Letters archive

You ask: Is the universe conscious? The answer depends on what is meant by "conscious". If the definition is an operational one, the question can be settled by observation and experiment. If not, well, you can play more or less interesting semantic games ( 29 June, p 38 ). I think the nominal -ness suffix …

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein comments on the idea that the arrow of time is linked to increasing entropy. What this approach seems to miss is that, while in most systems entropy will almost always increase, there is a very small chance that a system will become more orderly, with lower entropy, just as a result of random …

In your story about getting UK climate goals on track, economist Michael Pollitt mentions the need to reduce the weight and size of vehicles. Why would anyone who wants to protect the environment design an EV that weighs more than 2 tonnes, leading to increased energy demand and road damage( 22 June, p 10 )? …

You report that the boom in solar energy around the world has led to panels being installed on prime agricultural land. This is bad news, and there are many more sensible alternatives: most obviously barren desert land that can't grow food ( 6 July, p 10 ). Another option would be the roofs of buildings, …

Moheb Costandi writes that artificial intelligence can analyse the neuronal activity of movie watchers and identify which scenes they were observing. While this shows we can map commonality in brain activity for AIs to tap into, we lack the ability to capture the phenomenological quality of the "experience". For AIs to cross the divide into …

You highlight problems with the growing demand for energy-intensive air conditioning in a warming world. How about updating building regulations so that new air conditioning installations must be accompanied by solar panels? Peak cooling demand (and electricity consumption) can be expected to correlate with daytime maximum solar radiation and maximum solar panel output ( 6 …

I resonated strongly with Harvey Whitehouse's point that "if we are to mature into a global tribe, capable of solving global problems, we will also need leaders capable of crossing existing tribal divisions", and that this requires "ways that are grounded in science" to address our collective interests ( 22 June, p 36 ). I …

I take issue with Dan Roach's assertion that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. You could equally make the case that there is no safe level of driving or playing football or swimming. Perhaps there is no safe level of being alive, given it always seems to end badly ( Letters, 6 July …

Recent talk of consciousness in various organisms has got me thinking. Rather than trying to investigate whether organism X has consciousness, surely a more ethical standpoint would be to assume by default that they are all conscious, so any investigation should be reversed. I suspect it would be hard to prove the absence of consciousness …

There are two problems with arguments in favour of Dyson spheres, massive structures that advanced alien species might build to capture all of a star's energy. First, long before a civilisation could build one, the issue of hydrogen fusion would have been solved and so abundant energy would be available. Second, if the aliens' star …