Skip to main content

Smoke and Mirrors - Gemma Milne ***

It's a bit of a strange one, this. The subtitle is 'how hype obscures the future and how to see past it'. Hype is a real problem in science communication, and I was really looking forward to an exploration of the nature of science communication hype, where it comes from, why it happens and how to correctly interpret it. Gemma Milne starts promisingly by explaining the origins of that familiar term 'smoke and mirrors'... but then it's as if you've bought a whole different book - because Smoke and Mirrors is not primarily about hype.

 Don't get me wrong, hype does come into it as a linking theme, but what we really have here is a set of well thought out polemics on issues in the science and technology field, with the main thrust being on what the issues are and what might be done about them, but with a sideline in how hype can give the wrong focus and result in us addressing the wrong problems. So, for example, the first chapter is about 'finding the true meaning of value in the world of farming'. We get a lot on making farming greener and more ethical, making it more appropriate for those whom the food system currently fails, but the hype part is really just about overemphasis on things like artificial meat and how they are interesting but won't solve the problem. In 33 pages, only a couple in total are about the hype aspect.

 It's not that these discussions aren't interesting. They are all topics we ought to be thinking about and Milne explores the topics well, giving a rounded picture - so, for example, in that 'feed the world' chapter, she is supportive of a sensible approach to GM rather than EU-style knee jerk opposition - but hype gets a relatively small look-in in most cases. 

 As one obvious example, one of the worst types of purveyor of hype are university press offices, and I had expected to get an in-depth look at these and what they do, but they aren't really mentioned, not even getting an entry in the index. Similarly, a lot of hype comes from newspaper headlines and even science magazines have a tendency to put ridiculously hyped headlines on the covers. Again, we do get a passing mention of the tabloid newspapers' obsession with cancer cures and causes, for example, but it's not the key focus of the relevant chapter.

 The topics covered apart from food production are curing cancer, the future of batteries, fusion energy, space travel, quantum computing, computer-brain interfaces, AI and astrobiology. All topics worth our attention, but the way they are dealt with is more something I'd want from a magazine article on the specific subject, individually. What there is on hype wasn't enough to usefully tie them together as a book. A good piece of writing, then, but not what I was hoping for.
Paperback:    
Kindle:  
Using these links earns us commission at no cost to you
Review by Brian Clegg
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Luna: Moon Rising (SF) - Ian McDonald ****

I'm not the natural audience for this book. Game of Thrones l eaves me cold - and it's hard not to feel the influence of GoT (and a whole lot of Dune )   underneath a veneer of science fiction and the trappings of a South American drug cartel in the cod-medieval family power battles and chivalric details. There are even dragons (of a sort). I'd be really sad if the future did involve this sort of throwback feudalism. However, remarkably, despite this I found Luna: Moon Rising kept me engaged. The fact is that Ian McDonald can put together a good plot with intricate machinations, which is enough to carry the reader through what can be a bewildering collection of characters. The two page scene-setter saying who did what to whom at the start was useful, but I could have done with family trees for the main family as I was constantly forgetting who was who - especially easy as McDonald endows many families with characters with the same first initial (e.g. Ariel and Al...
Post a Comment
Read more

Adventures of a Computational Explorer - Stephen Wolfram ***

Stephen Wolfram, the man behind the scientist's mathematical tool of choice, Mathematica, plus a whole host of other software products, including the uncanny Wolfram Alpha knowledge engine, is undoubtedly a genius of the first order. In this book, we get an uncensored excursion into the mind of genius - which is, without doubt, a fascinating prospect. The book consists of a collection of essays and speeches that Wolfram has produced over the last ten to fifteen years, covering an eclectic range of topics. Like all such collections, the result is something that lacks the coherence of a book with a narrative that runs through it, inevitably introducing a degree of repetition and a mix of interesting and not-so-interesting topics - but there's likely to be something to catch the attention anyone who is into computing or mathematics. One of the most interesting pieces is the opening one, where Wolfram describes being a consultant on the SF movie Arrival. He seems to hav...
Post a Comment
Read more

The AI Paradox - Virginia Dignum ****

This is a really important book in the way that Virginia Dignum highlights various ways we can misunderstand AI and its abilities using a series of paradoxes. However, I need to say up front that I'm giving it four stars for the ideas: unfortunately the writing is not great. It reads more like a government report than anything vaguely readable - it really should have co-authored with a professional writer to make it accessible. Even so, I'm recommending it: like some government reports it's significant enough to make it necessary to wade through the bureaucrat speak. Why paradoxes? Dignum identifies two ways we can think about paradoxes (oddly I wrote about paradoxes recently , but with three definitions): a logical paradox such as 'this statement is false', or a paradoxical truth such as 'less is more' - the second of which seems a better to fit to the use here.  We are then presented with eight paradoxes, each of which gives some insights into aspects of t...
Post a Comment
Read more