A new way to think about mental illness (1)
The fact that genetic developments linked to higher intelligence have been dated to around the time of a sudden explosion in the making of more complex tools would appear to be more than a coincidence(18 October, p 6).
What was required in a tool? How and where it would be used? How it could be adapted to suit changing circumstances? These all became compelling questions to ponder.
Could this shift in focus towards planning for the future be the original source of mental illness? As technology and, consequently, life itself have become more complex, we find ourselves forced to make more difficult choices. We agonise over the endless permutations and possible worst-case scenarios.
On the other hand, many animals, if fortunate to survive a predatory pursuit, will appear to chomp away at their food as though nothing had ever happened. I would question whether they have thought deeply beforehand about the actual degree of pain involved in being torn apart, or who would look after the family.
A new way to think about mental illness (2)
I have bipolar disorder. In the modern world, that is often very unhelpful, particularly during hypomanic episodes.
However, in a hunter-gatherer society, I could see these episodes having an advantage. You could stay up all night to watch out for danger. Even the hallucinations that come with psychosis may have been seen as important to a community that believed in communicating with the spirits.
I would say the biggest downside of mental health conditions is living in a society that stigmatises you. If the society embraces your difference, then you can still be a valuable part of the community, and there is no need for evolution to remove those genes from the gene pool.
On the crime and punishment debate (1)
Thank you for Raihan Alam and Tage Rai’s excellent article on how society punishes people. The Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center study showed that offenders who received counselling did far better than those who didn’t. The science shows that kindness leads to a better outcome for all concerned(18 October, p 19).
On the crime and punishment debate (2)
Throughout humankind’s history, we have had to get used to taking high risks simply in order to eat. If it didn’t take risks, the tribe starved. Humanity has evolved to live with risks as a part of normal life. So the idea that criminals are deterred by the fairly low risk of being caught and consequently punished is essentially flawed.
On the crime and punishment debate (3)
On the main subject of untethering punishment from profit, I think the easiest way to remove any perception of authorities fining people in order to fill financial holes would be to fine them and burn the money. Then the criminal would be punished but the punisher wouldn’t profit.
Ghosts and spirits in the marshes
As your article states, it is very likely that will-o'-the-wisps are caused by the ignition of methane or phosphine when bubbles of these merge(11 October, p 19).
High-speed propellers and pumps are affected by cavitation when the blades are travelling so fast that bubbles of vapour appear and collapse very rapidly. This violent bubble collapse can lead to extremely high pressures, temperatures and shock waves. This would also ignite the flammable gases produced by the decomposition of the organic material in the marsh and explain the “ghosts and spirits in marshes”.
This does not, of course, imply that other apparitions are not to blame for some of the sightings, especially at Halloween!
Life in plastic is not at all fantastic
I read with concern that research scientists have developed a stronger, tougher plastic. Why? Plastics contribute massively to greenhouse gas emissions, pollute the oceans and kill wildlife. We should be phasing out plastics, not inventing more(4 October, p 12).
Some animals do, in fact, like it hot
James Wong describes the use of chilli powder to deter wildlife from eating plants in the home garden. I too thought it was a good idea when ring-tailed possums discovered my rhubarb patch. Yet they seemed to enjoy the treat even more. It seems Australian wildlife is tougher than those European wimps. I moved the patch(18 October, p 44).
The benefits of selective hearing
The short article by Caroline Williams about the selective detection of sounds was of particular interest to me as one who depends significantly on hearing aids(11 October, p 20).
The problem is that in, say, the dining area of a pub, the aids will selectively home in on what happens to be the loudest sound at the time, so loud voices or loud laughter at nearby tables means that my own table’s conversation can be quite drowned out.
If I turn off my aids, my level of hearing drops significantly, but I am then 鈥� to a small degree 鈥� able to benefit from the effect described by Williams.
Who needs to make sacrifices for the climate?
Vincent Flood, in Illinois, US, pins inordinate faith on geoengineering to keep our planet in a habitable state 鈥� partly, it seems, because you can’t “tell people in low-income countries they can’t have air conditioning or cars…”. But people in low-income countries currently aren’t the biggest problem. The people who do have to be forced to quickly give up most of their cars and flights are those living in the richest countries, like mine, and Vincent’s.
The poisonous effects of a poor performance
Graham Lawton writes about the conspiracy theory that bad actors are using aircraft contrails to poison us. I have experienced the discomfort caused by ham acting in the theatre, but was surprised that bad actors could poison the upper atmosphere as well(11 October, p 26).