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Enigma Number 1751
OPINION LETTERS Conscious thoughts From Bill Summers There are many philosophical questions that need to be explored in any discussion of consciousness (18 May, p 30). Is consciousness another basic force of the universe beyond the traditional four, or did it arise from them? If so, how? Is it a cause or an effect of life’s evolution? If a cause, it must have existed before evolvable life. If it is an effect, it must have arisen from life. At what point did consciousness burst into this previously zombie life? Where was it before life? The question of whether consciousness exists without life is a metaphysical one, not subject to scientific analysis, and the answer is probably unknowable. Sturminster Newton, Dorset, UK From Keith Atkin The articles are mired by the same fundamental problem: what is consciousness and how does it arise? Throughout, we find the idea that somehow consciousness “emerges” from the complexity of the brain. This approach is
doomed as consciousness by its very nature is not physical. Even if we could map the positions and connections of every single neuron and describe the detailed chemical flows across every synapse, we would be no nearer to understanding the mind (consciousness). What we need is a paradigm shift away from the limitations of current materialistic physics so we can courageously examine the idea that consciousness is not magically generated by the brain. Rather consciousness can be taken as the “ground stuff” of the universe from which brains emerge, not the other way round. Sheffield, UK From Luce Gilmore If you consider the similarities and differences between a human and mosquito mind, you notice that they both process sensory information, arrive at decisions, and execute motor responses. Yet, I would say, a mosquito does not need consciousness. Consciousness is, in my opinion, awareness of one’s own thought processes. It is as if there is an extra sensory modality
Enigma Number 1751
Rainbow square ADRIAN SOMERFIELD My granddaughter has been given a set of 36 square tiles, six of each of the colours red (R), orange (O), yellow (Y), green (G), blue (B) and violet (V). In playing with these, she has arranged them into a square pattern in which each row, column and main diagonal contains each colour just once.
The colours in the top row are in the above order, left to right, while another row has the colours in the reverse order. One of the main diagonals contains consecutively in order the four tiles red, orange, yellow and green, or the reverse. From top to bottom what are the letters forming the other diagonal?
WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the first correct answer opened on Wednesday 26 June. The Editor’s decision is final. Please send entries to Enigma 1751, New Scientist, Lacon House, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS, or to [email protected] (please include your postal address). Answer to 1745 Cutting cubes: I started with four cubes The winner Helen Gough of Southam, Gloucestershire, UK
30 | NewScientist | 1 June 2013
whose input is from brain activity: that is, you are aware of what you are thinking (or seeing, or doing), probably in rather a broad-brush fashion. A mosquito, with its automatic behaviour, is better off without this set-up, since brain tissue is costly in material and energy terms. Cambridge, UK
Bee debate From Margaret Kettlewell The discussion on the banning of neonicotinoid insecticides made clear they are used systemically, starting as a seed dressing which then spreads throughout growing plants (11 May, p 26). As such, just as bees have been taking them in via nectar and pollen, surely we could be ingesting them in the seeds, leaves and fruits we eat. Has there been adequate research to show that these chemicals are safe for us? I have to say I am heartily glad about the current ban, hope it continues and wish for better research on insecticides for future use. Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Appetite for life From Adrian Bowyer David Holdsworth’s contention that, because all life on Earth is descended from just one cell, its initial emergence must be very improbable, does not follow (18 May, p 28). Life might have got started thousands of times in thousands of ways. All that was needed for everything now to be descended from just one cell was for that cell to have been the first to evolve the ability to eat the others. Foxham, Wiltshire, UK
Physics lesson From P. Hopkins For those questioning the value of particle physics projects such
as the Large Hadron Collider (20 April, p 32), the LHC offers one key lesson if our masters are willing to learn it: how to manage a vast and complex project. It required the building of a deep tunnel forming a loop with a circumference of 30 kilometres, packed with unique equipment designed to the limit of current knowledge and engineering capability, staffed by some of the most qualified people on the planet. It was ready almost on time for a cost of about £5 billion. For an equivalent sum in the UK we would have got just half of the 2012 Olympics, a fraction of the planned cross-London rail link Crossrail, or a small chunk of the High Speed 2 rail link from London to Birmingham. Boscastle, Cornwall, UK
Human pest From Denis Watkins As we live through the sixth great extinction, you ask “should we be focusing more of our efforts on saving entire ecosystems?” (18 May, p 6). Perhaps, but that still won’t save us. We are the most selfish and destructive pest on the planet, and determined to indulge our short-term hedonism. Crymych, Pembrokeshire, UK
Atomic ambitions From Lucian McLellan I was overjoyed to see you giving Jochen Flasbarth space to dismantle the pro-nuclear fission
doomed as consciousness by its very nature is not physical. Even if we could map the positions and connections of every single neuron and describe the detailed chemical flows across every synapse, we would be no nearer to understanding the mind (consciousness). What we need is a paradigm shift away from the limitations of current materialistic physics so we can courageously examine the idea that consciousness is not magically generated by the brain. Rather consciousness can be taken as the “ground stuff” of the universe from which brains emerge, not the other way round. Sheffield, UK From Luce Gilmore If you consider the similarities and differences between a human and mosquito mind, you notice that they both process sensory information, arrive at decisions, and execute motor responses. Yet, I would say, a mosquito does not need consciousness. Consciousness is, in my opinion, awareness of one’s own thought processes. It is as if there is an extra sensory modality
Enigma Number 1751
Rainbow square ADRIAN SOMERFIELD My granddaughter has been given a set of 36 square tiles, six of each of the colours red (R), orange (O), yellow (Y), green (G), blue (B) and violet (V). In playing with these, she has arranged them into a square pattern in which each row, column and main diagonal contains each colour just once.
The colours in the top row are in the above order, left to right, while another row has the colours in the reverse order. One of the main diagonals contains consecutively in order the four tiles red, orange, yellow and green, or the reverse. From top to bottom what are the letters forming the other diagonal?
WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the first correct answer opened on Wednesday 26 June. The Editor’s decision is final. Please send entries to Enigma 1751, New Scientist, Lacon House, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS, or to [email protected] (please include your postal address). Answer to 1745 Cutting cubes: I started with four cubes The winner Helen Gough of Southam, Gloucestershire, UK
30 | NewScientist | 1 June 2013
whose input is from brain activity: that is, you are aware of what you are thinking (or seeing, or doing), probably in rather a broad-brush fashion. A mosquito, with its automatic behaviour, is better off without this set-up, since brain tissue is costly in material and energy terms. Cambridge, UK
Bee debate From Margaret Kettlewell The discussion on the banning of neonicotinoid insecticides made clear they are used systemically, starting as a seed dressing which then spreads throughout growing plants (11 May, p 26). As such, just as bees have been taking them in via nectar and pollen, surely we could be ingesting them in the seeds, leaves and fruits we eat. Has there been adequate research to show that these chemicals are safe for us? I have to say I am heartily glad about the current ban, hope it continues and wish for better research on insecticides for future use. Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Appetite for life From Adrian Bowyer David Holdsworth’s contention that, because all life on Earth is descended from just one cell, its initial emergence must be very improbable, does not follow (18 May, p 28). Life might have got started thousands of times in thousands of ways. All that was needed for everything now to be descended from just one cell was for that cell to have been the first to evolve the ability to eat the others. Foxham, Wiltshire, UK
Physics lesson From P. Hopkins For those questioning the value of particle physics projects such
as the Large Hadron Collider (20 April, p 32), the LHC offers one key lesson if our masters are willing to learn it: how to manage a vast and complex project. It required the building of a deep tunnel forming a loop with a circumference of 30 kilometres, packed with unique equipment designed to the limit of current knowledge and engineering capability, staffed by some of the most qualified people on the planet. It was ready almost on time for a cost of about £5 billion. For an equivalent sum in the UK we would have got just half of the 2012 Olympics, a fraction of the planned cross-London rail link Crossrail, or a small chunk of the High Speed 2 rail link from London to Birmingham. Boscastle, Cornwall, UK
Human pest From Denis Watkins As we live through the sixth great extinction, you ask “should we be focusing more of our efforts on saving entire ecosystems?” (18 May, p 6). Perhaps, but that still won’t save us. We are the most selfish and destructive pest on the planet, and determined to indulge our short-term hedonism. Crymych, Pembrokeshire, UK
Atomic ambitions From Lucian McLellan I was overjoyed to see you giving Jochen Flasbarth space to dismantle the pro-nuclear fission