How Jonathan Haidt destroyed our world view -and how PG Wodehouse put it back together for us

One thing we’ll say for Jonathan Haidt-he writes well. Not only is his masterwork The Righteous Mind [1]one of those books everyone should read, it’s one of the few on that list you actually can read with pleasure. But that’s exactly the problem, gentle readers, For Professor Haidt writes so clearly, so learnedly, so elegantly that he has utterly destroyed our world view(and we haven’t even finished yet) Allow us to explain.

Astute readers will recall our proud boast that this is a Whig website. You know the score-heirs of the Enlightenment, one day Reason and Learning will triumph over the brutish simian instincts of the human psyche, and we will all move forward to sunlight uplands-all white buildings, big lawns and everyone living to 100 and discussing Philosophy, that sort of thing. Not so fast, cautions Professor Haidt. In fact he pretty conclusively demolishes that worldview and still has time for some good puzzles. For him, the relationship between the two bits of the mind is like that between a huge powerful elephant (the unconscious) and a rather nervous little rider (the rational educated bit) whose principal job is to explain reasons to justify why the unconscious bit has just made its latest blunder (think sex ,food and heavy drinking) or got into its latest scrape(think wearing a blue jacket with jeans) “Is this the end?” we cried-did Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Bacon, Spinoza and Bertrand Russell all live in vain? Are we now condemned by our own nature to a life of burning witches, eating at fast food joints and committing unspeakable blunders in the way we vote in certain referendums?

And suddenly we thought-someone else worked out a survival plan for all this over one hundred years ago-and that man was PG Wodehouse.[2] For what is Bertie Wooster if not the elephant: an impulsive, pleasure seeking socially anxious but basically decent sort of chap-the powerful one with the money, but “mentally negligible” in the words of Jeeves, his faithful manservant and amanuensis? Who is the thinking one, the planning one, the one with foresight who manages to extract Bertie (and chums) from scrape after scrape, and somehow keep the show on the road. And at that point we ceased to worry: its been riders and elephants all along, or at least Berties and Jeeveses (is that a correct plural?-ed) And we’re all still here.

So maybe Haidt is our own Jeeves, for the rational community as t’were. And in the long run, it’s always better to learn the way things really are, rather than how we would like them to be. Haidt is a very good guide to that-right up there with Wodehouse in fact.

[1]Haidt, Jonathan. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon Books, 2012

[2]Wodehouse, P. G. The World of Jeeves. London: Arrow Books, 2023.

#philosophy #psychology #Jonathan Haidt #PG Wodehouse #neurology #reason #Enlightenment #Hume

Could AI allow developing countries to by pass the twentieth century altogether?

Could AI transform the lives and prospects of the world’s poor so quickly that they reach the standards of advanced countries in decades, rather than the centuries needed according to many gloomy predictions? The indefatigable Heather Stewart of the Guardian reports on a study by the World Bank [2] which suggests it just might.[1] According to the Bank’s Chief Knowledge Officer (can we get him for the quiz team?-ed), if AI is adapted correctly:

“……… economic development in the countries ……. that could have taken centuries …… the potential is there for …… economic development now to happen within decades,”

He (and Heather) channel the example of poor Indian farmers, for whom locally adapted AI on their phones could substitute for the kinds of advisors, scientists and agrarian experts they would never expect to meet in a lifetime. We have no doubt that readers as alert as you will now have no trouble spotting many more such possibilities.

Because we think that there’s something much more profound going on here. Veteran readers will recall our earlier blog Solar Power a Ray of Sunshine in dark Times(LSS 3 9 26) showcasing the work of FT journalist Simon Kuper who pointed out how solar power was allowing African countries to leapfrog decades of development by allowing them to bypass all the immense power grids and communication networks and all the other immensely expensive hardware which the G7 countries spent most of the twentieth century installing. But it wasn’t just pylons: they built a whole network of universities, agricultural ministries, and many other such institutions which powered their economies ahead. If solar power and now AI can allow that massive investment to become unnecessary, then the poorer economies could catch up in decades indeed.

And what a day that might be, gentle readers! Suddenly there would be no need for mass migrations, because who would choose to leave one rich country for another? New markets of prosperous consumers would open around the world: people will still buy something, even if it’s not sugary foods and high-pollution cars. And all the evidence convinces us that as prosperity rises, fertility falls, meaning vast areas could be turned over again to planet-resuscitating rewilding. We hope this Chief Knowledge Officer really does know his stuff. If he does, and if Heather Stewart’s optimism is justified, then this could be one of the most encouraging stories we have read for some time.

[1]World Bank says ‘small AI’ could transform developing countries | AI (artificial intelligence) | The Guardian

[2] Who We Are: Our Mission to End Poverty | World Bank Group

#Articial Intelligence #India #agriculture #development #poverty #world bank #simon kuper #heather stewart #solar power #economics

New mitochondrial map has many implications

Our showcase today comes from Nature Briefing, that indispensable chronicle of all that is new in discovery and innovation. They call it Atlas reveals Mitochondria in detail, and they bring out the implications for parasite diseases and evolution, but today we just want to riff a little further on the implications in the broader style of this blog. First, here’s their usual summary:

Scientists have mapped in unprecedented detail the proteins that make up the mitochondria in six organisms spanning the tree of life — five single-celled parasites and one plant. In a suite of nine papers, researchers reveal dozens of proteins that are shared among parasites, such as those that cause malaria and sleeping sickness, but not found in humans. The findings could help scientists devise new treatments for these illnesses. The work might also support the hypothesis that mitochondria emerged late in eukaryotic evolution, stoking the long-running debate over the organelles’ origins.

Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Nine papers published in Cell, Cell Press Blue, Molecular Cell and Current Biology

We say: Let’s start with parasite diseases, for they still create a great deal of havoc in the world : Shared parasite‑specific proteins are obvious drug targets. But the deeper implication is strategic: If several parasites rely on the same ancient mitochondrial assemblies, then one drug could hit multiple diseases — malaria, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, giardiasis, babesiosis, you name it, by “cutting the power” i.e., taking out the mitochondria of the parasite, in the same way. More generally, any understanding of mitochondrial design and structure offers exciting new possibilities in areas such as cancer therapy-which despite all that has been done in the last 25 years or so, still has as many patients needing help as ever. Better still, the research seems to offer a chance to develop new toolkits for synthetic biology If parasites can run mitochondria with radically different protein sets, then synthetic biologists may eventually be able to engineer and design mitochondria for specific metabolic tasks and perhaps even create hybrid organelles for industrial bioprocessing.

All in all a good day, for that old LSS doctrine: Research in one place nearly always has implications in many others.

#mitochondria #cancer #health #medicine #evolution #parasitology #malaria #synthetic biology #research

Antibiotic medicine, mitochondrial medicine, cancer medicine: three stories so good we couldn’t leave out any: and a deeper question for you

Three stories we saw this morning were so compelling that it was impossible to choose just one to showcase. Each was so novel, so rich, that they raised a deeper question: where do you stop? We could have spent hours digging into any of them. Instead, we’ll let you decide for yourselves, gentle readers, as we present each in turn — and return to that last question at the end.

Ancient Antibiotic Resistance

Our first story is a tour‑de‑force article in New Scientist by Joni Wildman. You may have already seen recent media reports about dormant bacteria in ancient sediments showing signs of antibiotic resistance. Well, Joni has the definitive deep dive for anyone who wants to understand what this really means. You’ll encounter plasmids, the resistome, and even how these discoveries might help us identify the antibiotics of the future. Her article is behind a paywall, but worth it — you get the rest of the magazine too. How ancient superbugs could help us fight antibiotic resistance | New Scientist

Joni’s article is behind a paywall, but worth it, as you’ll get the rest of the mag too

How ancient superbugs could help us fight antibiotic resistance | New Scientist

Mitochondrial Transfer? Confession: before we read this excellent article by Blake Forman for Technology Networks, we didn’t know very much about mitochondrial disease(actually our basic mitochondriology was a bit weak too) But it seems that some healthy cells may be able to donate their mitochondria, those busy little subcellular power stations, to neighbours with less healthy ones. What’s more, there are promising signs that this discovery may be translatable into practicable therapies, as Blake outlines in this extremely learned article.

https://www.technologynetworks.com/biopharma/news/healthy-cells-donate-mitochondria-in-potential-treatment-for-mitochondrial-disease-416832?fbclid=IwY2xjawUodV9leH

Infections and Cancer Well, this story by Zoe Hardy of the Mail really had to go in: a new study claims that on e in eight cancers may be caused by a previous infection. No, we weren’t expecting that one either. But Zoe’s sources (International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lancet Oncology) are impeccable, their data wide and deep, and the conclusions faintly unsettling. The usual suspects are in there-HPV, Hepatitis virus, EBV and of course poor public health and sanitation. Naturally more vaccination programmes would help-but that’s becoming an uphill battle in many places these days, isn’t it? Once more, read the article and judge for yourselves:

One in eight cancers are linked to infections, new study finds, including a common stomach bug linked to bowel cancer | Daily Mail Online

All of which leads us to our main point. Each of these stories begged more reading, more digging into the data and more pondering. But in the part of the universe where we live at least there are only 24 hours in any one day, and only seven of those days in your average week. So: where do you stop? Read too much on mitochondria and you won’t have any time for green aviation technology or research on cocktails. But skim over everything and we guarantee you’ll understand none of it. It’s a conundrum which we have never satisfactorily solved. How do you do it. Gentle reader? We’d love to know.

#superbugs #antibiotics #microbiology #joni Wildman #mitochondrial disease #cell biology #inherited disorders #blake forman #cancer #infection #vaccination #zoe hardy #public health

Why every economics column accidentally makes the case for a world government

Like you, gentle readers, we have our favourite economics correspondents we turn to every Monday‑morning :sages who try to make sense of another week of largely unnecessary trouble and strife. But all of them, from Faisal Islam, Helia Ibrahimi and Gillian Tett to American heavyweights like Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Reich, seem rather gloomy these days.

Take Heather Stewart of The Guardian: as good an example as any. Today she examines the unfortunate new British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, and the sea of troubles into which he has been pitched. There have been seven like him in the past decade. Each arrived full of bounce, convinced that this time things would be different. And then, as Heather cogently explains, along comes the Chancellor with the grim reality: rising fuel prices, rising debt‑servicing costs, stubborn inflation, stagnant growth — all while trying to satisfy the endless demands of defence, health, social care, and citizens who expect economic prosperity to rise automatically and forever.

That is the gist of Heather’s article, and Britain is not so different from most countries.

And here is our LSS point today. No national leader now has the power to pull the levers or push the buttons that will make any of these woes go away. Some immediate causes lie in the intractable conflicts in the Middle East and eastern Europe. Beyond them loom global warming, runaway AI technologies, and the rapid colonisation of near‑Earth space. Much of the world’s investment capital is beyond governmental reach, sheltered in private trusts and tax havens. The economists we admire describe these pressures well — but they may be missing the deeper truth hiding between the lines.

The nation state is no longer large enough to carry the burden of providing the rising expectations of its citizens, nor even the orderly, decent life they reasonably hope for. Indeed, the division of the world into competing nation states creates many of our problems, because it ensures that no one can ever take control of them. Just as tiny polities such as Wessex and Mercia once found themselves no longer capable of solving the problems that confronted them on their own and united accordingly into England.

Imagine, instead, a world authority with the legitimacy to mediate the bloody quarrels of regional rivals — and prevent gullible outsiders from being drawn in. What would that do for energy supplies, bond prices, and food security? Imagine capital markets so deep they encompassed the whole planet (and perhaps one or two neighbouring bodies). How would that transform borrowing, investment, and trade?

All these correspondents, whose work we admire so much, are already making the case for us. When you read their articles, you will find the truth implicit, just behind their words.

[1] Burnham’s plan for a radical reset collides with economic reality | Heather Stewart | The Guardian

[2] Kingdom of England – Wikipedia

#Faisal Islam,#Helia Ibrahimi #Gillian Tett #Joseph Stiglitz # Robert Reich# andy burnham #history #economics #trade #finance #world government #nation state

Friday Night: this blog supports responsible drinking only. Here’s why

Friday night is our night to make a suggestion for you to enjoy a civilised and sophisticated mild drink, often based upon alcohol. We stress: one drink– we are not in favour of people going out and getting plastered, whammied, blotto, paralytic nor any of the other cheerful euphemisms used to describe alcoholic intoxication. There are many reasons for believing this: but here is one of them: and it may even provide a little nostalgia for those who still remember the 1960s and how difficult all that social change really was to effect.

Barbara Castle (1910-2002) was one of the most remarkable politicians in British post war public life. Feisty, intelligent, articulate and able she was appointed Minister of Transport in Harold Wilson’s reforming government in 1965. With one overarching purpose: to the end the bloody and growing carnage on the roads caused by a nation’s dual addictions to the twin pleasures of heavy drinking and fast cars. Every means of persuasion (we still remember the Tv ads) having failed to shift the public, Legislation was unavoidable . Of course. In the nine months alone prior to her Parliamentary Bill in November 1966 there were no less than 5500 deaths and 73000 injuries due to drink driving. And this gentle readers is the tiniest corner of the statistics we could have served up. So- did the Bill sail through, hailed by a grateful nation as the answer to what were becoming almost wartime casualty lists?

Er- no, not really. Opposition was immediate-and furious. Publicans claimed drinking was being criminalised, which threatened the ruin of their businesses. Motoring groups and lobbyists were equally incandescent, citing all kinds of dangers to personal Liberty (for their members, not the victims) But Castle was steadfast, backing her legislation with new scientific technology( the “breathalyser”) which could in turn define a verifiable limit (80mg alcohol in 100 ml of blood) which replaced the old subjective tests that clever lawyers had run rings around for years. And despite all the rage and obloquy, next year’s figures shouted her success:1,100 fewer road deaths and 11000 fewer injuries.

Perhaps it’s just us but sometimes we imagine that we see a certain resemblance between the opponents of drink driving laws and those equally opposed to efforts to reduce smoking, take action on climate change, and further back, to emancipate women and abolish the slave trade. Somehow the world went on and perhaps got a little better, after all those barbaric wrongs were righted. Everything in moderation is our principle: and thanks to Barbara Castle and her brave legislation, people in this country can even enjoy the pleasures of moderate drinking in driving. A far from mean achievement.

Shameless name-dropping: we had a friend who knew Barbara and her husband Ted personally, and said they were great company off duty!

[1] Barbara Castle – Wikipedia

# Barbara Castle #road traffic #drinking and driving #alcohol #accidents #pub #civil liberty # breathalyser #motoring

Round up: rooms in tombs, New cats, Cocktail problems, Vaccines, brains-and much more

Hidden chambers?We were intrigued by this piece from Naure Briefing called Hidden chambers at Tutankhamun’s tomb? But couldn’t help thinking-what if it turns out just to be an old cleaner’s cupboard with a few abandoned brooms, mops and buckets?

Researchers say they have new found evidence for the tantalizing, but controversial, idea that there are as-yet-unexplored chambers in Tutankhamun’s tomb that might hold the remains of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. The team conducted a range of geophysical surveys, including the first use of gravitational techniques to probe the density of ground around the site, and say they strongly support the existence of a “hidden complex” of corridors and rooms predating the entombment of Tutankhamun.

Nature | 9 min read
Reference: Occasional Papers of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project paper

The pet that wasn’t (la mascota que no lo era)

We loved this story about a new species of cat recently discovered in Bolivia. Incredibly the type specimen wasn’t found in the jungle-he had been living comfortably as a pet before being handed in to the local sanctuary El País tells all

El tilcayo, primer felino salvaje descubierto en más de cien años | Ciencia | EL PAÍS

That Cocktail Conundrum No we are not referencing our regular Friday Night Cocktail Column (LSS passim), beloved though it is of many readers. Instead, we are showcasing this Conversation report on the latest findings about the fascinating neurological and psychological puzzle of the cocktail party problem, which as dogged brain research departments for decades

https://theconversation.com/neuroscience-offers-new-insights-into-how-our-brain-solves-the-cocktail-party-problem-292169?

And talking of brains Did you know you have not one, but two, at least genetically speaking. Well that’s what these latest findings, as reported by the Mail, seem to suggest:

Now that’s what you call mind-blowing! The human brain is TWO separate organs, scientists reveal | Daily Mail Online

Don’t you forget about me More cats! We had a one who seemed to have made this Simple minds song his leitmotif at mealtimes, both ours and his own. But cats have a much bigger memory span than that according to the BBC.

https://www.countryfile.com/animals/pets/do-cats-forget-us-when-were-on-holiday?utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e0_

Keep those vaccine rates up

Bangladesh has lost 900 children to measles, reports The Conversation. Why? Regular readers will not be surprised to learn its because the vaccination programme for this dangerous disease has slipped

https://theconversation.com/bangladesh-has-lost-900-children-to-measles-a-warning-to-other-countries-where-vaccine-rates-have-slipped-292288?utm_campaign=

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

George Santayana

#tutankhamun #egyptology #archaeology #cat #zoology #genetics #neurology #artificail intelligence #vaccines #bangladesh

Owen Jones on why everything has gone wrong for the West (And why we think it proves this blog right)

In 1994 Wayne Merry was a Senior Political Officer at the US Embassy in Moscow. Those were heady days for the US and the West in general. The terrifying hydra of Soviet Communism had recently been slain. The world was open to free markets, hypercapitalism and democracy; the Good Side had won. It was the end of History-or so it seemed. Merry thought differently. In between distributing cash to starving Russians in the streets, he observed that the Russian economy was incapable of sustaining the radical reforms prescribed for it by self-confident western Experts. That the idea of Democracy was already in serious trouble, and that extremists and strongmen who could restore order to the utter chaos were already on the rise. Instead of being heeded, he was made persona non grata, his cable buried until 2024. Though we suspect it made interesting reading in Ukraine upon its final release.

Such is the tale told by Owen Jones in his Guardian article The West is in Freefall…… [1] which we heartily recommend you to read. Not because it is so utterly hard hitting and trenchant ( it is both) but because we think it has something to say about the intellectual blindness and moral complacency which allowed the triumphant position of 1991 to be transformed into the catastrophic mess of today. We don’t always agree with Owen Jones, gentle readers: but this time he is most certainly on to something. And we agree with his diagnosis: the central sins of our rulers were the ancient ones of Pride and Greed. Here are two devastating, almost killer quotes

Russia had to move towards “our way of doing things,” said Strobe Talbott, President Bill Clinton’s main Russia adviser. If that sounded like “an obnoxious confirmation of our doctrine of exceptionalism”, his answer was simple: “Well, tough. That’s us; that’s the US. We are exceptional.”

Western economies were not starved of wealth: they were increasingly organised to extract it rather than invest it. As the economist Mariana Mazzucato told me, 80% of British finance now flows back into finance, insurance and real estate. Western economies became increasingly good at rewarding ownership, but increasingly bad at building the productive foundations on which prosperity depends.

We are sure Owen’s forthcoming book will have many more examples and supporting evidence [2]

And our take? We know you like us to riff on showcased articles, independently of what their author has stated. It is this: Owen goes a long way to diagnose the root causes of our disgrace. But diagnoses are much easier than prescriptions. It has to be noted that just about every system of organising human societies eventually comes up with failures as lamentable as those of the Washington consensus and hyper financialisation. And that many of the problems we face today-climate change, re-location of industrial production , mass migrations- are as much as result of technological change as of any one political system. Which implies that the world is so small and interconnected that a single unitary world authority is now both essential and feasible. But you have read that many time s here before.

[1] The west is in freefall – and the worst part is that we were warned, but chose not to listen | Owen Jones | The Guardian

[2]Owen has a new book out on October 1^st The Fall of the West: How They Really Lost It. We shall buy it. We hope you will too!

#russia #usa #hypercapitalism #free markets #democracy #social democracy #owen jones #maria Mazzucato #financialisation

CAR‑T gets a serious rival — and that’s good news

Long‑serving LSS readers will know the admiration we’ve expressed for CAR‑T therapy (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T‑cells) and the extraordinary advances it has brought to cancer treatment. So it was a genuine surprise this morning when our researchers stumbled upon a credible alternative approach — spotted first via the excellent science feed of Hashem Al‑Ghaili.

The substance in question is GTB‑5550, a tri‑specific natural‑killer‑cell engager developed by GT Biopharma. According to Al‑Ghaili’s summary, GTB‑5550 anchors to a specific protein on the cancer cell, binds to an activating receptor on the patient’s natural‑killer (NK) cells to form an immunological bridge, and delivers an immune‑signalling protein that drives those NK cells to multiply and sustain their attack.

The underlying science is real and verifiable: GT Biopharma has FDA clearance for Phase 1 trials, and the National Cancer Institute lists an active study in advanced solid tumours. Readers can consult the company’s announcement at [3].

What caught our eye, however, was Al‑Ghaili’s shrewd observation that this line of attack offers a potential alternative — or at least a practicable complement — to the often intricate and labour‑intensive CAR‑T process. LSS has always championed redundant capacity over just‑in‑time efficiency: think bacteriophages alongside antibiotics, quantum computing alongside AI, and now, perhaps, NK‑cell engagers alongside CAR‑T.

We just didn’t expect CAR‑T to acquire a rival quite so soon.

[1] CAR T cell – Wikipedia

[2] https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNaturePage/posts/pfbid0YtDt88h5ryQi482butNALJQQ2parbD1YsQsFRUdZp

[3] GT Biopharma, Inc. (2026). GT Biopharma Announces Potential New Indication for GTB-5550, a B7-H3-Targeted Natural Killer (NK) Cell Engager, for Multiple Myeloma. GlobeNewswire.

# Hashem Al‑Ghaili #CAR-T #GTB 5550 #cancer #immunology #medicine #health #GT Biopharma #FDA

What might happen if Yellowstone Blows up-and memories of an older blog

A few years ago, at the height of the COVID pandemic, we published a short series of blogs on the other existential threats awaiting the human species once that particular plague had abated.(LSS 23 4 20) Among them was the possibility of a deadly, planet‑altering supervolcano eruption from the Yellowstone Caldera in north‑western USA — a volcanic system whose last explosion was truly colossal.

Today we showcase an article from The Conversation by Ilan Kelman and Matthew Blackett — and what an excellent piece it is, gentle readers![1] It unfolds almost like a disaster film: the early seismic murmurs; the migrating earthquake swarms; the panicked, imperfect evacuations; and finally the eruption itself — immense plumes of superheated gas and ash, pyroclastic devastation, buried cities, and the long, grinding collapse of transport, agriculture, and infrastructure across North America and far beyond. Scientists, it turns out, can write vividly when the need calls.

And our thoughts? First, the caldera is vast — 55 to 70 kilometres across, depending on how you measure it. It has certainly blown before, though that was 631 000 years ago when the humans alive at the time had no power grids, no global food networks, and no supply chains to shatter. Today’s world is far more fragile.

Second, some scientists still assert that there is no immediate probability of an eruption — Yellowstone currently sits at a normal alert level; that at least is the official view.[2]

But geological processes never cease. Even the USGS admits that the widely cited “1 in 10,000 chance per century” rests on statistically weak arithmetic, drawn from only two intervals between three ancient eruptions. And yes — we do recall those unsettling tremors and uplift episodes around 2013–14, even if they ultimately amounted to nothing. The point remains: Yellowstone is not a dead system. It is a sleeping one.

One day, the forces that once blew its roof off will coincide again. When that day dawns is unknowable. But if Kelman and Blackett’s scenario is even half right, perhaps it is better not to be around to witness the consequences.

[1]https://theconversation.com/end-of-humanity-blow-by-blow-account-of-what-would-happen-if-the-yellowstone-supervolcano-erupted-now-288649?utm_campaign

[2] Yellowstone Caldera – Wikipedia

#yellowstone #caldera #volcano #eruption #civilisational collapse #geology #climate #agriculture #ilan kelman #matthew blackett #USGS #earthquake