases of larger clothing will be necessary. On losing weight, many individuals may find it far easier to exercise more, with significant health benefits. The consequences may well affect some industries negatively, particularly those in food production, but the positive consequences are paramount (18 November, p 8 and p 48).
Alien first contact is probably best avoided
You say the search for alien life needs strong guidelines to be sure of what is really out there. Among those guidelines, I would include a caveat: be careful what you wish for. Although my strongest claim to scientific erudition is a barely scraped O level qualification in biology many years ago, I have always had an uncomfortable feeling that alerting any alien civilisations to our existence wouldn’t bode well for us (Leader, 25 November).
The history of humanity has proved over and over that Indigenous populations are treated with contempt by those who discover them, and are at best ruthlessly exploited, at worst, exterminated. This may prove to be a universal truth in the fullest sense of those words and we might be wise to keep a very low profile.
We have messed up the carbon cycle long term
Given the more than 70 per cent reduction in foraminifera shell thickness since 1872 due to ocean acidification, the idea that global temperatures will stop rising in the short term if we manage to get to net zero seems optimistic. oceanic carbon sequestration engine that will need alkalinity levels to return to historical norms, which might take over a century, if not a millennium (18 November, p 11).
Humans are well-equipped to deal with uncertainty
In her review of Naomi Alderman’s The Future, Sally Adee makes the surprising comment that “we are uniquely ill-equipped by evolution to handle uncertainty”. Surely the opposite is true. Our success as a species thus far is based on our enormous flexibility and adaptability that have allowed us to spread everywhere. Time will tell whether we manage to survive the environmental crises of our own devising that we are plunging into, but our proven ability to rise to new challenges perhaps gives us the best chance of doing so. Sadly, many other species 鈥� those less able to live outside the narrow parameters of their niche 鈥� won’t survive if we fail to put a brake on our harmful misuse of the planet (11 November, p 30).
Why do we waste so much water in toilets?
Graham Lawton wrote about the growing worries that a stable supply of clean water around the world is threatened. The flush toilet was the beginning of the downfall of modern society. To mix human faeces with 4 litres of water a few billion times a day is the most heinous rebuff to nature. Never mind that it is treated via costly infrastructure, it is still a colossal degradation of clean water. No municipal treatment will restore the water to its former quality. I have used a composting toilet for many years now, and composting (or municipal biogas) is the only feasible solution for human faeces (26 August, p 36).
There are better ways to get extra lithium
The fly ash left after burning coal only contains a small proportion of lithium. If the ash is used for the extraction of this metal, what will happen to the other 99.8 per cent of this waste, which includes arsenic, lead, mercury, radioactive elements and added chemicals used in the extraction? Fly ash is a major environmental issue, but mining it for 0.2 per cent of its content could make the problem worse, especially when recycling used lithium would be a superior alternative to boost supplies (18 November, p 22).
For the record
In our look at links between Huntington’s disease and IQ (25 November, p 10), a study in August focused on young adults who were alive, while research supporting toxicity of the Huntington’s protein involved animal models and lab-grown neurons.