tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53627654136365980392024-03-18T06:17:00.308-07:00Popular Science BooksThe popular science and science fiction book review siteBrian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.comBlogger1770125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-25650187213005962812024-03-13T02:58:00.000-07:002024-03-13T02:58:08.981-07:00Philip Ball - How Life Works Interview<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_2w9pt0wgY442rp3daCLa_eT7jPdQIZT2_0jy6o6L-EJJYr3d9d2V52-9Xk-Z8NI5rPKUjJtQI6ClspRZMjr6gc2AvjtBxJwxXli8r00GgVdow_npm54dEoIFFXKYTtJRsPiG61kyBnhzzk9pWwsDbV9m6GwZeqi1Rawq0VTBPvDnJ4Xe_Qe4KJ0rE2M/s6000/DSC_0847.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_2w9pt0wgY442rp3daCLa_eT7jPdQIZT2_0jy6o6L-EJJYr3d9d2V52-9Xk-Z8NI5rPKUjJtQI6ClspRZMjr6gc2AvjtBxJwxXli8r00GgVdow_npm54dEoIFFXKYTtJRsPiG61kyBnhzzk9pWwsDbV9m6GwZeqi1Rawq0VTBPvDnJ4Xe_Qe4KJ0rE2M/w266-h400/DSC_0847.jpg" width="266" /></a></i></div><i>Philip Ball is one of the most versatile science writers operating today, covering topics from colour and music to modern myths and the new biology. He is also a broadcaster, and was an editor at Nature for more than twenty years. He writes regularly in the scientific and popular media and has written many books on the interactions of the sciences, the arts, and wider culture, including Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour, The Music Instinct, and Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything. His book Critical Mass won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. Ball is also a presenter of Science Stories, the BBC Radio 4 series on the history of science. He trained as a chemist at the University of Oxford and as a physicist at the University of Bristol. He is also the author of The Modern Myths. He lives in London. His latest title is <b><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/how-life-works-philip-ball.html">How Life Works</a>.</b></i><p></p><p><b>Your book is about the ’new biology’ - how new is ’new’?</b></p><p>Great question – because there might be some dispute about that! Many of the issues I discuss have been around for a long time. For example, I give plenty of attention to the notion of “canalization”, the channelling of complex biological phenomena such as development into just a few possible outcomes, that Conrad Waddington wrote about in the 1940s. I highlight the importance of gene regulation, which we knew about at least since the work of Jacques Monod and François Jacob in the early 1960s. When I talk about the importance of noncoding RNA – RNA molecules encoded in the genome that do not themselves encode protein structures – we need to recognize that some of these, specifically those involved in protein production by the ribosome, such as rRNA and tRNA, have been recognized for a long time too. Even noncoding RNA that performs gene regulatory functions – both long RNAs and very short (micro-)RNA – has been known since the 1990s.</p><p>But the argument I am presenting is that the knowledge that has been gained about such things over the past two decades or so is now enabling us to see these things not merely as miscellaneous elements in a perplexing puzzle – the puzzle of how life works – but as central components of a kind of logic of life that is quite different from the one long thought to be the case. There’s an emerging coherence to this picture. Quite frankly, I could not see that when I began writing the book – I wrote it not to explain this new picture, but in an attempt to understand it myself. It’s perhaps not ideal to start writing a book before you know what it is going to say. But this isn’t the first time I have done that (I worked this way, for example, with my book on quantum mechanics), and I figure that sometimes it is the only hope I have for getting any kind of deeper understanding of my material. As is often said, the best way to discover what you do and don’t understand is to write or talk about it.</p><p><b>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In saying this is new, what is it replacing or amending?</b></p><p>This is the crucial issue for explaining why I think it is genuinely new. It is one thing, for example, to say “Oh, we knew about noncoding RNA 30 years ago”. It is quite another to acknowledge that we now recognize more noncoding genes than protein-coding genes in the human genome (and those of other metazoans, at least). There is absolutely no question that, when the Human Genome Project began in the early 1990s, it was generally accepted that genes were all about making proteins – one can adduce any number of comments from eminent biologists to that effect. This has turned out to be wrong, and to suggest that the error changes nothing substantial about how (our) life works is bizarre – like saying that the discovery of dark matter and dark energy changes nothing about cosmology.</p><p>Similarly, it was the general assumption that gene regulation – the central issue for how our cells actually make use of the genome to grow and maintain us – works in much the same way in humans as it does in the bacteria that Monod and Jacob studied. And this too has proved to be wrong: the fundamental logic of metazoan gene regulation is different. I tell a story in the book of how an expert in gene regulation (who I have decorously left anonymous) who studied it in bacteria poured scorn on the new picture that seemed to be implied by the discovery of the involvement of lots of noncoding RNA in the early 2010s. His objections made perfect sense if we assumed that eukaryotic gene regulation was like that in prokaryotes. But it evidently never occurred to him that this assumption might be invalid.</p><p>Another old “certainty” that has been rewritten in the new biology revolves around the issue of protein structure. Or rather, this discovery that many metazoan proteins, including those involved in gene regulation (transcription factors) and those that represent key “hubs” in protein interaction networks, don’t actually have as much structure as we’d supposed: they are said to be intrinsically disordered, their polypeptide chains left loose and floppy rather than precisely folded. This means that they tend to bind targets less discriminately than ordered proteins: they are promiscuous. Such promiscuity in biomolecular interactions is very common in our cells – we see it too in our regulatory microRNAs. This was a revelation to me, as it blows apart the idea that everything is kept on track by the precision and selectivity of biomolecular interactions. This promiscuity is evidently by design, because we see far less of it in bacteria. There is something about it that is useful, even necessary, in our own molecular biology. I talk a little about what that might be.</p><p>All these changes to the view of how life works (for us) point towards one common theme: information is not simply coded in genes and fed upwards like a precise unfolding program or algorithm. That’s why I argue it makes no sense to think of the genome as a kind of blueprint for us. It’s long been said that biology is hierarchical, with processes happening on many scales. But what we can now see is that none of these scales is any more fundamental than any other, not least because what happens at one level might not depend on the fine details of what goes on in the level below. And that too is by “design” (to use a dangerous word!), because it creates robustness in complex organisms like us. </p><p><b>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Why do you think that we have had such a focus on genes up to now?</b></p><p>The key reason, I think, is that we look for simple stories. And this one indeed looked so simple and appealing, once it became clear from the work of Crick, Watson, Franklin, Wilkins and others how DNA can encode heritable information: that information must be the program that makes us, encoded much as digital information was then being encoded on magnetic tape. This picture fitted too with Erwin Schrödinger’s influential notion of a “code-script” that prevented living things from disintegrating due to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Once this genetic view became aligned with Neodarwinism, not least through the popular and intuitive idea of “selfish genes”, it seemed as though we had the complete story, apart from the details that the Human Genome Project would unravel. I suggest in the book that the irony is that the HGP itself helped to expose why in fact that story won’t work.</p><p>But the other reason why the focus has been so relentlessly genetic is sociological. The Human Genome Project was predicated on this picture, and so there were vested interests in preserving it. It might have been perceived as embarrassing to say “Well we thought things worked this way, but it turns out that they don’t!” Which is a shame, because there is absolutely no shame in that – it is simply how science works, right? But so many promises were made, about how the HGP was going to revolutionize medicine and lead to all these new cures and transform our understanding of human biology, that it became hard to backtrack. What has happened instead is that parts of the biology community have said, “Oh, well it seems actually we need all this other data too”, and so we have all these expensive further -omes beyond the genome – the proteome, metabolome, transcriptome, connectome. Each of them undoubtedly generates lots of useful information, but they tend to become exercises in mere data collection, lacking in any hypotheses to guide them and with a blind hope that somehow understanding will fall out from it all, which it rarely if ever does in science. Yet we go on collecting data because it is what we know how to do.</p><p>At root, part of the problem is that the gene eclipsed the cell – that biology’s centre of gravity became genetics rather than developmental biology. Yet the cell is the proper starting place to understand life, as it is the smallest thing that is actually alive. I point out in the book that genes have ended up being ascribed a spurious agency they don’t possess, because the gene-centred view has nowhere else to put it. And this neglect of developmental biology has been lamented by developmental biologists since Waddington. Happily, there are now some influential voices calling for the cell to be reinstated at the centre of biology. </p><p><b>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Does this change how we look at evolution?</b></p><p>I’m sure it does, but I have tried to be very circumspect about that in the book, confining my comments largely to a section of boxed text right at the end. One reason for that is that I am aware how subtle evolution is and how poorly I understand it, and so I did not feel confident making bold pronouncements about it. I’m actually fairly conservative about it. While some are calling for a complete overhaul of Neodarwinism, for example in an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, I would advocate a cautious approach that begins from the assumption that the central concepts of Neodarwinism are probably fine. But the second reason for my circumspection is that I think we simply don’t yet know how these new ideas in biology are going to impact evolutionary theory. </p><p>One key issue here is that of agency, which I say is a notion that biology needs to take more seriously: to recognize that living organisms, from cells to metazoans, have an autonomous agency and are not simply passive vehicles directed and controlled by genes. It’s then a question whether, if the whole organism possesses this self-directed capacity for action governed by goals, this changes the way in which evolutionary change relates to genotypic change. I don’t know the answer, and I don’t think anyone does – but the question seems valid. </p><p><b>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Are the layers of complexity you describe complete, or could there be more we still don’t acknowledge?</b></p><p>Well, there’s one thing in our favour: I think we can be confident that there are no hidden layers of complexity below the scale of the molecule, or above that of the organism (although of course the environment and ecosystem matter)! But that said, it would be a bit silly to imagine that we have now identified all the elements and modules of the system. We are, for example, still discovering new families of microRNAs with key functions. One big question remains about the way that the supramolecular structure of chromatin is governed, and how that affects gene regulation. We are also constantly discovering more about how cell fates are determined – what makes a cell one type rather than another – and indeed how many different cell fates there are in organisms like us, and how they change over time and during development. So there will certainly be more layers to discover, which is what makes biology still so exciting.</p><p>In fact, I really hope that this book, rather than being a list of what biology has got wrong and has needed to revise, will be seen as a celebration of the amazing advances in understanding over the past two decades or so, and of why biology is for that reason in such a vibrant and thriving phase. I am immensely excited by it myself.</p><p></p><div><p><i style="color: #373737; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></i></p><pre style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; vertical-align: baseline;">Interview by Brian Clegg - <i style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all of Brian's online articles or subscribe to a digest free here</a></i></pre></div><div><br /></div><p> </p>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-38875552752556038872024-03-12T02:37:00.000-07:002024-03-12T02:37:29.045-07:00The Allure of the Multiverse - Paul Halpern *****<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvwaojVT4WU5oEql-xrrehQEAcopPfXuwD3-ZDCzmMVuv_VdomXVZIaYM6mPRcru6Kcp2FJtL0i_yYYDybooAXrEg_KwyX1CSAK4a5pB5vyrsOgG1cOmmh35p6yz4azAAdET_BFW3AiX6PNDGv9fdYGtWutUAQIOLuO9tcuTkbDxGf4PcBPkCIBS4tcRX/s1500/81wlKkL2iZL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="967" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvwaojVT4WU5oEql-xrrehQEAcopPfXuwD3-ZDCzmMVuv_VdomXVZIaYM6mPRcru6Kcp2FJtL0i_yYYDybooAXrEg_KwyX1CSAK4a5pB5vyrsOgG1cOmmh35p6yz4azAAdET_BFW3AiX6PNDGv9fdYGtWutUAQIOLuO9tcuTkbDxGf4PcBPkCIBS4tcRX/s320/81wlKkL2iZL._SL1500_.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>What with multiverses and metaverses, you just can't move for verses at the moment (amusingly, the 'verse' part essentially refers to a turn, which makes no sense in either case). 'Multiverse' as a concept was always going to be a trifle confusing, as 'universe' is supposed to refer to everything in existence, but as we will see, there are plenty of different ways, both philosophically and physically, that the term is applied to something beyond the familiar, four dimensional universe.<p></p><p>Paul Halpern packs plenty into this book - in order to put the various kinds of multiverse concept into context he pretty much goes through quantum physics, Big Bang cosmology and string theory (plus a touch of loop quantum gravity) in a fair amount of detail. We see how the most straightforward multiverse concept of a series of bubble universes in the same normal spacetime has been used to explain the fine tuning of the universe or is put forward as a consequence of the contentious notion of eternal inflation. But we also get the quantum multiverse of the Many Worlds Interpretation, the potential for brane universes that collide, the multiverses that are effectively generated by adding extra dimensions to the familiar ones, and the statistical multiverses where a theory such as string/M-theory gives us inconceivably vast numbers of alternate possibilities for the state of a universe.</p><p>Halpern tries hard to be neutral, always pointing out that there is not a consensus acceptance of any one of these theories - they all have plenty of cosmologists and physicists who think they don't make sense. We get both sides of the argument, though you do get the feel that the author would rather like a multiverse theory to be true, if only for the fun of it. Many of these theories are considered by their detractors to be ascientific in the sense that while they (to some degree) fit what observe, there is no way of disproving them - they can feel like clever people playing with maths that will never be anything more than mathematical puzzles and diversions.</p><p>Although Halpern's writing style is approachable, he does pack in so much that you sometimes have to let statements go over your head and just get on with it in the hope it will eventually all make sense (on the whole, it does). I'm disappointed he doesn't mention the mathematical error in the strong anthropic principle argument that says fine tuning implies a multiverse. He also revivifies the Bruno myth, referring to the 'assertion by sixteenth-century Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno that there are myriad worlds in space - which led, in part, to him being burned at the stake.' Bruno was martyred for religious views - his cosmological speculations were suspiciously similar to those of Nicholas of Cusa from 100 years earlier, who suffered no such fate, instead being made a cardinal.</p><p>I am not a great fan of highly speculative 'science' that is never likely to have evidential claims that can be falsified. However, I surprised myself by very much enjoying this journey through the weird and wonderful speculations of some leading cosmologists and mathematicians. Recommended.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Hardback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/154160217X/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/154160217X/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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Overall the writing could be better... but the central message is fascinating and the book gets four stars despite everything because of this.<p></p><p>That central message is that, as the subtitle says, science can't ignore human experience. This is not a cry for 'my truth'. The concept comes from scientists and philosophers of science. Instead it refers to the way that it is very easy to make a handful of mistakes about what we are doing with science, as a result of which most people (including many scientists) totally misunderstand the process and the implications.</p><p>At the heart of this is confusing mathematical models with reality. It's all too easy when a mathematical model matches observation well to think of that model and its related concepts as factual. What the authors describe as 'the blind spot' is a combination of a number of such errors. These include what the authors call 'the bifurcation of nature' - splitting between what is based on theory and considered objective and what we actually experience which is seen as second class and subjective. An example they give is the idea espoused by many scientists that colour (as opposed to wavelength of light) is an illusion.</p><p>Perhaps the most familiar of the errors is reductionism - considering that if we can break a system down to its most basic elements we can fully understand it from the behaviour of those elements. This entirely misses emergence, complex systems and chaos, not to mention practically any social science. Then there is physicalism (what used to be called materialism, but, as is pointed out the concept of fields in physics, for example, is not material), the reification of mathematical entities and the notion that experience is epiphenomenal. Those last two are where we consider the properties of the universe that can be subjected to mathematics as the only real ones, and where we consider conscious experience to be an unreal construct of computation in the brain and hence worthless scientifically.</p><p>This kind of problem in science is related to that uncovered by Sabine Hossenfelder in the (much better written)<i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2018/06/lost-in-math-sabine-hossenfelder.html"> Lost in Math</a></i>, but that book is purely about the way that modern physics often builds whole theoretical structures on mathematical models without any great connection to observation and experiment, where more emphasis is given to the 'beauty' of the maths than its relation to reality. And there's also a touch of Kant's concept of the 'Ding an sich' - the unknowable reality of the universe where we can only discover the phenomena it produces. But what's new here is that the blind spot extends to vast swathes of science, where we put far too much emphasis on idealised models that bear only a passing resemblance to reality and take far too little notice of what we actually experience and observe.</p><p>To dig a little into my complaint about the writing, by far the best bits were those dealing with time, matter, the cosmos and AI, while the sections on life, Earth science and climate change were particuarly weak. Consciousness was also covered - the content was interesting, but that section was somewhat laboured. I also think the structure of the book could have been better. In essence, it introduces the blind spot and its characteristics (which are all labelled with incomprehensible terminology once we get past the approachable 'blind spot'), then has sections on each of the topics. The trouble with this was that it was quite difficult to keep in mind what something like 'reification of mathematical entities' meant as we went from discipline to discipline. It might have been better to structure the book by the elements of the blind spot and bring in different disciplines to illustrate them instead. There was also rather too much unnecessary history of science, some of which was on slightly dodgy ground, for instance appearing to equate phlogiston (effectively un-oxygen) with caloric (an imagined fluid corresponding to heat).</p><p>As mentioned at the beginning, despite some issues, the concept is genuinely important. The authors are not advocating for some fluffy person-centred pseudoscience, but rather for more realism in science that takes in what is happening, rather than just simplified mathematical models and that recognises that experience is an important part of how we should look scientifically at the world.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Hardback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262048809/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262048809/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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Here, a character will say they know what has happened (or whatever) and then take five pages before they reveal what they think. It feels like famous author syndrome in action - Asimov’s editor should have been far firmer.</p><p>Although the book follows on from the three books featuring Elijah Baley and Daneel Olivaw as an unlikely detective duo, Baley is long dead, so the human continuity comes in via Gladia, who Baley first met on Solaria, and a distant descendent of Baley from one of the frontier worlds settled from Earth (subtly called Baleyworld). </p><p>There is no doubt that the two robot novels from the 50s work much better than those from the 80s, but because more happens here, and there is more of a high concept threat, this book still pulls together the robot series relatively well - the later novels would be more focused on the developments from the Foundation series with less significance given to the robot thread (and, sadly, no crime fiction crossover).</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0008277796/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0008277796/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-11068316576375353102024-02-29T01:55:00.000-08:002024-02-29T01:55:39.563-08:00The Milky Way - Moiya McTier ****<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjub2tPx8RJzfz1f6I7pLapATGHg_clepe4PM4RCbT7Hf3wuey10qMKTi_nm5C8CLiHDQluPOTl4mJAitJt8F3cpLtm3Yf5nb_wBSSLiNtEPwhfGGmcPUWjFCmKhuFH9BxXSNuYkFx-LVOS8RYRE66dFkXf6sRn5x20nb4hb9yet_VQo1iML7imfZWNp7ni/s1500/8121PSx1W3L._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjub2tPx8RJzfz1f6I7pLapATGHg_clepe4PM4RCbT7Hf3wuey10qMKTi_nm5C8CLiHDQluPOTl4mJAitJt8F3cpLtm3Yf5nb_wBSSLiNtEPwhfGGmcPUWjFCmKhuFH9BxXSNuYkFx-LVOS8RYRE66dFkXf6sRn5x20nb4hb9yet_VQo1iML7imfZWNp7ni/s320/8121PSx1W3L._SL1500_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>For some reason, our home galaxy has relatively light coverage in popular science, so it was good to read Moiya McTier's book last year (less good to have forgetten about it until now - this is probably due to the aversion mentioned at the end of the review).<div><br /></div><div>After an introductory chapter, we start by looking at early ideas and myths about the sky pattern referred to most often now as the Milky Way, long before it was realised that this was our galaxy. We are then taken through the Milky Way's formation (and along with that information on stars and other components that go together to make up a galaxy) and McTier goes on to do everything from pull apart Star Trek's dodgy navigational coordinates to what remain mysteries to current science. (Unusually for a simplifying popular science book, we do hear a bit about alternatives to dark matter, though McTier does dismiss MOND using arguments that are weaker than those that could be used to dismiss dark matter particles.)</div><div><br /></div><div>So far, so good. One thing that it is essential to cover is the subtitle. The second word is not 'biography', but 'autobiography'. The book is written from the viewpoint of the Milky Way as if it were a conscious entity. I must applaud this in the sense that it's a different way of looking at astronomy/astrophysics. Any book of this sort benefits from taking a different approach, because mostly it will have been done before. But.</div><div><br /></div><div>For me, personally, the approach was one where I really had to suppress the cringe reflex. The first chapter begins 'Take a look around you, human. What do you see?.. Everything you've ever seen or touched is part of me. Yes, even you, you vain, filthy animal.' I don't know why, but this does feel ever so slightly condescending for an adult audience. And it's a bit odd - given we are effectively part of the Milky Way in terms of our constituents, why would it call us filthy? But then, on the whole, galaxies don't call people anything.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anthropomorphising is, of course, an age-old technique. I used to watch a TV show called <i>Tales of the Riverbank</i> when I was four that featured, for instance, a talking guinea pig and loved it. But while I accept the originality of the approach as popular science, I still had to fight down my aversion as an adult. Perhaps the main potential problem in non-fiction is where to draw the line between the fiction of the talking galaxy and the reality of the science. For example, McTier's galaxy is quite boastful. It comments 'I am the greatest galaxy who has ever lived.' But the Milky Way is neither the biggest galaxy nor does it contain the most stars, making this a dubious boast at best.</div><div><br /></div><div>As long as I had this tendency under control, there was plenty to enjoy here - and that's why I'm giving the book four stars. But I can't ignore it, nor do I think that it will work for every reader. But if you won't be put off by the approach, this is an excellent book on an essential topic.<br /><p></p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1538754169/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1538754169/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing <b><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/in-blink-of-eye-sf-jo-callaghan.html">In the Blink of an Eye</a></b>, her debut SF crime novel which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human. She lives with her two children in the Midlands and the second book in the series, <b>Leave No Trace</b>, is published in the UK on March 28th.</i><p></p><p><b>Why police procedural?</b></p><p>I’ve been writing fiction for 14 years, and although <i>In the Blink of an Eye</i> is my UK debut, before this I wrote five unpublished books for children and young adults. Partly this was because I wanted to write about time travel and other big ideas, but also because my children were young at the time, so that was what I was mostly reading. Then as they grew older, I returned to reading more adult books in general and crime fiction in particular. I’ve always loved big ideas, and the best crime books explore the nature of humanity, theories of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, chaos versus order and fate and free will. Plus, crime writers have a lot of fun! There are so many book festivals and the crime writing community is very strong and supportive. So, a few years ago I decided to try and write a crime novel. Writing a police procedural allowed me to ground the story in reality and introduce an AI Detective in a believable way for people who maybe wouldn’t ordinarily pick up a book about artificial intelligence.</p><p><b>Why this book?</b></p><p>I started writing this book less than two months after my husband died from cancer as a way of distracting myself from my grief so I could stay strong for my children. I initially wrote it as a way of processing a lot of things, so it tells the story of Kat, a middle-aged detective who returns to work after the loss of her husband, and reluctantly agrees to pilot the use of an Artificially Intelligent Detecting Entity, AIDE Lock. Because I was drawn to stories of love and loss, the plot centres around two missing boys, but as the story developed, it became more about the way we make decisions, and what it means to be human. Kat is someone who acts according to her ‘gut instinct’ whereas Lock is driven by algorithms and evidence, and so there is a lot of conflict (and fun!) between their two different approaches. I was drawn to the idea of an AI detective because in my day job I was researching the potential impact of AI on the future healthcare workforce, and that made me wonder could you have an AI detective, and what would happen if you did…</p><p><b>AI clearly has a lot to offer to the police, but in reality, would it be better kept to the backroom?</b></p><p>I worked really hard to show both the potential benefits and threats of AI in policing in the novel, so that readers can make up their own mind, and hopefully become more informed and engaged in these important debates. As Malcom Gladwell argues in <i>Blink</i>, so-called ‘gut instinct’ is the result of thought-processes that are too rapid for most of us to recognise, and are often informed by prejudices and assumptions about age, gender, and race. We know from recent high-profile cases in the UK that the current police force suffers from racism and misogyny, so on the plus side, AI could help bring more transparent and evidence-based decision making into policing decisions. But of course, AI is only as good as the data it is trained on, and there is evidence that it can lead to more biased decisions. </p><p>I wrote a <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/blog/jo-callaghan-on-how-ai-is-transforming-crime-fighting">couple of articles</a> about the role of AI in policing that explore these issues more. Essentially I believe we should be more proactive in deciding how we want to live and work as humans – what Keynes called perfecting the art of life, and use that to determine what AI should/should not do. Otherwise, AI will be driven by what it is technically capable of, leaving the role of humans to be decided by default. </p><p><b>What’s next?</b></p><p>Book 2, <i>Leave No Trace</i>, will be published on March 28th in the UK, and I am currently working on book 3. I still work full time, and both kids are still at home, so it made me envious to read some of your other interviewees who answered this question with ‘a rest’.</p><p><b>What’s exciting you at the moment?</b></p><p>Book 3! It is a series, because I want to explore just how much AIDE Lock might be capable of learning, and what happens when they do. I’m looking forward to exploring ideas that have always fascinated me, such as the idea of consciousness, and how no one really knows what another person – whether AI or not – is really thinking. That’s why I chose a quote from B.F. Skinner as the epigraph to book 1: ‘The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.’</p><p><i>Photograph by Edward Moss</i></p><p></p><div><p><i style="color: #373737; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></i></p><pre style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; vertical-align: baseline;">Interview by Brian Clegg - <i style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all of Brian's online articles or subscribe to a digest free here</a></i></pre></div><div><br /></div><p> </p>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-43193388029105023012024-02-26T06:20:00.000-08:002024-02-26T06:20:40.470-08:00The Robots of Dawn (SF) - Isaac Asimov ***<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSQEcBHs7356nvBG93oTofZpEN1z5OYhouG4mxqNJTWAECHbB0LeNaeBlALVGeATs5d1ktcHp8yfKhntzDx9CtC8OrqXPus5preRyoolZKVjKhk7sQeAKnZ0O3M1rwMJPpLFQ92HWBNFcT2sEL_kDuBnhXZMxokSQIefRzG7GPN1foxtCHWrNVaMHyS2C/s1163/71m3neXXoFL._SL1163_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="762" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSQEcBHs7356nvBG93oTofZpEN1z5OYhouG4mxqNJTWAECHbB0LeNaeBlALVGeATs5d1ktcHp8yfKhntzDx9CtC8OrqXPus5preRyoolZKVjKhk7sQeAKnZ0O3M1rwMJPpLFQ92HWBNFcT2sEL_kDuBnhXZMxokSQIefRzG7GPN1foxtCHWrNVaMHyS2C/s320/71m3neXXoFL._SL1163_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>There is no doubt that <i>The Robots of Dawn</i> is fascinating from the point of view of being able to examine Isaac Asimov's development of a writer - and how he deals with technological dead ends in his first two Elijah Baley books from the 1950s when he revisited the character and his robotic challenges in 1983. Quite how well it works as a novel is a different matter, which we will return to.<p></p><p>In <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-caves-of-steel-sf-isaac-asimov.html">The Caves of Steel</a></i> and <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-naked-sun-sf-isaac-asimov.html">The Naked Sun</a></i>, Baley, a detective from the warren-like city of New York faces up to the societies of Spacers - humans who have settled on new planets and have totally different cultures to his own, notably in their enthusiastic use of robots. In this addition to the series, Baley travels to Aurora, the oldest of the Spacer planets, to try to solve an apparently intractable case of roboticide. A human-like robot (one of only two in existence) has been 'murdered'. But the only person who it's claimed could have done this denies having done so - and Earth's future rests on Baley being able to prove his innocence.</p><p>Once again Baley is teamed up with the (only remaining) fully humanoid robot, Daneel Olivaw. But in this book, Olivaw has hardly any part to play other than to act as a bodyguard for Baley - there is no real interplay between them, which is a shame. Faced also with the very 50s future technology of the first books, Asimov simply ploughs on with examples that can't be avoided, such as book films, and subtly changes others, such as the way computing had hardly moved on in 3,000 years.</p><p>There is no doubt that Asimov matured as a writer between the 50s and the 80s - but not always for the better. The first two novels had the intensity and immediacy that came from their magazine origins. <i>Robots of Dawn</i> is far more sprawling and suffers as a result. Any detective story is driven by conversations in a way that isn't necessary for every novel. It's a major part of how the detective uncovers details, and takes the reader into the process. But the conversations in this book are interminable, featuring pages of niggling discussion of unnecessary detail and roundabout wordiness. It gets distinctly dull.</p><p>The other way Asimov has moved on is to try to counter the accusation that his earlier books lacked human interaction by introducing sex and discussion of bodily functions that would never have made it before. This is helped by bringing back Gladia from <i>The Naked Sun</i> - probably Asimov's most rounded female character. There are still only two significant female characters in the novel, though. This all feels like the author is trying hard to do something he doesn't really like to do.</p><p>The other slight problem is that by this point, Asimov had hit on the idea of merging his robot stories and the <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2017/08/foundation-isaac-asimov.html">Foundation</a></i> series - this means that the ending of the book isn't so much about solving the crime as it is about lining things up for the introduction of psychohistory, which is unsatisfying. The book is more of a bridge than an entity in its own right.</p><p>This isn't a bad novel. It has some interesting ideas. Asimov sets up an impossible situation for Baley to solve, which he (sort of) does. But it isn't as enjoyable as the earlier robot novels. And it's even more obvious here that all the societies that Asimov describes here have bizarrely high levels of distortion from current human nature, where visitors from one society always react with horror to another culture, to the extent that every character (with the exception of Gladia) seems to have obsessive behaviour. It's frustrating because it could have been done so much better.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0008277788/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0008277788/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Six book package: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/9124369896/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9124369896/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Using these links earns us commission at no cost to you</span></i></div></div></div></div></div><pre style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-61803509113301955302024-02-21T04:47:00.000-08:002024-02-21T04:47:16.097-08:00Awe - Dacher Keltner **<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-t5uNA_oK3axNVbSDVgHYzDvj3xEZGLGNXcLe6JowkBXtW7lonMET7LFqYeogSGaOFYWYe-BoQNhNlQACG3ZuKCCM1xXNtkedORtMDhCz1OkDEsY66RUXzuvjjrK1X-jjmFhSzDp1_3p0Xi1xvF2mwb-Jo_oysXDY2FNELZUsE84ii9CPuVeOioLEtty/s1500/61J2zNaDoaL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="977" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-t5uNA_oK3axNVbSDVgHYzDvj3xEZGLGNXcLe6JowkBXtW7lonMET7LFqYeogSGaOFYWYe-BoQNhNlQACG3ZuKCCM1xXNtkedORtMDhCz1OkDEsY66RUXzuvjjrK1X-jjmFhSzDp1_3p0Xi1xvF2mwb-Jo_oysXDY2FNELZUsE84ii9CPuVeOioLEtty/s320/61J2zNaDoaL._SL1500_.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Over the years, Dacher Keltner has covered a range of really interesting topics. Take, for instance <a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2010/02/born-to-be-good-dacher-keltner.html"><i>Born to be Good</i> </a>on 'the science of a meaningful life' from 2010 or <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-power-paradox-dacher-keltner.html">The Power Paradox</a></i> on 'how we gain and lose influence' from 2016. Now he's done it again with <i>Awe</i>, exploring 'the explorative power of everyday wonder'. And just as with the other two, I was drawn in by the concept only to be disappointed by the content - it's a bit like popular science clickbait.<p></p><p>To be honest, I'd forgotten I'd read the previous books when I bought this one, but referring back to the earlier reviews, I'm getting the same feeling all over again. I noted that <i>Born to be Good</i> was 'strung together rather haphazardly' and that <i>The Power Paradox</i> felt like many business books - a good magazine article strung out to make a tissue-thin book. It's deja vu all over again.</p><p>Keltner divides the book into four sections. Only the first is directly about 'a science of awe' (though the scientific references continue throughout). From 69 pages in we get onto 'stories of transformative awe', because this is far more about the experience than the science. Then we move on to 'cultural archives of awe', and finally the life lessons bit: 'living a life of awe'. It's absolutely fine that Keltner personalises the process in writing a lot about his family, but it does feel much of the time that the content is observational without any significant depth beneath it.</p><p>The basic concept of the importance of awe, combined with some difficulty in describing just what it is, is interesting and arguably important for us as human beings. I do feel that most of us don't experience enough awe in our lives, potentially making our lives feel relatively pointless. We <i>need</i> awe. But the way that Keltner delivers this wisdom sometimes feels more like we're in a Bill and Ted movie, without the humour or the storyline. It's all 'Whoa!' and 'Feel this, man!' This is a sheep in wolf's clothing: a spiritual self-help book dressed up as popular psychology.</p><p>The other problem I have with this book is that I can't take seriously any post-replication crisis psychology book that does not mention it at all and does not explore the quality of the studies it references. Keltner has 250 references at the back, but in the text all we ever get is apparent fact such as 'a study showed this' before moving on snappily to the next observation. It's not just that there is no depth - it's all surface - but we are never told anything about the quality of the studies. Was there p-hacking? Did they use small samples? Were the effects significant but with minimal effect? Did they use the low standard of being considered significant if there is a 1 in 20 chance of the effects being seen if the null hypothesis being true? Have they been successfully replicated? Nothing. Nada. Whoa!</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1802061169/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1984879707/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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Again I'm struck by how much better his book writing is than that in the early robot stories. Here, Baley, who has spent his life in the confines of the walled-in city is sent to the Spacer planet of Solaria to deal with a murder, on a mission with political overtones.<p></p><p>Asimov gives us a really interesting alternative future society where a whole planet is divided between just 20,000 people, living in vast palace-like structures, supported by hundreds of robots each. The only in-person contact between them is with a spouse (and only to get the distasteful matter of children out of the way) or a doctor. Otherwise all contact is by remote viewing. This society is nicely thought through - while in practice it's hard to imagine humans getting to the stage of finding personal contact with others disgusting, it's an interesting contrast with Baley's Earth where millions are crammed together in close confines.</p><p>Given the political views of 1950s America, it's notable that Asimov, an American writer, gives us two very state-controlled societies (though there are other Spacer worlds that are allegedly less authoritarian). We see here the development of Baley as a human being, plus Gladia, one of Asimov's few relatively rounded female characters in the main suspect for the initial murder.</p><p>As with the previous novel, <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-caves-of-steel-sf-isaac-asimov.html">The Caves of Steel</a>,</i> the technology is delightfully out of synch. Set around 3,000 years in the future, robots are well developed, but almost all other technology seems only slightly better than 1950s levels - for example, Baley is surprised that the robots can communicate with each other by radio, and media is still at the book film level. But that doesn't get in the way of the readability as Baley tries to solve the murder despite the difficulties of operating in such a different society.</p><p>Like <i>Caves of Steel</i>, this book technically features a partnership with the humanoid robot Daneel Olivaw, who is from another of the Spacer planets, the marginally more normal Aurora. If anything, Olivaw is the book's weakest point as he has very little role to play, being mostly sidelined by Baley. Even so, this is the best of the robot books I've got to so far.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/000827777X/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/000827777X/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Six book package: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/9124369896/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; 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border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-81706960317535120912024-02-13T02:04:00.000-08:002024-02-13T02:04:12.446-08:00Andrew May -- Five Way Interview<p><i style="caret-color: rgb(56, 56, 56); color: #383838;"><span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(56, 56, 56); color: #383838;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfj7jzNtFtvNAGDMl1PwJG-WCH2o_n-YOt45Y2h33jnNjSBP0qxbSF1It5FIaCCSNr_0nDty4fABz0wgRRhyphenhyphenWwIetr0S3Vpn7W-seTOj2hlzmZITENPtSeCyw4s0oH3QtLxjbf8L_AG5mmMZ0h1wezns9NixUwZBYiHmTVarGdBT1ZDOzCFVHIqjApNuQ/s982/Andrew%20May%20160817%20cropped.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="967" data-original-width="982" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfj7jzNtFtvNAGDMl1PwJG-WCH2o_n-YOt45Y2h33jnNjSBP0qxbSF1It5FIaCCSNr_0nDty4fABz0wgRRhyphenhyphenWwIetr0S3Vpn7W-seTOj2hlzmZITENPtSeCyw4s0oH3QtLxjbf8L_AG5mmMZ0h1wezns9NixUwZBYiHmTVarGdBT1ZDOzCFVHIqjApNuQ/s320/Andrew%20May%20160817%20cropped.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></i></div><i style="caret-color: rgb(56, 56, 56); color: #383838;"><span>Andrew May obtained his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Manchester in 1982. After a 30-year career spanning academia, the civil service and private industry he now works as a freelance writer and science consultant. He has written on subjects as diverse as the physical sciences, military technology, British history and the paranormal. He lives in Somerset and his latest title is <b><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/eyes-in-sky-andrew-may.html">Eyes in the Sky</a></b>.</span></i><p></p><p><b>Why astronomy?</b></p><p>I was obsessively interested in space as a child. The first 'real world' events I was aware of were the Gemini missions of the mid-60s, and like everyone else I was glued to the Moon landings a little later. By the time of the last one, Apollo 17, I was interested in cutting-edge astronomy too - black holes and quasars and such like - so (to me at least) it seemed inevitable that I'd go on to do a PhD in astrophysics. After an exciting few years doing postdoctoral research I eventually had to get a 'proper' job, but since I became semi-retired I've been able to indulge my fascination with all things space-related through writing. </p><p><b>Why this book?</b></p><p>The subject of space telescopes has a particular appeal for me, in that it combines both astronomy - the study of objects in distant parts of the universe - with the practicalities of space travel, getting hardware up into near-Earth space. But there's another reason too. Popular writing about astronomy tends to focus on certain aspects at the expense of others, and this book gave me the opportunity to talk about one of the less well known sides of the subject. Many people will have read about galaxies, exoplanets, black holes and the Big Bang, without perhaps having a very clear idea of how astronomers happen to know about such things in the first place. That's where telescopes come in - they're so much more than the glorified cameras taking pretty pictures that many people imagine. So that was the main message I wanted to get across.</p><p><b>What’s the next big thing for space telescopes?</b></p><p>If you mean the next big discovery they're going to make, then by definition it will be something we don't know yet! That's the great attraction of the subject, probing the very frontiers of knowledge. Personally, though, I'd like to think we'll have clear evidence of extraterrestrial life before very long. There's a good chance NASA's giant James Webb telescope will come up with something there. As regards new space telescope hardware - there are several new instruments in the pipeline, but I don't think we'll see anything as big or powerful as Webb for a long time.</p><p><b>What’s next?</b></p><p>The writing I most enjoy doing is at short length, for magazines or websites. For the last few years I've been lucky enough to have at least one commission a month for space-related articles, and I'm hoping this continues as long as possible. That kind of writing comes easily to me, but I find books much harder, if only from the effort of keeping it all clear in my head for the weeks or months it takes to write. On the other hand, nothing beats the pleasure of having written a book once it's finished! The big question for me is whether I've got something to say that another author might not say in the same way. That was the case with Space Telescopes and the other books I've done so far, and I've got a few other ideas that I'll probably do at some point. But nothing I'm going to commit myself to yet!</p><p><b>What’s exciting you at the moment?</b></p><p>As I said a moment ago, I think there's a fair chance the discovery of alien life will be the next big thing in astronomy. That's always been an exciting if distant prospect, but it's only recently that the available hardware has swung the probabilities in its favour. Of course, I'd love the first discovery to be a message from an intelligent civilisation, but realistically we're probably talking about chemical signatures from much more primitive forms of life.</p><p></p><div><p><i style="color: #373737; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></i></p><pre style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; vertical-align: baseline;">Interview by Brian Clegg - <i style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all of Brian's online articles or subscribe to a digest free here</a></i></pre></div><div><br /></div><p> </p>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-65878179455287871332024-02-12T04:56:00.000-08:002024-02-12T04:56:32.744-08:00The Rest of the Robots (SF) - Isaac Asimov ***<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJomsUGnVQyQ4UP7mpMlsv7K8OV56e7UWRzjhB45Yd14cBauAvHZrJTUjOP1GWP3yEfPtEIVJkCG0r7VCR5d_dPJgONEF8dvavKBjk-1nVqgSu_b8ykFhDJN7awvmT_nkoNGLEMOwROyMlNKFKz5L3I9R_NRBeXyD9urLt7nNRlQFA-YVa0SsAME4EgUh2/s1163/71tGTm6fZ5L._SL1163_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="762" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJomsUGnVQyQ4UP7mpMlsv7K8OV56e7UWRzjhB45Yd14cBauAvHZrJTUjOP1GWP3yEfPtEIVJkCG0r7VCR5d_dPJgONEF8dvavKBjk-1nVqgSu_b8ykFhDJN7awvmT_nkoNGLEMOwROyMlNKFKz5L3I9R_NRBeXyD9urLt7nNRlQFA-YVa0SsAME4EgUh2/s320/71tGTm6fZ5L._SL1163_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>Asimov's second collection of robot short stories is arguably a little better than <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/i-robot-sf-isaac-asimov.html">I, Robot </a></i>- apart from anything else it lacks the painfully unfunny bantering in the stories featuring the engineers Donovan and Powell in that earlier collection. Once again there are some clever problems set up - such as the failure of a robot to pilot a test flight of the first hyperdrive ship (giving the character who deactivates the ship some serious peril). But as before, these are stories of ideas that feel a little too cerebral and that have dated more than the novels seem to have done.<p></p><p>For me, far and above the best story was the final one in the collection, <i>Galley Slave</i>, which Asimov notes is his favourite Susan Calvin story - I'd agree. The actual setup of the story is very unlikely, but it's entertainingly set as a court case. What is particularly interesting is the parallel with the present agonies about generative AI such as ChatGPT in academia. The 'galley' of the story is not a ship, but the old style book proofs that ran down extra long pages and had wide margins in which to make obscure marks to indicate editorial changes.</p><p>In the story, a robot is provided to a university to do brainwork - one of its main capabilities is proof reading, which it does at high speed and accuracy. But the concern is inevitably that it will go beyond simply freeing up humans' time to rendering them redundant. It's interesting both from the real parallels with the future of generative AI, and also in exposing particularly well Asimov's blind spot that he felt such work had to be done by a robot rather than a computer (because inputting and outputting text would be too difficult). The idea that a humanoid robot would be easier to facilitate than text input and output is remarkable.</p><p>There are six Asimov robot titles in all, and it's very useful to get the robot prehistory from the stories to put the novels into context, though the full-length books do seem to read better. Reading them all in close proximity, it's interesting to see the inconsistencies in Asimov's robot storyline - particularly in the way that the short stories are largely set in the twenty-first century, while the novels leap forward thousands of years, despite there being very little advance in the computing technology (even the robots only advance slightly).</p><p>As with <i>I, Robot</i>, I was a touch disappointed, as I remembered (from many years ago) the short stories being rather better than they are - but I'm still glad to have come back to them.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/000827780X/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/000827780X/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-85217483066209807532024-02-07T02:03:00.000-08:002024-02-07T02:03:44.082-08:00How Life Works - Philip Ball *****<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQSIEAyIUzzvadaa9pheMIAjZYNzNH54AhRHvnClyGJ_CXhPoR9HPNy8tmDaKgSn5EQEefEB7NkV8DLY6RepdJRHzpjAUM7jWLml7ES6Ii08rtoqWmq_Ei6WCP-csYFPf7dlVvbMpv-Ed7FwX-62OeM4vjo85UwP_HVpYW18qP1axRxDQlpjShuoCR4Gm/s1500/81WHYRj3gWL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="975" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQSIEAyIUzzvadaa9pheMIAjZYNzNH54AhRHvnClyGJ_CXhPoR9HPNy8tmDaKgSn5EQEefEB7NkV8DLY6RepdJRHzpjAUM7jWLml7ES6Ii08rtoqWmq_Ei6WCP-csYFPf7dlVvbMpv-Ed7FwX-62OeM4vjo85UwP_HVpYW18qP1axRxDQlpjShuoCR4Gm/s320/81WHYRj3gWL._SL1500_.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>Wow. This is quite simply the best biology book I've ever read.<p></p><p>At its heart are two essentials: one is the science mantra 'It's more complex than we thought', and the other is that the public at large - and even many biologists - have put too much focus on genetics as the central shaping force of life and the inner development and workings of organisms, coming close to ignoring the many other layers of complex systems that make life what it is and drive evolution.</p><p>You would think we would have got the message about 'It's more complex than we thought,' and the associated concept that 'It's more complex than we tell you at school or in science TV shows' by now. It's true of all the sciences. In physics, for example, we've known that the reality is more complicated than 'light is wave' for over a century now. But biological systems are so vastly more intricate and messy than anything dealt with in physics. Until recently, even those working in the field typically underestimated that complexity.</p><p>Philip Ball does not ignore genes - they get plenty of coverage. But he also shows how, for example, messenger RNA transcription from DNA as a whole (not just genes) has wide consequences for the inner workings of life. Time and again, what most of us think we know is shown to be a painfully limited view of what's really going on. For example, many of us may have the concept of proteins folding in specific orderly ways being central to the workings of organisms - yet we discover here that plenty of proteins (often the most significant ones) operate with part or all of them 'intrinsically disordered' in loose, floppy chains that 'are not strongly committed to a particular "shape"'. Ball piles on layer after layer of complexity, showing how so much of the mechanism of development and life depends on the interaction of these different layers and of emergent properties as much as anything coded in DNA.</p><p>This is a big book (460 main pages) with an awful lot going on. Like any biology book, there are very many labels for the various molecules, mechanisms, systems and more. So often in other biology books this means that the reader struggles to keep up with what's happening, but here the amount that has to be retained is extremely well controlled - I never felt, as I often do with a biology book that I had got totally lost in the terminology. I may have suggested in the past that Ball can be a touch wordy and demanding of readers - but that didn't come across to me at all here.</p><p>One repeated theme is metaphors and analogies. At one time, an organism's genes were often portrayed as its 'blueprint'. More recently that has been dismissed, as a genome clearly doesn't contain everything you need to construct a particular organism. It has been described instead as being more like a software program for an automated factory where the other bits of the biological system are the actual factory - but Ball demolishes this kind of approach too, pointing out that many of our mechanical analogies simply don't work because biological systems are so very different from mechanical equivalents. </p><p>I'm struggling to find any fault here. To be really picky, early on Ball mocks Francis Crick's (apparently fabricated) announcement in the Eagle pub in Cambridge that in deducing the structure of DNA they had discovered 'the secret of life': 'to use a very crude analogy, that's a bit like a literary scholar proclaiming to have the "secret of Dickens" only to whip out an abridged dictionary and saying "It's all in here!"' While what Ball says is true, he's really only arguing about the use of the word 'the', in the sense that it doesn't seem too much of an exaggeration to say that understanding the structure of DNA uncovered '<i>a</i> secret of life'.</p><p>Inevitably, there is significant use of metaphors and analogies throughout. At one point Ball tells us 'You might suppose that sticking a methyl "bump" onto the DNA strand will disrupt the ability of RNA polymerase to transcribe it, rather like a scratch or bit of a dirt on a cassette tape.' Cassette tape, grandad? This is particularly amusing as a couple of pages later he distinguishes two processes as being like a mark made in pen versus one lightly pencilled in, and wonders what we will do when these 'fading analogies from a different era of editing' no longer work - I think cassettes will be forgotten significantly sooner. Another odd analogy describes a suggested process as 'not unlike hoping that a billiards shot will send the balls colliding in just the right way to reform the triangular array in which they were first sequestered.' As there are only three balls in billiards, I think the intended analogy was snooker. (Or perhaps pool, as the book uses US spellings and conventions.)</p><p>I had to try very hard to find anything negative to say. This is Ball's best by a mile (and that's saying a lot). I have always been conscious of how little I understood biology. <i>How Life Works</i> has shown me that I seriously underestimated my ignorance - in a good way.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Hardback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1529095980/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226826686/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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If the 'F' word is a problem for you, I wouldn't bother to read any further, but Adam Susskind is certainly right to point out it is not just the religious part of the world population who rely on faith - to take the atheist standpoint that most scientists espouse also requires faith in the adequacy of sometimes tenuous theories when dealing with a science as hands-off as cosmology.<p></p><p>Susskind does a good job of identifying a range of cosmological theories that have been repeatedly patched up when holes have been found, to the extent that some now feel quite flaky. Many of the theories Susskind identifies are indeed currently problematic, but easily replaced by a better future scientific theory - for example dark matter, dark energy and inflation. Others are more fundamental and we genuinely don't have a particular good approach, for example for how the universe came into existence (unless we follow Fred Hoyle's lead with the steady state theory and find a mechanism for an eternal universe) or the remarkable fine tuning of the universe, for which the only scientific 'explanation' I've seen to date is the multiverse theory, which Philip Goff's <i>Why?</i> <a href="http://brianclegg.blogspot.com/2023/10/multiverse-fine-tuning-and-why-stephen.html">demonstrates so impressively</a> is a misuse of probability.</p><p><i>A Chorus of Big Bangs</i> is not without issues. It's self-published and it feels like it. The book is very thin with just 83 pages, and Susskind admits he has no science background, basing a lot of what he includes on TV science documentaries, which can be distinctly trivial in their approach. It's clear he is coming at this from a religious standpoint, though, to his credit, he does not explicitly bring this in - he merely points to the big holes that remain in cosmology. I think it might have had a better audience without that subtitle.</p><p>If I'm honest, I expected to find this book totally lacking in value, but it was surprisingly useful to have the various potential problems highlighted, using quotes from well-known scientists along the way to emphasise this.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; 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border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-17543273220947301002024-02-05T02:17:00.000-08:002024-02-05T02:17:32.823-08:00I, Robot (SF) - Isaac Asimov ***<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDmTPa3gNRD3Y8zGcuPWx8YBt1d_qwsaWmpkpxrRJxy9a6ydf0eFdNWZ33zov1s5PL8OeMceuiQrN7KVg_E-61A6Sp3FN57eC6ZHvQFJjGVPaAjNoddp89DW-EDkONbFT1zBrGW3bRtTgjsi0gWPTiL5NB_wOKrhfXSZ7uf3ijG8KxHpxwBh-zWaTKT85b/s1163/611vANh0NbL._SL1163_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="762" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDmTPa3gNRD3Y8zGcuPWx8YBt1d_qwsaWmpkpxrRJxy9a6ydf0eFdNWZ33zov1s5PL8OeMceuiQrN7KVg_E-61A6Sp3FN57eC6ZHvQFJjGVPaAjNoddp89DW-EDkONbFT1zBrGW3bRtTgjsi0gWPTiL5NB_wOKrhfXSZ7uf3ijG8KxHpxwBh-zWaTKT85b/s320/611vANh0NbL._SL1163_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>Without doubt, <i>I, Robot</i> is a classic of science fiction. Dating back to 1950 it collects Asimov's early short stories about robots in the shared setting of the US Robots and Mechanical Men corporation, mostly featuring robopsychologist Susan Calvin.<p></p><p>I read these stories many years ago, but have only recently re-aquired them when I bought <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-caves-of-steel-sf-isaac-asimov.html">The Caves of Steel</a></i> in a six book package. There's some clever work here, with almost all the stories featuring Asimov's famous 'three laws of robotics' and specifically exploring ways that the robots interpret these 'laws' resulting in things going wrong. It's still an interesting read - but I don't think it has stood the test of time as well as <i>The Caves of Steel</i>.</p><p>Don't get me wrong - it's still an essential part of the SF canon, and even the collective title is iconic (the stories originally appeared in magazines, of course). But Asimov's limitations with characterisation come through more strongly here. Several of the stories feature a pair of robotic engineers, Donovan and Powell, whose interminable banter I assume is supposed to be amusing, but in reality is extremely irritating. The only significant female character is Calvin, who is a caricature of an emotionless scientist.</p><p>To make matters worse, there are the timescales involved. In <i>The Caves of Steel</i>, we have a kind of reverse anachronism where they still use 1950s IT (and smoke pipes) three thousand years in the future - for some reason, this is just charming. But in <i>I Robot</i> there are humanoid robot nursemaids by the 1990s (their only limitation being they can't talk) and pretty much perfect robots a decade or two later (by which time we are routinely sending people to locations as far reaching as Mercury and the asteroids, and a starship drive is well under way). This somehow feels significantly worse.</p><p>Two or three of the stories here are excellent - and any not featuring the humorous pairing are good (to be fair, even in those the problems faced are excellent). But this is very much an exercise in setting up hard robotic psychology problems and finding a solution, with little consideration given to an effective narrative. I'm glad I read it again, but I'm not sure if I'd bother to re-read it in the future.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0008279551/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0008279551/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Six book package: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/9124369896/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9124369896/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Using these links earns us commission at no cost to you</span></i></div></div></div></div></div><pre style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-86163792679666387582024-02-01T01:58:00.000-08:002024-02-01T01:58:19.641-08:00Her Space, Her Time - Shohini Ghose ****<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxoUAWrTwvbtoUk6nENHEQY48wAey2ycK5ZcvBwPv5k-GYg2lMDuI2XrerCZElG_vhAh4ai9Gs5jf1X6y5GibCq_v9U6lzusOekTJvYDWEM6nns5Cu4FajUB7O2Y_zdiS5ZO1mkZMdopQ-RSKsctvsYk4T45AkRu3pF_jupE8fBklGFcS92ojqhcU158V/s1500/81BO+dQ1SrL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1014" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxoUAWrTwvbtoUk6nENHEQY48wAey2ycK5ZcvBwPv5k-GYg2lMDuI2XrerCZElG_vhAh4ai9Gs5jf1X6y5GibCq_v9U6lzusOekTJvYDWEM6nns5Cu4FajUB7O2Y_zdiS5ZO1mkZMdopQ-RSKsctvsYk4T45AkRu3pF_jupE8fBklGFcS92ojqhcU158V/s320/81BO+dQ1SrL._SL1500_.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>There are a good number of books out now celebrating female scientists - in <i>Her Space, Her Time</i>, Shohini Ghose, a physics professor at Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario, takes in a range of astronomy and astrophysics-related areas covering major contributions made by women since Victorian times.<p></p><p>Once upon a time, the only name in here that would probably have rung a bell is Marie Curie. To be honest, this is probably still true for most of the public (though, to be fair, they would equally be hard pressed to name male physicists other than Newton and Einstein). However, thanks to the seismic shift in recent years, if you read popular science, you will also be familiar with the likes of Annie Jump Cannon, Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin, Henrietta Leavitt and Lise Meitner at the very least.</p><p>What's good about Ghose's book is that it also brings in a range of others who are less well known from Anna Draper to Wu Chien-Shiung. Each of those mentioned has made a significant contribution and Ghose gives us a good summary of their work in an approachable fashion. There are some excellent, rarely-told stories here.</p><p>My only problem with books like this - and, to be honest, any that move away from a handful of leading names and try to dig down into the broader contributions of scientists, is that it can become simply too large a cast to handle. I know scientific endeavours since the 1930s have tended to be undertaken by quite large groups, but the reality is that as readers we need a relatively small number of scientists to focus on: otherwise it's hard to get any feel for any individual's story.</p><p>Ghose achieves a reasonable balance in this respect, but having a theme like does mean there are a couple of dozen names to get your head around, rather than looking at one major piece of science, or focusing on the life of a small number of scientists. Even so, it is definitely one of the better titles to take this kind of wide-ranging overview.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Hardback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262048310/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262048310/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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The topic is a future mission to an exoplanet, the Kepler 438-B of the title. This is a little larger than Earth, orbiting very close to its dim star. It has been proposed as a possible habitable planet, but some suggest that the level of radiation from the star would be too high for life.<p></p><p>Rather than present us with a conventional narrative, what we have here is a series of pages dominated by images, along with a whole range of different types of text, from interview quotes to log entries. Many of the images are stunning, AI generated with lots of detail. It's a very visual design from the Kepler Files team who, from the biographies are highly design-oriented.</p><p>The book was without doubt fun to flick through, but there is one big issue with it. This is fiction, and fiction needs to have a basis in story. What happens here is that a spacecraft is built, takes off, travels to a distant star (Kepler 438 is over 470 light years away), arrives and does a quick survey. That's all we get in the first volume. There is very little dramatic narrative. For a story to be engaging, there need to be obstacles overcome. Okay, there's the building of the huge craft (which bizarrely seems to be assembled on Earth, rather than in space) and the technology to enable faster-than-light travel (here wormhole-based) and stasis so most of the crew sleep their way to the destination - but there is no sense of anyone really making anything happen, and far too many characters are introduced to get any engagement.</p><p>There is one incident along the way (two if you count a stowaway cat) when in the agricultural zone 'Analysis of the hybrid's volatile organic compounds reveals a 58% match to known toxins' and the skeleton crew's executive officers are asked to determine next steps, but then on the next page we just get 'The threat has been contained and managed.' That's okay, then - dramatic tension or what? I can see the idea of the approach is to make it feel like a factual write up - but even non-fiction requires narrative and tension where things are overcome. And there is so little detail - for example we just get told there's 'recent development of advanced stasis technology, cryogenic stimulation and neurostimulation', and 'the hyperdrive's use of wormhole propulsion technology' - and that's about it.</p><p>Now it's possible that the drama and narrative content will build with future volumes. In the opening we are told that the information we receive forms 'part of a puzzling mosaic of information' and 'we hope the excitement that fuels this mission inspires you to join us in decoding these clues' - but as it stands at the end of volume 1, there seems very little to puzzle over and decode.</p><p>This is a genuinely original and innovative take on how to present science fiction. Innovation always comes with risk. You've got to be bold, and the team behind this book and more at <a href="http://www.keplerfiles.com/">the Kepler Files website</a> (where the aim is to have more multimedia content in the future) are certainly that. But for me, beautiful though it is, taken as a science fiction book it doesn't do enough to engage me.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><script data-affiliate-id="2506" data-sku="9781398511194" data-type="book_button" src="https://uk.bookshop.org/widgets.js"></script></span></div><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></div><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"></span></div><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">Hardback</span><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">: At the time of review, the book is only available from the website address above, though it should be in bookshops soon.</span></div></div></div><pre style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-1898350174460020872024-01-30T01:43:00.000-08:002024-01-30T01:43:33.550-08:00Fiona Fox - Five way interview<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj235XpfvqKjN6u-rxH1KLGSBh-buc75kdnK3sgYTQi-724Tx76Hersvv2hHSvdpDxmY4tEvCW-Q4kSX68g_2gt1BxOl1vKLCwteu9zc2U5s190E2li0qLUNPqxSYlb_uVCvGRhl691d3naXW2JfaHYFtM6FenijFjAJMy5hca2fn05SbIOhqVKlIuTMluQ/s5100/2022%20FF%20(High%20res).JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5100" data-original-width="3400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj235XpfvqKjN6u-rxH1KLGSBh-buc75kdnK3sgYTQi-724Tx76Hersvv2hHSvdpDxmY4tEvCW-Q4kSX68g_2gt1BxOl1vKLCwteu9zc2U5s190E2li0qLUNPqxSYlb_uVCvGRhl691d3naXW2JfaHYFtM6FenijFjAJMy5hca2fn05SbIOhqVKlIuTMluQ/s320/2022%20FF%20(High%20res).JPG" width="213" /></a></i></div><i>Fiona Fox became the founding director of the Science Media Centre in 2001. She has won several awards for her achievements, including an OBE for her services to science in 2014. In 2023 she was elected an honorary member of the Royal Society and holds honorary fellowships from a range of scientific bodies. She writes regular for science publications and national newspapers. Her recent book is <b><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/beyond-hype-fiona-fox.html">Beyond the Hype</a></b>.</i><p></p><p><b>Why science communication?</b></p><p>We have a placard in our office saying ‘if it’s not open it’s not science’. I honestly believe that. The remarkable efforts of scientists to better understand the natural world and human health and find solutions to the biggest problems we face are as nothing if we fail to communicate these to the wider public and policy makers. Prof Sarah Gilbert, the inventor of the Oxford/AZ vaccine, hated the media spotlight but understood at some deep level that she needed to communicate directly with the public to ensure that people trusted the vaccine enough to take it.</p><p><b>Why this book?</b></p><p>I’m a news junkie and have read almost every memoir written by journalists and spin doctors like Jeremy Paxman and Alastair Campbell. But they are always about political news. I feel like the big controversies about science are just as exciting and important as big political crises, but no one has written a science spin doctor's diary. We nearly called it that but I don’t like the word spin so decided against. I also wanted to write a book to mark the 20th anniversary of the SMC – a unique media relations operation which is being replicated all around the world. And finally I wanted to critique the kind of corporate PR that is on the rise where senior communications officers put the reputation and brand of their organisation before the public interest in the truth.</p><p><b>Despite the SMC being there, we still get plenty of exaggerated or misleading headlines - I know journalists want a splash, but is there anything that can be done about this?</b></p><p>There is not much we can do to stop the day-to-day drive to some level of exaggeration and sensationalism in news rooms. ‘Twas ever thus. But we absolutely can do things to limit that and the SMC does - every day. Sending journalists third party comments on newsworthy new findings which emphasise the caveats and limitations and challenge hype are our bread and butter. That the news media like these and use the comments in their articles should reassure us that journalists do want to make sure their reports are measured and accurate. On the whole I am very positive about this. If the news media didn’t care they would simply ignore us. Also don’t assume that the exaggeration always comes from journalists. We see some horrible examples of scientists and press officers exaggerating their findings, which is less forgivable. Things like the Press Office labelling system we designed is an anti-hype device for press officers and authors which is making a difference.</p><p><b>What’s next?</b></p><p>More of the same but in different ways. The media has changed in almost every way since we started in 2002 so the core remit stays the same – to improve the quality of science in the news. But we do that by adapting to the changing nature of news. At the moment we are talking to news organisations about how we help them to drive good science journalism onto social media channels. Also more battles ahead I imagine. Sadly we see more and more scientists prevented from speaking openly to the media by controlling government communications people or risk averse press officers who urge scientists to stay away from topical controversies. We need to fight these trends. If you want to see me seething suggest to me that scientists engaging with the news media on topical controversies are ‘fanning the flames’. They are not – they are sharing good quality accurate information with the public when it is most needed.</p><p><b>What’s exciting you at the moment?</b></p><p>The reason I love this job is that loads of things are exciting me. We know that babies have been born as a result of the new mitochondrial DNA transfer technique (known as babies with 3 parents) so we are waiting for the scientific paper that tells us whether that worked and whether these babies are free from mitochondrial disease. I also lead here on genome editing in crops and am excited to see what that will allow us to do in terms of getting to Net Zero whilst feeding the world. I’m also running a one year pilot of an SMC in Ireland. My parents were from Ireland and my husband is Irish so I’d love to see an SMC there. I’m also loving working with new-ish SMCs in Germany, Spain and Taiwan. We’re also hoping to have our next global SMCs meeting in Australia in 2025 to coincide the 20th anniversary of the Aus SMC. It’s so exciting to see that something I set up - that many predicted would never take off - has become a global network making a real difference to science in the media.</p><p></p><div><p><i style="color: #373737; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></i></p><pre style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; vertical-align: baseline;">Interview by Brian Clegg - <i style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all of Brian's online articles or subscribe to a digest free here</a></i></pre></div><div><br /></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-87263960145802472932024-01-29T02:15:00.000-08:002024-01-29T02:15:46.733-08:00The Caves of Steel (SF) - Isaac Asimov ****<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpS8sQZY2G9CoLKxLFfPAIhj1O9XkjcbVXBvRPnL-nevtFl1vzv7PjZDDol73zWL4Z0B6fsbFKbUdeQQqaUOE36-gUR4snDpeiJnIp0rw44xky-i-13WwCOp5BDkLv5Dtm8kmYkBifGtH1nBNKXHLcbnJ91F_whaaEOxy44LrianUQqtOrHpPjRkeUz8-7/s1163/71VWqhzi3jL._SL1163_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="762" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpS8sQZY2G9CoLKxLFfPAIhj1O9XkjcbVXBvRPnL-nevtFl1vzv7PjZDDol73zWL4Z0B6fsbFKbUdeQQqaUOE36-gUR4snDpeiJnIp0rw44xky-i-13WwCOp5BDkLv5Dtm8kmYkBifGtH1nBNKXHLcbnJ91F_whaaEOxy44LrianUQqtOrHpPjRkeUz8-7/s320/71VWqhzi3jL._SL1163_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>Recently reading <i><a href="https://popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/in-blink-of-eye-sf-jo-callaghan.html">In the Blink of an Eye</a></i>, which features an AI detective, I realised it was time to revisit <i>The Caves of Steel</i> - and I'm glad I did. Despite being 70 years old in 2024, the book is still very readable. The setting is perhaps 3000 years in the future, with the population of Earth largely confined to huge enclosed cities, living a communal life that has been forced on them by resource limitations.<p></p><p>Although robots have been around for thousands of years, they are not widely accepted on Earth, though they are on various other-world colonies. The plot centres on a murder in an enclave outside the city of New York set up for 'spacers' who live a far freer life than the Earth population. A New York detective is partnered with a lifelike spacer robot to try to solve the crime. The detective story itself works well, but two things make the novel particularly interesting: the first is the interaction between detective Elijah Baley and the robot detective R. Daneel Olivaw. The second is how drastically wrong Asimov got the technology.</p><p>The Baley/Olivaw relationship - and the wider distrust of robots amongst the Earth population - is of particular interest now that AI is rearing its head as a practical replacement for an increasing number of jobs. While I doubt we would get to the same level of animosity - because robots are more in-your-face than ChatGPT - it's still a thought-provoking comparison.</p><p>As for the technology, I know perfectly well that science fiction is not intended to predict the future. But it is still fascinating to see how Asimov, from a 50s perspective, thought that humanoid robots would be fairly easy to build (in <i>I Robot</i>, he has humanoid robots on sale by the end of the twentieth century) but totally failed to see the possibilities of the information revolution. In <i>Caves of Steel</i>, computer memory still involves mercury chambers (something that in reality lasted a handful of years, rather than thousands), film and wire recording are still used, and there is no equivalent of the internet. Where the AI detective in the modern novel can search online data at ultra-high speed, Olivaw has no better search ability than a human, working through documents and microfilm.</p><p>As usual with Asimov (something he admitted himself), the biggest flaw here is his inability to write effective female characters. There is only one woman in the book and she is straight from the 50s housewife playbook. But this is the only real let-down here, as the technology misses are more delightful than irritating. Some people even still smoke pipes.</p><p>I got this as part of a six-book package of Asimov's robot books - I had all of these once, but they got culled in a move. It was excellent to revisit this title (which I read out of order because of <i>In the Blink of an Eye</i>) and I'm looking forward to the rest.</p>
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border: 0px; font-family: "courier 10 pitch", courier, monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0.75em 1.625em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Review by Brian Clegg - <i style="color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://authory.com/BrianClegg/subscribe" target="_blank">See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here</a></i></pre></span></i></div></div></div></div></div>Brian Clegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12723555872580740773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5362765413636598039.post-69279062101068323082024-01-25T01:31:00.000-08:002024-01-25T01:31:34.732-08:00Fluke - Brian Klaas ****<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBPgIi38XcHli36TYUj42IeYH8VP_hnHdZGc3wkUKvWfc9BczO5PI2SSd0bqcvMgIjlkby-YwbMz3XoGXzvx-ZbowTP1a82leL9gZaiq6yOq2FEqcWN2jFZMpwRW2O76Szh6c28DTKXOFZMImivP0KcDpyCSU3BxJ_mBraqhtVIg9oLEaRCFuxWRyQKmzk/s1500/61i6Df-MSsL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBPgIi38XcHli36TYUj42IeYH8VP_hnHdZGc3wkUKvWfc9BczO5PI2SSd0bqcvMgIjlkby-YwbMz3XoGXzvx-ZbowTP1a82leL9gZaiq6yOq2FEqcWN2jFZMpwRW2O76Szh6c28DTKXOFZMImivP0KcDpyCSU3BxJ_mBraqhtVIg9oLEaRCFuxWRyQKmzk/s320/61i6Df-MSsL._SL1500_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>On the whole, popular science books tell us about what science and scientists have achieved. Fluke is very different in this respect - in it, social scientist and professor of global politics Brian Klaas tells us about what the social sciences have failed to achieve, and why.<p></p><p>Perhaps the most familiar aspects of this are in introducing the reader to the implications of chaos theory and of complexity, plus the fall out of the replication crisis that has rendered many older (and quite a few new) social science studies useless. Using plenty of engaging stories (including the fact that his own existence is the outcome, amongst other things, of a horrific killing) Klaas builds a picture of just how many small inputs come together to make anything happen in the complex system of human society.</p><p>The implication of this is that is practically impossible to usefully predict the future in the social sciences (so much for Asimov's psychohistory) - in fact, hardly any social science (which includes economics) can say much that's useful about the future. Klaas also points out, for instance, how many economic forecasts from established bodies are wrong (pretty well all of them). </p><p>Another fascinating story is how a unique study looked into how immigration influenced voters' support of 'the social safety net'. The same set of data was given to 76 research teams, who weren't allowed to communicate. Each used their own methods, employing a total of 1,253 mathematical models. Just over half found no link at all - the rest were evenly split between a positive and a negative effect. All from exactly the same data.</p><p>The one negative I found in reading this was that, though the stories were excellent, I frequently felt 'And...?' - when the main message is that we can't deduce anything much scientifically about human behaviour because the topic is pretty well impossible to usefully quantify, the question kept coming up to me of 'What's the point of this?' In his final chapter, Klaas pulls it all together by effectively encouraging us to embrace the chaos - to accept that things are like this and we should enjoy it, rather than bewail it.</p><p>One big question that was left unanswered was to ask 'If the topics of social science are so impossible to effectively study in any quantifiable fashion, why bother at all? Why do we fund all this research?' Despite this, though, I found the book interesting and thought provoking.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Hardback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1399804510/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1399804510/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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It features Detective Chief Superintendent Kat Frank - a senior police officer with even more baggage than is traditional for fictional detectives - being paired up with an AI detective called Lock in a trial to see if AI can aid detection. As it is a trial, they work on something well beneath the pay grade of a real DCS - missing person cold cases.<p></p><p>Jo Callaghan produces an excellent page turner of a mystery novel which would have worked without the science fiction element, but is really brought to the next level by the addition of Lock. Of itself, adding AI to police work is lab lit (i.e. perfectly possible with today's technology), but Lock is something else. In her acknowledgements, Callaghan says 'With the exception of Lock's real-time conversational abilities, many aspects of AI described in the book either exist now or are on the horizon' - this is stretching things in a big way. I'll come back to that later for purists, but it's not at all a problem for the reader unless you don't accept that this is science fiction.</p><p>Of course, the concept of putting an AI detective alongside a human partner is nothing new. One thing reading this book has made me realise is that I need to re-read Asimov's 1953 novel <i>The Caves of Steel,</i> which features a (far future) detective Elijah Baley who is teamed up with the robotic detective R. Daneel Olivaw. Just like Baley, in Callaghan's book Frank doesn't trust the AI and doesn't want to work with it - but in both cases they come to grudging mutual respect. Another parallel, which I think Callaghan could have made more of, is Data in S<i>tar Trek TNG</i>. What makes Data so entertaining is the opportunity for humour in misunderstanding between the AI and the humans. Callaghan has a sequel on the way - I hope she can make a bit more of this aspect, which only comes out right at the end of the current book.</p><p>The big difference between the predecessors and Lock is that Lock is not a robot. He is pure software, but is able to project a totally lifelike 3D image, both of 'himself' (in various avatars) and of people who feature in the case, 3D data presentations and more. This allows for more of the kind of interactions that happen with the robots in the two predecessors mentioned than would have been the case if Lock had been a totally disembodied program.</p><p>This feature also takes us into the reason why, in reality, Lock is way beyond current technology. The idea of being able to project lifelike 3D images into thin air (especially from a bracelet, as is the case here) is not conceivable with any current technology. Early on, Callaghan has her irritating young AI professor gets things distinctly wrong in explaining the broad capability AGI (artificial general intelligence) that Lock has, effectively saying all you need to go from narrow AI to AGI is deep learning - which is actually what you need for good <i>narrow</i> AI such as large language models. It doesn't enable the human-like AGI we see here. So a degree of SF is required to make this feasible too.</p><p> What the book does do, secondarily to the enjoyability as a straight SF story, is make you think about the opportunities for AI in policing - for example in checking many hours of CCTV or social media posts. This kind of thing is where Lock does very convincingly help the human team. The only proviso here is that, again, it's still in the realms of science fiction to think that the mobile data speeds portrayed - and the processing power at the server end - would be anything like practical in the near future. It's possible to imagine an AI like Lock that could watch a movie in seconds, or trawl through terabytes of data at high speed - but real world servers aren't going to pump out data fast enough, and even 5G would be way too slow to enable Lock to function (you certainly couldn't cram his capabilities into a bracelet) - not to mention that at the moment I'm lucky to get 4G in many locations.</p><p>Overall, there's a good balance here between the SF and mystery aspects (though there is a very predictable plot twist near the end). I enjoyed the book and the 5 stars is well-earned, despite the attempt to pretend it isn't science fiction. I'm looking forward to the sequel, particularly if we can see more of the potential for entertaining interplay between Frank and Lock. Good stuff.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1398511196/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1398511196/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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But, in reality, many of our most important telescopes are now located in space - not only does this relieve them of the distorting effects of weather and atmosphere, they can be used 24/7. Despite their importance, and plenty of books showing of the images they produce, space telescopes don't get the coverage they deserve as objects of interest in their own right, so this book is welcome.<p></p><p>In giving it four stars, I am primarily thinking of an audience with more than a passing interest in astronomy, though Andrew May's text is generally approachable. We start with an introduction to space and telescopes, move on to the big name most have heard of - the Hubble space telescope and then look at some specific topics where such telescopes have had a big impact, such as looking back in time to near the Big Bang, searching for exoplanets and mapping the galaxy. From here we get to see what has already been achieved with NASA's latest big offering, the James Webb space telescope, before diving into high energy astronomy (in the X-ray and gamma ray bands) and finishing with a brief look at future possibilities. (As with all space ventures, many of these are likely to be cancelled or postponed.)</p><p>There is always a danger with a book like this that it will turn into a catalogue of the telescopes and their technical details, ideal for those who enjoy the telescopic equivalent of train spotting, but not really getting to grips with their purpose and achievements. This is a more contextual overview, slim enough to never get into too much detail, and with enough stories of events along the way (from the well-known problem with Hubble's mirror to non-astronomer Bill Borucki's contribution to planet hunting) to keep the reader's interest.</p><p><i>I am embarrassingly listed on Amazon and Bookshop as editor: in reality I'm just series editor, and this is all Andrew's book, but I need to make this clear in case it's seen as a conflict of interest.</i></p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1837731276/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1837731276/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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Many SF aliens (think, for instance, of the majority in <i>Star Trek</i>) are essentially humans with some characteristic emphasised. The two alien races portrayed here both have motivations that catch you out by not working in a truly human fashion. </p><p>One set of aliens has provided 15 wormholes to distant planets where previous civilisations have existed but are now gone, along with a shuttle travelling back and forth to each destination. The relics from the other civilisations are prized, but can have strange effects on humans, something that is central to the plot. The storyline is divided into two with alternating chapters - one initially based in London featuring a young female scout for alien material, the other on one of the 15 remote planets, where the central character is an middle aged, jaded murder detective.</p><p>McAuley really throws in the kitchen sink here (in a good way) - not only do we get the interaction with aliens stuff (one aspect, surely inspired by <i>Close Encounters of the Third Kind</i>), there is a murder investigation, organised crime and more. It all works very effectively - and there's some very clever writing linked to the dates on the alternating viewpoints. Something I particularly enjoyed was that this a novel very much in the British tradition - it felt like the kind of thing John Wyndham would have written if he had still been around.</p><p>As it's January, it's not much to say this is the best SF book I've read this year, but I'd also says it's the best in quite a while. There was a sequel too... can't wait. (And very happy to see another, one, if you've some spare time, Paul.)</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1473203953/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1473203953/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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I've been doubtful: yes, clearly it messes up the use of essays in schools and universities, and it is likely to replace many white collar jobs, but I struggled to see the existential threat, which I assumed envisaged an artificial general intelligence taking over the world. Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of major AI company DeepMind, paints a far scarier picture, as he knows what he's talking about on this subject.<p></p><p>Starting with the difficulties faced by those who attempt to suppress technological breakthroughs (the waves of the title) - in fact declaring it pretty much impossible - he then gives us the plusses and minuses of AI. We shouldn't ignore those plusses, which certainly exist, and not just for large companies who can fire whole swathes of workers. But the really significant content here is where Suleyman describes the potential negatives. He then goes on to attempt to devise a means of containment to keep us safe, but this is not very convincing.</p><p>I'll be honest, the first part of the book, which tries to give historical context, is dull and I was close to giving up on it. But things really come alive when Suleyman is talking about large language models like ChatGPT and how they will develop. My eye-opening moment was when he suggests a new Turing test, which would be when an AI can be told to make $1m in a time period from opening a store on Amazon and succeeds. When the reasonable profession to this possibility sinks in, it is scary: and paves the way for a description of darker applications of AIs from deepfakes with a carefully constructed backstory to military use.</p><p>There were two or three other parts of the book that really shone through and are why I've given it four stars. They all involved AI - not surprisingly, given Suleyman's background. The biggest weakness is when he strays away from this (for around half the book). There's a lot, for instance, on synthetic biology, where he hasn't the same authority and strays into expansive statements about what will be possible that don't feel anywhere near as well justified as his picture of the development of artificial intelligence.</p><p>In fact the tendency to over-promise is true for practically everything he covers outside of AI. Even at the trivial level, there's a bit of this - he remarks about the transformative power of 5G we now experience, but I struggle to get 4G half the time, and can never do a cross-country journey without losing internet entirely now and then. Not promising for the self-driving cars that are one of the other enthusiasms here.</p><p>The book is co-authored: usually this means that the professional writer (Bhaskar) has written it and the celebrity/business person at best has been interviewed. (I know of one example where a celebrity didn't even bother to read their autobiography.) Here, I would have hoped a writer could have come up with a more readable book overall, so perhaps Suleyman did make a significant contribution to the writing as well as the content. </p><p>One small irritation to add: there is a separate US edition, so I really don't know why the UK version had to have US spellings. Perhaps an AI could have helped with that. Overall, it frankly isn't a great read, but for those parts on AI, and particularly generative AI, futures it is an important book.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Hardback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1847927483/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0593593952/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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Each section of the book starts with an excerpt from the life of Abigail Gentian, then skips forward six million years to a point in time where her thousand clones have travelled vast numbers of light years, in stasis during their long voyages: they have very long lives, but most of the time they are not conscious - so see slower living civilisations come and go.<p></p><p>The clones, known as shatterlings, meet up after taking a circuit that last many tens of thousands of years: the present time chapters alternate between the viewpoints of two of the clones, Campion and Purslane, who have semi-illegally paired up. This is the starting point for classically vast quality space opera happenings, from genocide to repairing a stardam that prevents a supernova from wiping out its surroundings. As things develop, secrets from deep history are uncovered and the whole of humanity is at risk of destruction.</p><p>Reynolds does a great job of imagining a collection of far-future technologies, plus various human variants, including some that never stop growing. What he is particularly skilful at is keeping a whole lot of far-future balls in the air, without it ever being difficult to follow what's going on - lesser SF writers can easily leave the reader lost in such circumstances. The threat faced by the main characters is deeply engaging, and the political machinations enable Reynolds to go beyond basic space opera, making the whole something significantly more interesting.</p><p>The book was a little long at 500 pages, and I did get a touch bored with the flashbacks to Abigail's time when the action took place in an immersive fantasy VR game. Also, the ending is a little rushed - but these are the only things that prevents this from being a five star book. </p><p>Though not Reynolds' best, it certainly is one of his most imaginative titles.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0575082372/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0575082372/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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This is the story of that Centre and its major events.<p></p><p>As a science writer myself, it's a strong area of interest, and Fox puts across the story in a lively fashion. There is no doubt that there was a need for something like this from both sides. Many scientists are poor at communicating their work - yet it's essential that it is done well, both because that work is often publicly funded and to make sure the public understands the scientific view. Similarly, many journalists, particularly those without a science background, over-hype science results (especially when reporting initial, small-scale medical studies) and need help in accessing the right people to get the story straight. </p><p>As, for example, Covid and climate change demonstrate so clearly, science has a huge impact on our lives and fostering a better understanding is essential. Apart from these topics, Fox also covers a good range of others, from GM and animal experimentation to dealing with breaking news and the interplay between science and politics. The chapter I found most interesting was the one on the furore that exploded after some unwise, intended to be self-deprecating, remarks by a male scientist (Tim Hunt) about female scientists that was taken out of context and resulted in a major collapse of his career. Fox not only covers the Science Media Centre's involvement, but gives some valuable insights into the ways that the media reacted to the story.</p><p>The only thing I didn't like about the book is that it did sometimes feel like a book-length advertorial for the Science Media Centre. Perhaps this is inevitable in the circumstances - and Fox does note a few times when they got it wrong - but it might have been better if someone else had written this book to put a little distance between the author and the topic. Fox is clearly proud of the centre and what it has done, which is great - but, particularly in the introduction, her enthusiasm can come across as a little heavy-handed.</p><p>If you have an interest in the way science is communicated to the public, this is an essential read.</p><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="color: black; font-style: normal; text-align: left;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="-webkit-standard" style="text-align: left;">Paperback: </span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1783966920/491" style="color: #373737; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cI2zgkD_3HrbTj9Rls-widBPcwhf4Rn0k9dRDTezu_jhVrvNgze4kvQVzaWczygZiO3TBLQ_mhx32PKlKzY4H3rsgzpDgLPC9biG_ipdrMNsCQpZg10W-xz9jD08_9j6FfXoIdpYmOQo/s400/buyuk.gif" /></a><span face=""gotham" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1783966173/creativityunleas" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxzYlb2y4OAe2pxPU2M1IRe1TxJejcYqbPf2E30rPX2QzJ7zB6Qjeft8aJaXpElNANxsiwog_qwR-TcWwanFJfJ1AODVT2bj6HRoKFigv68OE30TscpDVDM71flOTjqTqQwZfG9WlCDaM/s400/buyus.gif" /></a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #373737;">
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