More the merrier?
Frank Furedi suggests that the arrival of the world’s six billionth human
inhabitant should be cause for celebration, not regret
(9 October, p 52). He
further suggests that the UN Population Fund should be wound up, as “the
population explosion is starting to fizzle out”.
The reason that some of us await the arrival of the world’s six billionth
human with less than complete enthusiasm is our fear that he or she will join
those who die prematurely (some 40 000 children a day) or those whose conception
leads to the premature death of their mother (around 1600 mothers a day) or,
just possibly, those who consume an excessive share of the world’s finite
resources.
So far as population trends are concerned, it is true that population growth
is slowing more quickly than expected and that even the UN’s low projection of
7.7 billion humans for 2050 might be achievable. Whether this is good news or
bad news depends on what population sizes for the world would be most compatible
with the availability of a good quality of life for everyone, everywhere, both
now and in the future.
Off the track
Unpopular as it may be at present to write in defence of railway companies,
your editorial
(16 October, p 3)
was aimed at the wrong kind of target.
So Swedish and Spanish railways have a lower accident rate than Britain.
Inevitably the railways of one country are going to be statistically more or
less safe than the railways of another country. Nevertheless, people in Britain
who choose to travel by train are travelling by the safest means of
transport.
Without wishing to detract from what happened at Paddington, the fact remains
that on Britain’s roads there are the equivalent of two Paddington train crashes
per week. Most people have to think hard to recall a friend or relation who has
been involved in a train accident, but no family has been untouched by a road
accident.
If the government is to be believed when it says that money is no object for
updated safety systems, it would make more sense to direct those resources at
car designs that minimise pedestrian and cyclist injury in the event of a
collision, traffic calming schemes, extensive CCTV and zero tolerance for
speedsters and traffic-light gamblers, and new technology to prevent vehicles
from driving too fast and too close in motorway fog.
Or are railway accidents to be a source of mass anger, while road deaths and
maimings are a normal part of everyday life?
Drugs on demand
Some of Rita Carter’s arguments about why prescription drugs should be
available over the counter are in fact arguments for their restriction
(2 October, p 52).
She says that doctors caused the benzodiazepine addiction
problem. But in fact it was doctors who first recognised the addictive nature of
benzodiazepines and took steps to restrict their use to prevent the problem
getting any worse.
One has only to look at the phenomenal cost, financial and otherwise, of easy
access to tobacco and alcohol, and the reasons for restrictions of lifestyle
drugs become obvious.
All drugs, herbs, tonics and unguents have side effects that can range from
mild to deadly. By having their distribution restricted and monitored, profiles
of side effects can be built up very quickly.
Letter
Having implied that there is no distinction between medicinal and lifestyle
drugs, Carter says: “There is no compelling reason why drugs such as Viagra and
Prozac should not be sold over the counter . . .”
Well, for one, there’s thalidomide, a “lifestyle drug” sold over the counter
in Germany from 1957 until being withdrawn in 1961.
Critical bias?
If Arpad Pusztai’s conclusions had shown no special problems with GM foods,
would they have been subjected to the intense levels of critical scrutiny that
they are now enjoying
(16 October, p 6)?
How would more “pro-GM” research stand up to such levels of scrutiny?
Switch off, turn on
In the light of your article on the possible benefits of “switching off the brain”
(9 October, p 30),
it is interesting to note that meditational and other
“liberation” techniques, which usually try to induce a retreat from cortical,
conceptual consciousness, may be more than simply regressive or
escapist鈥攚hich they are sometimes accused of being.
Letter
Your interesting discussion of the savant syndrome slightly misrepresents the
case of Christopher, who “can speak 24 languages鈥攊ncluding a couple of his
own devising”. As Ianthi Tsimpli and I made clear in our book about Christopher,
The Mind of a Savant, the languages he speaks are all naturally
occurring human languages with the single exception of one (Epun) that we
invented to provide a rigorous test of his abilities.
The difference may seem trivial, but although “ordinary” humans may have
hidden savant abilities (I remain sceptical), savants typically do not have the
intellectual ability to devise new languages.
Christopher is now happily embarked on learning British Sign Language, the
language of the deaf community in this country, providing us with yet more
information about this fascinating condition.
Not so simple
Your correspondent Gert Korthof talks about paradoxes that arise from the
notion of “information content”
(9 October, p 61).
I think the only paradox in his example is that a random number generator
could operate on the basis of a “simple set of instructions”. I think he may be
thinking of pseudo-random number generators.
Time on our side
Julian Barbour isn’t the only one who thinks time is an illusion
(16 October, p 29).
He has distinguished predecessors.
Parmenides (540 BC) said: “The true world is one of permanence. Change is
also an illusion.”
Plato said: “Time is a mental impression to which nothing in the real world
corresponds.”
Einstein said: “For us physicists the distinction between past, present and
future signifies only an obstinate illusion.”
The above were supplied to me a few years ago鈥攁fter a discussion in
which I proposed that time was illusory鈥攂y Peter Landsberg of the
University of Southampton maths department, who wrote The Enigma of
Time (Adam Hilger, 1982). As we seem to be having difficulty understanding
this concept more than 2500 years after it was first noted, I decided to study
photonic crystals instead.
Letter
I am fascinated to learn from Barbour’s article that we may “soon” be able to
prove the non-existence of time. It would be good to know roughly “when” this
might happen, so I can work as much overtime as possible while the concept is
still valid.
Hedgehog alert
Wasn’t that rather alarmist to say that hedgehogs harbour 16 diseases that
are transmittable to people
(2 October, p 27)?
This would possibly deter anyone
from handling an animal if it was found in need of care. I have never read any
report that a human has been infected by a hedgehog, not even staff at animal
rescue centres.
One would expect that all animals carry bugs that could be dangerous to us,
but we seldom encounter problems that way. Also, it raises the
question鈥攚ho infects whom? How many of our diseases do we pass on to
animals?
Colonial units
Your article on the “blunder” that led to the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter
(9 October, p 6)
quotes an official as speaking of “English units” and translates this as meaning
Imperial units.
In fact, the US has never adopted the Imperial system, which was the result
of a rationalisation of the British system in 1824.
Until 1959, the US and Britain had different values for the pound and yard, a
situation resolved by redefining both in terms of metric units.
Planet Blondie
I was surprised to find Feedback
(16 October)
behind the times on the
question of the apparently mysterious planet Blondie. This planet is, of course,
the one discovered independently by both John Matese and John Murray
(same issue, p 5),
both of whom are naturally avid fans.
Can there be a more appropriate name for a planet which makes a comeback once
every 6 million years?
Desperanto
John Knight’s CD sticker saying “Der Dance Hit mit dem `The Verve’ Sample” is
nothing new
(Feedback, 16 October).
Many years ago I was on holiday in The Black Forest where I found a snack bar advertising
“Spaghetti Bolognese und Pommes Frites”.
Letter
The language Knight quotes is the one universally used for communication
between Europeans of different languages. Its name is “Desperanto”.
Letter
In the end, it is the person taking a drug who is the final authority on its
use. The reason people need the freedom to buy and consume any drug they choose
is that it is the only way individuals can become responsible for their own drug
use.
As a pharmacist, I have seen many human robots come into the pharmacy,
willing to put just about anything into their body if some state-licensed doctor
says it is okay to do so. We may begin to deal with our drugs problem when the
law finally realises that each person is responsible for the drugs he or she
chooses to take.
If a consumer is uncomfortable with taking a drug because of lack of
knowledge, then that person should not take that drug. That person should get
information from a reliable source, such as a doctor or pharmacist, but the
final decision to take a drug has to be the decision of the person taking it.