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Letters– few minutes of ventilation. It’s a gruesome topic, but if I were condemned to execution and had a choice, this is what I would pick. Hounslow, Middlesex, UK
event horizon, this won’t matter since infalling objects would still be invisible to anyone watching. Hannover, Germany
Cutting up books Trans-what-ism? From Mike Harding In your article on “transhumanism”, Marvin Minksy is quoted as saying that scientists shouldn’t have any ethical responsibility for their inventions and should do whatever they like (13 October, p 46). This appalling attitude is passed on without comment, yet in the same issue (p 4) we hear about the manufacturers of certain “alternative” treatments being taken to task for their lack of social responsibility. London, UK From Brett Sutton As a medical doctor and Buddhist, I have spent many hours contemplating death, ageing and the issue of humanity’s suffering, and I am firmly of the opinion that the transhumanist movement is engaging in not only the most dangerous exercise in history, but also the most stupid. Should we not be coming to terms with the inevitability of death and engaging with this reality? Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Stretched light From Jörg Michael In your article on the true nature of black holes, Lawrence Krauss and others suggest that event horizons may not exist around black holes (6 October, p 36). Although I am just a “normal” physicist, not an astronomer, I know that light from an object falling into a black hole should become increasingly “stretched out” – red-shifted – and diminish in intensity (from the perspective of an outside observer), as the object approaches the black hole. So even if there is no “real” 26 | NewScientist | 3 November 2007
From Dennis Woodman Your history of consumer advocate Frederick Accum may be mistaken in suggesting that in 1820 he tore pages from Nicholson’s Journal to save wasting time on note-taking (20 October, p 60). As a scientist, he may have been more concerned
of the Matthew effect. Derived from a biblical quote, it is a particular type of unfairness in which eminence is rewarded with greater eminence, at the expense of the less well known. The author overlooks the irony that the Matthew effect may be an example of itself. Many biblical scholars dispute whether St Matthew’s gospel was actually written by Matthew the apostle, suggesting instead that it was written by an unremembered 1st-century Christian who lacked an apostle’s cachet. Is there a name for a term which exemplifies the feature it describes? London, UK
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with accuracy and the dangers of transcription. Charles Darwin was, I believe, another tearerupper of books. I research at the UK’s National Archives and it regularly amazes me to see documents being transcribed in longhand when, at the next desk, a document is being recorded with a digital camera. Kew, Surrey, UK
From Halina Stanley Could it be that the Famous Web Search Engine knows more about web searching than does Feedback, who is mystified at its suggestion that “free” is a trademark (22 September)? In France we have the large internet provider www.free.fr and any audio server fronted by “free” would, around here, be assumed to be theirs. Revel, Isère, France Feedback writes: ● We searched for UK, EU and world trademarks at www.ipo.gov. uk, but free.fr didn’t show.
line look lighter (6 October, p 31). I experienced the opposite effect with the example given: the grey stripes on the black lines look lighter than the ones on the white lines. Do I have unusual vision in some way? Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, UK The editor writes: ● Sorry, we inverted our description. You see what everyone else sees: the grey stripes look lighter when they are within the black line.
All for me From Jan Dow I can’t understand all those naive professors havering over whether the universe has a purpose when it’s all so obvious. The sole goal and culmination of the big bang, inflation, stellar formation and everything else is the creation of a life-support system for me – the apogee and final purpose of creation and evolution. When I die it will all cease to exist. It can be no coincidence that wherever I stand is astride the centre of the surface of the world. Nor can it be mere happenstance that the whole of the visible universe is centred exactly between my eyeballs. Exeter, UK
For the record Matthew effect
Reverse illusion
From Aodhan Breathnach In the article on naming injustices in the scientific community (6 October, p 60), there is mention
From Perry Bebbington You say that White’s illusion makes the grey stripes on a black line look darker, and on a white
How to Fossilise Your Hamster
The latest collection from New Scientist featuring experiments for armchair scientists
Available from booksellers and at www.newscientist.com/hamster
● In the letter from Don Sims (20 October, p 26), the sentence “Sensitivity to the two antibiotics commonly used (metronidazole and vancomycin) is rare…” should have begun with “Resistance”, not “Sensitivity”. Letters should be sent to: Letters to the Editor, New Scientist, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS Fax: +44 (0) 20 7611 1280 Email: [email protected] Include your full postal address and telephone number, and a reference (issue, page number, title) to articles. We reserve the right to edit letters. Reed Business Information reserves the right to use any submissions sent to the letters column of New Scientist magazine, in any other format.
www.newscientist.com
event horizon, this won’t matter since infalling objects would still be invisible to anyone watching. Hannover, Germany
Cutting up books Trans-what-ism? From Mike Harding In your article on “transhumanism”, Marvin Minksy is quoted as saying that scientists shouldn’t have any ethical responsibility for their inventions and should do whatever they like (13 October, p 46). This appalling attitude is passed on without comment, yet in the same issue (p 4) we hear about the manufacturers of certain “alternative” treatments being taken to task for their lack of social responsibility. London, UK From Brett Sutton As a medical doctor and Buddhist, I have spent many hours contemplating death, ageing and the issue of humanity’s suffering, and I am firmly of the opinion that the transhumanist movement is engaging in not only the most dangerous exercise in history, but also the most stupid. Should we not be coming to terms with the inevitability of death and engaging with this reality? Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Stretched light From Jörg Michael In your article on the true nature of black holes, Lawrence Krauss and others suggest that event horizons may not exist around black holes (6 October, p 36). Although I am just a “normal” physicist, not an astronomer, I know that light from an object falling into a black hole should become increasingly “stretched out” – red-shifted – and diminish in intensity (from the perspective of an outside observer), as the object approaches the black hole. So even if there is no “real” 26 | NewScientist | 3 November 2007
From Dennis Woodman Your history of consumer advocate Frederick Accum may be mistaken in suggesting that in 1820 he tore pages from Nicholson’s Journal to save wasting time on note-taking (20 October, p 60). As a scientist, he may have been more concerned
of the Matthew effect. Derived from a biblical quote, it is a particular type of unfairness in which eminence is rewarded with greater eminence, at the expense of the less well known. The author overlooks the irony that the Matthew effect may be an example of itself. Many biblical scholars dispute whether St Matthew’s gospel was actually written by Matthew the apostle, suggesting instead that it was written by an unremembered 1st-century Christian who lacked an apostle’s cachet. Is there a name for a term which exemplifies the feature it describes? London, UK
Free trademark
with accuracy and the dangers of transcription. Charles Darwin was, I believe, another tearerupper of books. I research at the UK’s National Archives and it regularly amazes me to see documents being transcribed in longhand when, at the next desk, a document is being recorded with a digital camera. Kew, Surrey, UK
From Halina Stanley Could it be that the Famous Web Search Engine knows more about web searching than does Feedback, who is mystified at its suggestion that “free” is a trademark (22 September)? In France we have the large internet provider www.free.fr and any audio server fronted by “free” would, around here, be assumed to be theirs. Revel, Isère, France Feedback writes: ● We searched for UK, EU and world trademarks at www.ipo.gov. uk, but free.fr didn’t show.
line look lighter (6 October, p 31). I experienced the opposite effect with the example given: the grey stripes on the black lines look lighter than the ones on the white lines. Do I have unusual vision in some way? Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, UK The editor writes: ● Sorry, we inverted our description. You see what everyone else sees: the grey stripes look lighter when they are within the black line.
All for me From Jan Dow I can’t understand all those naive professors havering over whether the universe has a purpose when it’s all so obvious. The sole goal and culmination of the big bang, inflation, stellar formation and everything else is the creation of a life-support system for me – the apogee and final purpose of creation and evolution. When I die it will all cease to exist. It can be no coincidence that wherever I stand is astride the centre of the surface of the world. Nor can it be mere happenstance that the whole of the visible universe is centred exactly between my eyeballs. Exeter, UK
For the record Matthew effect
Reverse illusion
From Aodhan Breathnach In the article on naming injustices in the scientific community (6 October, p 60), there is mention
From Perry Bebbington You say that White’s illusion makes the grey stripes on a black line look darker, and on a white
How to Fossilise Your Hamster
The latest collection from New Scientist featuring experiments for armchair scientists
Available from booksellers and at www.newscientist.com/hamster
● In the letter from Don Sims (20 October, p 26), the sentence “Sensitivity to the two antibiotics commonly used (metronidazole and vancomycin) is rare…” should have begun with “Resistance”, not “Sensitivity”. Letters should be sent to: Letters to the Editor, New Scientist, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS Fax: +44 (0) 20 7611 1280 Email: [email protected] Include your full postal address and telephone number, and a reference (issue, page number, title) to articles. We reserve the right to edit letters. Reed Business Information reserves the right to use any submissions sent to the letters column of New Scientist magazine, in any other format.
www.newscientist.com