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Like looking in a mirror
LEADER
Editorial Editor Emily Wilson Managing editor Rowan Hooper Art editor Craig Mackie Editor at large Jeremy Webb
News News editor Penny Sarchet Editors Jacob Aron, Timothy Revell, Jon White DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Reporters (UK) Andy Coghlan, Alison George, Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Sam Wong (US) Leah Crane, Chelsea Whyte (Aus) Alice Klein
Features Chief features editor Richard Webb Editors Catherine de Lange, Gilead Amit, Julia Brown, Daniel Cossins, Kate Douglas, Joshua Howgego, Tiffany O’Callaghan, Sean O’Neill Feature writer Graham Lawton
Culture and Community Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings, Frank Swain
Subeditors Chief subeditor Eleanor Parsons Tom Campbell, Hannah Joshua, Chris Simms
Design Kathryn Brazier, Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk Chief picture editor Adam Goff Kirstin Kidd, David Stock
Production Mick O’Hare, Melanie Green , Alan Blagrove, Anne Marie Conlon
Contact us newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1202 [email protected] UK 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA PO Box 2315, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012 US 210 Broadway #201 Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 617 283 3213
Like looking in a mirror We’re not unique – lots of species can recognise themselves WE LIKE to think that the human mind is special. One sign of our superiority is self-awareness, which is generally seen as the pinnacle of consciousness. Only a select group of species has passed the test of being able to recognise themselves in a mirror. Most, including elephants, apes and dolphins, are notoriously smart. But now a scrappy little fish, the cleaner wrasse, has joined their ranks (see page 14). What are we to make of this? Admittedly, the mirror test is a questionable way of probing the minds of other animals. But the finding does fit with an emerging idea that the ability to recognise
oneself is more related to an animal’s lifestyle than to its brain size. Self-awareness is likely to occur in creatures whose survival is dependent on reading the minds of others. In fact, by this way of thinking, it is nothing more than an accidental by-product of evolution, a simulation created by the brain, or even just a hall of mirrors giving the illusion of complexity (see page 28). The cleaner wrasse lives on coral reefs and provides a service by nibbling parasites off the scales of bigger fish, a delicate relationship that may require insight into the minds of its clients. Such “theory of mind”
has long been seen as another cornerstone of human mental superiority. The possibility that fish possess it is not, however, the only threat to our human exceptionalism. It may not be long before computers give us a run for our money, too. Researchers have created a set of tests to look for theory of mind in artificial intelligence – and some systems are on the verge of passing (see page 10). We probably don’t need to worry about robots that can recognise themselves in mirrors. But we might want to be more open to the idea that human intelligence isn’t quite as special as we like to think. n
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
© 2018 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
There are only two weeks to go now until New Scientist Live. The four-day show is a unique mixture of fascinating talks from scientists and an amazing array of exhibits, from a slime Olympics to a virtual reality tour of the brain. It’s an enormous and joyful celebration of ideas, and we call it “the world’s greatest science festival”
because we really think it is. Last year, more than 30,000 people came through the doors at ExCeL in London and it was a privilege for us to get to know so many of you. If you’re in striking distance from 20 to 23 September this year, please come along. I’m most looking
forward to introducing astronaut Tim Peake’s talk on the Thursday, but whatever day you come, there will be something brilliant going on. Check out the programme at newscientistlive.com. Emily Wilson
8 September 2018 | NewScientist | 3
Editorial Editor Emily Wilson Managing editor Rowan Hooper Art editor Craig Mackie Editor at large Jeremy Webb
News News editor Penny Sarchet Editors Jacob Aron, Timothy Revell, Jon White DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Reporters (UK) Andy Coghlan, Alison George, Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Sam Wong (US) Leah Crane, Chelsea Whyte (Aus) Alice Klein
Features Chief features editor Richard Webb Editors Catherine de Lange, Gilead Amit, Julia Brown, Daniel Cossins, Kate Douglas, Joshua Howgego, Tiffany O’Callaghan, Sean O’Neill Feature writer Graham Lawton
Culture and Community Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings, Frank Swain
Subeditors Chief subeditor Eleanor Parsons Tom Campbell, Hannah Joshua, Chris Simms
Design Kathryn Brazier, Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk Chief picture editor Adam Goff Kirstin Kidd, David Stock
Production Mick O’Hare, Melanie Green , Alan Blagrove, Anne Marie Conlon
Contact us newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1202 [email protected] UK 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA PO Box 2315, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012 US 210 Broadway #201 Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 617 283 3213
Like looking in a mirror We’re not unique – lots of species can recognise themselves WE LIKE to think that the human mind is special. One sign of our superiority is self-awareness, which is generally seen as the pinnacle of consciousness. Only a select group of species has passed the test of being able to recognise themselves in a mirror. Most, including elephants, apes and dolphins, are notoriously smart. But now a scrappy little fish, the cleaner wrasse, has joined their ranks (see page 14). What are we to make of this? Admittedly, the mirror test is a questionable way of probing the minds of other animals. But the finding does fit with an emerging idea that the ability to recognise
oneself is more related to an animal’s lifestyle than to its brain size. Self-awareness is likely to occur in creatures whose survival is dependent on reading the minds of others. In fact, by this way of thinking, it is nothing more than an accidental by-product of evolution, a simulation created by the brain, or even just a hall of mirrors giving the illusion of complexity (see page 28). The cleaner wrasse lives on coral reefs and provides a service by nibbling parasites off the scales of bigger fish, a delicate relationship that may require insight into the minds of its clients. Such “theory of mind”
has long been seen as another cornerstone of human mental superiority. The possibility that fish possess it is not, however, the only threat to our human exceptionalism. It may not be long before computers give us a run for our money, too. Researchers have created a set of tests to look for theory of mind in artificial intelligence – and some systems are on the verge of passing (see page 10). We probably don’t need to worry about robots that can recognise themselves in mirrors. But we might want to be more open to the idea that human intelligence isn’t quite as special as we like to think. n
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
© 2018 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
There are only two weeks to go now until New Scientist Live. The four-day show is a unique mixture of fascinating talks from scientists and an amazing array of exhibits, from a slime Olympics to a virtual reality tour of the brain. It’s an enormous and joyful celebration of ideas, and we call it “the world’s greatest science festival”
because we really think it is. Last year, more than 30,000 people came through the doors at ExCeL in London and it was a privilege for us to get to know so many of you. If you’re in striking distance from 20 to 23 September this year, please come along. I’m most looking
forward to introducing astronaut Tim Peake’s talk on the Thursday, but whatever day you come, there will be something brilliant going on. Check out the programme at newscientistlive.com. Emily Wilson
8 September 2018 | NewScientist | 3