What cat acrobatics can teach us about agency
Regarding your article “What makes a mind?”, until recently it was thought that the life process originated as some kind of accident of thermodynamics, and that “agency” (and consciousness) arose as a by-product of this. But when, for example, I see a cat doing acrobatics on a garden fence, I know for certain that the laws of physics couldn’t have predicted this. The cat is clearly acting with intent and knows what it is doing. Actions like this are an everyday occurrence (14 February, p 32).
Clearly, something else is going on in addition to the known physical laws. It is apparent to me that agency 鈥� whatever this might be 鈥� is fundamental to the workings of the universe, and that the laws of physics (as we understand them) are simply what happens when agency doesn’t intervene.
Our perception of time is different for us all (1)
It has always been a supposition of mine that our perception of time has a biological basis. I believe, like Robert Checchio says in his letter, that when engaged in boring activities, clock-watching seems to slow the pace of time. Likewise, excitement makes the clock go faster. Could it be that when we are excited, time “seems to stand still”? This might explain why, during moments of high stress, we perceive everything in much more vivid detail (Letters, 14 February). Could adrenaline be a factor?
Could it be this biological phenomenon that allows trained athletes to perform feats of incredible dexterity because their perception of time slows down accordingly? People involved in accidents often report seeing things happening in slow motion. When highly aroused, we are able to perceive things in much greater detail as our “refresh-rate” of vision increases.
Our perception of time is different for us all (2)
My personal experience of time certainly differs radically from what I see the clock recording. The older I get, the more rapidly Saturdays seem to come round, and doing anything practical makes time fly past before I finish it. My memory for some things that happened long ago is as sharp as a pin, whereas great swathes of my professional career have disappeared like snow in summer. I cannot speed up my thinking processes. I just hand the question to my brain and hope it comes up with the answer eventually 鈥� sometimes minutes, hours or even days later. Clocks are just interesting artefacts that live in a world of their own. Ageing goes in stops and starts, rather than continuously.
Why exercise doesn't (always) help weight loss
As a keen long-distance cyclist, my experience (admittedly a single datum point) is that in the months when conditions allow plenty of long rides, my weight always drops by several kilograms. Unfortunately, outside those months, it creeps back up. Evidence that this isn’t simply a seasonal effect comes from last summer, where multiple heatwaves meant far fewer miles than normal and virtually no weight loss. So I would caveat this as “Why exercise doesn’t (always) help weight loss” (14 February, p 10).
Sometimes the shortest stories are the best
As usual, I enjoyed Emily H. Wilson’s review of the books Vigil and The Rainseekers. However, I don’t generally find novellas or even short stories unsatisfying. Some of the most-praised science-fiction stories of all time, such as The War of the Worlds and The Day of the Triffids, are very slim volumes compared with today’s doorstop paperbacks. When I was in my teens, I would easily consume one of these in a night, and I can still do so in about a week, now that I have less time and don’t read as fast as I once did. I, Robot and many other classic mid-20th-century authors’ books are anthologies of short stories, originally published in sci-fi magazines, and are none the worse for their brevity (14 February, p 26).
The economic secret behind good health
This latest attempt to link creativity with health, as discussed in “Want to stay healthy? Get creative”, once again ignores the common denominator of all the other likely links, from exercise to the consumption of fermented foods: the richer you are, the more likely you are to engage in one or more of these healthy activities. An alternative, or complementary, hypothesis may simply be that those with the least to worry about, and the most time to spend exercising, eating healthily and engaging in activities other than daily drudgery, are the healthiest and longest-lived (31 January, p 15).
BMI can still be a good starting point
The critiques of BMI have long cited the scores of professional rugby players, who typically exceed 30, due to high muscularity rather than excess fat tissue. But busy clinics need quick and easy assessments, and visible muscularity should allow sensible edits to possible guidance to lose weight. The pragmatic system of BMI and waist-to-height ratio scores is fully adequate for starter conversations in clinics. Further considerations of health risks can then be assessed to support individual guidance (14 February, p 28).
Let the adventures of the M膩ori show us the way
As an example of how seafarers could cross vast oceans to populate new lands, look no further than the M膩ori in their quest to settle Aotearoa. They were both brilliant boat builders and navigators, using nothing more than observations of nature 鈥� and faith in Tangaroa, god of the sea. 31 January, p 32
The answer to the life, the universe and everything
Regarding “Our universe’s quantum secret”, if a single quantum wave function is to be discovered, it may well take a massive amount of computer power. Perhaps as big as a planet (we could call it Earth). If such a wave function were to be determined, I am confident the solution would be 42 (7 February, p 8).
For the record
Participants received a 21.5-milligram dose of DMT (21 February, p 6).