The Thin End

One of the problems for humans and the planet is that we have isolated ourselves from our ecosystem. Yet,  our activity impacts the global climate and habitats. For example, unlike Apodemus sylvaticus, we destroy more of our forests than we plant. In addition, we deplete the world's freshwater with our increasing demand for crops and our unregulated world trade.  Is this the best we can do with our 'intelligence'? Or have we much to learn from the wood mouse? 

All life demonstrates ecological intelligence, an ability to solve problems as groups or as ecological systems.  This is seen in the behaviour of birds migrating, ants foraging and plants growing and spreading their seed.  Life is on the move, a continuous and directed motion. 

The Thin End considers how growth has become a political mantra and how bad trade pollutes the planet and fuels climate change, and the suggestion that there should be carbon taxes.  

A weekly round up of news and views on topical issues appearing in The Thin End Magazine.  This week:  Invasive Rabbits and Hares, pesticides and hummingbirds, Invasive mosquitos, abortion law reform in the UK, and controversl new blood pressure guidelines. 

Brexit isn't an ideal.  It might break the cosy economic and political illusion that all growth and trade is good.  But there is little thinking behind it.  It won't lead to better trade.  It won't save our planet.  

One of the problems for humans, and for the planet, is that we have isolated ourselves from our ecosystem. Yet,  our activity impacts on the global climate and on habitats.  Unlike  Apodemus sylvaticus, we destroy more of our forests than we plant, and we deplete the worlds fresh water with our increasing demand for crops and our unregulated world trade. Is this really the best we can do with our 'intelligence'? Or have we much to learn from the wood mouse? 

Ray Noble tells how the NHS saved his life and considers the benefits of the British National Health Serivice.  He argues why markets alone are insufficient to meet needs.  The NHS is already being adversely affected by Brexit with worstenng staff shortages leading to delays and longer waiting lists. The NHS has been starved of adequate finding, and public service provision has been blighted by an eroneous faith in markets as a miraculous solution to meeting needs. 

With news of monkeys being cloned in a Chinese laboratory, Ray Noble considers whether it is possible to clone a given human being.  

We hear often the phrase 'in the genes'. But we are not in our genes.  Our attributes are often considered to be partitioned between genetic and environement.  But this is a false dichotomy.  Ray Noble considers what makes us who we are. 

Ray Noble talks to Samuel Shem, the acclaimed author of The House of God. The House of God, published in 1978, has in many ways become a cult book in the medical profession. It follows a group of medical interns at Beth Israel Hospital over the course of a year in the early 1970s, focusing on the psychological harm and dehumanization caused by their residency training.  For this dialogue we took the opportunity to catch up with Samuel Shem when he visited Oxford last year.  We hope to have a more extensive interview with Samuel Shem in the near future. 

In this second part of a two part series, Denis and Ray Noble continue their discussion about the nature of thinking.  

On location in the Perigord with noise of  cockerels in the background, Denis Noble discusses with Ray Noble ideas about thinking. They start by considering the problems of dualist logic.   

With negotations underway Ray Noble considers  the reality of Brexit. The phony war is over. The truth is understood. Brexit isn't good. It isn't good for the economy, for jobs, for health and social care, for research, for fighting climate change, and so the negotiations now turn on how to ameliorate the harm it will do.

We are not alone in having a sense of fairness and justice. It is present in other cooperative mammals.  In this episode of The Thin End Ray Noble considers intentions and purposive behaviour in wolves, apes and humans and its ethical consequences. 

The Thin End discusses the work and influence of the evolutionaly biologist Lynn Margulis with Jim MacAillister, archivist for the Lynn Margulis Archive at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Jim was a student and colleague of Lynn Margulis for the last decade of her life and converted her teaching materials and research video library to digital files.  Here he shares some of his insights into the life and work of an extraordinary scientist and scholar.  

Perry Marshall discusses with the Thin End his jouney of discovery and the background to writing his book Evolution 2.0. 

The Thin End has been to the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies to discuss with Geoffrey Bamford how the Neo-Darwinian 'modern synthesis' has become a dogma by creating a rigid belief system. 

In this second dialogue, Denis Noble, author of Dance to the Tune of LIfe, discusses whether there can be purpose and direction in evolution. 

Thin End discusses with Professor Denis Noble his new book Dance to the Tune of Life and new ideas on evolution. 

Trump says he wants to cancel the 2015 Paris agreement combatting climate change. It is an agreement signed by almost 200 nations. Is this Trump’s folly? Or do we need a new global politics?

There is a revolution of thought taking place in our understanding of evolution. It is moving us away from a gene-centred 'determinist' view of our lives, and replacing it with an 'open system view' where many factors influence evolution, including culture and environment in a dynamic interaction with organisms.

Good science comes from understanding its limitations, bad science from ignoring them.  Scientists do not work in a bubble free from cultural, social, ethical or political influences.  So does science need philosophy?

Modern neoliberalism tends to emphasise the individual as an autonomous being.  Society is seen as an aggregate of our individual, self-motivated, self interested behaviour. But this is a profoundly mistaken view of our social being. 

Gene editing technology offers hope to sufferers of genetic disorders such as Huntington’s disease. But many are concerned with its possible misuse in producing ‘designer’ babies, or in enhancing body function. They are concerned also that it will change how we consider our identity. But should we be concerned? What makes us who we are?

We have a freedom of will - a will constrained rather than determined by circumstance. Often, with ingenuity and knowledge, we can understand the nature of our circumstance and overcome constraints. We can solve problems and go where others have not. 

All the worlds a stage, but there is no set script.  Our lives are not mapped by a screenplay as in a film.  We do not follow a script.  We don’t really know what will be said next.  Our lives are not mapped in our genomes. 

I recently watched Moon, the 2009 Science fiction film co-written and directed by Duncan Jones. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil the plot, but the film follows Sam Bell, a man who experiences a personal crisis as he nears the end of a three-year solitary stint mining helium-3 on the far side of the Moon.  After a crash he discovers his double and in turn they find a secret vault containing hundreds of hibernating clones. They realize that Lunar Industries manufactures clones to avoid paying for new astronauts.  So, how realistic a prospect is this – or is it simply the stuff of science fiction?