Media science: good and not-so-good

There were two life science programmes on BBC TV this week, each designed for a large, non-specialist audience.

An excellent BBC1 programme called Super Smart Animals (Thursday 9 Feb 2012) was spoilt at the end by the predictably metaphysical neo-Darwinist statement by its presenter Liz Bonnin that intelligence, emotion and empathy in an animal are good for its survival.

There appears to be an unfounded assumption that the whole of the natural world is the result of some kind of arms race, and that the growing information content of the biosphere is, in contradiction to basic physics, all generated by chance and the battle for survival.   These mental attributes of the living world are indeed useful for any creature, but not just for competing against others of the same or other species. In fact it is these properties of the natural world which enable the cooperation needed for any living system to be produced in the first place, before it gets involved in competing with others.

 The whole biosphere is a model of balance and staggering complexity. How do neo-Darwinists imagine this came about from rocks and obnoxious gases 4 billion years ago? To believe this happened solely as a struggle to survive, without intelligence and cooperation at some deep level, must surely be the result of indoctrination by peers and professors. I would be delighted to be proved wrong about this, since if it is true it is a serious self-destructive flaw in the heart of the science establishment. See The five-fold threat to science.

Incidentally, how do neo-Darwinists explain the evolution of the universe before life?  Did the rocks, planets, stars and galaxies fight each other for supremacy?

More enlightened and inspiring, in my view, was Ian Stewart’s BBC2 programme How to grow a planet Part 1 (Tuesday 7 February, 2012).  This showed a long neglected aspect of science, which is how life evolved not only life but, ultimately, the entire biosphere we know today, starting from rocks and a virtually oxygen-free atmosphere. He did not try to gloss over the startling improbability of this, leaving the viewer to draw his or her own conclusions.

It was also clear that the Earth is an exceedingly unusual place, another fact which is rarely mentioned in media science programmes. He could have said much more on this, although in fairness this was only the first of three parts.

I will certainly be watching the remaining two parts of Professor Stewart’s series. Hopefully, as she matures, Ms Bonnin, a fine presenter, will  either recognise the flaws in neo-Darwinism or avoid irritating the viewer by taking away the wonder of nature by pressing on him or her a depressingly sterile view of the world.

Just stick to the facts, please, or at least reveal that many believe that there is much more to evolution than a fight for survival.

See also  Reweaving the rainbow

John

Author, 2077 AD

Progress towards sustainable fishing

Depletion of fish stocks is important because 1 billion people rely on them for their main protein intake. 32% of stocks are depleted or recovering from depletion; but this is not solely a  food problem. Fishing is a major source of  employment, especially in the developing world,  and hundreds of millions of people are in communities which depend, directly or indirectly, on fisheries for their livelihood.

The International Sustainabilty Unit (ISU), instigated by Prince Charles of the UK, recently conducted 50 case studies around the world and reports the findings in Towards global sustainable fisheries (February 2012). The results are encouraging. They show that when a fishery which is declining through over fishing is restructured for sustainabilty it not only secures fish stocks but improves the lot of all the stakeholders:

• The employees get a higher and more secure income as well as safer working conditions.
• The fishing community, often a poor one, prospers from the flow of money into it.
• The world economy benefits (especially the developing world).
• The sea ecology becomes more diverse and stable.
• There is more fish to eat.

The World Bank estimates that by managing fisheries differently they could contribute an extra $50 billion p.a. to world GDP. At present they contribute to the  tune of about $275 billion (US) p.a. (0.4% of world GDP), so this would bring its contribution up to about $325 billion (0.5 %  of GDP). And fishing is important in preventing and reducing poverty in developing countries. For example, the Ben Tre Clam fishery in Vietnam after transition to sustainability supports 13,000 households, compared to 9,000 in 2007.

The ISU’s aim was to put together a tool kit of ways to achieve sustainabilty in any given fishery, recognising that each one is unique and that no one solution fits all. The economic benefits emerge from the move towards sustainabilty. Pragmatic regulation can reduce the catch, get the support of the fishing industry, increase profit margins and require individual fishermen to work less hard and more safely.

One finding which stood out was the importance of the quota system. In the past much conflict and chaos has resulted from issuing a group with a quota for a particular marine species and expecting each trawler, say, to take its chances on what share of the quota it could catch. There was a mad scramble to make sure that your boat got as much out of the sea as possible before the others used up the overall weight quota. If instead each fishing team gets a guaranteed income the tendency towards destructive competition is greatly reduced. Introducing such a system to the Pacific halibut fishery lengthened the fishing season and increased the value of the fish sold from $1 to $7 per pound.

Prince Charles refers to a debilitating fatalism. Because of marine pollution problems and the selfish nature of some individuals within the fishing industry (as in any field of human activity) some observers seem to regard the situation as hopeless. It is true that rising temperature and acidity of the sea, ever-increasing run-off from industrial farming and the global dispersion of ingestible but undigestible microplastics are serious factors when added to the stress of over-fishing; but progress in arresting and reversing fish stock decline is being made.

 The ISU study has shown how it can be done at a practical level and since all the stake holders benefit there is every likelihood of getting the necessary legislation and enforcement worldwide within a decade or less. Momentum on this front, I believe, will help raise the morale and strengthen the resolution of those fighting on the anti-pollution front.

John
author 2077 AD (being revised)

The world going forward: comments on Kasparov

Garry Kasparov, renowned as a chess champion, is chairman of the United Civil Front, a pro-democracy organisation in Russia, and is co-author of a forthcoming  book The Blueprint: reviving innovation, rediscovering risk and rescuing the free market.

In the January issue of Prospect  (subscription only) he gives a one page outline of some ideas which presumably will be dealt with at length in the book.

Here are four of them plus my comments in italics:

• Implement a global Magna Carta to bind the world’s democracies together in the face of dictatorships and terror. This would replace the UN, which at present gives power to nations which fail to meet basic democratic standards. Some western liberals think that a nation-state should be free to adopt a non-democratic way of life. This means giving power to those who do not believe in the freedoms which have emerged from the Enlightenment in the Judeo-Christian world.  Once such people acquire the technology of destruction  no country is safe (remember World War II?).

• Launch a global trillion dollar alternative energy initiative to tackle the problem of finite fossil fuel reserves, problems with nuclear power and indefinitely increasing demand for energy. This would create new jobs, stimulate R&D  and hopefully allow a supranational grid on the African continent, where a billion people have inadequate access to the power needed to build a society where there is no hunger, no thirst, good health services, freedom from drudgery, good communication and a rich variety of education for all.

• Establish bases on the Moon and Mars to inspire the dreams of humanity and encourage innovation. Perhaps, in addition, an asteroid defence system could be developed internationally. The probability of a serious asteroid impact is extremely small but the damage done to civilisation, if not to much of the life on our planet, would be enormous. In any case, cosmic projects of the type proposed by Kasparov would help break down frontiers of nation, race, class and religion, raising our awareness that we all share a common humanity (deriving, I believe, from our Creator).

• Replace financial engineering with real engineering. No one with a degree should be allowed go into financial engineering. This would lead to the required increase in the quantity and quality of scientists and technologists. Financial systems should be kept simple enough to prevent smoke-and- mirror tricks with oceans and rivers of money. Accountancy should be reinvented as an almost sacred profession, where knowing the truth about the financial state of a bank, company, government or any other organisation is recognised as a necessity for a stable, fair and prosperous society. Science, engineering and education should also revere truth, rather than what gets you a research grant or a pay cheque or the acclaim of your peers.

All this would cost money, but only a fraction of that spent on rescuing a dysfunctional banking system and making ordnance. I don’t pretend that getting from here to where I am suggesting we (as a race) need to be is not a big problem, but this problem pales into insignificance when compared to the problems we would face if the former one is ignored.

John

Author, 2077 AD