Exploring the maze of consciousness (3)
Robert Lawrence Khun’s article on the landscape of consciousness certainly engaged my brain, so I came down on the side of thinking that is where my consciousness lies, therefore making it a biological problem(25 October, p 36).
But that still leaves a lot of questions to answer. When, at school in the 1960s, I dissected an earthworm to view its nervous system, had it been conscious? Was there a point during the evolution of animals when the nervous system developed the ability to become conscious?
One of the few things we know about consciousness is that it is “soluble” in ether. As is pain. Fortunately, the rest of the nervous system keeps working so, in the operating theatre, the heart still beats and the lungs still breathe. What does that say about the relationship between a functioning nervous system and consciousness? Are consciousness and pain somehow related? I don’t know!
Exploring the maze of consciousness (1)
Just as G枚del’s incompleteness theorems show that no number system can fully describe itself, it seems clear from Kuhn’s excellent survey of the field that whatever consciousness is, ours cannot fully understand itself. How about we just drop the whole field and concentrate on more solvable things?
Let's hear it for the horror fans (1)
Coltan Scrivner is right that horror helps us “find meaning, connection and even growth in the face of our deepest fears”. It is important that the hero escapes, as Odysseus (but not all his men) did from the Cyclops and the horrors of being locked in a dark place, ahead of being eaten. I once told that story to my 7-year-old granddaughter, not realising that her younger sister was also in the room(25 October, p 17). At suppertime, it was the 3-year-old who said, “Grandma, will you tell me again the story of the giant with one big round eye?”
Let's hear it for the horror fans (2)
I don’t recognise the profiling of horror film fans suggested by Scrivner. There is a missing category: the staple thrill of hoping 鈥� or at least trying to work out 鈥� which character survives the zombies, razor-sharp pendulums, or the end of life as we know it, rather than morbid curiosity. I’d put myself in this category and would present a control for my experiment: my wife, who hates horror films. While I’m getting my fix, she watches true-crime shockers on an adjacent screen.
Going beyond counting constants
The article by Jacklin Kwan on the number of fundamental constants there are (or should be) raises an important issue that cuts to the heart of physical theory: are constants genuine features of nature, or are they artefacts of our descriptive language?
It seems to me that the answer lies not in counting constants, but in asking what role they play. Every physical “constant” serves one of two purposes: either it fixes a scale that converts between human-defined units, or it encodes a deeper invariance that remains when the units are stripped away. Only the second category deserves to be called fundamental(18 October, p 40).
The solution to the carbon-capture conundrum?
David Flint is right that we need to remove carbon dioxide from the air in order to keep the world at a good temperature. The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is to harvest biomass. The biomass can be stored as it is or transformed into another form, like charcoal, or even burned while capturing the carbon dioxide in a much more effective absorption tower(Letters, 25 October).
Revenge never tasted so sweet
I cannot help feeling that making coffee with beans from civet “scat” was originally done for revenge, bullying or a joke. My guess is that a disliked manager, or annoying colleague, was given a cup as a joke or a dare, and surprisingly, really liked it(1 November, p 17).
Exploring the maze of consciousness (2)
There is no doubt consciousness requires a brain, but the brain is subservient to the gut, which evolved first. If you find this difficult to accept, stop eating for more than a day and then record what your consciousness focuses on.
Don't forget nature's less adorable animals
The two baby numbats from New South Wales are indeed “adorable”. Even the adults are adorable, as my wife and I can attest from our rare roadside sighting in the Dryandra National Park in Western Australia. This gives me a neat segue into a personal observation that many people who claim to be nature lovers are in fact attracted to nature largely by prettiness(18 October, p 5). Would those same people be as driven to donate towards the preservation of at-risk but ugly creatures?
An unexpected benefit of shaving?
Carissa Wong mentions face rolling and facial massage as alleged ways of boosting our lymphatic system. I use an electric razor to shave each day, which seems to replicate her description of what one might do with a jade rolling pin(25 October, p 28). Because I am quite vigorous with my use of my electric razor, does that mean I am massaging my facial lymphatic system already, benefiting from my mode of shaving in a way I never anticipated?
Chilli powder vs. the cat next door
I have for many years used chilli powder as a (not very effective) cat repellent. But some chilli powders contain salt, which kills the plants. And, except this year, the rain eventually washes it away from the paths. So the ginger bruiser next door that ignores the ultrasound just turns its nose up at me(18 October, p 44).
For the record
Eating leafy green vegetables reduces the body’s dietary acid load, meaning it makes it more alkaline (18 October, p 33).