MIND’S EYE 2017
Bringing
POWER to
the
POOR A
SWEETER DEAL BACK to
BLACK
A Touch
of
SNOW We’re just
ORDINARY
PEOPLE Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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Cover & inside cover: street art by unidentified artist in Glenelg. Adelaide city council recognises the importance of street art in creating a vibrant city.
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Contents 30
30 | Raw Deal
76 | Feminism Needs You!
Lesley Wang examines the dreaded weed now that times are changing
Elizabeth Idowu suggests the next phase of feminism should be men’s rights
36 | Milking It
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12 48
90
Benedict Helme is appalled that so many people have no idea what they are putting in their mouths
81 | Wait until Dark
39 | This Way Madness Lies
86 | Back to the Drawing Board
Maya Juszczakiewicz wonders why creative people are so self-destructive
Jeffrey Kahol de Jong points out that our education system is behind the times
45 | Say What!?
90 | A Game of Two Arts
Mark Bäcker warns us that fake news is changing how we see reality
Alex Lapsley wonders when video games will rank, alongside film, as art
48 | A Sweeter Deal
95 | Regardez Président Macron
George Palmer says, one year on, that Brexit is bright: the EU meant death to free trade
Oscar Saarbach warns his compatriots that le wunderkind Français is not the answer
7 | Power to the Poor
54 | We’re Just Ordinary People
Isabella Taylor shows that The Barefoot College of India is no ordinary charity
Millie Felton wonders why autism is still seen as an awkward difference
12 | A Touch of Snow
Flora Clark observes creatures glowing in the dark
58 | Who’s There?
Miraya Palmer Taylor interviews Channel 4 legend, Jon Snow
Alexander Roskill asks the biggest question: is there anybody there, and if so do we want to know you?
19 | The Forgotten Paradise
62 | A Dangerous Game
Maddy Holmes considers what is really happening now Cuba has been rehabilitated
Joshua Hughes brings us up to date with the latest thinking on Rugby and health
22 | The Big Sleep
66 | In Character
Charlie Watson looks into the surprising truth that men sleep better than women
Philip Chennery compares two different ways of seeing characters in Shakespeare
25 | Cooling the Runway
72 | Back to Black
Henry Padgham wonders how far air travel is bad for the air we breathe
Alicia Lorenzo celebrates the work of mental health expert, Amy Bleuel
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Editorial Mind’s Eye 2016 chewed over the failure of gun law, feminism, health-food fads and online dating. It lamented the music industry having more style than substance, grammar schools being back on the agenda, the abuse of gypsies, the dangers of self-driving cars and our spying culture. But it celebrated the work of Baronness Greenfield, the cautious modernisation of Malaysia and the oxymoronic use of ‘they’ as a singular pronoun. So what are the hot topics in 2017? Obviously we expected a pile of pieces trashing Trump, mashing May and crushing Corbyn, and another batch anatomising terrorists and lamenting our return to island status. But teenagers bore easily and there is only so much howling and gnashing you can do, even when there is a lunatic in the White House, white van man has turned murderer and our Prime Minister has just scored the biggest own goal in the history of Westminster. There is some acknowledgment in the following pages of dire times: Mark Bäcker is concerned about fake news making us lose our grip and Oscar Saarbach is more ‘Plus ça change!’ than ‘Vive la France!’ after the election in his homeland. But George Palmer thinks Brexit is a breath of fresh air; Elizabeth Idowu has a bright idea to resuscitate feminism; Isabella Taylor and Alicia Lorenzo find much to admire in two remarkable charities; and Maddy Holmes has fallen in love with Cuba. There is also some cautious optimism from Joshua Hughes about the future of Rugby. Equally ignoring the headlines, Millie Felton reminds us that autistic people are just that – people; Philip Chennery shows why Shakespearean characters are all things to all men; Flora Clark is inspired by ocean life that glows; and Lesley Wang takes a fresh look at the culture of cannabis. And if that lot hasn’t got you going, Miraya McCoy Palmer has a chat with Jon Snow. Yes. That Jon Snow. Chira Santea and Hector O’Neill Editors
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WE EXPECTED A PILE OF PIECES TRASHING TRUMP, MASHING MAY AND CRUSHING CORBYN BUT TEENAGERS BORE EASILY AND THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH HOWLING AND GNASHING YOU CAN DO
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ISABELLA TAYLOR AND ALICIA LORENZO FIND MUCH TO ADMIRE IN TWO REMARKABLE CHARITIES; AND MADDY HOLMES HAS FALLEN IN LOVE WITH CUBA
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POWER TO
THE
POOR ISABELLA TAYLOR shows how the Barefoot College of India has been empowering the poor since 1972
M
ost people in the West think only external solutions can set free the illiterate poor of the world. The Barefoot College of India proves otherwise.
Without artificial light daily work and social interaction are confined to the hours of sunlight, but the standard alternatives are unattainably expensive or grossly unreliable. In poor areas, people live from hand to mouth and a day’s work can be lost just because the supply of electricity is so intermittent. The lack of renewable energy often cripples families financially because after nightfall they must spend a fortune on fuel and batteries, and the fumes from kerosene lamps cause throat and lung infections.
Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy, founder of the College, comes from a wealthy family and had a prestigious, expensive education. But on a whim he indulged an urge to work in a rural village. In the summer of 1966, he witnessed the horrific Bihar drought and describes the experience as a turning point in his life. He decided to build The Barefoot College wells for the next five years.
has pioneered the solar electrification of villages in the far corners of the world, giving light to over 550,000 people
During a TED talk in 2011, he said the experience of digging wells exposed him to ‘the most extraordinary knowledge and skills that poor people have, which is never brought into the mainstream, which is never identified, respected, or applied on a large scale.’ His Barefoot College promised a social revolution, and to this day (Roy is now 71) it continues to harness the expertise of the poor and mobilise those at the bottom of the social pyramid. Since 1986 The Barefoot College has pioneered the solar electrification of villages in the far corners of the world. Its work has now transformed 13,000 villages, giving light to over 550,000 people. Indeed, Roy uses light as a first step towards easing the pain of poverty.
The Barefoot College tackles this problem at source. Between 1984 and 1986, it established a new kind of university, now the largest of its kind, to educate the world’s illiterate poor. The design of the school is a physical manifestation of the principles on which the charity was founded, one of which is to demystify and decentralise technology, and put it straight in the hands of the poor. Twelve unqualified ‘Barefoot’ architects, who spent only $1.50 per square foot, built the first campus. Within three years 150 people lived and worked there. Iron faith in the ability of the poor made this feat possible, and use of the latest renewable energy ensures that the developing campus remains sustainable. The Barefoot College was the first site Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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anywhere in India to be autonomous for both energy and water. Now, every six months they bring 40 women from all over the world to their electronics school in Rajasthan. The nature of professionalism has been redefined by the charity. Roy asks, ‘Who is a professional? A professional is someone who is a combination of competence, confidence and belief.’ Those who work at the college are not allowed to have a PhD, a Masters or even a university degree because the college was built on the premise that strength of character, ingenuity and pragmatism are virtues superior to academic qualifications.
They see me as someone important.’ Another woman had a similar experience: ‘The theory was hard, but the practice was easy. Now I am proud at my age to be able to go back to the Congo and be called a solar engineer. I never expected that.’ These women have taken their fates into their own hands, and of their own accord spread the work of the project.
months they were able to electrify their entire village. And those women have since trained 27 more, one woman alone electrifying over 200 households. The growing Afghan group has now electrified 100 villages. The social impact of the college’s work cannot be overstated. In the very North of India, winter temperatures in one village drop to -40 degrees Celsius and there is no natural light for half the year. When the college asked a local woman what was the main advantage of solar electrification, she said it was being able to see her husband’s face. Children benefit too. Domestic duties usually prevent 60% of village children from attending school but solar electricity means over 75,000 children can attend night lessons – not a traditional education but fundamental nonetheless: the curriculum includes democracy, citizenship and how to solve problems from animal sickness to being arrested.
Gandhi is a major influence on the college. Earnings are limited to $100 a month because the incentive is charitable challenge, not monetary gain. College members eat sitting on the floor. They sleep on the floor and work on the floor. Roy says it is the only college where the teacher is the learner, encouraging people to test their ideas no matter what the results. And the system works. For example, illiterate women have invented cookers that use no fuel except solar rays. The college empowers women in traditionally misogynistic communities. After training at the college, two women from Zanzibar – Patima and Mise – enabled 100 families in their fishing village to have electricity for the first time. Mise speaks warmly about her rise in spirit and status: ‘I am not afraid to do what I do because I am perfectly capable. It is true that it is very unusual in our culture for a woman to get on the roof of a house. People think I am really strong and really intelligent.
‘Women not only maintain village solar power but also train others, one woman alone electrifying over 200 households.’
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Meagan Fallone, Head of Global Strategy and Development at the Barefoot College, ensures that women not only maintain village solar power but also train others. They leave out no one. In Afghanistan, there was a language barrier so they taught three women sign language. Within six
The college even has its own political system for children. The current Prime Minister is 10 years old. She looks after goats by day and is Prime Minister at night. Her cabinet contains a Minister for Education, a Minister for Energy and a Minister for Health. They monitor 750 schools for 7,000 children.
Seeking external solutions is the ineffective approach of most philanthropists. The work of the Barefoot College is different. Most charities put a bucket under a leaking ceiling. The Barefoot College rebuilds the roof. ¢ www.barefootcollege.org
500
craft professionals employed
1521
schools and communities with access to drinking water
260+ Barefoot doctors trained
14,500+ households with solar systems installed
BARE FACTS
75,000 children in night schools Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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THE WORK OF THE BAREFOOT COLLEGE IS DIFFERENT. MOST CHARITIES PUT A BUCKET UNDER A LEAKING CEILING. THE BAREFOOT COLLEGE REBUILDS THE ROOF.
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A TOUCH OF
ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
SNOW
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MIRAYA PALMER TAYLOR discusses tears, Trump and Brexit with journalist and Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow After Trump and Brexit what unthinkable is next? It’s almost like living in an accordion. One end comes in. It’s Trump who plays a tune which rocks the boat and then there are all sorts of things you thought you’d never have to report on. And then the other end kicks up something which you’ve got to pick up. I hate to say it, but they keep telling us that the terror threat is on a dreadfully high level, the highest that they’ve ever known, and that is something one has to recognise.
then suddenly become grotesque. I was on a plane and stupidly considered killing him: he was asleep and his holster was right next to me. But I would have definitely gone down with him. That was the problem.
evidence, information, to Google things and retrieve information quickly. Of course there’s fake news, and that’s a threat, but it’s a containable threat. I’m really excited because it’s the best time I’ve ever had as a journalist from the point of view of simply doing the job.
Has Trump boosted careers by giving journalists something to talk about? Well, I think the danger is that Trump is so bizarre we’ll become inured to his statements and just give up. He’s so scattergun and has a terribly short attention span so his speeches ramble from one threat to another. It’s very hard to take him at his word.
What’s been your most challenging story? Possibly the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis that followed, when the entire American embassy was taken hostage in Tehran, 1979. It changed the world order, whereas surprisingly the collapse of the Berlin Wall was positively simple. One day the wall was down and we walked through and I said to my cameraman, ‘Do you realise that in ten years these two countries might be one?’ How wrong I was: within ten weeks they were.
Did the media help Trump to get to where he is today? Reality television certainly helped cause Trump. We can’t compare The Apprentice in America with The Apprentice here; we can’t compare Donald Trump with Alan Sugar. Trump became an icon of people who wanted to, quite frankly, tell other people to fuck off. I’m afraid that ‘You’re fired’ was really ‘Fuck off’. When people voted for Trump it was a tremendous V-sign to the establishment in America. So I would certainly blame reality television for giving Trump a foothold. He’s still playing the act of President as a reality television show. Even when signing executive orders in the oval office, he is reportedly watching television. He watches at least six hours of television a day, and it’s all game shows.
‘When I questioned him he’d certainly been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in his own country.’
Who’s your most questionable ever interviewee? There have been an awful lot of those. I would say Idi Amin perhaps because when I questioned him he’d certainly been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in his own country. He was sort of a schizophrenic, so he would appear to be charming and easy and
What advice would you give to young people today who want to start out in journalism? I would say this is the Golden Age, the Golden Age of Journalism. A lot of journalists would tell you it’s all over, that the great days of newspapers and fine reporting are over. But it’s never been so possible to get emails,
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What’s your best ever scoop? The greatest scoop I’ve ever had is to be at the gate when Mandela was released from prison. Having been kicked out of university for campaigning to get the university I was at (Liverpool) to disinvest from companies who invested in South Africa, it was overwhelming for me. I even cried as he came out of the gate. That is undoubtedly the historical moment I’ve witnessed that most stands out for me, coupled with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The release of humanity manifested by people coming over the wall and through the open gates was pretty fantastic. Both were great events.
Can you predict the outcome of the French election? I don’t think Le Pen will win. I think she might get the most votes but then Mrs. Clinton got the most votes. Nowadays in democracies the most votes don’t necessarily get you the job. I don’t think this system should change, since it seems to produce coalition governments, which I think are good.
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THE COLLAPSE OF THE BERLIN WALL WAS POSITIVELY SIMPLE. ONE DAY THE WALL WAS DOWN AND WE WALKED THROUGH.
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The greatest scoop I’ve ever had is to be at the gate when Mandela was released from prison. I even cried as he came out of the gate.
The opportunity to live, love and work in the European Union, in 27 other countries, was a very precious gift, now taken away
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I WOULD SAY THIS IS THE GOLDEN AGE OF JOURNALISM
Will the European Union survive this decade in its original form? I think there might be some considerable changes, but I think it will survive. I think it must survive because it’s kept the peace for seventy years. After all, Europe had four hundred years of war before the European Union came along and I know one is supposed to be objective, but this is not a good moment in its history.
In your job do you find it hard to be impartial? I do find it very hard. I felt in reading out the results of the Brexit vote that a part of my identity had been taken away from me, that my children’s future had been stolen. The opportunity to live, love and work in the European Union, in 27 other countries, was a very precious gift, now taken away. ¢
Trump became an icon of people who wanted to, quite frankly, tell other people to f***off Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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THE RELEASE OF HUMANITY MANIFESTED BY PEOPLE COMING OVER THE WALL AND THROUGH THE OPEN GATES WAS PRETTY FANTASTIC
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The
Forgotten
Paradise Colour, rhythm and a world heritage site: there’s more to Cuba than you might think MADDY HOLMES
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n our minds Cuba is a time-capsule land unspoiled by Western culture, a forbidden island brimming with exoticism rare on this planet. Only 50 miles from the coast of Florida, before Cuba was cut off from global influence for over half a century, its role model was America.
through the hype and became emotionally attached to a society so different from my own.
Once your two feet are planted on this rich foreign soil you’re instantly greeted by a flurry of activity. Darting in your direction are the curious eyes of young children running In 1961 all diplomatic relations with the US around in the streets while their mothers were severed after the drama of the Bay of cluster and gossip on street corners. When Pigs. As a result of the Cold War, Fidel Castro palm trees tower over you in the midday made alliances with the USSR sun and open-roofed 1960s that further frustrated the Chevrolets of every colour world’s leading economic Visiting Cuba today, you roar down the ancient power. Cuba proved it could streets into the hustle of are reminded of the be a successful independent the capital, you do take a traumas and victories of state without the support of step back in time. Nothing the past America, resulting in a socialist was commercialised in movement with heroes like Cuba under Communism Che Guevara promising and sultry, sensual Havana, prosperity to the people. But the collapse home to two million Latinos, still oozes of the Soviet Union in 1991 also resulted charm. Best of all, it lacks the swagger of in the collapse of Cuba, which was thereby many cities in the West that dazzle tourists condemned to economic meltdown and with capitalist glamour. serious poverty. Even though industry has been paralyzed Visiting Cuba today, you are reminded of the for 55 years, Cubans have world-class cigars, traumas and victories of the past by scars rum and rhythm. They take immense pride in everywhere you go, from peeling paint on cigars, which are still hand-rolled by factory its distinctive houses to the crinkled faces connoisseurs. World Heritage Site, Viñales of old men resting in shaded doorways Valley, is the best tobacco-growing region in and smoking fat cigars. Before my visit, all of Cuba. Its climate is ideal. Vegas (tobacco back in 2013, I was enticed by the mystery plantations) cover the land as far as the eye of a society locked away from the rest of can see. Adorable bohios (farmers’ huts used the world. But it was not long before I saw to dry out tobacco leaves on wide racks) are Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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HAVANA, HOME TO TWO MILLION LATINOS, STILL OOZES CHARM
attached to the plantations and protected from the elements by natural mogotes (mounds) that make this area so unique. In recent decades the $2.6 billion tourist industry has saved Cuba from economic collapse. However, since Obama normalised US-Cuban relations in 2015, the flow of people visiting the island before America ‘ruins it’ has become a flood. And so change has come. For example, since 2011, to boost Cuba’s economy President Raul Castro has allowed Cubans for the first time to work for themselves. Excited Cubans seized this opportunity by setting up all kinds of businesses to make a little extra cash – selling delicious homemade Piña Coladas on the side of main roads and picking up tourists in ‘coco taxis’ (little round mopeds) to drive around Havana. One family, made up of four generations of women, opened a nail salon in their living room. But tourism, estimated to bring in another $2 billion in the near future, causes problems. Tour operators view this boom with trepidation because local industry cannot cope with rising demands. Still using backward technology from the mid-Sixties, hotels and hostels are
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being double-booked by bulky, wheezing computers. The forgotten paradise is being Westernized and many fear the island will indeed be ruined. Cuba is evolving to fit the mould of every other Western holiday destination that caters for the masses, erasing the dazzling passion of an original culture that was the attraction in the first place. But while outsiders romanticize this ‘timecapsule’ nation, many on the inside are ready for change. Those who fear it will lose its character overlook new choices and opportunities never experienced before by ordinary citizens. Since the reforming alliance with the US in 2015, after decades of dictatorship Cubans now enjoy economic freedom and development, imports and exports, and exposure to media that twenty years ago was merely a dream.
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CUBA IS EVOLVING TO FIT THE MOULD OF EVERY OTHER WESTERN HOLIDAY DESTINATION THAT CATERS FOR THE MASSES
Since tourists are responsible for this great change, the main concern for many is how US-Cuban relations will differ under Trump. On the campaign trail he said he was ‘fine’ with the rapprochement, but he promised anti-Castro Republicans he would roll back Obama’s détente, which would result in closing the recently opened US Embassy in Havana. So the future is unpredictable. Whatever happens, this is a Caribbean island with a heroic past, unique culture and exquisite taste. You may visit Cuba once, but Cuba will follow you forever. ¢
The $2.6 billion tourist industry has saved Cuba from economic collapse Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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CHARLIE WATSON asks why men sleep better than women - and he’s not dreaming
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ight hours per day, if you’re doing it properly. A third of your lifetime. Living to the age of ninety sounds less impressive when you consider that for thirty of those years you were sleeping. But sleep is essential for mental and physical health. The heart and blood vessels are repaired during sleep, and the human growth hormone (HGH) is released, which in turn releases hormone IGF-1 from the liver – and these two hormones generate growth. Lack of sleep suppresses the immune system, which can cause more health complications, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and depression. Sleep is also good for the brain because it enhances learning and fosters memory function. Last, a good night’s sleep helps you control your emotions. So sleep is essential to well-being.
But why do men sleep better than use their brains more during the women? No, I’m not dreaming. The day. And men are twice as likely to facts speak for themselves. Insomnia snore, which means women sleeping is more common in women than in alongside such men will have their men. The Centre for Disease Control sleep patterns damaged even further. and Prevention reports Astonishingly, women that 10% of the US have more slow wave population have chronic sleep (deep sleep) than insomnia, and a report men and this only starts LACK OF SLEEP by The National Sleep to decline when women SUPPRESSES THE IMMUNE Federation found that are in their 30s. In SYSTEM, WHICH CAN 63% of women have comparison, men’s deep CAUSE MORE HEALTH insomnia a few times sleep patterns begin to COMPLICATIONS, SUCH per week, but for men worsen in their 20s. AS DIABETES, HEART it is only 54%. When DISEASE, OBESITY AND it comes to Nocturnal So, what are the DEPRESSION Sleep-Related Eating reasons? Menstruation Disorder, otherwise known as ‘midnight may be a curse in more ways than snacking’, 66% of the sufferers are one: it appears to be a key reason why women. According to Dr Jim Horne, women have more trouble sleeping. Britain’s leading expert in sleep science, Women are hampered by hormones. women need 20 minutes more sleep The Bonnie and Clyde of the sleeping per night than men because women world are Progesterone and Oestrogen:
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NOCTURNAL SLEEPRELATED EATING DISORDER, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ‘MIDNIGHT SNACKING’
Oestrogen increases REM sleep (the dreaming stage of sleeping) and Progesterone, which rises after ovulation, causes drowsiness. When Progesterone levels fall at the beginning of menstruation, women experience increased trouble falling asleep, and this persists for a few days. At the same time, melatonin (the natural sleep hormone) levels drop, disturbing sleep. During the menstrual cycle body temperature
63% of women have insomnia a few times per week compared to 54% of men also fluctuates: after ovulation body temperature rises, minimising the natural decrease in temperature that occurs during sleep. Sadly, menopause does not eradicate the problems of the menstrual cycle since hot flushes induce a release of adrenaline into the blood stream that wakes up a woman’s brain during sleep. One theory suggests that, as a result of evolution, women are more attuned to noises in the night because they are historically responsible for night-time feeding. Another possibility is that women worry more than men and lose sleep thinking. If you are still reading this despite the doom and gloom then here is some good advice. To enhance sleep do the following. First, turn off your phones,
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ONE THEORY SUGGESTS THAT WOMEN ARE MORE ATTUNED TO NOISES IN THE NIGHT BECAUSE THEY ARE HISTORICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR NIGHTTIME FEEDING
MEN’S DEEP SLEEP PATTERNS BEGIN TO WORSEN IN THEIR TWENTIES
laptops and TVs before bed because the light they produce is at wavelengths close to the peak of melatonin suppression, which disrupts sleep. Do not exercise within 3 to 4 hours of going to bed because exercise is stimulating. Keeping your circadian rhythm (the 24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of organisms) constant will improve sleep, so going to bed and waking up at the same time will optimise your sleep quality. Sleeping pills are an option for some people who lack sleep but they come with side-effects; for example, all benzodiazepines (sedative hypnotics such as Valium) can be addictive and can cause memory and attention problems. When your grandmother told you that sleep was the best healer, she may have been right. The importance of sleep is often underrated, yet it plays a vital part in everything we do. Whether you are male or female plays a major role, but over that I wouldn’t lose any sleep. ¢
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Cooling
the
Runway
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THE 18,000 COMMERCIAL JETS IN OPERATION PRODUCE MORE THAN 650 MILLION TONNES OF CO2 EACH YEAR - MORE THAN THE WHOLE OF AFRICA
HENRY PADGHAM CHECKS OUT THE ROLE OF AIR TRAVEL IN GLOBAL WARMING AND LABELS ITS BAGGAGE
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e need radical changes in aircraft design, flight operations and passenger expectations to reduce emissions from air travel and arrest its soaring contributions to global warming. We need to reduce total CO2 production by a factor of 90% because at present the 18,000 commercial jets in operation produce more than 650 million tonnes of CO2 each year, which is more than the whole of Africa. The Dutch Airline KLM reckons that 1.5 tonnes of CO2 is produced per passenger for a New York shopping round-trip from Europe. And air freight is even worse than passenger flights, producing 450 grams per tonne per kilometre compared with 80 grams from trucks on the road. Airliners produce 11% of worldwide transport’s worldwide CO2, or 2% of total global warming gas emissions, but the warming it causes is 3.7 times greater because the planes fly high to increase speed and fuel efficiency and at this level contrails form that reflect heat back to Earth instead of letting it escape into space.
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Aviation growth doubles every 15 years but it was not included in the global climate deal reached at a UN conference in Paris because it is not classed as domestic production of CO2. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is trying to impose a new standard following six years of talks, and it made progress at Montréal in 2015 when it reviewed climate change, airport air quality and noise, and recommended measures including the development of aircraft technology, changing operations and finding sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Experts have now agreed on emissions reduction for aircraft and their standards will apply to all new aircraft models launched after 2020, then phased in for existing designs. Unfortunately the climatologists need all action to be taken by 2020 and emissions cut by 2030, so time has already run out. At present environmentalists estimate a reduction with present measures of only 60 tonnes per year.
A market-based mechanism may achieve more. Boeing and Airbus’ newest models already exceed the standards. Older planes still in production, such as the 747 and A380 jumbo jets, will be affected, since supersize means high energy consumption: such planes expend up to a third of their emissions just to transport their own fuel, even with modern efficient engines. The life expectancy of an airliner is 20 to 30 years, but may be reduced following the recent ruling, inevitably provoking commercial resistance. Smaller aircraft need to refuel, and so they spend a lot of energy re-climbing to efficient travel altitudes, but they may still be twice as efficient even though stops for refuelling mean slower transport. In-flight refuelling has been suggested, but would not pass the Stelios test: Stelios HajiIoannou of EasyJet fame once said at a climate change dinner, ‘This is a difficult industry in which to be an innovator – what passengers want is technology that’s tried, true and safe as houses.’ Previous targets were more meaningful – a 50% reduction in fuel consumption, which would merely neutralize the doubling of traffic volume, with 25% coming from improved aircraft design, 15% from engine efficiency, and 10% from Air Transport Management (ATM), such as demanding energy- and noiseefficient routes.
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AVIATION GROWTH DOUBLES EVERY 15 YEARS BUT IT WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE DEAL BECAUSE IT IS NOT CLASSED AS DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF CO2
Airport environmental charges reflect a demand for lower CO2, Nitrogen Oxides and noise with an average of $50 for an A320 airbus and $350 for a B777. Airlines have traded emissions since 2012, allowing continued operation, but will have to move to more efficient aircraft, because now in Europe they pay 5 billion Euros per year, which has provoked an urgent financial push towards modernising fleets.
STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU OF EASYJET ONCE SAID, ‘WHAT PASSENGERS WANT IS TECHNOLOGY THAT’S TRIED, TRUE AND SAFE AS HOUSES.’
The use of design changes such as Blended Wing Body aircraft improve efficiency, but would change the flying experience completely because some passengers would have to sit in the wing roots. The most efficient conventional aircraft are narrow body designs with propeller engines so combined fan-jet engines with fan blades rotating above and behind the wing will be the norm for the next generation of aircraft. We will have to accept flying more slowly, due to the new types of engine, and much lower to prevent the formation of warming contrails. Freight will eventually be transported slowly by a new generation of enormous helium airships like Thunderbird 2, that is if the prototypes stop crashing. These will carry up to five jumbo jets’ worth of cargo, do not need runways and use only water for ballast. If America allowed hydrogen airships again (modern systems would be very safe) they could use hydrogen fuel cell power for electric motors.
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Electric motors may power airliner wheels on the ground instead of aero-engines, but electric power has a long way to go before helping in the air. A hybrid electric airliner is proposed for the late 2020s, but all such innovation tends to be delivered late or not at all. Biofuel manufacture using microbes has been shown to be feasible, and may be economically viable if fossil fuel is adequately taxed. This is clearly better than turning Developing World food crops into kerosene, or repeating the Malaysian experience of torching the rainforest for oil palms and producing as a result 40% of that year’s global CO2 emissions in one venture. Hydrogen as aviation fuel appeals, but is so bulky that the passenger space would be required for storage, and would produce much more water and hence more contrails. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had a goal of 10% alternative fuel use by 2017, so that has been missed already, and alternative fuels are not necessarily green or practical. Whatever happens, the future of aviation is going to look different – lower, slower and probably only slightly greener. ¢
RAINFORESTS ARE DESTROYED TO MAKE WAY FOR PLANTING OIL PALM TREES
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THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) HAD A GOAL OF 10% ALTERNATIVE FUEL USE BY 2017
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HYDROGEN AS AVIATION FUEL APPEALS, BUT IS SO BULKY THAT THE PASSENGER SPACE WOULD BE REQUIRED FOR STORAGE
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RAW DEAL While calls for its legalisation in some quarters grow louder, LESLEY WANG takes a look at the science and cultural history of cannabis
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eed, pot, kief, grass, buds, ganja, blunt, joint, spliff, roach, doob, wacky baccy and the devil’s lettuce are all nicknames that no doubt make people with experience of the pungent, sticky herb recall cloudy hours spent crawling through their misted consciousness, numbness pooling their limbs, chemicals coursing through their veins.
use is still widespread, and it looks like the legal barriers are finally breaking down. So perhaps it’s a good time to ask what all the fuss is about.
Cannabis is a plant. It has three main species: cannabis sativa, cannabis indica and cannabis ruderalis. There are 483 known compounds in cannabis, but the main psychoactive elements are the cannabinoids, Even though this plant can turn the cleverest and within all the cannabinoids the most person into a giggling moron, effective psychoactive droves of users call up shady compound is THC The debate acquaintances in the dim ( Tetrahydrocannabinol). about the legality morning light and meet Note the use of the word of cannabis criminals in skinny alleyways. ‘psychoactive’. Many people, consumption has, Giants of the arts, such as including users, think Baudelaire, Gautier, Dumas, once again, become a weed is a sedative or a heated topic Alcott, Kesey and Angelou stimulant, when it is actually were all self-confessed classified as a hallucinogen, smokers. And historical figures who took a disturbing term that William S Burroughs, cannabis include Thomas Jefferson, Bernie the novelist and addict, defines as ‘a drug Sanders, Carl Sagan, Margaret Mead and that expands consciousness and increases Richard Feynman. The famous, infamous awareness of surroundings and bodily and millions of the unknown used the drug processes’ so while under the influence of throughout the 20th Century despite a ban a hallucinogen the subject is acutely aware in most countries on Earth. of colours, sounds and odours. Although the casual user may not experience the full But the debate about the legality of cannabis hallucinations under THC that one would get consumption has, once again, become a under mescaline or LSD or psilocybin (magic heated topic because America has begun mushrooms), under high doses of THC visual the process of legalization, starting with and auditory hallucinations do occur. Colorado in 2013. Although in the UK legalization has been repeatedly thwarted When THC enters the brain from the blood by the Houses of Parliament, marijuana stream, it is received by special receptors 30
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USERS MAY BUILD A TOLERANCE TO THE DRUG OVER TIME THAT DEMANDS GREATER INTAKE TO ATTAIN THE SAME LEVEL OF ENJOYMENT
Scientists claim weed is less harmful to the human body than alcohol, is not habit-forming and produces relatively trivial side-effects
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in the central nervous system that respond to the THC and fire off other signals in the brain to create the sense of being ‘high’. The main shortterm effects of THC include euphoria; increased appreciation of the arts, including comedy and music; increased sensation; increased creativity; anxiety and paranoia; distortions in the perception of time; dry mouth; increased heart rate; reddening of the eyes; muscle relaxation; hot or cold hands; and depression of motor activities.
To put marijuana further into context, scientists tell us weed is less harmful to the human body than alcohol, the national drug. It is, for example, not habit-forming, unlike alcohol, and in The long-term effects of cannabis lack comparison to alcohol the smoking of adequate study but most scientists marijuana produces relatively trivial agree it is not addictive: ‘a person side-effects. Also the abuse of alcohol may be a confirmed smoker for a often leads to violent crimes, such as prolonged period, rape and murder, whereas and give up the drug marijuana users are not The mesmerizing voluntarily without violent, and are often effects of marijuana experiencing any were first documented incapable of violence. craving or exhibiting by the Chinese as withdrawal symptoms,’ early as 2727 BC and The mesmerizing effects says Howard Becker. is still used in Chinese of marijuana were first Even though the herbal medicine today documented by the media suggest 7% of Chinese as early as 2727 BC, marijuana users will when Egypt was starting become addicted, the study they quote its third dynasty, and the earliest Trojan includes criteria such as ‘whether you culture was underway. The seeds and dedicate a long time procuring it’, which leaves are still used in Chinese herbal is inevitable because of the illegality medicine today. Several centuries later of the substance. But users may build the plant travelled West to India, where a tolerance to the drug over time all classes began to use what they that demands greater intake to attain called bhang and ganja. Hindus still the same level of enjoyment, further use cannabis widely today and there damaging the special cannabinoid are annual hemp festivals across India. receptors in the brain.
The plant had reached Europe by the Fifth Century BC through IndoEuropean traders. But the Scythians, who used it as a religious intoxicant, were the first Europeans to smoke marijuana. Round about the same time, philosopher Plutarch mentions that after Thracian meals it was common to throw the tops of the plant, which looked like oregano, into the fire. Inhaling the fumes, people became so tired they fell asleep. The great Roman physician, Galen, also recorded instances of rich and famous Romans using marijuana for recreation. But with the rise of Christianity, Pope Innocent VIII in 1484 outlawed all use of marijuana due to its perceived demonic character. In time the psychoactive properties of the plant were forgotten in the West. They were rediscovered in France during Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, when the effects became popular with the highbrow French literary community. One of the most influential and infamous hashish clubs was the Club des Hashischins in Paris. Along with literary genius, a sudden craze for orientalism helped bring marijuana back into fashion. The elite of Europe complemented their Eastern interiors by smoking weed with traditional Indian water pipes. Cannabis then became so popular that even Queen Victoria used a tincture of cannabis to alleviate period pains. But just as Prohibition took hold in the States from 1920, the English government in 1928 outlawed the plant, like many other governments in the early 20th Century. Thus ends the story of legal marijuana use in the world. The rest of marijuana’s story is well known. Driven underground by legislators, users resorted to dark, dangerous alleyway deals. Those who ventured into intoxication no longer knew the specific type or strain, or even the authenticity, of the plant. Yet cannabis use still grew. In most cultures, marijuana use is rooted in religion and medicine. Only in a few is it merely recreational: the narrative of cannabis in America,
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MARIJUANA WAS REDISCOVERED IN FRANCE DURING NAPOLEON’S EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN
played out by Jazz musicians in the 20s, hippies and beatniks in the 60s and 70s, and hip-hop exponents more recently, is widely known. In the home of cannabis, China, Taoists pursued magic and alchemy and added cannabis seeds to their incense burners. The resulting hallucinations were prized as a way of achieving immortality. Indeed, many emperors of China devoted their lives and fortunes to finding a cure for the ageing process, and they employed witch doctors to burn and cook many herbs in large bubbling cauldrons. Although such doctors in China eventually gave up their quest for immortality, the use of marijuana enabled other valuable developments in Chemistry and Medicine. Marijuana was soon the core of India’s Buddhist culture. In the four holy books of Hinduism, the Vedas, the god Siva is said to have brought cannabis down from the Himalayas for the enjoyment of the faithful. The stupefaction provoked by the Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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plant’s resin became greatly valued by fakirs and ascetics, the holy men of India, who believed that communication with their deities was facilitated by intoxication with bhang. They called such inebriation ‘fixing the mind on God’. Bhang refers to the flower tops of uncultivated plants, which are cut and dried without having first extracted the resin that was originally ingested by brewing the plant in either milk or water and drinking in concoction. So bhang rests low down in the hierarchy of cannabis. Taken in the early morning, the drug is believed to cleanse the body of sin. Like in the Communion of Christianity, the devotee who partakes of bhang partakes of the god Siva. Cannabis seeped so far into Hindu culture that critics claim Bhang was and still is to India what alcohol is to the West. From ancient times to the present, Indian social and religious gatherings have been incomplete without bhang. To the Hindu cannabis is holy because a guardian is believed to live in the hemp leaf. Without bhang at special festivities like a wedding, evil spirits are believed to hover, waiting for a chance to wreak havoc on the newly-weds. Bhang is also a symbol of hospitality. A host offers a cup of bhang to a guest as casually as we would offer a glass of beer or wine. Failure to do so is deemed misanthropic. The Scythians also used cannabis for religious reasons. Herodotus’
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THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, WITH ITS TALES OF CANNABIS INTOXICATION AND DRUG-INDUCED HALLUCINATIONS, TOPPED BESTSELLER LISTS IN THE 1800s
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THE GOD SIVA IS SAID TO HAVE BROUGHT CANNABIS DOWN FROM THE HIMALAYAS FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF THE FAITHFUL
description of the funerary customs of the Scythians in their Cult of the Dead suggests the ceremony commemorating the passing of a warrior was a rather grisly affair. Many human and animal sacrifices were followed by sobering rites that used small tents filled with red-hot stones onto which were dumped marijuana seeds. The resulting vapours caused the Scythians to howl with joy. Such purification was
the Scythian counterpart of a harddrinking Irish wake, using marijuana instead of alcohol. Unlike other cultures in the ancient world, Galen records, the Romans used to end their banquets with a marijuana-seed dessert, a confectionery treat that left guests warm with sensual pleasure. Cannabis fell out of favour in the West until the 19th Century. Whereas before
A new chapter now begins in the story of this captivating but controversial plant
1800 there were only ten mentions of the plant in France, between 1800 and 1850 no fewer than thirty articles and books were published on the subject. The Thousand and One Nights, with its tales of cannabis intoxication and druginduced hallucinations, topped the bestseller lists for many years. Famed Orientalist Silvestre de Sacy’s warning that hashish produced ecstasy, delirium, insanity, and even death, only whetted the public’s appetite for more. Among those to become enthralled by the furore over this strange drug were a number of young writers, poets, and artists, who thought that hashish’s peculiar effects on the mind might be a way to enhance their creativity. Amongst them was Pierre Jules Theophile Gautier, who became an overnight sensation in 1835 at the age of twenty-four with Mademoiselle de Maupin, the story of a transvestite that was hailed by one critic as ‘the most daring novel... that ever a full-fledged Romanticist could write.’ Gautier founded the famous Club des Hashischins, which met monthly in a hotel in Paris, its members including Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Eugene Delacroix and Ferdinand Boissard. Cannabis use permeated the literary works of club members.
Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradises is unsurpassed as literature’s most poetic description of the hashish experience; Gerard de Nerval wrote The Story of the Calif Haken, its protagonist a cannabis user; and the substance appears, in the works of Alexander Dumas, as a ‘green paste’ in The Count of Monte Cristo. England quickly caught on to this French fashion. A ‘Tragic Generation’ (a title coined by W B Yeats), including Yeats, Ernest Downson, Oscar Wilde and Havelock Ellis, began exploring the pungent world of cannabis. The Romantics, of course, had also used the drug. For example, when poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge invited a friend to visit, he coaxed him to bring some drugs: ‘And I will give a fair trial to opium, henbane, and nepenthe. By the bye,’ he added, ‘I have always considered Homer’s account of nepenthe as a banging lie.’ A millennium of illegal status has made cannabis seem menacing, its long history buried and its rich impact on myriad cultures wiped away. But with several European countries and states of America legalizing the recreational and medical use of cannabis, a new chapter now begins in the story of this captivating and controversial plant. ¢
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milking it
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Stop pleading ignorance and start supporting sustainable farming, says BENEDICT HELME
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ccording to a recent survey by farming can mean a species has so LEAF (Linking Environment and many predators it can’t survive. Either Farming), 25% of Brits don’t know too many predators or no prey at all that bacon comes from a pig. Also, destroys natural harmony. 20% don’t know that eggs come from chickens and 26% don’t know that milk Ignorance also makes things worse comes from cows. This is shocking to through cost. Imagine you have two those in the know, but fields. In one field you does such ignorance People in ignorance keep twenty cows. You matter? feed them good food of the difference and keep them healthy. will buy cheaper Yes, it does. People cannot In the other, you pack meat and keep the support sustainable in 200 cows and feed unsustainable farms food production if they them cheap food laced in business haven’t a clue how food is with growth-inducing sourced. And such a lack hormones which, of support not only affects the animals although they can cause the cows themselves (overfishing damages fish immense pain, increase the eventual health, for example) but the whole yield. You get much more meat from ecosystem. If most of a certain species the second field, and can sell it much is taken for food, whatever fed on that more cheaply. People in complete species is also deprived, and this can ignorance of the differences between lead to extinction. That’s not all: over- the two meats will buy the cheaper
meat and keep the unsustainable farm in business. Livestock emits an estimated 6 billion tonnes of methane every year, about 18% of global emissions. And if we continue to produce meat and dairy for as little cost as possible, this figure will rise. The world will become warmer, melting the ice caps and destroying many animals’ natural habitats, provoking extinction. Water levels will rise as the ice caps disappear, eventually as high as 70m – seven times what is needed to flood New York. And people need to know that most farms aim to produce as much food Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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IT IS POSSIBLE TO FEED THE WORLD WITH HAPPY, HEALTHY ANIMALS
as possible and do not care about keeping animals (and therefore the ecosystem) healthy for the future. Unsustainable farms are run for profit and often slaughter the animals whilst they are young because the longer they live the more food they use and younger meat is more expensive (think lamb or veal) than older, tougher meat. So early slaughter makes more money. This is dangerous because animals killed young produce no offspring, while young born to older animals are less healthy. This process also depletes our future resources.
Livestock emits an estimated 6 billion tonnes of methane every year, about 18% of global emissions The ignorant will not support investment in more humane and healthier methods of animal rearing. If there is no connection in our minds between a slice of bacon and a pig, there is no incentive to buy more expensive bacon from free-range pigs, because we feel no need to improve the life of something we view only as a slab of meat. Ultimately, if there is no connection between the animal and the produce, people do not care how the source is treated. This leads to crueller treatment of the animals, which, as
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THE IGNORANT WILL NOT SUPPORT INVESTMENT IN MORE HUMANE AND HEALTHIER METHODS OF ANIMAL REARING
25% of Brits don’t know bacon comes from pigs and 20% don’t know that eggs come from chickens well as being unkind, worsens the product, because animals that aren’t cared for properly are more likely to develop diseases. For example, to produce a lot of cheap milk fast, farms give dairy cows Bovine Growth Hormone that causes swollen and infected udders. So the average person will drink over one gallon of diseased pus in a lifetime. It is possible to feed the world with happy, healthy animals if callous profiteering by unscrupulous farmers is stopped in its tracks. But in a market economy that can only happen if all of us make the right choices. And to make the right choices we have to be informed. Where eggs come from would be a good start. ¢ 38
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THIS LIES
MADNESS
WAY
History shows us the price of genius comes at a heavy cost, says MAYA JUSZCZAKIEWICZ-LEWIS Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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ouldn’t we all like to be Isaac Newton? But you have to imagine, then, being both mentally superior and mentally inferior at the same time. Many say Newton was a tortured genius, a man whose intelligence cost him painful psychosis. So was his genius in fact a disability? His severe mood swings and psychotic tendencies, which both inhibited and enabled his work, suggest he suffered from bipolar disorder. He also seemed to suffer from schizophrenia, but this may have been due to mercury ingested during his scientific experiments. Whatever the case, what is the price of genius?
of productive manic episodes without sleep or food. Otherwise known as manic depression, bipolar disorder is often defined as swings between two violent states of being: severe states of debilitating depression and intense episodes of mania. Virginia Woolf suffered from bipolar disorder from 1914 until the day she died. In The Years her mania truly flourished, being read by critics as a true expression of a sporadic but incandescent mental state at the time. Woolf fought hard to balance her genius with mental health but she lost the battle. The most touching thing she ever wrote is her suicide letter to her husband, her protector for many years: Dearest,
Virginia Woolf
The phrase ‘tortured genius’ has been around for thousands of years: the misunderstood intellectual genius is indeed a cliché. Extreme intelligence often causes emotional torture that leads to mental illness such as depression, schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. These have been seen for centuries in the world of the Arts, but until recently they weren’t fully recognised, and those who were thus disturbed and disturbing were locked up in an asylum and lost their human rights.
Commonly involving hallucinations, it is a terrifying and debilitating disorder that affects the whole body and throws its victims out of touch with reality. ‘The Scream’, painted by Edvard Munch in 1893, to this day represents the existential angst of schizophrenics who are unsure about both their own identities and the nature of reality itself.
One attempt to explain the familiar phenomenon of the ‘tortured genius’ is a study by The Karolinski Institute, in which scientists found a link between creativity and mental illness: ‘We have studied the brain and the dopamine D2 receptors, and have shown that the dopamine system of healthy, highly creative people is similar to that found in people with schizophrenia.’
I feel certain I am going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can’t concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don’t think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can’t fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can’t even write this properly. I can’t read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that — everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can’t go on spoiling your life any longer. I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been.
‘If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness.’
Even in the mental health community schizophrenia still provokes anxiety and confusion in both sufferers and carers. 40
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But creativity produces other kinds of psychosis. James Fallon, a neurobiologist for the University of California Irvine, once said, ‘People with bipolar disorder tend to be creative when they’re coming out of deep depression.’ And bipolar disorder is famously associated with artistic creativity through the cliché
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MANY SAY NEWTON WAS A TORTURED GENIUS, A MAN WHOSE INTELLIGENCE COST HIM PAINFUL PSYCHOSIS
The only question to ask now is whether art is ever worth such terrible disease.
‘The Scream’, painted by Edvard Munch in 1893, represents the angst of schizophrenics unsure about their own identities and the nature of reality itself
Although things are gradually changing, today mental illness can still be a matter for jokes. In daily speech between friends, for example, one can often hear the accusation ‘You are so bipolar!’ being loosely flung about. insanity to create art, don’t get help. A And mental health issues are often witty person on stage but a melancholy glamourised, for example in Vincent character at home, Williams hanged Van Gogh’s suicide attempt when he himself with his own belt. proceeded to swallow yellow paint, by which it is often said he was trying ‘Artists see the link between their to feel closer to his work and get the pain and their art, and fear losing happiness inside him. But Dr Peyton, the latter,’ says Barry Panter, a retired his physician, said psychiatrist who has otherwise: the painter written a book about Van Gogh saw the world was trying to poison his findings. ‘When in luminous colours himself by eating paint ordinary people cannot artists are dealing and drinking turpentine, unconscious see, but he paid a price with and that is why he wasn’t emotional issues, that for such acute vision allowed back in his creates great pressure studio for months after inside, and they use such attacks. Van Gogh saw the world their art to deal with those issues,’ in luminous colours ordinary people Panter says. ‘It’s a way of externalizing cannot see, but he paid a price for such their pain, in a hope to gain control and acute vision. Tortured by self-doubt, even mastery over it.’ after a fight with Gauguin he cut off one ear, went to a brothel to present Society puts pressure on artists to the ear to Rachel, a prostitute, then produce art, and perhaps to say what went home to lie in his own blood. He we dare not say. We expect artists to too lost the battle and died by his own display a creative courage we lack, hand. It is common for artists such as whatever the cost. But is the output Van Gogh to refuse help, even if he did ever worth such pain? Most believe live in a time when help was scarce. genius is worth the cost because art But even today 21st Century artists outlasts life. But would you sacrifice such as Robin Williams, who use their your genius to avoid such torment? ¢ Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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Born
Yesterday by Philip Larkin For Sally Amis
Tightly-folded bud, I have wished you something None of the others would: Not the usual stuff About being beautiful, Or running off a spring Of innocence and love — They will all wish you that, And should it prove possible, Well, you’re a lucky girl. But if it shouldn’t, then May you be ordinary; Have, like other women, An average of talents: Not ugly, not good-looking, Nothing uncustomary To pull you off your balance, That, unworkable itself, Stops all the rest from working. In fact, may you be dull — If that is what a skilled, Vigilant, flexible, Unemphasised, enthralled Catching of happiness is called.
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MARK BÄCKER says fake news is affecting our understanding of the world
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ears that fake news may have influenced election results in the US and Europe should concern us all. They are affecting our understanding of the world, and colouring our response to traditional journalism and official announcements. Some of us have started to suspect all news. This is having serious consequences for public attitudes, the democratic process and the conduct of public life.
century BCE, Demosthenes was concerned that lies and misinformation put out by his political rival Aeschines who, he believed, was a paid agent of Philip of Macedonia, was undermining Athenian democracy. Some indeed lied, consciously and cynically, thinking they would be believed if only for long enough to achieve their strategic aims. When the Greeks presented the Trojans with the wooden horse, they claimed it was a peace offering and a tribute to the Trojans’ As President Obama said in superior fighting skills. Or his farewell address: ‘Without so we are told. It probably Obama said, ‘Without a some common baseline of willingness to admit new never existed. Others in facts, without a willingness to the past tried to attract information we’ll keep admit new information and followers and make them talking past each other, concede that your opponent produce a particular version making compromise is making a fair point, and of events for posterity. impossible.’ that science and reason Autobiographical works matter, we’ll keep talking past by Julius and Augustus each other, making common ground and Caesar, for example, were written to portray compromise impossible.’ a particular image and influence public opinion. Sometimes writers did not check There has already been a change of their facts or they were not available or they policy amongst technological giants who, clung to traditional beliefs in the face of those instead of denying any responsibility for facts. It was only in 1992 that the Vatican the existence of fake news, are working on acknowledged Galileo’s view regarding the artificial intelligence solutions. This new position of the Earth in the solar system. approach raises civil liberties issues and will take a long time to develop. In the mean Legitimate commentary, propaganda time we should be equipping people with and lies have always been challenging to analytical thinking and fact-checking skills. separate. Purveyors of fake news have an advantage over soothsayers because it is The concept of fake news is not new. Powerful difficult to reverse any opinion that has people have been producing false narratives already been accepted. This is due in part to a since the beginning of time. In the fourth flexibility of reasoning that can be appealing Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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and plausible even when leading to the wrong conclusion. The effects of discussion are also responsible. In justifying an opinion the belief of an individual can harden, and so reduce their inclination to accept any alternative. It has even been proven that a claim made without certainty at first becomes a deeply rooted conviction merely through repetition, unless it is challenged. To a certain extent we are all pedlars of fake news. We often reject information that it is too painful to acknowledge. Look no further than the concept of the afterlife. The same can be said when the stakes are lower. Students may prolong a search to substantiate an incorrect answer for fear of having to rewrite the answer they have erroneously composed. Until recently the amount of ‘fake news’ was limited. That is not to say its impact was limited. Look at how and to what end Nazi Germany controlled the flow of information. At the time, however, sources of information were few and information spread slowly. In democracies, government, the media
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and academics all recognise that people need confidence in what is being said. Public officials are expected to sign up to principles such as selflessness, objectivity, honesty, integrity and accountability. The mainstream media have adopted a similar approach, with an emphasis on truth, accuracy, fairness, impartiality and responsibility. This attitude produced an agreed framework within which a debate on an issue could take place – Obama’s ‘common baseline’ of facts. More and more people access their information online. In theory the internet gives us immediate access to a much wider range of reputable sources. Free speech is thus promoted. Totalitarian governments find it much more difficult to control what their citizens see. Students, researchers and academics can access in a day what would have taken weeks to find only a few years ago. But the flip side is the erosion of Obama’s common baseline. The
increase in the amount of information available, the speed with which it travels and the gradual erosion of the requirement of honesty and integrity, has made it much harder for us to asses the information that overwhelms our news feeds. Few of us bother to ask basic questions about the sourcing and agenda of the articles we read. We operate within our filter bubbles. We receive information from a dozen trusted friends or the article speaks to our existing prejudices and we accept it as true. The false story about Pope Francis endorsing President Trump’s candidacy originated as a joke on a spoof website (WTOE 5 News) but was widely circulated on social media and soon accepted as fact by US voters. We like to believe that only naïve people re-post stories like this, but convincing research shows that false stories are shared and reposted on social media by thousands of people from all kinds of backgrounds.
To a certain extent we are all pedlars of fake news: we often reject information too painful to acknowledge
We put a phrase into a search engine and never question how the underlying search and auto-complete algorithms work. We read the top few hits and never ask ourselves why one article or image was returned and not another. Few of us are aware that some search algorithms operate on a click-based revenue model. Algorithms prioritize items in news feeds based on the likelihood that we will ‘engage with them’ – ie click on them and see the adverts. The algorithms do not care whether or not the information they contain is accurate. Filtering that information takes time. We have to discipline ourselves not to float around in the shallows, the trivial, the sensationalist, or the negative to the exclusion of more important issues. We all know what happened to Harambe the gorilla in Cincinnati Zoo, but how many can explain what is happening in Syria? Allegations of vote-rigging put a sinister spin on this situation. Recently Macedonian teenagers from Veles made a fortune from advertising by pushing false and sensational online stories during the US election campaign. But investigative journalists looking at the sites have questioned how a group of teens barely able to speak English were able to put out such a volume of well-written, English-language information with such a consistent pro-Trump, anti-Clinton editorial policy, and behind the teens, they concluded, there must have been an experienced team of political information managers. Tech giants have all recently adopted a more proactive stance to counteract these developments. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed it directly in February 2017: ‘The two most discussed concerns this past year were about diversity of viewpoints we see (filter bubbles) and accuracy of information (fake news). I worry about these and we have studied them intensively, but I also worry there are even more powerful effects we must mitigate around sensationalism and polarization leading to a loss of common understanding.’ He went on to say that Facebook was working on Artificial Intelligence solutions to the problem. Apple’s Tim Cook states, ‘All technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news.’ And Google is working to improve its search algorithms to prevent political groups from using them to push propaganda higher up the search rankings. But this will take time, and raises serious questions about freedom of thought, speech and association. Improving search algorithms
relies on the collection and aggregation of more and more data sets. This in turn raises serious data protection and privacy issues. The amount of information search engines have about us already is vast. Should they have more? Would our concerns on that issue differ if we lived in a different country? Can we rely on the integrity and completeness of the information in these behemoths? Are they not themselves subject to deliberate or unconscious manipulation? A recent study by Princeton University has shown how artificially intelligent robots and devices are
‘All technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news.’ picking up cultural biases from their creators. These biases range from the morally neutral, like a preference for flowers over insects, to more objectionable views of race and gender. Instead of relying entirely on elusive, expensive and uncertain technical solutions we should be placing greater emphasis on spreading critical thinking skills. People should learn to evaluate the significance and utility of the information in front of them. Where did it come from? Who produced it and why? What political, social, cultural and economic factors shaped the approach of the writer? If a critical mass of us apply these skills to our own use of social media we will strengthen our understanding, waste less time and improve the quality of the information available. However, if misinterpreted and applied wrongly, this caution could reduce our faith in news completely. It is certainly a tricky situation. ¢ Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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Britain’s Miracle: is Brexit the answer to Free Trade? GEORGE PALMER
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isitors to Amsterdam often ignore The Oost-Indisch Huis, ex-headquarters of the Dutch East India Company and now part of the University of Amsterdam. This is sad because the house is a temple to free trade in the capital city of a country that owes its economic and political Seventeenth Century ‘Golden Age’ to free trade. This new economic philosophy transformed the Netherlands from a mere possession of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1590s to Europe’s prime maritime and economic power by the end of the following century, through a process dubbed ‘The Dutch Miracle’. And after decades of economic suffocation by the European Union, Brexit is surely our British Miracle, and we can breathe and trade again.
of scale intensify competition, giving the consumer lower prices and increased choice. And we see today that countries most engaged in the global market, such as Singapore and Switzerland, are now the most advanced economically in the world, whereas insular, self-sufficient nations such as Zimbabwe or North Korea are now the poorest and most backward. Free trade also benefits the poor. In 1990 43% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty (less than a dollar a day). Now the figure is 21% in developing countries and less than 10% globally. The average family living off benefits today in this country is better off financially than the average family living off average wages in 1950.
Two-hundred years ago this year, economist Free trade also ensures peaceful co-operation David Ricardo put forward a revolutionary and mutual cosmopolitanism. Montagu idea. The theory of comparative advantage described free trade as ‘the progenitor of celebrated global free trade in one startling peace’ because the cost of military conflict concept that cast aside hundreds of years of between trading nations has to include self-sufficiency and a mentality of hording. the loss of profitable trade links. Warfare Ricardo suggested that if between trading partners there were only two countries seems almost unthinkable (Britain and Portugal) and two Cobden once said, ‘Free because, as Frédéric Bastiat trade draws mankind commodities (wine and wool), once put it, ‘if goods can’t then it would be mutually cross frontiers, then soldiers together in the bonds beneficial, if Britain specialised will.’ And free trade fosters of eternal peace.’ in wool and Portugal in wine, a greater understanding for the two countries to trade. of other cultures and That is obvious. But the surprising part of encourages international discourse. As the theory is that if Portugal was better in Cobden once said, ‘Free trade draws mankind absolute terms than Britain at making both together in the bonds of eternal peace.’ wine and wool, then it would still be in Britain’s interest, as well as in Portugal’s, to So why are many countries in Europe, have free trade in the two commodities. This who owe their success to free trade and is because free trade benefits all engaging economic co-operation, railing against the parties when comparative advantage idea? Whereas in the past ten years the enables countries to specialise in the economies of India and China have doubled production of goods and services, ensuring in size, the Eurozone economy has stayed that resources are used most profitably. pretty much the same. In fact Europe is now the only continent on the planet that But such tariff-free engagement is also good is not enjoying real economic growth. It was because specialization allows production on often joked last year, during the referendum a larger scale and fosters greater efficiency. campaign, that Europe rivaled Antarctica for Better division of labour and economies glacial economic advancement. But the joke 48
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now, which is no joke at all, is that the Antarctican economy is growing faster than Europe’s because of the booming cruise ship industry. How have we allowed our economic powerhouse to become so weak? The answer is a protectionist racket that has arrested competition, killed initiative and shackled entrepreneurship with regulatory zeal. This is the European Union, prime cause of economic stagnation in the world today. The European Union has devastated the economies of Europe, especially those of the Mediterranean, such as Greece and Italy, where youth unemployment has risen above 50% and on average about 1000 small firms close down every day.
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THE OOST-INDISCH HUIS IS A TEMPLE TO FREE TRADE IN THE CAPITAL CITY OF A COUNTRY THAT OWES ITS ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ‘GOLDEN AGE’ TO FREE TRADE
The EU imposes strict import tariffs on non-EU goods and its regime of regulation discourages competition between European companies. Competition is the engine of economic growth, but protectionism is the enemy REFINERY ON THE THAMES: SUGAR GIANT TATE & LYLE HAS HAD TO REDUCE ITS OPERATION BY 50% SINCE 2005 BECAUSE OF THE EU COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF
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On New Year’s Eve 1600 the first East India Company was granted the right to sail the seas for trade deals
of competition, so it is no wonder that Europe is stagnating economically. This is disastrous not only because European firms can no longer compete on the international stage but also because external tariffs punish the poor countries and support the rich. Take Tate and Lyle. A hallmark British industry with its refinery on the Thames, this sugar giant has had to reduce its operation by 50% since 2005, because of the EU common external tariff that costs between two and three million euros per shipment. This increase in costs has provoked a huge increase in prices that has forced Tate and Lyle to lose business to cheaper alternatives. Such disasters are legion when free trade is abandoned.
The mentality that rejects free trade hampers free trade agreements, and The European Union has duly dragged its feet. As a member of the single market Britain has won trade deals worth only £17 trillion whereas Switzerland, a far smaller economy outside the EU, has landed £48 trillion. We have also been restricted to trade deals with only two of our top ten non-EU partners whilst being unable to trade with Asia, when Iceland, a country with a population the size of Leeds, has arranged a trade agreement with China.
Competition is the engine of economic growth, but EU regulation discourages competition between European companies
ICELAND, A COUNTRY WITH A POPULATION THE SIZE OF LEEDS, HAS ARRANGED A TRADE AGREEMENT WITH CHINA
This is no place for our country to be. We are a maritime nation and we make our way in the world by what we buy and sell, and have done so since New Year’s Eve 1600 when the first East India Company was granted the right to sail the seas for trade deals. Within the protectionist regulation racket of the European Union we are denied the fiesta that is free trade. So let us stride out with confidence into the global economy, and emulate the entrepreneurial spirit that pulsed in the veins of those Seventeenth Century Dutch traders, and pulsed in our own veins a hundred years earlier. ¢ Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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THE ANTARCTICAN ECONOMY IS GROWING FASTER THAN EUROPE’S BECAUSE OF THE BOOMING CRUISE SHIP INDUSTRY
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AUTISTIC PEOPLE COME FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE AND ARE JUST AS DIVERSE AS NONAUTISTIC PEOPLE
Why does autism need more representation? asks MILLIE FELTON Coverage of autism in the media is scarce, and what little there is can be limited. It is usually about a teenage boy with rare ability in maths or science and a special interest in trains. Although this may be true about some, autistic people come from all walks of life and are just as diverse as non-autistic people. Portrayal of autistic traits can be implicitly negative. Take, for example, Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory: he is never described as autistic but he frequently displays traits associated with autism, such as keeping a strict routine, showing low empathy and an inability to recognise sarcasm, being unintentionally offensive and fixating on special interests. There is nothing negative about showing these traits in a fictional character, but the way Sheldon is characterised is two-dimensional, and his behaviour is often used as a punchline. The watchers of The Big Bang Theory are laughing at the behaviour of autistic people because the show treats this behaviour as an annoyance and a joke.
So when autistic people in real life have similar traits they can be ridiculed; people don’t take autistic behaviour seriously because the media doesn’t either. Limited representation in the media leads to misunderstanding of autism; an autistic person who uses sarcasm can be told they’re not autistic at all. Autism varies from person to person, and the image of an intelligent man with social difficulties (see Christopher Boone in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time; Don Tillman in Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project; Abed Nadir in the TV show Community), though not necessarily harmful, is restricting and misrepresentative. Only a small portion of autistic people have the prodigious capacities and talents (also known as Savant Syndrome) that are seen as a feature of autism. Some aspects of autism are neglected in the media. Selfstimulatory behaviour, nicknamed ‘stimming’, is something autistic people often do as a healthy way to regulate sensory or emotional input; it can be repetitive behaviour such as Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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rocking, twisting, hand-flapping, or repeating sounds or words. Autistic people do this when there is too much sensory activity, because it helps them calm down. Some people may find this behaviour strange, but it would not be if it was more widely covered. If stimming is seen as socially unacceptable, then autistic people are only more alienated and stigmatised, but if it were talked about and depicted on television or film, non-autistic people could take steps to understand and accept autistic behaviour that is sometimes outside the norm. Autistic people are not weaker for their autism. It can make life harder sometimes, but their lives can be and are as fulfilling as anyone else’s. Autistic people are different but difference is something to be celebrated because it makes our community thrive. Stigma surrounding autistic people is harmful and isolating, but we can all work to take it down. ¢
SHELDON’S AUTISTIC TRAITS ARE OFTEN TREATED AS THE PUNCHLINE IN ‘THE BIG BANG THEORY’
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AUTISTIC PEOPLE OFTEN REGULATE SENSORY OR EMOTIONAL INPUT THROUGH REPETITIVE BEHAVIOUR SUCH AS ROCKING
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THE IMAGE OF AN INTELLIGENT MAN WITH SOCIAL DIFFICULTIES IS RESTRICTING AND MISREPRESENTATIVE
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Who’s
There?
Is there intelligent life out there, and if so would we want to know? ALEXANDER ROSKILL
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s it just science fiction to think there is life elsewhere than on Planet Earth? The Fermi Paradox (named after Enrico Fermi) highlights the enigma that, despite there being a high probability of other life, there is as yet no evidence. There are many different planets in our galaxy that are in theory habitable because in their orbital region around a star liquid water could exist to allow life, as we understand it, to form. If only 0.1% of those planets had life, there would be 1,000,000 planets with life in the Milky Way alone. Other galaxies may have similarly habitable planets, but they cannot be reached due to the expansion of the universe.
just how difficult it is for life to exist and be maintained. Earth could simply have been created by chance, because certain factors have resulted in the conditions perfect for complex life. Equally, The Great Filter may be an insurmountable developmental wall that we have not yet hit. Other civilisations may have come before us, but driven themselves to extinction through technology (as we might yet with atomic bombs) or been wiped out by natural catastrophes.
The Dark Forest Theory is centred on the idea that civilisations do whatever they can to survive and so become more and more developed. Every other civilisation is a threat and therefore must be destroyed because communication will be difficult and so The Drake equation (N=R*.fp.ne.fl.fi.fc.L) quantifies other potential life forms and posits agreeing not to fight is near impossible. This the high probability of their being other life. theory suggests the universe is like a forest Our galaxy is approximately 13.8 billion where civilisations lie in wait for the right years old and the Earth is 4.5 billion years moment to attack. This would explain why old. Once the galaxy cooled sufficiently after we have not seen any other life. Cosmic rivals the Big Bang, the conditions for life would could be waiting for us to become more have been possible elsewhere. developed before they take After billions of years, then, life over the Earth, or hiding Cosmic rivals could on other planets should have from us for fear of being be waiting for us developed, so why are we themselves destroyed. to become more seemingly alone? developed before they It might also be that take over the Earth One possible explanation ‘intelligent’ life is the real is that there are barriers (or problem. If we are the filters) that make it difficult for life to exist. only intelligent life then perhaps other The Great Filter was first expounded as a civilisations cannot communicate with us theory by Robin Hanson, who suggests through lack of advanced technology. Even there is some undiscovered difficult step in if there is intelligent life, how would it be evolution. This could mean the Earth is rare possible to communicate if they cannot in being one of the only planets to have decript messages from us? Or are they overcome these barriers. This is called the simply not interested in us because they are ‘Rare Earth Hypothesis’: we may not realise so much more developed? These questions 58
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are sparked by our natural curiosity but perhaps this probing into the unknown is too daring. Professor Stephen Hawking says we are ‘playing a dangerous game’ by looking for other life forms. If they are far more developed, they are likely to want to colonise our planet and end human life on Earth.
ONCE THE GALAXY COOLED SUFFICIENTLY AFTER THE BIG BANG, THE CONDITIONS FOR LIFE WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE ELSEWHERE
Earth could have been created by chance, because certain factors have resulted in the conditions perfect for complex life Taking a more religious viewpoint, maybe we are indeed the only form of life: God created us deliberately and there is a special relationship between us and him. He is the intelligent designer and the reason why the universe shows so much order and purpose. There is a possibility that we were God’s only creations and are therefore alone in the universe, which he has given us to explore.
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EVEN IF THERE IS INTELLIGENT LIFE, HOW WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO COMMUNICATE IF THEY CANNOT DECRIPT MESSAGES FROM US?
Stephen Hawking says we are ‘playing a dangerous game’ by looking for other life forms Nevertheless, Dr. Seth Shostak, an American astronomer, believes that ‘we will find a signal from intelligence within two dozen years.’ With the high chance of life stipulated by the Drake Equation, this seems entirely possible but we are probably never going to be able to reply because, by the time we have developed technology advanced enough, the galaxies will be further apart, following the pattern set by the Big Bang.¢ 60
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INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: OTHER CIVILISATIONS MAY HAVE COME BEFORE US, BUT DROVE THEMSELVES TO EXTINCTION
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JOSHUA HUGHES says rugby safety needs to be tackled head-on
R
ugby was established as a game New Scientist article explained: ‘The problem in 1823, making it one of the most isn’t so much one-off blows like the one that historic modern sports, and The ended Hazell’s career, but long-term damage Rugby Football Union set the rules in 1871. caused by repeated concussions over many It was played at an amateur level until the years.’ The damage here can lead to CTE 1995 Rugby World Cup, when the game (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). This turned professional. The rules are now has been a major issue in American Football being comprehensively reviewed to combat and Boxing for years. A famous example of a high risks developed by the intensity of the boxer dying from a brain injury is Muhammad professional game. Major injuries to the Ali. Although Ali died of Parkinson’s Disease, head include, in the short-term, concussion, his condition may well have been caused by and in the long-term Chronic Traumatic Boxing. John Beattie, a former Scottish rugby Encephalopathy. Other health problems international, has been raising awareness include early cardiac deaths and heart of former rugby players affected by CTE. He disease. Bearing in mind the sport only went made a documentary about the growing professional twenty years ago, we are only evidence that repeated head injury can now seeing the long-term lead to CTE. In 2014 British effects of playing at that MP Chris Bryant also level. School rugby is also launched a campaign to an important area because increase awareness about injuries sustained by children concussion in sport. can affect them later in life. THE SPORT ONLY WENT Cardiac problems pose PROFESSIONAL TWENTY There are many different an equally lethal danger. YEARS AGO, WE ARE ONLY types of injury that can be Early heart attacks, cardiac NOW SEEING THE LONGTERM EFFECTS OF PLAYING sustained in professional arrests and heart disease AT THAT LEVEL Rugby. From a fractured can occur in a group of fit foot to concussion, all can young men without the risk be severe career-ending factors usually associated injuries. Brain injury is one with heart disease. Recent of the most dangerous consequences of the examples include Rhys Thomas, a former game. This can require just a few weeks off Welsh Rugby player, who first suffered a but can be life-threatening, for example the heart attack in 2007 in his 20s. Thomas single head injury that finished Andy Hazell’s then suffered another heart attack in 2012, career. ending his rugby career. During a thirteenhour operation he received an artificial heart Assessment of players during a match is in 2014 and is lucky to be alive. Brian Moore, vital to ensure safety. A recent dangerous a former England hooker, recently suffered concussion happened to George North a heart attack aged 55. And Danny Jones, a during a premiership game, when the former Welsh Rugby League player, suffered issue was not just the severity of the injury a cardiac arrest aged 29 shortly after being but the poor handling of North by his club replaced during a League One game. He was side, Northampton. He was rightly sent off taken to hospital but died. So there is an for a HIA (Head Injury Assessment) but was association between professional rugby and wrongly sent back on. So the current system heart conditions. World Rugby now makes is not completely safe for professional recommendations about cardiac screening. players. Doctors have long warned of the long-term effects of concussions in Rugby. A
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Rugby uniquely includes players of widely different shapes and sizes. Forwards are built for weight and strength but backs are built for speed and agility, so players have different diets, fitness regimes and roles in the game. Retirement from the game presents different challenges to health. For example, props live on high-calorie diets and finish their career with excess weight that can lead to obesity. Backs, on the other hand, are traditionally smaller, so can suffer more from collisions during a match. Austin Healey, a former England international, now suffers from arthritis.
Doctors have reported that minor head injuries in children can have devastating long-term effects In schools touch rugby has recently become popular for both warm-ups and as a sport on its own. New regulations by the RFU make it legal to have a fifteena-side game only at under-14 level and above, limiting those younger to thirteen-a-side. This change is to cater for the widely different sizes and weights of children at this age. An important aspect of age-grade rugby is age vs weight. Even though it is entertaining to watch a young Jonah Lomu annihilate a group of children, it is a serious health issue when it happens. Doctors have reported that minor head injuries in children can have devastating long-term effects. Blows to the head when young may put thousands in the UK at increased risk of a blighted or shortened life, research suggests.
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MAJOR INJURIES TO THE HEAD INCLUDE CONCUSSION AND CHRONIC TRAUMATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY
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Paradoxically the fittest players at the peak of their game are also in the most danger
There are many new ways injury can be prevented. Scrum-caps have recently become more popular because they can prevent ‘cauliflower ear’ but it is a common misconception that they prevent concussion. The mouth-guard has been available for a long time but only now are new devices being developed to combat dental injury. The most important thing in school rugby is that children are protected from what can be really dangerous injuries. When these occur assessing and reporting them is vital. The RAG (Red Amber Green) system is perfect for this. Coaches at school level should be able to deliver a Head Injury Assessment with the same competence as those at club or international level.
There is an association between professional rugby and heart conditions; World Rugby now makes recommendations about cardiac screening
Rugby is a rough but not a violent game. The issue with Rugby is not the rules or the players, but the current regulations. With growing evidence suggesting that repeated head injury can lead to CTE, it is fair to say there is a risk. Cardiac disease is an additional risk to players but cardiac screening may reduce the danger. These problems are being addressed by World Rugby. New tackle laws are being brought in year by year, penalising players for dangerous tackles. What is learnt from the professional game needs to be incorporated into school Rugby to protect young and vulnerable players. Paradoxically the fittest players at the peak of their game are also in the most danger. ¢ Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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Character In
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PHILIP CHENNERY tells us that Shakespeare’s characters are ‘not of an age, but for all time’
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f you have ever said ‘It’s Greek to me’, suffered ‘green-eyed jealousy’, been ‘tongue-tied’, ‘hoodwinked’ or ‘in a pickle’, you were quoting Shakespeare. And yet it is not just Shakespeare’s language that has survived over the years but also his characters. The first in-depth study of Shakespeare’s characters appeared about 150 years after his death, in David Nichol Smith’s Introduction to 18th Century Essays. This was a period of transition from classical plot-criticism to rudimentary character-study involving writers such as Samuel Johnson. Character analysis was continued in more detail by 19th Century Romantic writers such as William Hazlitt and Samuel TaylorColeridge, who were writing in an age that felt Shakespeare’s plays were better on the page than on the stage.
Character study to them was more the individual readings of character in intimately subjective when it was not the 19th Century is most remarkable. mediated by an actor. The first involves In the 20th Century the identification there was more focus of stereotypes, as on new interpretations, one would find in perhaps most notably a pantomime. The THE FLEXIBILITY OF in developing the roles second finds something SHAKESPEARE’S FEMALE of women. The flexibility within the character CHARACTERS ALLOWED of Shakespeare’s female that communicates FOR THE BREAKING OF characters allowed with the spectator or STEREOTYPES for the breaking of reader on an individual stereotypes, so that level. Combined, these Rosalind in As You Like It turns the tables approaches allow a full appreciation of on convention through her cross- Shakespeare’s characters. dressing, whilst the otherwise-genteel Desdemona was revolutionised The use of archetypes enables the by Helen Faucit’s ‘hero’s bride’ audience or reader easy access to interpretation. the character. Although this method of character identification is not as In terms of character study the shift independent, it is easier to grasp from an archetypal categorising of and allows a general recognition of character in the late 18th Century to character useful for those who are new
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IT IS NOT JUST SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE THAT HAS SURVIVED OVER THE YEARS BUT ALSO HIS CHARACTERS
Rosalind in As You Like It turns the tables on convention through her cross-dressing
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to Shakespeare. We become familiar with the Shakespearean stereotypes of the duped old father Egeus, the evil manservant Tyrell or the chivalric hero Henry V. This simple perspective, that Shakespeare’s characters fall into different categories or types, is found in the early years of character analysis. Samuel Johnson’s study of complex characters whose motives are Shakespeare’s characters was the first often open to interpretation. serious attempt to classify character and plot. Johnson considers roles such The second method, which explores the as Hamlet or Iago to be defined by humanity of Shakespeare’s characters, their more prominent character traits. directly contributes to the continuing He argued it is impossible not to think popularity of his plays with each new of Hamlet when describing someone generation: we identify human traits in plagued with doubt, the characters that are in the same way one also within ourselves. Shakespeare did not can envisage an evil Ben Crystal, author of allow this type-casting man by referring to Shakespeare on Toast to deter him from Iago. In his ‘Preface to (2008), remarks how developing complex Shakespeare’ Johnson the playwright ‘wrote characters whose praised Shakespeare’s about what it was to be motives are often open art of characterization human, to love, to lose, to interpretation and celebrated his to be envious of your ‘universality’ and best friend’s girlfriend, representation of the ‘general nature’ to become jealous, to kill’, our everyday of his characters, which could stand emotions and experiences reflected the test of time. Critics such as Dryden back to us. had sniffed that these obvious features were created so that an ‘ignorant and Hazlitt and Coleridge removed poorly educated audience’ would the characters from neoclassical have a basic grasp of each character. stereotyping to express the individuality And such characterisation has always of the character. According to Hazlitt been popular and permits universal ‘Shakespeare does no more than enjoyment. But the devil is in the detail describe what all the others think and and Shakespeare did not allow this type- act’ by writing about ‘the rich depths casting to deter him from developing of the human soul: the whole of our
existence, the sum total of our passions and pursuits, of that which we desire and that which we dread.’ (Lectures on the English Poets) In other words it is the human condition to make a torment of our fears and to appreciate our hopes of good, and it is because of this that we love to read of the passions, tragedies and romance of others. Thomas Rhymer contradicts Johnson
Shakespeare’s gift was his ability to combine easily identifiable archetypes with the complexities of individuals by claiming that some of Shakespeare’s characters are not sufficiently typical or representative if they adhere to stereotypes. For example, Iago becomes an improbable character because he does not have the honesty and simplicity of a soldier, making the species character (soldier) no longer true to itself. This merges with Hazlitt’s argument that because the complex nature of a single human being is portrayed in each of those characters they are unique for each play. Iago, although he may seem identifiable by his scheming and malicious nature, never reveals his true motive behind all the tragedy he provokes, since he exits the play keeping his vow never to speak more. The obscure cause of his actions denies a driving emotion and allows varied speculation about his motives. And because ultimately there is no right answer the character is unique for each individual. Thus Shakespeare’s characters are absorbed uniquely by each reader or spectator, a process which over time makes them stand outside time. In the 20th Century critics such as Jan Kott used Shakespeare as a vehicle for interpreting war, something which had become intimate to him and no longer abstract. Writing in the disillusioned aftermath of World War II he influenced practitioners and directors, such as Peter Brook, in showing how Shakespeare’s characters fit into the 20th Century ‘nightmare of
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SAMUEL JOHNSON ARGUED IT IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO THINK OF HAMLET WHEN DESCRIBING SOMEONE PLAGUED WITH DOUBT
history’. Thus we see the cycle of character understanding is both continued and adapted over time. But whether it’s reading the Victorian edition of Shakespeare’s works or watching Brechtian versions of King Lear at the Old Vic it is apparent that Shakespeare’s gift was his ability to combine both easily identifiable archetypes with the complexities of individuals whose flaws and virtues create a very human reflection of ourselves, making his characters ‘not of an age, but for all time’. ¢ Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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Ophelia - Sir John Everett Millais 1852
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back to
black
Project Semicolon helps those condemned to a full sentence ALICIA LORENZO
T
he late Amy Bleuel one day decided she was not going to keep silent any longer. With over twenty years of depression herself, Bleuel founded a non-profit organisation called Project Semicolon to help those struggling with mental illness, suicidal tendencies and addiction. She encouraged people with such problems to tattoo or draw a semicolon somewhere on their bodies to show solidarity with fellow sufferers. Dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts for most of her life, Bleuel explained: ‘A semicolon is used when an author could have chosen to end the sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.’
religion or income, there is a strong social stigma that needs to be eliminated. Since we know little about how the human brain works, those with mental illness are still stereotyped, especially in the media. The mentally ill are portrayed as dangerous, attentionseeking burdens on society or, as The Sun called them once, ‘bonkers’. Such stereotyping can provoke hopelessness in sufferers, who may be reluctant to get help, delaying their recovery or keeping them in a vicious cycle that forestalls a cure.
Since 2015, Project Semicolon has gained wide support by using social media to share its message: ‘Encourage, love and One in five young inspire.’ Recently, adults in the UK Bleuel founded a non-profit organisation celebrities have come called Project Semicolon to help those out with stories about alone suffer from a struggling with mental illness diagnosable mental their own struggles. health disorder. Most Even Prince Harry are able to recover if they seek professional recently revealed he needed counselling help early. Although many people are after his mother died. Actress, singer and affected regardless of age, race, sexuality, activist Selena Gomez and fellow actors 72
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A SEMICOLON IS USED WHEN AN AUTHOR COULD HAVE CHOSEN TO END THE SENTENCE, BUT CHOSE NOT TO. THE AUTHOR IS YOU AND THE SENTENCE IS YOUR LIFE
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Alisha Boe and Tommy Dorfman all got matching semicolon tattoos after the success of Netflix’s Thirteen Reasons Why. By producing this film Gomez tried to get rid of the stigma attached to mental health and suicide. The actors shared their own experiences on social media, with Dorfman saying he was ‘grateful to be alive’ and never thought he’d ‘live past the age of 21’.
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SELENA GOMEZ, ALISHA BOE AND TOMMY DORFMAN ALL GOT MATCHING SEMICOLON TATTOOS AFTER THE SUCCESS OF NETFLIX’S THIRTEEN REASONS WHY PRINCE HARRY RECENTLY REVEALED HE NEEDED COUNSELLING AFTER HIS MOTHER DIED
Project Semicolon teaches people worldwide that whatever you go through it is always temporary. Its website invites everyone to share their battles and reach out for support. It shows they are not alone, and that the only way out is asking for help. ¢ www.projectsemicolon.com
Those with mental illness are still stereotyped, especially in the media SHORTLY BEFORE HER DEATH AMY WINEHOUSE SAID MUSIC HELPED HER COPE WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES 74
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Feminism needs
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YOU!
The future of feminism is masculism ELIZABETH IDOWU Feminism has its roots in the early 19th Century, when the utopian socialist Charles Fourier first coined the term. The movement since then can be split into three waves. The first focused mainly on securing women’s rights for things that women today take for granted, such as the right to vote. The second tried to improve the workplace and family relations. And now we are in the third. At first feminism was disliked because people were resistant to change and equality, but now feminism is not popular for different reasons. Of course if the definition of feminism is the fight for equality between the sexes, everyone should be a feminist, because the movement benefits both genders, but the spirit of feminism is now somewhat tainted. The problem with third-wave feminism is zeal. Too many feminists are negative about men. Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s campaign manager in the presidential race, says it is difficult to call herself a feminist because it is now anti-male, and although Trump is hardly a model of chivalry she raises a good point. The bashing of men is common in pop culture. BuzzFeed’s thirty-six questions that women have for men is just a rant about things men do wrong. It includes sweeping generalizations about what some men do, not all men, but does not admit that fact. It seems that if you are a white, rich, non-disabled, straight male then you are somehow committing a crime because, when such men are attacked for being nothing more, no one bats an eyelid. Feminists are not, of course, afraid to attack their own. Emma Watson was denounced when she posed without a bra in Vanity Fair for allowing her body to be used for commercial gain, instead of being in charge of it herself, but not long ago it was unacceptable for a woman to pose topless and this became a right for which to fight.
Feminism today does not live up to its definition. In the past it was okay to stand up just for women’s rights because their rights were the most neglected, but because most of the rights that women now take for granted have been won by feminists in the past, perhaps it is time feminism focused on the problems faced by men. It’s not that men really lack rights. It’s just that there’s a double standard when it comes to the attention men get when they have the same issues women complain about so loudly. For example, a large number of men are raped and assaulted every year. A friend of mine recently asked if a man can even be raped and yes he
can is the answer. In 2013 the National Crime Victimization Survey found that in 40,000 American households 38% of rape and sexual assault incidents were against men. Sadly such statistics are rarely reported because most people don’t believe men can be raped, and a 2012 survey of college students even concluded that if a man were raped by a woman he would not be upset, when research shows that male rape victims are traumatised by the experience. Most victims of domestic abuse are female but a small minority are men. In 2007 1,850 women were reported for domestic abuse, but in 2016 that
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ACADEMIC PURSUITS WERE SEEN AS UNFEMININE AND DOCTORS EVEN MADE UP FALSE STUDIES CLAIMING SUCH WOMEN HAD DAMAGED OVARIES
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figure rose to 5,640. This huge increase warranted more of a reaction so that people could be more educated on the issue but, like much male trauma, the trend went unnoticed. Many men, for example, suffer from body image problems such as body dysmorphia and ‘manorexia’, the colloquial term for a man with anorexia, but this is not well documented even though the numbers are rising. Many people don’t understand why feminism is any longer necessary since so much progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go until we achieve equality. In the past women were denied basic rights and could not reach their full potential. Intellectual Victorian women were singled out from other women and called Blue Stockings because academic pursuits were seen as unfeminine and doctors even made up false studies claiming such women had damaged ovaries. Many cultures have tried to oppress women by using false claims, or establishing exaggerated ideals. Many religious creation myths are explicitly sexist. The Judaeo-Christian tradition, for example, sees women as the weaker sex and the bringers of all pain and suffering into the world because Eve ate first from the forbidden tree, and according to the Bible that is the
ELIZABETH GARRETT ANDERSON (1836 - 1917) WAS AN ENGLISH PHYSICIAN AND SUFFRAGETTE, THE FIRST WOMAN TO QUALIFY IN BRITAIN AS A PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON original sin. And Pandora, who in Greek myth is the first woman on the Earth, is again the one that unleashes hell. To break the stranglehold of patriarchal culture, feminism had to emerge. Some people don’t see a problem with women’s lives in developed countries
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so they see no use for feminism. One example of discrimination that always crops up is the wage gap, but some people actually doubt whether this exists or not, their argument being that wage gap studies don’t fully take into account the different choices men and women take when it comes to the type of work they choose to do. While that may be true to some extent, the life choices people make as a criterion is just an oversimplification of a more complex situation. If girls or boys from a young age are not encouraged to do Maths and Science, for example, or are told they are bad at such subjects, then studies show this can damage their confidence and they go into lesser fields of work. The wage gap is not entirely a myth; it’s just that the problem is over-simplified. Feminism is needed today in less developed countries, and in some developed countries. The girls kidnapped by Boko Haram and the shooting of Malala Yousafzai both show what happens to girls when they try to attain education in some countries. Here we take education for granted, and children even moan
Feminist Emma Watson was denounced when she posed without a bra in Vanity Fair
about attending school, but some have to fight just to get an education. There are also major disparities between countries in women’s rights. It was only in 2015 that women in Saudi Arabia were allowed the vote, when in the UK it was won in 1918. That is almost one hundred years apart! There are also problems in developed countries similar to those in developing countries. In Tanzania girls can be married at fifteen when for boys the legal age is eighteen, and in the USA child marriage is still legal in some states.
Perhaps it is time feminism focused on the problems faced by men; a large number of men are raped and assaulted every year
I don’t know the future of feminism but as a feminist myself I hope we begin to focus more on the issues that men face, so that feminism can live up to its true definition. The media focusing on sensationalist headlines about feminism is not the best way to highlight what goes on behind the scenes. Instead they should focus on the sex-trafficking and sexism around the world. They shouldn’t be playing up to the angry and judgmental feminist trope any more. We’ll never achieve complete equality, but we can try our hardest and, if we get close, then the future won’t just be female. The future will belong to everyone. ¢ Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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WAIT
UNTIL
DARK
FIONA CLARK reports on a natural light show that dazzles and puzzles
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f you take a trip to Koh Rong, the from females so they can reproduce. And second largest island in Cambodia, whilst it may seem odd to use light for selfwait until nightfall and you will see a defence in a pitch-black ocean, strong flashes natural spectacle that dazzles and puzzles can startle and disorientate, or even scare off, visitors. During the day the beach looks predators. The ‘green bomber’ worm does like any other beach, with pale sand and exactly what its name suggests: it releases blue water. But at night the waves glow and a bioluminescent ‘bomb’ that surrounds shimmer. This phenomenon is not magic, as the predator in a glowing cloud while the some believe, but a type of plankton that worm escapes. Some deep-sea squid can releases light biochemically. even detach and jettison More famous bioluminescent a bioluminescent arm that creatures are fireflies and sticks to an approaching glow worms, which are predator, which is not just actually more unusual confusing: the predator – than plankton because few now visible – becomes prey. WAIT UNTIL NIGHTFALL AND land-dwelling animals use YOU WILL SEE A NATURAL bioluminescence: about 80% The vampire squid is an SPECTACLE THAT DAZZLES of bioluminescent organisms ancient species unchanged AND PUZZLES VISITORS live in the sea. for three million years. Living 3500 feet below the surface The light show is not for the in almost total darkness, it benefit of tourists, however. is an unfussy and voracious It is good for survival. 1000m below the predator. But when the vampire squid surface in the open ocean there is no light is in danger, it does not deploy ink sacs, and bioluminescence helps some animals like other squid, which would be useless live in the dark. It enables them to find in dark water. Instead, when frightened prey, find a mate and avoid predators. it fires a cloud of bioluminescent mucus Luminous body parts can act as a torch that confuses predators long enough for to light up prey or as a lure to attract prey the squid to escape unharmed. Not only within striking distance. The most famous this, but the vampire squid is covered with creature that employs this technique is light-producing organs called photophores the anglerfish, which lures prey towards so it can turn itself ‘on’ and ‘off’. It has its mouth with a dangling bioluminescent incredible control over these photophores. barbel. Bioluminescence can also be vital for It can modulate the size and intensity of attracting mates. The anglerfish, for example, the light, and create complicated patterns uses bioluminescence to distinguish males to disorientate predators and attract prey.
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THE DEEP-SEA ANGLERFISH HAS TWO DIFFERENT LIGHT-EMITTING SYSTEMS
There are many reasons why organisms use bioluminescence that help us understand the selective pressures an organism is under and why evolving this way was an advantage.
The individuals that could harness this bioluminescence were then able to live longer
So how do these creatures do it? Bioluminescence occurs when two chemicals, luciferin and luciferase, come together. The molecule created in this reaction releases energy in the sea anglerfish, for example, has two form of light, a process performed different light-emitting systems – either by the organism itself or by bacterial luminescence in its lure and bacteria living in the organism. The a different unidentified chemistry in animal provides a safe home and its chin barbel. One theory as to how food for the bacteria, and in return bioluminescence evolved is based the bacteria produces light. Colours around luciferins. Luciferins, or lightproduced during bioluminescence producing molecules, are all good cover the whole spectrum but because antioxidants so it is thought that bioluminescence evolved in the ocean whilst they were originally used as antioxidants within most of the light is the organism they blue. Blue light travels adapted to take on this furthest through The animal provides secondary role. When seawater because it a safe home and food the organisms migrated is absorbed less than for the bacteria, and into deeper water other colours. The next in return the bacteria to avoid predators, most common colour is produces light the reduced need for green, which is found in antioxidants meant shallower water. Violet, using this chemical orange, yellow and red are much rarer. The luminescent for its luminous properties was more chemicals are either released straight advantageous. The individuals that into the water or remain inside the could harness this bioluminescence were then able to live longer. organism’s cells. Why bioluminescence evolved has become known only recently, and even now there is still debate about how it works. Scientists reckon bioluminescence evolved independently at least 40 times, but remarkably it evolved separately not just within families of species but within individual species. The deep-
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There is still much to learn about these extraordinary creatures and the reasons for the continuing evolution of bioluminescence. But while the questions continue there are amazing displays of light every night on the beaches of Koh Rong, and they remain the finest light shows on Earth. ¢
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Japanese sea nettle jellyfish
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JEFFREY KAHOL DE JONG suggests a simple proposal for a minor revolution in our education system
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ong before I was born, in 2002, there raged a debate over the fitness and fairness of our education system. While the world changes rapidly, throwing up new challenges in the 21st Century, our schools still operate as Victorian factories. They take in masses of raw potential and process it for at least ten years of compulsory schooling, then spew out stamped and certified mental products, the best of which will be absorbed into the service of maintaining the supremacy of a mighty industrial-military complex that fuels the free markets that have brought so much prosperity to the West. A good, or rather suitable, education is thought the mainstay of modern capitalist society. Indeed, everyone benefits from a good education! Don’t they? Labour candidate Tony Blair once promised to reform the education
system and his promise resonated in literacy and numeracy, starting with strongly with the electorate. In a speech the tiny tots in nursery. Tough learning to party conference targets became the in October 1996, he holy cow in education famously said: ‘Ask me and now a sword of my three main priorities Damocles hangs over for government, and I school heads, who CHALLENGE EVERYTHING; will tell you: education, fear sliding down the STUDENTS SHOULD TRAIN education, education.’ sanctified and widely THEMSELVES TO THINK Sweeping changes published league tables. CRITICALLY ON THEIR FEET, meant spending per TO CHECK FOR TRUTH pupil went up, more This year, Prime Minister teachers were recruited, Theresa May, a worthy and for the first time university fees grammar school product herself, were introduced and quickly raised opened up the nostalgia gates for to three thousand pounds. In 2012 more grammar schools once again, Conservative Education Secretary, with the noble intention of netting and Michael Gove, set about tinkering with grooming the best and brightest at the education system yet again. A lot the tender age of eleven. Woe betide of subjects seen as less useful for the parents unable to afford private tuition workplace, such as Art and Drama, or, better still, a posh prep school to fill were axed from the curriculum of state their child’s mind with enough facts schools, and more emphasis was placed and figures and secret tricks to crack on measuring educational attainment the most fiendish problems on the
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dreaded 11+, thus banishing most young innocents to a wild lottery of good, bad or mostly indifferent comprehensive schools. Paraphrasing my favourite politician, Jeremy Corbyn, I’d say a good education is now ‘for the few, not the many’.
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A YOUNG PERSON IN THE 21ST CENTURY NEEDS A DIFFERENT KIND OF SCHOOLING TO FUNCTION PROPERLY IN TODAY’S WORLD
Yet despite these raging discussions at home for many decades, the British education system franchised itself across the world. Most of the best-ranked schools in Delhi, Dubai, and Dar-es-Salaam, or Beijing, Barcelona and Berlin now offer replica GCSE and A Level courses, often certified directly from educational boards in the United Kingdom. One meets young British teachers everywhere as they crisscross continents within the vast community of international schools, travelling and teaching in their native English. This familiarity with British education produces every year a surge of foreign students coming to these isles for their higher studies, contributing hugely to the development of industry. Education is a top British export that allows a tiny postcolonial island nation to punch well above its weight in the ring of international affairs.
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PARAPHRASING JEREMY CORBYN I’D SAY A GOOD EDUCATION IS NOW ‘FOR THE FEW, NOT THE MANY’
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Woe betide parents unable to afford private tuition to crack the dreaded 11+ But in Britain itself the cracks in the education system yawn as big as black holes. Despite the disapproval of teachers and psychologists, a child in the United Kingdom enters formal education at the young age of three, and must stay until sixteen. But aged eighteen most of our young people do not match up to their international peers, and are largely unfit to enter a quickly evolving job market where top employers recruit talent from anywhere in the world.
A good education is thought the mainstay of modern capitalist society
H G WELLS FAMOUSLY SAID EDUCATION HAD LIED TO HIM
Growth of automation and artificial intelligence will eradicate most routine jobs
So what are we to do? Do we carry on trying to fix our increasingly obsolete education machine, or do we go for complete re-invention? A big question is whether the current system, successful though it was for revving up the Industrial Revolution, and indispensable for the spread of Empire, is still relevant and, if so, for how long. Future jobs will not be the same as current jobs. Growth of automation and artificial intelligence will eradicate most routine jobs, which will be better handled by bots. For example, long-distance haulage on motorways will be automated once legal regulations catch up with existing driverless vehicle technology. And one must wonder whether the current memory-based exam system that tests our comprehension and recollection of static knowledge makes any sense when we have whole libraries on our smart phones. A young person in the 21st Century needs a different kind of schooling to function properly as a rational human being with a well developed social conscience in today’s world, where the pervasive danger of fake news or alternative facts cannot be underestimated and when they emanate even from one of the most exalted offices in the world, the White House. Also there are dangerous divisions bred by the online radicalization of Muslims or alt. right whites. Lately this has led to explosions of intolerance and hate, making young people vulnerable to cynical manipulation. Some have turned violent and thrown away their own lives.
I suggest that instead of swotting to regurgitate facts or doing more and more complicated sums in a stipulated manner in a given time proudly to amass As and A*s, students need to put aside their books at least until they have first mastered the ABC of education:
A
sk Questions. Students should question, examine and weigh every fact so a teacher cannot stand in front of a class sharing cooked learning with a spoon, but must become more of a guide while students explore the world of knowledge for themselves.
B
elieve Nobody. Students should believe that nobody has a monopoly on the gospel of truth. Thinking for oneself requires a healthy dose of scepticism towards not only peers or so-called influencers in the media, but all figures of authority, including parents and teachers.
C
hallenge Everything. Students should train themselves to think critically on their feet, to check for truth. ¢ Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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With low-budget games gaining in popularity, could we see more of them as an art form? ALEX LAPSLEY
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re video games an art form? Recent exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Smithsonian in Washington suggest they are. But video games being treated as art by august public bodies and the public accepting video games as art are two different things. So how long will it take before the critics and the public agree?
content of the game, but in the interactions between the player and the game. The control of the player’s experience is what enables developers to become artists.
A strong example of a game that uses interaction artistically is artist Toby Fox’s Undertale. An indie role-playing game created in 2015, what the game lacks in Some video games aesthetics, with its have artistic features basic pixel art, it more and some are artistic. than makes up for A game might have with the emotional beautifully rendered effect it has on the scenery, a masterfully player. As you progress composed score or a through the game by compelling storyline, killing monsters, you but ultimately these experience a feeling elements are art forms uncommon in games: in themselves and guilt. Whether by a simply including them slain enemy morphing in a game does not into a heart that make the game as a shatters in front of you, whole a work of art. In or a defeated warrior order for a video game It may still be years before video games refusing to surrender to be truly artistic in are viewed in the same artistic light as while she dies, you other media itself, it must make use are confronted with of the fundamental a genuine feeling of difference between video games and other sadness instead of the accomplishment that forms of art: player interactivity. The power of you would normally feel. What makes this the video game as an art form lies not in the feeling so powerful is the realisation that you 90
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It has become easier for individuals to create indie games, such as Markus Persson’s Minecraft, the second-best-selling video game of all time
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caused this, that your actions resulted in this pain. It is even possible to complete the game without harming anyone, which makes your feelings of guilt even stronger, because you understand that you did, in fact, have a choice over what happened. Aside from creating a sentimental response, a video game could also be artistic simply in the mechanics of the game. For example, the award-winning 2007 puzzle game Portal creates a unique and interesting experience for the player through its novel concept of using portals to solve challenges. So if it is possible for video games to be works of art, and there are games that can be categorised as such, why is this not common knowledge? Ultimately, the answer lies in the age of video games. The most notable critic who says video games cannot be art, Roger Ebert, argues that ‘nobody has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers.’ This is almost certainly true since, while there are examples of artistic video games, it is fair to say none sustains comparison with Van Gogh, Shakespeare or Mozart. But while art forms like painting, drama and music have been around for thousands of years, video games have only existed since the creation of Pong in 1958. We cannot discount video games as art while they are still in their infancy, when who knows whether in hundreds of years’ time art students will study pieces such as Tetris and PacMan in the same way that they now study the Mona Lisa and Macbeth? Even the most modern of Ebert’s examples
of other art forms more important than video games – film – has been around for over twice as long as video games, and it took time for the idea that films could be works of art to sink in with the general public. Video games simply haven’t been around long enough to have had as large an impact on the world of art. Another reason why video games are not yet widely viewed as art is because, although artistic games exist, the vast majority of games, especially triple-A releases (the high-budget games created by large studios), are created not for the purpose of being art but as a source of entertainment for the players and profit for the studio. This means that to those unfamiliar with the gaming world, the impression given is that games are not artistic, simply because not enough art games have become famous. This is not unlike the world of film, where large Hollywood blockbusters lack the artistic nature of more niche films, although general knowledge of the artistic film industry is much greater than that of artistic games. Until recently, games were almost exclusively created by large teams of people in a studio, because the tools required for individuals to make games did not exist. While it is not impossible for a group to create art,
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PERHAPS THE COMING YEARS WILL SEE THE OPENINGS OF GALLERIES DEDICATED TO VIDEO GAMES, FESTIVALS CELEBRATING GAMES AS AN ART FORM
the commercial nature of this process invariably leads to a product less unique or expressive than a piece created by an individual. However, over the past decade it has become far easier for individuals to create and circulate games, with a wide range of publicly available tools like GameMaker and distribution platforms such as Steam. This has led to a new market for so-called indie games, such as the second-best-selling video game of all time, Markus Persson’s Minecraft. The increasing popularity of these low-budget games is allowing more and more artistic games, such as the Undertale, to become popular and spreading the idea that a video game can be a work of art. Looking forward, it may still be years before video games are viewed in the same artistic light as other media because of the predominance of commercial games and their relative novelty, but when the creation tools become more widely available and more aspiring artists create inspired games, the acceptance of this medium will undoubtedly grow. Perhaps the coming years will see the openings of galleries dedicated to video games, festivals celebrating games as an art form and creators gaining fame for their work, but until then all that can be done is to channel our creativity into making more games. ¢ ‘Portal’ ©Valve Software
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Regardez Président
Macron OSCAR SAARBACH dit que c’est ce qui arrive quand on envoie un garçon faire un travail d’homme
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he French presidential election was that the French should promptly forget. unusual: there was a great deal of To left-wing television shows on France 2, tension because great change was Macron claimed he was a socialist. Then on sought. The far-right Front National gathered LCI, a right-wing TV channel, he claimed he massive support under the charismatic was not a socialist. More footage showing Marine Le Pen, which was not surprising any lack of stable ideology came when, on given that Hollande’s tenure was an utter a World Wildlife Fund interview, he stated disaster (his popularity ratings bottomed out that we had to protect nature (many are at a staggering 4%), and his weakness created still laughing) and look out for our ‘brothers a wave of support for radical alternatives to and sisters’. Macron had never spoken the merely mild and moderate. But more about ecology before, and this ridiculous surprising was the massive environmental appearance popularity of Emmanuel showed his disturbing lack It is Macron’s selfMacron, an ex-member of contradictory statements of experience. To quote an Hollande’s government who that make him sound like ex-minister of the interior, an artificial candidate, walked out of the governing Bruno Le Maire: ‘Who is the whose claim to be Socialist Party in a debacle that real Macron – the man who, different is just another in his manifesto, Revolution!, left most wondering about his campaign promise true political position. Macron says he will decriminalise created his own independent cannabis, or the man movement, En Marche, supposedly neither who tells Le Figaro (the major right-wing right nor left wing, claiming dubious newspaper in France) that he will criminalise independence from the stale polarity of cannabis? Is it the man who tells Le Figaro mainstream politics that was also one of that his republic is not multicultural, or the Marine Le Pen’s most attractive features. one who tells France Inter Radio that there is no French culture per se?’ But Macron’s supposed separation from the establishment is no separation at all. If his A minister in Hollande’s socialist government, political programme is not exactly the same Macron is a man without a project because as Hollande’s, his political mentor, many see he is a man without convictions. And that it as empty, vague and unsatisfactory. But is not only my view about a country of most of all it is Macron’s self-contradictory which I am a proud citizen. France is in statements that make him sound like an disarray. People are less and less convinced artificial candidate, whose claim to be of anything and do not have any direction different is just another campaign promise through the maze they face in the next Mind’s Eye | June 2017
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decade. France’s constitution makes its president a very powerful man and this role must be filled by a true statesman, capable of upholding the values of a great republic. Sadly, the country has already paid a hefty price for a weak president in Hollande: there are 1.6 million people unemployed; growth is at 17% of the debt-to-GDP ratio; and 259 men, women and children have just been killed by terrorists. It pains me to see the French elect a man whose programme is just a continuation of his failed predecessor.
Macron is a man without a project because he is a man without convictions Although one must respect the vote of the people, which gave Macron an astonishing majority, I urge any French citizen reading this piece to track the new government’s actions and express their disagreement whenever and however they can. Many people voted against Le Pen rather than for Macron, so many will be unhappy. But a few pies and punches will not do the job (Prime Minister Manuel Valls in January). Write petitions and articles. Protest peacefully as an informed crowd. If you do not approve of Macron and his ‘government’, let everyone know. They are bound to listen. After all, they claim to be ‘of the people’. ¢
ON FRANCE 2, MACRON CLAIMED HE WAS A SOCIALIST, THEN ON LCI, A RIGHT-WING TV CHANNEL, HE CLAIMED HE WAS NOT A SOCIALIST
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THE FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS UNUSUAL: THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF TENSION BECAUSE GREAT CHANGE WAS SOUGHT
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THE COUNTRY HAS PAID A HEFTY PRICE FOR A WEAK PRESIDENT IN HOLLANDE: 1.6M UNEMPLOYED; GROWTH 17% OF DEBTTO-GDP RATIO; AND 259 PEOPLE KILLED BY TERRORISTS
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