We do have free will, but we are squandering it
Does free will exist? A simple thought experiment confirms it, surely. If every action we make is predetermined by the laws of physics, then it is possible to imagine constructing a computer that could predict what I will do at a particular moment. When I hear that prediction, I am then able to do something different. Whatever the computer says the predetermined act is, I will exercise my freedom of choice to counter it(7 June, p 8).
The real question is why, when we have the freedom and the power to choose to sustain the life of the planet that has given us so much, are we failing so miserably?
On the strange idea that space-time can remember (1)
Some believe religion promises immortality. Others trust their descendants to provide it, and a few hope their works of art will earn it. However, the existence of a non-physical “soul” is fraught with problems, while physical descendants and creations can take you only so far(21 June, p 32).
However, according to Florian Neukart’s hypothesis, actions, once performed, can’t be unperformed. They are now history and can’t be erased from the memory of space-time. Might this be how our legacy persists?
On the strange idea that space-time can remember (2)
Neukart writes about his idea, quantum memory matrix (QMM), and his “suspicion that the whole of cosmic history is, in some sense, baked into space” as “we know information cannot be destroyed”.
Could this idea perhaps ultimately lead to a “scientific” explanation of phenomena that, up to now, have been considered supernatural? We should recall that many phenomena, such as solar eclipses, the cycle of the seasons and more, were once regarded as supernatural, only to be explained as science developed.
On the strange idea that space-time can remember (3)
Whether Neukart’s wider idea has any validity or not, just because some mathematical framework works for qubits in a computer, it doesn’t go any way to proving that space-time itself consists of a completely different type of qubit.
On the strange idea that space-time can remember (4)
I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the QMM idea and the concept of the Akashic record: a compendium of all things, present and future, held on a non-physical plane, proposed in connection with the religious movement of theosophy in the late 19th century. I wonder if the proponents of QMM have already realised this conceptual similarity.
This is why no one truly gets quantum physics
Surely the reason Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics, the title of a book you reviewed, is that attempts to describe and understand this part of physics in terms that make sense at the level of everyday experience are fraught. This shouldn’t be a surprise 鈥� there is clearly a deep and mysterious substructure that underpins the macroscopic world. The best we can probably do is to “shut up and calculate”. That is because the maths works, at least in those contexts where we can check it(7 June, p 26).
Put brain-waste massage idea to the razor test
If Gou Young Koh and his colleagues want to find out if massaging the faces of people helps flush waste from their brains, as they found it does in mice, they could look for differences between the brains of deceased men who shaved every day and those who had well-grown beards. While the results would be sex-biased, and may be easier to do with certain nationalities, they could provide a quick preliminary check as to whether this works(14 June, p 11).
Let's get serious about the rise of Lyme disease
In light of the findings of the study you mention that found 15 per cent of the global population have Lyme antibodies, it is perhaps no surprise to read that Lyme disease bacteria can persist in the body. The high seroprevalence indicates that asymptomatic people also have these antibodies. An unknown number of them won’t know they harbour the infection. Researcher Richard Marconi singles out the northern hemisphere as being particularly prone to this. Arguably, then, wealthy, high-income nations need to be very aware of the risks(21 June, p 36).
That false negative testing occurs, that some people who have been fully treated still find themselves ill, won’t be news to Lyme patients. It reflects what they have been saying for years.
There is no place for the complacency that UK patients have been subject to. Planning, in light of Lyme disease and the many other vector-borne diseases, must step up a gear as temperatures increase.
Time to stop using mouthwash?
In your look at the importance of the microbiome of the small intestine, you quote Gray Frost as saying that “most of these microorganisms are derived from the oral microbiome”. In which case, maybe we should question the use of things like mouthwash(21 June, p 40).
One of the greatest smells in the known universe
One of the most pleasant smells in my life is your magazine! I look forward to its scent immensely and get to sniffing it as soon as the freshly printed pages arrive. I hope this counts as the smell therapy you wrote about, and that I am staving off dementia by doing so(24 May, p 30).
Two more ways to keep the tears from your eyes (1)
During the years that I was wearing hard, gas-permeable contact lenses, I had no problem cutting onions without crying(24 May, p 12). It must be the iris and the pupil, in particular, that are affected by onion particles, right?
Two more ways to keep the tears from your eyes (2)
Keep onions in the fridge and chop them while they are cold. It seems to do the trick to avoid tears.