25 of the most provocative questions facing science

NY Times (Science Times) ^ | Nov. 11, 2003 | Anon.

[Pharmboy]

(1) Does Science Matter?

(2) Is War Our Biological Destiny?

(3) Will Humans Ever Visit Mars?

(4) How Does the Brain Work?

(5) What Is Gravity, Really?

(6) Will We Ever Find Atlantis?

(8) What Should We Eat?

(9) When Will the Next Ice Age Begin?

(10) What Happened Before the Big Bang?

(11) Could We Live Forever?

(12) Are Men Necessary? ...

... Are Women Necessary?

(13) What Is the Next Plague?

(14) Can Robots Become Conscious?

(15) Why Do We Sleep?

(16) Are Animals Smarter Than We Think?

(17) Can Science Prove the Existence of God?

(18) Is Evolution Truly Random?

(19) How Did Life Begin?

(20) Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Smarter?

(21) Should We Improve Our Genome?

(22) How Much Nature Is Enough?

(23) What Is the Most Important Problem in Math Today?

(24) Where Are Those Aliens?

(25) Do Paranormal Phenomena Exist?

[Pharmboy]

26) Is liberalism genetic?

[Pharmboy]

Ping. And they attempt to answer the questions...

[Pharmboy]

12) Are Men Necessary? ...
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Well, are they?

A recently separated friend sniffed at the idea of a whole 600 words on the subject.

"Since the answer is `no,' " she said, "I don't quite see what you can do for the other 599." In fact, if men are on earth solely to preserve the species, there is already enough DNA in sperm banks to last for ages. Advances in cryogenics and turkey basting have rendered human males largely superfluous.

Other women interviewed defended their own irreplaceability — an artificial womb is still years off — but argued that men, though an anachronism, do have some impractical value.

"Geez, I'd miss sex," one said.

Another asked, "If there weren't gay men," who would help women check out the jeans-clad courtship displays of breeding males?

But the blunt fact is that human females rarely get to choose to eliminate males. The world is patriarchical because male aggression makes for a winning reproductive strategy, said Dr. Barbara B. Smuts, a feminist sociobiologist.

Male chimps, seeking many partners, dominate females who otherwise, Dr. Smuts argues, would accept sex only with the most qualified male.

In that regard, humans imitate chimps, not our other closest relatives, bonobos, whose females band together to fight off unwanted males.

Among lower animals and insects, as described by the evolutionary biologist Dr. Olivia Judson, the notion of "choosing" males is not so prevalent.

Insomniac male brown bats rape their way through hibernating roosts. Male honeybees explode upon climax, leaving their genitals behind in the queen as a chastity belt.

Male green spoon worms live inside a female's reproductive tract to fertilize passing eggs; they reach it by getting close enough to the females, who are 200,000 times their size, to be inhaled.

Male Australian redback spiders not only somersault into their mates' fangs to be eaten while copulating, they also fight for the privilege, pulling rivals from the females' jaws and hogtying them with silk.

The engine behind all this is the Y chromosome, which determines maleness. Scholars have recently mocked it as a genetic cul de sac.

Over the eons, more than 900 of its 1,000 genes have shifted to other chromosomes, and it could theoretically become extinct in 10 million years. "Man's defining structure is a haven for degenerates," Steve Jones, a geneticist at the University College London, writes in his recent book "Y: The Descent of Men."

But advancing chromosomal recombination is the point of sex, and advancing sex is the point of pheromones, courtship displays, the taking of female captives in war and romantic love. Consequently, said Dr. David C. Page, a specialist in Y chromosomes at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass., without males there would not only be no war, but also "no poetry, literature, music, advertising or fashion." "A Thousand Clones" makes lousy drama.

That raises a question: sex, yes, but why separate sexes? Hermaphroditic California sea hares mate happily in chains — male end to female end to male end to female end — beneath the waves. Why can't we all?

The answer: no one knows. Above the fish-and-slug level, in reptiles, birds and mammals, hermaphroditism is almost unheard of, except for rare genetic accidents. Sexual dimorphism must convey some huge mysterious advantage. We are stuck with each other.

Party on.

[Pharmboy]

(17) Can Science Prove the Existence of God?
By GEORGE JOHNSON

I have no need for that hypothesis," Pierre-Simon Laplace famously responded when asked where God fit into his new astronomical theory. Using calculus and Newton's laws of gravity, he explained the forces that kept the planets from gradually drifting out of orbit, imparting some stability to the solar system. Newton had thought the Great Engineer must step in now and then to readjust the machine.

The theory didn't explain where the solar system came from. But Laplace also had an answer. The planets, he proposed, had congealed from a swirling cloud of gas and dust surrounding the sun.

O.K., so where did the sun and the mother cloud come from? And what set the whole thing revolving?

By now, scientists think they have even those answers, and they do not involve the intervention of any Great Engineer. The whole point of science for the last few hundred years has been to explain everything in terms of a physical process, something that can be described by equations.

The quest, however, is far from done. God, for those who want to use that term, can be invoked to account for phenomena that have not yet yielded to the scientific method. What is for some the ultimate question — Does God exist? — has become a matter of how much further the domain of the unknown will continue to contract, and if it will ultimately evaporate.

The momentum has been in that direction. The whirlpool of cosmic stuff that spawned the solar system spins because it is one small part of the great rotating galaxy, the Milky Way. When a random fluctuation causes enough gas and dust to bunch together, gravity takes over and celestial bodies begin to form. If you want to know where the galaxies came from, there are answers as well. Ultimately, it all comes down to the Big Bang.

That is where the chain of reasoning bottoms out. What caused the primordial explosion? At this point all but a few scientists go with Wittgenstein ("of what we cannot speak we must pass over in silence") or with Kierkegaard, blindly taking the leap of faith into the abyss of the unknown, choosing what to believe.

Why there is something instead of nothing is not an issue that science is well equipped to address. As cosmologists understand it, the primordial eruption did not take place at a certain instant in a certain place. The Big Bang created absolutely everything, including space-time itself. How can anyone ask what set the whole thing going if there was no space or time for a creator to be in, much less any matter or energy for Him or Her or It to work with?

This rather formidable obstacle doesn't prevent a few people, some of them scientists, from trying to prove, or disprove, the existence of a deity. Almost any book or conference on science and religion inevitably includes what has become a metaphysical set piece:

The various parameters of the universe — the charge of the electron, the strength of gravity, and so forth — appear to be finely tuned to support the existence of stars and atoms and molecules and life. If the conditions at the instant of the Big Bang had been slightly different, the argument goes, then the universe (at least from an earthling's point of view) would have been a colossal waste of space-time. So we are the lucky benefactors of blind chance, or life was planned all along — either by a Great Intender or by some physical or mathematical or logical law or process. Ignore the great Wittgensteinian whisper and you feel the queasy discomfort of a human mind pushed to the edge of what it is possible to know.

One theory is that the Big Bang actually spawned a plenitude of universes each randomly endowed with different physical conditions. People, of course, find themselves in one that is capable of supporting life.

"Universe" used to mean everything that exists. To even think about this new scheme of things, the definition must be weakened to "everything that we can get information about." We are required to believe in — take on faith — that there is something outside the universe. Might as well just call it God.

Whether the multiverse theory is more comforting than believing that human existence results from a senseless crapshoot or a holy decree is a matter of taste, not science. For many theorists it is also a betrayal of the great effort to explain the laws of physics. Some still hope to find "a theory of the initial conditions of the universe," a supreme mathematical law, hidden perhaps in superstring theory, showing that the parameters of creation could have been set only in a certain way.

But then they would have to find a law to explain where the law came from . . . and ultimately an explanation of why the universe is mathematical and of where mathematics came from and what numbers are.

Like a petulant 8-year-old, we keep asking why, why, why, why. In the end, the answer is either "just because" or "for God made it so." Take your pick.

[js1138]

#25: no.

[Truth666]

How Does the Brain Work?
What about a much more simple one : Computers store information as bits.

How do people store information ?

[palmer]

Will trollbots on FR ever pass the Turing Test?

[glorgau]

Another question that was left out was

Does time exist?

It just may not.

[leadhead]

Another question that was left out was Does time exist? It just may not

Great! Now I won't be late all the time.

[leadhead]

The greatest math problem is: Where have I put all the money I "saved" buying a car, a TV, etc.on sale?

[Truth666]

(18) Is Evolution Truly Random? What about a much more simple and basic one : Post a better proof for evolution than this one

[The_Media_never_lie]

How Does the Brain Work?

The brain is an intellectual, he doesn't need to work.

[aardvark1]

This can't be the top 25 because #1 is missing. I ask myself this every day and anecdotal evidence tells me the vast majority of the world asks the same thing...

Where are my keys?

[Mad Dawgg]

"Does time exist?

It's astounding;
Time is fleeting;
Madness takes its toll.

[general_re]

In that regard, humans imitate chimps, not our other closest relatives, bonobos, whose females band together to fight off unwanted males.

Oh, I dunno - I'll wager every man has, at least once, had the fun of trying to separate the woman he's interested in getting to know from her chosen pack of screaming b*tch harpy girlfriends - the ones who have decided to "band together to fight off unwanted males".

[Skwidd]

Will We Ever Find Atlantis?

What?

[AmericaUnited]

Among lower animals and insects, as described by the evolutionary biologist Dr. Olivia Judson, the notion of "choosing" males is not so prevalent.

Well that makes sense, choosing lower life forms and insects as your role models. /sarcasm

[dsc]

"(16) Are Animals Smarter Than We Think?"

Or is it just that some people are really, really dumb?

[Agnes Heep]

(10) What Happened Before the Big Bang?
The big foreplay, no doubt.

[rintense]

Male honeybees explode upon climax, leaving their genitals behind in the queen as a chastity belt.

OUCH!

[rintense]

27) Does a missing link really exist?

[rintense]

(23) What Is the Most Important Problem in Math Today?

Easy. Simplifying the tax code (and balancing my check book).

[Truth666]

The big foreplay, with polaroid sunglasses ...

[laredo44]

Absolutely hilarious!

[Truth666]

polaroid sunglasses ... (10) What Happened Before the Big Bang?
What about a much more simple and basic one :
Post a better proof for the Big Bang than this one

[Chancellor Palpatine]

If a man says something in a forest and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?

[facedown]

28) Where do all my unpaired socks go?

[laredo44]

Interestingly, to me at least, a little more than a century ago, scientists produced a list of questions that science would never be able to answer. One of those was, "What is the sun made of?" That we answered the question is not even the most amazing part -- we discovered that it was, in part composed of the element helium, an element not even known on earth at the time it was discovered.

[Balto_Boy]

In fact, if men are on earth solely to preserve the species, there is already enough DNA in sperm banks to last for ages. Advances in cryogenics and turkey basting have rendered human males largely superfluous.

If true, this points to an incredile paradox. For all the accusations from men that feminism is trying to eliminate males from reproduction, it is men who ultimately enabled this to happen.

[general_re]

It's pack behavior at its finest. You want to get to know her. She's giving off the signs of wanting to get to know you. So what's the problem?

Her friends, in a nutshell. They hate you. You hate them. But you can't just be forthright about that, unless you want your romance to be really short and uneventful. So you have to force a smile and put on a happy face about her friends, rather than doing what you would rather do, which is choke the life out of that (expletive deleted) who's constantly telling the object of your affections what a loser you are because she just got dumped by some other loser and now hates anything with a Y-chromosome. It calls for a subtle and delicate touch, along with a quick decision about whether the target is actually worth the kind of AA fire you're going to get on your way into the drop zone.

My wife thinks that Budweiser commercial, the one that salutes the "wingman" who "takes one for the team" so that his buddy can get to know some other woman a little better, is hilarious, because she doesn't understand that, to men, that's not a joke. The "wingman" is just one of the many ways that men have evolved to deal with the nasty-girlfriend problem...

[weave09]

26. Will the Red Sox or Cubs EVER win the World Series?

[weave09]

26. Will the Red Sox or Cubs EVER win the World Series?

[MarkL]

Another question that was left out was

Does time exist?

It just may not.

Sure it does...

Time is nature's way of making sure that not everything happens at once!

Mark

[E Rocc]

7) Will the liberal media ever learn to count?

-Eric

[Gigantor]

The brain is an intellectual, he doesn't need to work.

That is correct, Pinky...

[Pharmboy]

They had a National Enquirer moment.

[PatrickHenry]

PING. [This ping list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. FReepmail me to be added or dropped.]

[Pharmboy]

Where are my keys?

That is not a question for the Science Times, but rather for St. Christopher.

[Sinner6]

(9) When Will the Next Ice Age Begin?

Soon, because global warming(evil suvs) will cause it... er...

[Sinner6]

(20) Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Smarter?

Happier yes, smarter no

[Radioactive]

A man discovered HElium.

If a woman discovered HElium, would it then be called HERlium?

[Publius6961]

27) Where are the WMDs dammit!

[Ichneumon]

What about a much more simple one : Computers store information as bits. How do people store information ?

The best hypothesis I've seen so far on that question is in the book "Sparse Distributed Memory" by Pentti Kanerva. It proposes and mathematically analyzes a memory model that is elegant in its simplicity, but exhibits a surprising number of traits in common with what we know about human memory, including:

1. The more often it is exposed to a particular piece of data, the more accurately it recalls it.

2. The more recently it has stored a piece of data, the more accurately it recalls it.

3. Older, less reinforced "memories" tend to become more vague and generalized as more information is stored.

4. Memories are most easily retrieved when a similar (or related) piece of data is used as a "key" (i.e., the memory module is "associative").

5. The memory module generalizes when similar but somewhat differing pieces of data are stored (i.e. it figures out what they have in common, and retrieves a composite "answer" when queried with a particular).

6. It can have the "tip of the tongue" syndrome, where it knows it knows something, but can't retrieve it until a triggering memory is accessed which releases it via association.

7. It has effectively unlimited storage ability. It never simply "runs out" of data storage. Instead, if too much information is stored relative to its capacity, older memories just start degrading in quality instead of disappear altogether, and new memories can always be stored.

8. A particular piece of data is stored in no one place, but instead "all over" in the memory module. If part of the memory module is removed or damaged, it is unlikely that any particular memory will simply vanish, instead the accuracy of stored memories will somewhat degrade but most will still be retrievable. This is strikingly similar to how human memory and cognition is affected by localized brain damage.

9. The fundamental unit of the memory module is extremely simple, and the sort of thing that biological systems could easily have stumbled upon during evolution, and yet the properties of the memory model are extremely rich and powerful (including not just data storage, but many of the processes that we think of as cognition and learning).

10. The power and accuracy of the memory/cognition abilities increase simply by adding more and more of the basic "memory cells" in a repetitive way, connected literally randomly.

11. The behavior of a single memory unit is exactly what is seen in animal neurons (repeated activation lowers the threshold for subsequent activations, fewer activations raise the threshold for subsequent activations).

12. In the appendix of the book Kanerva shows that the neural structure of the human cerebellum (which is used for "muscle memory" -- e.g. learning to ride a bicycle) is strikingly similar to the proposed memory model.

13. The memory model is equally adept at storing static memories as time-sequential memories (like speeches or songs).

14. Retrieving a latter part of a time-sequential memory (like a song) is most easily achieved by using earlier parts as a "key" (i.e., like having to sing a song to yourself in order to remember a later verse).

And so on. Kanerva's memory model is amazingly versatile, and behaves very much like human memory. I think he's definitely on to something. His book is one of the most fascinating things I've ever read.

Research continues into variations on Kanerva's basic insight, such as for example this paper. Or do a web search for "sparse distributed memory", "SDM", or "kanerva memory".

[Ichneumon]

Oops, meant to ping you folks to my post #43. Speaking of human memory, why do we so often remember things just as it's too late (i.e., while actually pressing the "Send" button)?

[Modernman]

I'll wager every man has, at least once, had the fun of trying to separate the woman he's interested in getting to know from her chosen pack of screaming b*tch harpy girlfriends

Like a lion picking off the weak member of the herd (or, in my case, more like a hyena).

That's the fundamental difference between guys and chicks- when girls see one of their friends about to hook up with a heinous guy, they do everything in their power to prevent it. When guys see their buddy about to hook up with a heinous girl, they do everything in their power to encourage it, because they can make fun of him for it for years to come.

[Shryke]

25:no

Ball lightning doesn't qualify? That's gotta be paranormal.

And what about that forest in Russia that was knocked down...but all the trees were pointing inward? Like a giant vacuum occurred?

And Tammy Faye Baker? Helllllllloooooooo?

[Physicist]

(1) Does Science Matter?

Smallpox.

(2) Is War Our Biological Destiny?

No, it's our political destiny.

(3) Will Humans Ever Visit Mars?

Probably.

(4) How Does the Brain Work?

Good question.

(5) What Is Gravity, Really?

Good question.

(6) Will We Ever Find Atlantis?

Found it: it's the island of Thera.

(8) What Should We Eat?

I reject the premise. Try: How can we remain perfectly healthy while eating whatever we want?

(9) When Will the Next Ice Age Begin?

Good question.

(10) What Happened Before the Big Bang?

What lies south of the South Pole?

(11) Could We Live Forever?

No.

(12) Are Men Necessary? ...

As far as I'm concerned, I am.

... Are Women Necessary?

Oooh, yeah.

(13) What Is the Next Plague?

Liberal talk radio.

(14) Can Robots Become Conscious?

Define conscious.

(15) Why Do We Sleep?

Good question.

(16) Are Animals Smarter Than We Think?

Yes. They are also stupider than we think.

(17) Can Science Prove the Existence of God?

No. Can religion solve the Dirac equation?

(18) Is Evolution Truly Random?

No, natural selection plays a role.

(19) How Did Life Begin?

Good question, but a scientific answer may not be possible.

(20) Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Smarter?

Yes.

(21) Should We Improve Our Genome?

Of course! Show of hands...who wants to keep cystic fibrosis?

(22) How Much Nature Is Enough?

I don't know...how does the whole damn universe sound?

(23) What Is the Most Important Problem in Math Today?

Good question.

(24) Where Are Those Aliens?

Good question.

(25) Do Paranormal Phenomena Exist?

All phenomena are paranormal until explained.

[Semper Paratus]

26) Who really won Florida?

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

26) What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?

[Alamo-Girl]

LOLOL! What a strange list. Thanks for the heads up!