Mind's Eye 2023

MIND’S EYE 2023

ART or

Artifice?

Bearing UP

COLD

CUTS Wild

Ways

IRON Lung

LAND’S

End SUB

Standard War

of

Words Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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Street fighting during the Spanish Civil War. July 1936-March 1939.

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Mind’s Eye | July 2023

Contents 94

12

60 | AntZ Ayan Jain

62 | Cold Cuts Antonina Shats

88 65 | Land’s End Sylvain Chan

70 | Daily Grind Olivia Bywater

72 | Mood Music Aki Watanabe

28 | Art or Artifice?

74

Lexie Whitmore

74 | Democrazy Eleanor Symons

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32 | Anyone for Tennis?

Eric Qiu

80 | In Reality Carmen Wu

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34 | Iron Lung Lucas De La Vega Mazzoni

Summer Xu

6 | Bearing Up

38 | Slow Growing

Téa Sand

Oleg Shkarovskyy

12 | Sub Standard

44 | Whale Life

Emma Yiu

Maddie Gorman

16 | Behind Closed Doors

48 | Push Me, Pull Me

Naomi Cray

Joseph Wang

88 | Wild Ways Fred Bosley

94 | War of Words Anton Davies

52 | Get Lyrical

Isabella Liu

Annika Li

22 | The Beach Boys

56 | Hunter X Hunter

Alex Gaskain

Alisa Wong

Chiara Boiteux

86 | From the Heart Julia Wu

18 | Mary, Mary: Quite Contrary

26 | Pizza Pizza

84 | Thinfluence

80 48

58 | Plane Food Augustin Cook

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Editorial Here we go again: those under eighteen annually giving those well over eighteen an object lesson in how to be interested and interesting. There follow twenty-four articles on a wide range of subjects that show, together, a youthful engagement with just about everything.

Many of the pieces are pure declarations of delight. One writer reveals his undying love of tennis and respect for Roger Federer; another celebrates pizza so vividly it’s hard to read her piece without picking up the phone; and a third is addicted, in a nice way, to coffee. Others share their obsession with whales, anime film and the therapeutic properties of music. There is also a hymn to ants.

Other pieces seek to adjust the saddle on this or that hobby horse: artificial intelligence, which has a lot to offer humanity, is not about to take over the world, but could do with some vigilant monitoring; the Ukrainian economy is not just struggling because of the war in the present but because of corruption in the past; there has always been a battle in Russian cinema between creative freedom and deadening state restriction; the end of the world is not going to happen if we grow up; the great Picasso was a genius but also a manipulative misogynist; wilding may be a nice idea but could be a middle-class pipe dream; pop music lyrics are not what they used to be; and the Beach Boys went through Hell.

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THE END OF THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN IF WE GROW UP.

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There are also quite a few questions that linger in the mind. How many of us knew there was a lot of disgusting and dangerous housing in Hong Kong? What are the chances of a second American Civil War? (Not as remote as you might think.) Is an orgy a more repugnant activity if the participants wear Nazi uniforms? Wrong answer. And, for the domestic deities amongst us, if you screw up when using an electrical appliance or opening a door, have you ever thought you might be the victim of dunderheaded design?

I’m not going to mention the two philosophical discussions, one about Mary and the other about Marx, in case I say the wrong thing.

But let’s begin with our first writer and take our hats off to bears. We lament their cruel incarceration by circuses and bile-harvesters and cheer their liberation by undaunted charities such as Libearty.

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PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY AT https://millionsoffriends.org/en/libearty Why not adopt a bear?

Anthony Lyons Editor Mind’s Eye 2023 www.mindseyemagazine.com

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WE LAMENT THEIR CRUEL INCARCERATION

BY CIRCUSES AND BILEHARVESTERS AND CHEER THEIR LIBERATION BY UNDAUNTED CHARITIES SUCH AS LIBEARTY.

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Bearing

Up

TÉA SAND celebrates the work of

a charity in Romania that rescues abused bears.

This article contains some upsetting details..

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he world is a wonderfully strange to be controlled, too powerful, too place, packed to the brim with well-hidden for hunters or ringmasters people who seem never to see to snatch them away. eye to eye on anything, whether it’s a question of left vs right, fight But we also used to think the same vs flight, loving marmite to bits or of tigers and lions, the rulers of the absolutely hating it. However, deep jungle and the top predators. And amongst this plethora yet the articles and of age-old arguments, videos of their being there seems to be one abused never cease. opinion that everyone So why is it that the WHEN I VISITED THE shares regarding one abuse of some animals BEARS WITH A TOUR particularly visceral are more represented GROUP, 90% OF abuse of human power. in mainstream media THE VISITORS WERE This is animal cruelty. than others? Why are BAWLING BY THE END there significantly AFTER HEARING HOW From our favourite fewer images of bears THESE CREATURES HAD children’s books that being manhandled SUFFERED BEFORE BEING were brought to life or forced to perform RESCUED.

by Winnie the Pooh, in circuses? Are they to the cinematic simply too powerful masterpiece Paddington that danced and strong to undergo such heinous onto our TV screens in 2014, to the enforced submission? foul-mouthed Ted voiced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, fictional Unfortunately, I am here to confirm bears have enchanted, captivated and that this is not the case. made people laugh for years. When people think of animals being used In October 2022, when I visited my and abused in circuses, stripped from grandparents in Romania, I also drove their homes and forced to do tricks for up to Transylvania, which, and I cannot human entertainment, the stock few stress this enough, is not the realm of that come to mind are tigers jumping a blood-sucking vampire, no matter through flaming hoops and dancing what the ignorant film directors from monkeys balancing precariously on the States want you to believe. But a tightrope. Extremely rarely does a that is a story for another day. In the bear come to mind. They are too large heart of the Carpathian Mountains

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lies a beautiful town called Zarnesti, which also happens to be home to the largest bear sanctuary in Europe, where over 120 bears, dogs, horses and even a baby tortoise live in peace.

I suppose Bram Stoker conveniently forgot to mention this incredible aspect of Romania since he was busy butchering Transylvanian history.

But again, that is an argument for another day.

The wounds of her past are visible; she starts at the slightest noise owing to many years in a circus where she was subject to harsh training, blinding lights and stinging whips.

The sanctuary is aptly named Libearty, and its admirable mission is to rescue bears and other animals whose stories are often so gutwrenching and heart-breaking that visitors set off in floods of tears. When I visited the bears with a tour group, 90% of the visitors were bawling by the end after hearing how these creatures had suffered before being rescued.

It cannot be a coincidence that this majority were tourists, visitors from the West who are not exposed to the harsh reality of the Balkan and Slavic animal trafficking business that

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MANY PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THE NUMBER OF CIRCUSES AND BUSINESSES THAT STILL MISTREAT ANIMALS.

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The bears that now lead happy, peaceful lives in Libearty with unlimited access to food and water came from places where they were abused, forced to do circus tricks, kept in minuscule cages and general inhumane conditions. still very much exists today. Although here in England we have schemes, laws and protests to eradicate animal cruelty and stop the horrific abuse of animals once and for all, this despicable culture is not so easy to wipe out in other parts of Europe.

The bears that now lead happy, peaceful lives in Libearty with unlimited access to food and water came from places where they were abused, forced to do circus tricks, kept in minuscule cages and general inhumane conditions. But this prodigious charity ensconced in the forests of Zarnesti does incredible work to rescue them from these terrible places, protect them and let them live in the wilderness (obviously with cages around for protection, but the green spaces are vast and there is even a lake for the bears to bathe in). I saw how many bears and cubs there were and how genuinely happy they seemed, yet deep down I fear that many people don’t know the number of circuses and businesses that still mistreat animals – it’s a lot more frequent in the Balkans, though rarely addressed.

Visitors from the West are not exposed to the harsh reality of the Balkan and Slavic animal trafficking business that still very much exists today.

And just in case this small snippet of the truth about the lingering existence of animal cruelty isn’t enough to spurn change, perhaps Alisa’s story will.

Inhabiting one of the dens lives Alisa, a small, shy female bear with sight problems. The wounds of her past are visible; she starts at the slightest noise owing to many years in a circus where she was subject to harsh training, blinding lights and stinging whips. Undoubtedly the most heart-breaking pain of all, her cubs were taken from her and, in what can only be described as Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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a post-traumatic response, Alisa acts as if they are still with her, making motions with her arms that all mother bears do to make their young feel safe.

At this point in my visit, when I heard this story, my heart actually hurt for her. And yet, when Alisa first arrived at the sanctuary, though she was initially fearful and spent much of her time sniffing out the territory, she must have known that humans would not hurt her here because, after tentatively stepping out of the carrier, it was the last cage she would ever have to endure and she promptly shuffled over to the first tree she saw and sat down, perfectly content. Bears are a lot smarter than people think in this respect. They recognise that trust has to be earned.

This is just one story out of hundreds.

The path of this charity began in 1998, in the yard of a hotel near Bran Castle She never feared people again, which (again, not the home of Count Dracula; just goes to show that the kindness of it really is time to distinguish fact from fiction) where in a dirty one person, however cage with metal bars insignificant the action It was all Cristina and a cement floor, lived may feel, can truly could do to keep her Maya the bear. Cristina change another’s life. As promise to Maya and Lapis, the dazzling a result of finally being build a sanctuary so no bear would ever woman who founded allowed to live as a bear have to endure what this association, and not as a captive, she did. stumbled upon her by Alisa is now free. And accident. Or perhaps although the scars of her past may never heal and she will it was fate, because the moment never get her cubs back, her future is Cristina looked into Maya’s sunken undoubtedly brighter than her past. eyes she knew that something was At least it seemed like that to me when horribly wrong. From that day forth, I saw her rolling on the ground and for four years, Cristina and her husband travelled over 60km every day to feed frolicking in the lakes of Libearty!

Maya and spend time with her in the hope of cheering her up. Pretty soon, Maya began to recognise the sound of their car and would stand up to greet them.

For humans, the gratitude of the soul of an innocent animal is utterly invaluable.

It is that warm feeling you get in your heart when you rescue a kitten from the side of the road, or flip a beetle back on his front so it can scuttle away.

It is a symbiotic relationship, what people have with animals. Anyone with a pet can confirm that the presence of animals gives us peace and a constant friend, so in turn it is our duty to help them and erase the mistakes of other humans.

But, unfortunately, life is not always kind to these creatures. Despite three years of constant attention from Cristina, filled with promises of a safe haven for her, not to mention a continuous supply of coveted food and water, Maya began to show signs of depression. Yes, animals can be depressed just like humans and feel pain just as we do. After losing faith in ever escaping captivity, Maya actually began to mutilate herself and she died in Cristina’s arms. After that, it was all Cristina could do to keep her promise to Maya and build a sanctuary so no bear would ever have to endure what she did.

The Libearty Sanctuary is dedicated to Maya, and to all the bears who enjoy a happier fate today because of what she had to go through.

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After tentatively stepping out of the carrier, it was the last cage she would ever have to endure.

It isn’t just Cristina Lapis who can change the future of these bears, though. We can too. Even the smallest donation to this wonderful charity could be the saving grace needed for these bears to be rescued from the inhumane conditions that are sadly still so prevalent in many Balkan and Slavic countries today. Or, better yet, it is possible to adopt a bear and see them grow and flourish in the love and care of the charity. There are truly few things as rewarding as giving back to nature.

And if by now you are in floods of tears or feel even the slightest bit of remorse for these beautiful creatures, it is a sign. We shouldn’t be ignoring these problems, or leaving them for someone older, more qualified, or more mature to handle.

These bears need our help. ¢ For more information on the charity and donations, including the process of adopting a bear, visit https://millionsoffriends.org/en/

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EMMA YIU explains the dangers of subdivided living in an unknown part of Hong Kong.

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lthough Hong Kong houses 7.6 million people within only one thousand square kilometres, and is one of the wealthiest cities in the world, beneath its glorious reputation there are many problems.

According to government data, the median monthly rent for a subdivided flat is 395 HKD per square metre, which is equivalent to £41 sterling. The smallest flat is around two square metres, which means the rent of one flat costs £82 per month. The minimum wage in Hong Kong is around 37.5 HKD per hour, For example, house prices are known to which corresponds to £3.80. This suggests be ridiculous but the growing population, that if an average person works for seven limited land, and the enormous wealth gap hours per day, they would only get £133 per are all factors that led to a housing crisis that week. There are other factors that also need began in the 1950s, when many refugees left to be taken into consideration, such as the Mainland China and moved to electricity and gas bills, since Hong Kong. Hong Kong has these also require a lot of exceeded its carrying capacity, money. Therefore, housing forcing the underprivileged costs make it near impossible into living in horrifying to sustain a normal standard HONG KONG HAS conditions. of living.

EXCEEDED ITS CARRYING

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CAPACITY, FORCING THE

When I was in primary school, In addition to the terrible UNDERPRIVILEGED INTO I joined a volunteering living environment due LIVING IN HORRIFYING experience with a nonto the lack of space and CONDITIONS. governmental organization in expensive rent, these flats the local community centre, are also very dangerous to where they brought us to dwellings located live in, as it is extremely easy for diseases to in Sham Shui Po to provide essentials for spread within these overcrowded spaces. I disadvantaged families, in the hope of remember visiting a flat where the toilet was improving their standards of living. located right next to the bed, and it was only separated by a thin wall. Everything is done Sham Shui Po is an area in the eastern within a very limited area. The inhabitants Kowloon district and is one of the densest would sleep, eat, and revise on the same bed. areas in Hong Kong. I was unaware of this type of housing until I visited. They are Hygiene levels are very low and are further known as sub-divided flats, where a standard worsened by the climate. As the weather is flat gets partitioned into two or more flats. very hot and humid, these packed places Although, supposedly, this should make further reduce the air quality, making it rents more affordable, these flats are still very uncomfortable to live in. In recent unbelievably expensive. years, these conditions have continued to

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ONE OF THE RESIDENTS WOULD ONLY GO OUT ONCE PER DAY TO BUY GROCERIES DUE TO THE INTENSE CLIMBING REQUIRED TO LEAVE THE SLUM.

Most of the slums do not have access to running water and residents have to share a restroom with other residents nearby.

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deteriorate due to global warming, which means the average temperature has increased to around 30 degrees Celsius. Moreover, these sub-divided flats do not meet the fire safety requirements, so many of the flats are illegal. There are doors built in for each First, these flats are very hard to access individual flat, and they are separated as there are no lifts. The only way to by very packed corridors because some access them is by climbing 10-15 flights residents use the corridor as storage of stairs. I remember one of the residents space. So, if an accident does occur, telling me that she would only go out it would be impossible for residents once per day to buy groceries due to to escape due to the the intense climbing complex layout of the required to leave the building.

Housing costs make slum. Hong Kong is also it near impossible a city that experiences to sustain a normal Other than these subtyphoons relatively standard of living. divided flats, there are frequently, making it also roof slums, which are even more threatening another form of illegal to live in these slums. housing located on the rooftops of Due to the poor construction of these apartments. These flats are also unsafe spaces, there are usually water leakages to live in as there are a lot of hazards. I when there is rainfall so residents have also got to visit these flats through one to live in a very wet environment. There of my volunteering experiences. is also a chance that these slums might collapse, which would potentially lead to casualties. Most of the slums do not have access to running water and residents have to share a restroom with other residents nearby. There is usually access to electricity, but as this is not properly installed by professionals, there are wires hanging around the roof and between the rooms, making it very dangerous. Furthermore, most of the slums do not have any windows, making it very difficult for light or air to pass through.

Although the Hong Kong government is implementing different strategies to try and fix this problem, the supply of housing can never meet its demand due to the lack of space and the rapid increase in the size of the population.

In recent years, the awareness of these types of housing has increased and more people know about the dreadful living environments in some areas of This project aims to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Chief help people move out of sub-divided Executive, John Lee, has also flats or illegal embarked on a $3.3 billion plan to housing and hopes build about 30,000 units of ‘Light to improve their Public Housing’ within the next standard of living. five years. This project aims to help people move out of sub-divided flats or illegal housing and hopes to improve their standard of living. There are also many nongovernmental organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong, that are working to raise awareness of this significant problem and trying to improve the standards of living for these residents. ¢

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THE SUPPLY OF HOUSING CAN NEVER MEET ITS DEMAND DUE TO THE LACK OF SPACE AND THE RAPID INCREASE IN THE SIZE OF THE POPULATION. Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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Behind

Closed Doors

NAOMI CRAY wonders whether the morality of an orgy would change if the participants were wearing Nazi uniforms.

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his is a surprisingly complex question to answer, and one that does not begin and end at the bedroom door. In order to answer this, all bar the physical and biological aspects of the orgy and its members will be evaluated, and all parties involved will be taken as fully consenting to both the act and the uniforms.

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considered unacceptable. From an anthropological standpoint, clothing is hugely important in the way that humans perceive others – from ancient China to Elizabethan England and even the modern day, the way you dress is critical in conveying who you are. For instance, in Ancient Rome, the colour purple could only be worn by the Emperor, given the lengthy and expensive process required to produce the dye. Clothing, therefore, has meaning. As the Nazis are universally reviled for their actions, and as has previously been established, wearing the uniform is a sign of endorsement of fascist views.

The social connotations of sex have been almost entirely defined

by Judeo-Christian religion, which condemns the act outside of procreation, and condemns those who enjoy the act. Therefore, an orgy would certainly be considered immoral from a religious standpoint, This provokes a deeper question: to what regardless of the participants’ clothing. extent, if any, can we comment on what others AN ORGY IS NOT AN do behind closed doors?

IMMORAL ACT, BUT But in an increasingly atheistic society, sexual WEARING CLOTHING WHICH If someone endorses a political standpoint that is expression is becoming less stigmatised, and IS ASSOCIATED WITH A therefore acts like an orgy no longer carry reprehensible, but does so internally and makes FASCIST DICTATORSHIP IS. associations of shame and immorality. As a no move to externalise it, such as encouraging result, given the parameters previously clarified or committing acts that cause harm to others, within the introduction, the orgy itself is moral according can they be considered immoral? Only insofar as their political to Western, post-religious views. Furthermore, even within views, but given they have not acted on their beliefs, it is likely religious communities, there is an increasing awareness of that they have an awareness of their immorality. Holding a individualism, so the act of an orgy cannot be challenged on a belief is different from acting on it, but to possess a belief in the moral basis by the standards of modern society. knowledge that it is wrong is not done blatantly, and neither can criticism easily be levied on the basis of thought alone.

But the clothing itself would surely be viewed as having an effect Furthermore, if this person were to meet with others who on the morality of the orgy. Given the events of the Holocaust hold similar beliefs with the intention of discussing them, the and the Second World War, Nazism is socially, ethically and immorality of the action would be on their discussion, not the politically immoral, and there is no possible argument that can act of meeting and talking with another. be made to justify a fascist ideology.

The clothing therefore means that the criticism of the morality Wearing the insignia and items, given the implicated of the orgy is unfounded; it is the morality of the participants endorsement of the actions undertaken by Nazis through that is called into question. They clearly endorse or believe the wearing of the uniform, it is clear that the participants do in a fascist ideology that led to the deaths of millions, and support Nazism. As a result, the orgy’s participants are immoral, even if their actions were intended light-heartedly, it is worth as they show open endorsement of a deeply immoral political consideration that in many countries, such as Germany, it view. Proponents of the sexual liberation movement, however, remains illegal to possess and wear Nazi uniforms, or make would argue that as long as all members are consenting, their jokes about the subject matter. attire is of no importance in regards to the morality of the orgy itself. Similarly, from a purely objective standpoint, they are To condense the arguments: an orgy is not an immoral act, but simply clothes and carry no value or implication. wearing clothing which is associated with a fascist dictatorship is. Therefore, it is the morality of the participants that is changed, The existence of a socially recognised code of morality, not that of the orgy itself. It is challenging to quantify the extent however, suggests that the participants are immoral due to the to which their morality changes, but suffice to say that their wearing of the uniforms, thereby choosing to endorse what is behaviour and political beliefs can be considered immoral. ¢ 16

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Mary, Mary: Quite Contrary ISABELLA LIU asks if the Mary Argument undermines physicalism.

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hroughout the history of human civilisation, upon her encounter with a red apple outside of her people have often pondered what makes up the room? world. Many ancient civilisations, such as the ancient Greeks, used different divinities to represent How does the Mary Argument undermine natural phenomena, such as lightning and rain. physicalism? Jackson argues that if physicalism were Atomists, such as Epicurus, claimed that everything true, then Mary would not gain any new knowledge is made up of small particles and about colours since she has learned rejected the belief in divine power. everything about human colour Suppose, then, However, in the field of philosophy, vision before leaving her room. Yet, that Mary, having inquiries often delve further into the intuitively, we would recognise that learned everything physical and metaphysical aspects of Mary learns about what it is like to there is to know the world. see colours, so she appears to have about colour vision learned something new. If Mary in a monochromatic Physicalism is the view that gained new knowledge, physicalism room without any everything is either physical or is undermined. colour experiences, supervenes on physical things. It is one day escapes usually a metaphysical thesis and In other words, the Mary Argument from her room. often parallels Berkeley’s idealism, against physicalism could also be which claims that everything is mindwritten as: dependent ideas and mind-independent material P1: Mary has complete physical knowledge about objects do not exist. Like any other philosophical human colour vision before her release. theory, the physicalist theory faces many objections C1: Mary knows all the physical facts about human and criticisms, one of which is known as the Mary colour vision before her release.

Argument.

P2: Mary does not know some facts about human colour vision before her release: namely, what it is The Mary Argument, also known as the Knowledge like to perceive colours.

Argument, is proposed by Frank Jackson in C2: Mary does not know all the facts about human Epiphenomenal Qualia. In this argument, he colour vision. introduces Mary, a scientist and expert living in the C3 (from P2 and C2): There are non-physical facts future when all physical facts have been discovered. about human colour vision.

These physical facts refer to those in ‘physics, chemistry, and neurophysiology, and all there is Furthermore, Thomas Nagel’s thought experiment in to know about the causal and relational facts [...] What Is It Like to Be a Bat? outlines the distinctions including [...] functional roles.’ Suppose, then, that between knowing facts about an organism and Mary, having learned everything there is to know knowing what it is like to be that organism. This is about colour vision in a monochromatic room noteworthy in this context because the distinction without any colour experiences, one day escapes between the knowable true facts about a bat from her room. Would Mary gain new knowledge and phenomenal knowledge of a bat (assuming Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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that animals other than humans can possess knowledge) parallels with the distinction between facts about human colour vision and the phenomenal knowledge about colours in the Mary Argument.

One epistemic response to the Mary Argument identifies the knowledge that Mary gains about colour after she is released from her monochromatic room as non-propositional.

Propositional knowledge is knowing that something is the case in the world. Many judge that what Mary learned from her first encounter with colours is ability knowledge (the ability hypothesis). Ability knowledge is knowing how to do something (practical skills). If Mary indeed learned about ability knowledge rather than propositional knowledge, then she expands on her abilities to identify the qualia of seeing a colour and does not learn new truth about the world. There are also other alternatives that claim that Mary gains non-propositional acquaintance knowledge, which is supported by Earl Conee (Conee, 1994) and John Bigelow & Robert Pargetter (Bigelow & Pargetter, 1990). Hence, through the classification of the types of knowledge that Mary has acquired, we can dismiss the claim that the Mary Argument undermines physicalism.

However, others argue that the knowledge that Mary acquires has

THOMAS NAGEL’S THOUGHT EXPERIMENT IN WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A BAT? OUTLINES THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN KNOWING FACTS ABOUT AN ORGANISM AND KNOWING WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE THAT ORGANISM.

aspects that imply propositional knowledge. When Mary perceives a red apple, what she learns embeds the claim that seeing the colour red is like X, so it is not like not-X. Perhaps this would make Mary’s knowledge entail some propositional aspect.

Even if we refute this propositional aspect, further objections have been brought up, one of which is rejection of the ability hypothesis. The ability

WHEN MARY PERCEIVES A RED APPLE, WHAT SHE LEARNS EMBEDS THE CLAIM THAT SEEING THE COLOUR RED IS LIKE X, SO IT IS NOT LIKE NOT-X. 20

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hypothesis claims that knowing what it is like (phenomenal knowledge) is knowing how, and knowing how is the possession of the ability to ‘remember, imagine and recognise experiences.’ The objection uses the ability to imagine as an example: picture a person who has never seen the colour turquoise before.

This person is then told that turquoise is a shade somewhere between green and blue. Even if this person, through imagining the colour, learns what it is like to perceive turquoise, they do not know what it is like unless they choose to exercise their ability to imagine.

Therefore, imaginative abilities may not be necessary for Mary to know what it is like; the ability hypothesis is put in doubt.

Still, these epistemic responses to the Mary Argument are strengthened with a neurophilosophical perspective. The premise ‘Mary has complete physical knowledge about human colour vision before her release’ begs the question against physicalism. Complete physical knowledge about human colour vision cannot be obtained solely depending on the pathways through the prefrontal cortex, but also pathways

Imaginative abilities may not be necessary for Mary to know what it (turquoise) is like; the ability hypothesis is put in doubt. that involve sensory systems. This also aligns with Terence Horgan’s claim that the ‘complete physical knowledge’ entails phenomenal truths.

Therefore, regardless of what type of knowledge (i.e. acquaintance or ability knowledge) that Mary would have acquired through perceiving colours for the first time, the Mary Argument fails on its first premise. This is because we cannot claim that Mary has the complete set of knowledge about the physical world if she has never seen colours (thus the question-begging nature of the first premise).

Physicalism is not undermined by the Mary Argument. Yet, this does not mean that we need to commit to the physicalist viewpoint, but only to demonstrate how the Mary Argument could be refuted from a physicalist perspective. ¢

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WE CANNOT CLAIM THAT MARY HAS THE COMPLETE SET OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE PHYSICAL WORLD IF SHE HAS NEVER SEEN COLOURS.

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SKAIN ALEX GA k clouds da r discovers the sun, sea ross rolling ac sand. and 22

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HE TOOK CONTROL OF THE GROUP’S FINANCES AND EMBEZZLED HEAVILY, WHILST PSYCHOLOGICALLY MANIPULATING THEM.

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ou’ve heard I Get Around, Surfin’ USA, Kokomo, and you might think you’ve got an idea of what the Beach Boys are about – sun-kissed beaches, waves, and California girls, but the true story of the band is a convoluted mix of drugs, abusive family politics, schizophrenia, success, and failure. It’s the story of a dysfunctional family and its fallout. The Beach Boys aren’t what you think.

went to number three. Giddy with success, pride, and relief that they’d recovered from their father’s absence, the band continued to tour.

Three brothers, Carl, Dennis, and Brian Wilson, their friend Al Jardine and cousin Mike Love formed the band in the early 60s, and thanks to their father Murray’s Meanwhile, Brian remained at home, isolated from constant advertising efforts they gained his family, and for the first time he was a foothold in their native California free from his father and believed he and only grew from there. Behind the was surrounded by people with his best glossy exterior, Murray was violent and interests at heart. He started to experiment abusive – he would hit Brian with a plank with drugs introduced to him by his new THE TRUE STORY OF THE of wood so hard he lost hearing in one music-industry friends, but after trying LSD BAND IS A CONVOLUTED ear permanently. As their manager, he he forswore it and stuck with the milder MIX OF DRUGS, ABUSIVE took control of the group’s finances and marijuana. It’s this and his new circle that FAMILY POLITICS, embezzled heavily, whilst psychologically produced Pet Sounds, an album that is SCHIZOPHRENIA, SUCCESS, widely considered one of if not the greatest manipulating them – talking them down, AND FAILURE. bullying them. This abuse came to a head albums of all time. The band, while absent, when Brian broke down and refused were supportive and encouraging and his to tour, leading the rest of the band to snap, and the team were interested in enabling him – his new lyricist departure of Murray. (replacing Mike Love), Tony Asher, described himself as Brian’s ‘interpreter’. However, despite its critical success, The band (and family) were adrift, and Brian decided Pet Sounds didn’t sell. It just didn’t have legs, although in to stay home, whilst the rest of the band went on tour. the UK it did surprisingly well in a region where the Boys He began to work on new material, and what followed previously had not had much success. is a string of hits – I Get Around went to number one.

Help Me, Rhonda! went to number one. California Girls When Brian began his next album, cracks started to show immediately. He had schizo-affective disorder and began to suffer from paranoia and hallucinations. Trying to selfmedicate, he started to take LSD in increasing amounts.

Pet Sounds was commercially unsuccessful but a critical hit,

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Giddy with success, pride, and relief that they’d recovered from their father’s absence, the band continued to tour.

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THE BEACH BOYS WERE A FAMILY THAT EXISTED UNDER A SPOTLIGHT, AND THEY SUFFERED FOR IT.

and Brian is still the biggest name in the music industry, excluding Lennon and McCartney, so creative types flocked to him in droves; a million people pulled him in a million different ways, further fuelling his paranoia.

The process had become surrounded by conflict, and the rest of the band, bored and disliking the new direction, took the opportunity to write solo music.

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The coming album, SMiLE, was to be called ‘The Family’, who were treated a collection of comedy sketches, a like servants. Dennis bankrolled the ‘teenage symphony to god’, Americana, cult and helped Manson record music, a suite of music based off the elements, including buying a song from him for psychedelic rock. use on the album 20/20, Unfortunately, the rest of Never Learn not to Love.

Ironically, the only the band weren’t keen, He cut off all involvement particularly Mike Love, member of the Beach after Manson started to Boys who actually who began bullying kill people but was still surfed drowned, everyone in the studio, too enthralled to go to drunk, in a harbour at and took issue with new the police.

39. lyrics whilst arguing with band members about the When Manson was new album. The process had become eventually caught, Dennis refused surrounded by conflict, and the rest of to testify. Because of this guilt for the band, bored and disliking the new supporting Manson, Dennis picked up direction, took the opportunity to write a taste for alcohol, cocaine and heroin, solo music. This latest rejection was and he ended up broke and homeless, too much for Brian, and he descended forced out of the band because of his into madness, refusing to speak to behaviour. Ironically, the only member anyone unless he and they were in of the Beach Boys who actually surfed his swimming pool, for fear of CIA drowned, drunk, in a harbour at 39. wiretapping. The album was shelved in 1967 and the band were once again Brian, meanwhile, had become aimless. increasingly unstable and was still haunted by SMiLE. He was forced into The 70s and 80s found the band a conservatorship with manipulative backsliding into irrelevance, and the psychotherapist Eugene Landy (who members couldn’t take it. Dennis took would later be disbarred from the the loss the hardest and in 1968 he fell profession), pumped with prescription in with Charles Manson, a cult leader drugs, and manhandled by Landy’s and songwriter. Dennis housed the assistants known as ‘surf nazis’. entire cult for half a year, listening to him preach surrounded by 17 women Despite Brian and Dennis being out of

the picture, the truest expression of the Beach Boys’ dysfunction comes from 1992’s Summer in Paradise. Previous bit player, cousin, and leader of the touring band, Mike Love, ended up with legal control over the band after Dennis’s death and Brian’s conservatorship. He delivered one smash hit, Kokomo, and then he led the band in their next album. Mike felt the band’s previous work had too many collaborators, so he insisted that it was just him and his new team working peacefully. The album was their highest – the rest of the band was there to sing and debuting in their career, 3rd in America and 15th do as they were told. He wasn’t afraid to exert in the UK. It’s a level of success they hadn’t had for control when complaints were raised, and even forty years, and a tour was announced, with every surviving founding member of the at one stage fired and rehired Al band. They were the family unit that Jardine, a founding member. The album took four toxic years to be The album took four they always claimed to be. toxic years to be done with, and the end result was done with, and the This would seem an appropriate place awful. The album sold less than a end result was awful. to end the story. However, the toxic thousand copies on release, and environment showed itself once again the distributor went bankrupt. when Love fired every member and Following that disaster, the rest of the band refused to work with Mike again for 20 reinstated his old touring band. years.

The Beach Boys were a family that existed under In 2012 the band reunited for their last album a spotlight, and they suffered for it. Pet Sounds’ to date, and probably ever, That’s Why God Made extraordinary highs and the lows of Summer in the Radio. After 50 years, the surviving members Paradise, and even the manic but genius SMiLE came together, putting aside their differences, helped to illustrate the emotional rollercoaster the band existed in, and I urge you to listen to each album, whilst considering the environment that it was created in (except possibly Summer in Paradise, which is just bad). The marketing dream of the band was never true – the music they’re famous for is a misrepresentation. The truth was far more dysfunctional. And far more interesting. ¢

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LISTEN TO EACH ALBUM, WHILST CONSIDERING THE ENVIRONMENT THAT IT WAS CREATED IN.

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CHIARA BOITEUX loves pizza and tells us why.

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izza: the party food delivered to you 50 minutes after you have ordered it by a stranger on a motorcycle. But where does it really come from?

Pizza comes from Naples, Italy. One of the oldest pizza restaurants in the world, L’antica Pizzeria Da Michele, makes you stand outside with a little number tag whilst you hope you are the next number to be called so you can finally order one of the four different pizzas that are on the menu. No matter how long you wait, it is always worth the wait.

Pizza is a millenary food eaten in the south of Italy, and in the Mediterranean area such as Greece and Turkey, but the first pizza, as we know it today, could have been baked only some time after 26

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12 October 1492 when Christopher Esposito, the fortunate pizzaiolo, baked Colombus discovered America and the typical tomato and mozzarella introduced different pizza with a couple kinds of fruit in the Old of leaves of basil on Continent, and among top, because the them tomatoes. ingredients have the PIZZA IS A DEMOCRATIC DISH colours of the Italian BECAUSE ALMOST EVERYONE Pizza is not a very flag – green, white and CAN AFFORD IT, AND IT HAS expensive dish to make. red. When the Queen SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL For the dough you only asked the Pizzaiolo ELEMENTS THAT BRING need water, flower and the name of his dish, FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND yeast, which was food legend has it that he DIFFERENT GENERATIONS that anyone was able answered proudly: TOGETHER. afford, and people ‘Pizza Margherita, in used to put whatever they could find your honour!’ Who does not know what on it. Eventually, back in 1889, Pizza a Pizza Margherita is nowadays? became a royal affair, when the Italian Queen, Regina Margherita, was vising The incredible destiny of pizza had Naples. She was a smart, well-educated not finished there. Pizzas started queen who was appreciated by her to travel around the word with the subjects so, when she wanted to taste Italian emigrants, and as the world’s this famous Neapolitan dish, Raffaele trade has grown the different types

of pizzas have also increased. Different countries use different toppings, others use different crusts and others even cut the pizzas differently. For example, in Canada they cut the pizza in strips and call them ‘garlic fingers’. The ‘emigrated’ pizza is so established abroad that some places have nowadays their own special pizza. In Chicago you can enjoy their speciality, a kind of two-layered pizza, with a base being some sort of tomato French quiche and on top tomato and cheese.

There are a few people in the world who doubt that pizza is Italian. Unluckily many think that it is an American dish that comes from New York.

But justice was done in 2017 when Neapolitan Pizza was recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

As a matter of fact, the true art of pizza-making is a practice that takes four different steps, involving the preparation of the dough, the garnishing, and the baking in a wood-fired oven at 450 C. All these steps are done by a designated person so in the

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PIZZAS STARTED TO TRAVEL AROUND THE WORD WITH THE ITALIAN EMIGRANTS, AND AS THE WORLD’S TRADE HAS GROWN THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PIZZAS HAVE ALSO INCREASED.

kitchen we would find the Master Pizzaiolo, the Pizzaiolo and the Fornaio (the baker) who is in charge of the oven. Making pizza is considered an art form that takes a lot of time to master, so that is why the Master Pizzaiolo has apprentices to whom he or she teaches the art in a place called the ‘bottega’.

Pizza has a social and cultural function in the life of Naples, where about 3000 pizzaioli work. Pizza is a democratic dish because almost everyone can afford it, and it has social and traditional elements that bring families, friends and different generations together.

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MAKING PIZZA IS CONSIDERED AN ART FORM THAT TAKES A LOT OF TIME TO MASTER.

Viva la Pizza! ¢

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Art or Artifice?

LEXIE WHITMORE wonders why we still revere and teach Picasso when he was so sexist.

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eauty is in the eye of the beholder, and art can be very subjective. If a dozen people were asked their opinion of a specific work of art, then we could expect a dozen different answers. This is due to personal life experiences and how they affect our subjective view about art and life in general.

observation, analysis and interpretation, which are all useful life skills.

Because young people are so absorbent of the world around them, we could argue that controversial artworks and artists might be harmful for students to learn about since art can never be interpreted in a ‘correct’ way.

Many 19th and 20th Century male artists Art can take many forms – painting, are now being called out for their sexist sculpture, architecture, literature; the list and misogynistic actions in the process of goes on. As humans, we are producing an artwork, even interested in different art an artist like the great Picasso.

We could argue that forms for a variety of reasons, controversial artworks including as a form of selfPicasso’s works have and artists might be expression, communication, been criticised for their harmful for students to learn about since self-identification, and objectification and art can never be therapy for the mind. Art sexualisation of women. helps to expand the mind interpreted in a ‘correct’ However, art is often judged way. and discover emotion and on its aesthetic and cultural passion, relieving us from value rather than the personal the world that we live in now, a world of behaviour of the artist. Picasso was a pioneer technology, politics and science. of various art movements such as Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism. His work was Therefore, art is especially important for characterised by their unique style, which young people because they are emotive. was often marked by distorted forms and Art promotes creativity and imagination, fragmented shapes. Picasso’s innovative and it provides insight into different cultures and diverse body of work, combined with and traditions. Art has also been proved his immerse influence on the art world, has to be helpful with cognitive development secured his place as one of the greatest because it helps develop key skills such as artists of all time.

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These women would be exploited by Picasso to become his new muse and model for his paintings.

In the same way that Picasso dominated the art world in the 20th Century, he also dominated the women in his life. He had many complicated relationships, and them to his animal sexuality, tamed either revered or abused his women, them, bewitched them, ingested them, and typically carried on romantic and crushed them onto his canvas, after relationships with several women at he had spent many nights extracting the same time. He was married twice, their essence.’ When Marina Picasso attacks her grandfather to Olga Khoklova and she gives a voice to the Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s extraordinary women who inspired and had multiple artistic talent is the artist and yet these mistresses, and it can undeniable, but the women are rarely be argued that his treatment of the acknowledged for their sexuality fuelled his art. women in his life is also influence. Many of These mistresses would undeniable.

Picasso’s most famous be young. For example, paintings depict his relationship with Marie Therese Walter started when prostitutes, and nude women, and one she was 17 and Picasso was 45. These of these paintings is the very famous women would be exploited by Picasso Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). to become his new muse and model for his paintings. They were often However, Picasso was not the only one discarded by the artist after he became doing this. The human form, especially bored with them, in which case he the female nude, has been a popular would look for someone new and so subject in art for centuries, since it provides artists with a way to explore the cycle was repeated. and express the beauty and complexity Picasso’s own granddaughter, Marina of the female body. However, the issue Picasso, published a book clearly with Picasso’s female nudes was the describing his misogynistic behaviour. kind of inspiration they provided.

In her memoir, Picasso: My Grandfather, she claimed that the man ‘submitted

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MANY OF PICASSO’S MOST FAMOUS PAINTINGS DEPICT PROSTITUTES, AND NUDE WOMEN, AND ONE OF THESE PAINTINGS IS THE VERY FAMOUS LES DEMOISELLES D’AVIGNON (1907).

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I am not saying that Picasso only saw women as sex objects. He grew a great friendship with the art collector and writer, Gertrude Stein. Stein, alongside her brother, Leo, helped to kick-start Picasso’s career by exhibiting his work in Paris during his early days as an artist.

As a result of their friendship, Picasso can take, and it is still celebrated for its painted Stein’s portrait in 1906, in innovation and influence. It is important which he made her face a stony mask to note that the societal attitude to convey her extreme strength of towards gender and sexuality have character that Picasso felt was poignant. evolved since Picasso’s It is a painting that breaks the traditions While Picasso’s treatment time, and his art should of Western portraiture. of women may be viewed be understood within Stein is shown as neither as problematic, his artistic its historical context. It old nor young, neither contributions have had a is therefore important students and sexual nor submissive. significant impact on the that art world. young people should Her stern face makes learn about Picasso’s an impact, implying unique works of art because it shows that she has her own identity and is a the development of society through modern and powerful woman. a different lens. Separating Picasso’s personal life from his prolific career While Picasso’s treatment of women may is futile. Picasso’s extraordinary be viewed as problematic, his artistic artistic talent is undeniable, but the contributions have had a significant treatment of the women in his life is impact on the art world, helping to also undeniable. If we are to continue develop new styles and forms that art to hold Picasso in high regard and continue to praise him and his works, we must at the same time recognise the suffering of the women that produced Picasso’s rise to greatness. ¢

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STUDENTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD LEARN ABOUT PICASSO’S UNIQUE WORKS OF ART BECAUSE IT SHOWS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS.

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S I N N E

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ERIC QIU, no stranger to the court himself, explains why tennis remains a fine way to spend your time.

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ennis is a beautiful and intense sport. Born in France and the United Kingdom, it was popularised and hit a climax in the United States. Now it is popular all over the world, known as one of the world’s most-played ball games.

Originating in 12th Century France, tennis was named ‘Jue de Paume’ (the game of palms) since it was originally designed for players to play with the palms of their hands. Then, in the 16th Century rackets were brought into the game and the ‘jue de paume’ became ‘tennis’ formally (from the French ‘tenez’, meaning ‘take’ or ‘receive’).

Modern tennis generally includes indoor tennis and outdoor tennis. It later became an indoor pastime in the court. It is also believed that the origin of tennis should be traced back to a ball game played by two people, each with 32

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a racket, in a stadium surrounded by a improved the early style of tennis to fence. The ball hits the wall, bounces make it a sport played on the lawn in back, and then crosses summer, so Winfield the net. Therefore, no is called the founder matter what field and of modern tennis. equipment is used, or The All England Lawn IN THE 16TH CENTURY what method of playing, Tennis and Croquet RACKETS WERE BROUGHT INTO Club was established it has many similarities THE GAME AND THE ‘JUE DE with modern tennis, so in 1875. The club PAUME’ BECAME ‘TENNIS’ some people regard it built the world’s first FORMALLY (FROM THE FRENCH tennis court and held as the original form of ‘TENEZ’, MEANING ‘TAKE’ OR tennis. The diameter the all-England Lawn ‘RECEIVE’). of the tennis ball is Tennis Men’s Singles between 6.541 and Championships in 6.858 centimeters. At first, tennis was 1877, later known as Wimbledon. made of two hemispheres filled with grass, leaves or hair, but later, with the In 1874, an American lady on holiday continuous development of tennis, the in Bermuda was interested in the sport production of the ball became more after watching a tennis match of British and more exquisite. officers, so she brought tennis rules, rackets and tennis to New York. In the The history of modern tennis United States, tennis was first played generally began in 1873. That year, the by schools in the East, and soon spread Englishman Walter Clopton Winfield to the central and western regions,

and then became popular throughout the United States. At this time, tennis evolved from grass to sand, concrete and asphalt, so the name ‘tennis’ has gradually replaced the name ‘Lawn Tennis’.

Because tennis originated in courts and palaces, the scoring was based on select objects. Players kept score by turning a clock hand by one quarter, or 15 minutes, every time they scored a point, using 30 minutes for two points. But because 45 requires speaking three syllables rather than two, the British cut down 45 to 40. This is the origin of the seemingly illogical marker for the third point.

For a long time, the Grand Slam has been the highest honour hall in tennis, and all tennis players regard winning a Grand Slam championship as their ultimate goal. The Grand Slam is hosted by the ITF (International Tennis Federation), but the respective organizing committees have a lot of power. The four Grand Slam tennis tournaments are the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the US Open.

There are five events in each Grand Slam, including 128 in men’s and women’s singles, 32 in men’s doubles and 16 in mixed doubles. Grand Slam champions have 2000 points, while top tournaments (ATP1000 and WTA Crown) have only 1000 points for both men and women.

The most intuitive criterion for evaluating an athlete is performance, and Federer’s performance in tennis must be at the top. He took 20 Grand Slam titles, won a total of 103 titles, stayed as the world’s number one for 310 weeks, and earned total prize money of more than $130 million.

The goal for players is to win, and they can win ‘ugly’, but tennis fans expect a player not only to

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WITH HIS SMOOTH FREEHAND SWING AND DANCER’S FOOTWORK, FEDERER SHOULD BE SEEN AN AN ARTIST WHO KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT.

win, but to win ‘beautifully’. Federer always won beautifully. He turned awkward confrontations into gorgeous and elegant competitions. With his smooth freehand swing and dancer’s footwork, Federer should be seen an an artist who knows how to fight.

Outside the stadium, Federer is also a top successful person. He has dabbled in a wide range of valuable brands, founded a brokerage company, is an investor, spokesman and designer, and has topped the Forbes Athlete Income List for many years.

All tennis players regard winning a Grand Slam championship as their ultimate goal.

The talented and rich Federer has had a wide impact all over the world. His success has inspired countless people, and his gorgeous style of play has attracted countless people to the sport of tennis. He actively participates in philanthropy, gives generously to the poor, and is committed to improving the lives and education of African children. According to the Federer Foundation’s 2021 financial report, assets reached $22.37 million at the end of the year, and charitable spending reached $8.3 million, directly benefiting 140,000 children. Federer is one of the true legends of tennis. ¢

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LUCAS DE LA VEGA MAZZONI ponders the recent refinement of artificial intelligence and wonders if Asimov’s robot nightmare is just round the corner.

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rtificial Intelligence has improved massively in the last few years, from AIgenerated images (DALLE 2) to chatbots that can almost perfectly mimic human conversations (ChatGPT). As it becomes more advanced doing human tasks, there is a growing fear it will replace people.

One main argument for predicting loss of jobs is the sheer power of AI compared to human abilities; for example, being able to function 24/7 non-stop allows it to far outpace human production. Being an algorithm, it does not become tired and allows any business or government to cut labour costs. In the last decade, AI has already become an integral part However, first, let’s understand why and how AI of our lives, being used in size recommendations is so effective at replicating human behaviour. for clothing, cancer detection algorithms These artificial intelligences and even in police cases with are ‘generative pre-trained COMPAS. This data has been transformers’, or GPT(s), which go taken from past through a process called ‘deep People claim that AI has shown human decisions, learning’ that allows them to racism and other discriminatory data and arts and absorb immense data sets. For attitudes but this problem does every person has example, Chat GPT was trained not lie with AI itself, but with their thoughts and using around 300 billion words. the data fed into the machine. personal biases.

The AI analyses these data sets This glitch is often referred to as then tries to recreate these them ‘garbage in, garbage out’ (GIGO). using set instructions that employ over 175 These issues are now being evaluated to iron billion parameters. out its imperfections, but it is challenging to feed nonbiased data into algorithms: when Developers assess how well the AI has using millions of data points it is practically answered a certain prompt by ranking each impossible to keep track of all of them. This data response and using positive reinforcement has been taken from past human decisions, data to allow it to recreate human emotion in the and arts and every person has their thoughts same way. This means that the AI knows when and personal biases. This results in data gaining to replicate something that is good, because it discriminatory qualities. For example, when was rewarded, and not to replicate something AI was being used to evaluate the likelihood that is not good because it was not rewarded. of patients becoming sick, the AI gave black This allows it to be fine-tuned for a specific people 46.5% compared to the 17.7% of the task. This results in the AI not actually knowing real figure. what it is outputting but, for example, in the case of language models, it can just predict the What causes this incorrect result? People next most likely word to be used by a human of colour in the USA are disproportionally being with great accuracy. So the robot can affected by economic pressure, resulting in replicate human writing even though it doesn’t them struggling to finance their healthcare. As ‘understand’ what is being said. the data used economic expense to measure

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the probability of sickness of patients, black people resulted in the AI saying they were more likely to be sick, as less money is spent caring for black people rather than white people. Once these data trends regarding race and healthcare payments were used to train this AI, it inadvertently learned that people of colour struggled to finance their healthcare and suggested racially biased data. Although this is a clear flaw, the AI cannot be blamed for the deeply embedded racism of the human world.

Even though clear problems have been seen in such AI, it is continually used in the professions. AI is now making waves in accounting, the military and customer services. Moreover, lowskilled jobs such as cashiering will inevitably be phased out. Cashiers are already being replaced with robots and self-checkouts. With the introduction of stores such as Amazon Fresh, stores require no need to stop and scan items at the end of a trip, because cameras track items picked up and charge customers directly once they leave the store. Although it is in the early stage of development and still on a small scale, powerful AIs that are being created could scale up this current technology and remove the need for cashiers completely.

Another use of AI is teaching. Thanks to the sheer size and abundance of data to which these AIs have access, they can condense and simplify many

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HAS IMPROVED MASSIVELY IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, FROM AI-GENERATED IMAGES (DALLE 2) TO CHATBOTS THAT CAN ALMOST PERFECTLY MIMIC HUMAN CONVERSATIONS (CHATGPT). subjects, making it easier for students to learn and understand certain topics.

Having the capacity to explain things in such a clear way makes it so that AI risks replacing teachers’ jobs in education.

With its large data sets it can also source questions and create correct answers, which permits it to also set questions for students, allowing them to improve and practise their skills.

I have personally used such a feature to test myself and study for exams.

People do argue against this method, stating that teachers need to provide emotional support and personal development for students. Teachers do play an important role in a student’s emotional journey, since AI cannot understand such complex things as human emotion but it cannot be denied that AI has an important role in

education. Even if it can’t completely replace teachers, students and teachers will learn to use such tools to their advantage, meaning AI will disrupt education whether for better or for worse.

AI attempts to understand human compassion have even entered into religion. Recently a Rabbi in New York wrote his sermon using ChatGPT, which managed to captivate the congregation with its ability to show emotion. Although the Rabbi described himself as being ‘deathly afraid’ of such technologies, he mentions its obvious limitations: ‘It can’t really understand spirituality.’ So Rabbis won’t be replaced any time in the new future. The fact that a Rabbi was able to create a sermon and fool the majority of the people in the congregation shows the step closer that AI is to replicating human emotions, and only time will tell how close AI can come.

AI has begun to write essays and answer questions from students from primary school to university. As a matter of fact, chat GPT has been put against difficult university-level tests and has been able to have outstanding results, including tests for medicine and the bar.

CHAT GPT HAS BEEN PUT AGAINST DIFFICULT UNIVERSITYLEVEL TESTS AND HAS BEEN ABLE TO HAVE OUTSTANDING RESULTS, INCLUDING TESTS FOR MEDICINE AND THE BAR. 36

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People do argue that AI will also provide new jobs such as management of AI, creating and improving AI through testing and other AI-related jobs that require higher education and knowledgeable academics. But people

Having the capacity to explain things in such a clear way makes it so that AI risks replacing teachers’ jobs in education.

who currently work in low-level jobs don’t have access to such education, resulting in an increase in unemployment for such people. AI will not create the number of jobs it will take away.

Although AI will take jobs it depends how far this technology develops. A graph called the Sigmoid Curve describes the relationship between time and how a technology develops: as investments and interest grow so does the adaptation. If we are at the top of the curve, we have created new and useful technologies which can be used by artists, students and ordinary people to enhance tasks and make them less mundane. However, if we are in the middle of the curve we could see the growth of some technologies which could really threaten to take away many jobs in the near future. However, if we are at the bottom of the curve, it is likely that in the next few decades we will see an explosion in the different AIs being incorporated into our daily lives and threatening to take the jobs we hold dear.

On balance I think AI will inevitably make many jobs obsolete. This is an inevitable result of capitalism. AI should not be feared but instead embraced to ensure governments pass legislation so that we can ease into an AI world, take correct precautions and accept that jobs and professions will shift in the coming years. ¢ Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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Slow

Growing Compared to the rest of Eastern Europe, Ukraine’s lack of economic growth is entirely understandable, according to OLEG SHKAROVSKYY.

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he name Ukraine now means confidence. The judiciary in particular more than simply an Eastern was viewed with distrust. A shadow European country that borders economy was rapidly becoming the Russia. When Ukraine common practice became an independent in society, with country between 1991 people hiding their and 1996, Ukraine’s true income and THE COUNTRY economy contracted perpetrating tax EXPERIENCED A SHRINK drastically. This was fraud, which caused IN OUTPUT AND coupled with a massive significant damage EXPORTS, LEADING TO decline in production to the country’s A GOVERNMENT BUDGET after the collapse of the economy. Between DEFICIT THAT NEEDED Soviet Union system.

1995 and 1998, the TO BE COVERED BY shadow economy in BORROWING FROM THE The logistical challenges Ukraine, expressed CENTRAL BANK. faced by many as a percentage of industries after the nominal GDP, ranged collapse led to firm closures, which from 27% to 64%. negatively affected the economy. As a result, the country experienced a In Ukraine, all the machinery and shrink in output and exports, leading facilities dated from the time of the to a government budget deficit that Soviet Union. Therefore, there was needed to be covered by borrowing significant inefficiency in production from the central bank. This borrowing compared to all the other markets, led to hyperinflation and currency resulting in reduction of investments devaluation, with inflation reaching and slower growth. an alarming 4500% in 1993, when the price of a loaf of bread would rise five Ukraine’s economy was primarily times in one week. fuelled by exports, with minerals and metals accounting for about Corruption was also a significant half of all trade abroad, followed by obstacle to economic progress, chemicals and food. EU countries affecting the functioning of were responsible for over a third the government. A low-ranking of all Ukrainian exports in 2008.

Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had However, during the recession there a negative impact on foreign investors’ was a significant reduction in exports,

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and Ukraine was exporting unprocessed raw materials, which are undervalued in the market.

The prices set for Ukrainian raw materials was low compared to the price set by the EU for processed materials.

Apart from being dependent on exports to fuel the economy, Ukraine was also highly reliant on subsidised gas from Russia, having to pay only half of what the EU was paying. This agreement was torn apart in 2006, when Russia started charging neighbouring countries more for gas.

In 2015 Ukraine was ranked 130th out of 168 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, which limited foreign investment.

Corruption and debt deserve a separate mention because rampant corruption had a great effect on Ukraine’s economic development. In 2015 Ukraine was ranked 130th out of 168 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, which limited foreign investment.

After dealing with a bad hand at the start, the economy experienced a gradual economic growth before entering recession. Huge external

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THE PRICES SET FOR UKRAINIAN RAW MATERIALS WAS LOW COMPARED TO THE PRICE SET BY THE EU FOR PROCESSED MATERIALS.

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Estimates say debt grew from $30 billion during 2000-2006 to around $100 billion over the period 2007-2009.

debts were accumulated to keep the economy running during these crisis times. Estimates say debt grew from $30 billion during 2000-2006 to around $100 billion over the period 2007-2009.

Ukraine was still riddled with corruption in all industries, not to mention politicians, judges and local authorities. Although there isn’t an official figure to quote, it is fairly certain that corruption was the primary cause for such low economic growth over the period of Ukraine’s independence.

Since the new reforms between 2019 and 2022 the High AntiCorruption Court (HACC) has rendered 72 judgements.

But things have changed: since the new reforms between 2019 and 2022 the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has rendered 72 judgements, out of which 39 were final sentences, including many against members of parliament, judges, prosecutors, members of local councils and heads of state-owned enterprises. And these are just the cases clear enough to warrant prosecution.

And what about the war with Russia? The annexation of Crimea, economically speaking, led to reduced GDP after the loss of oil rigs and channel export tax. Conflicts in the Donbas region (Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts being two important industrial regions of Ukraine) were responsible for 40.6% of the total metal Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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THE ONGOING WAR IN THE COUNTRY HAS CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO INFRASTRUCTURE, WITH THE KYIV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS ESTIMATING THE COST TO BE $270 BILLION.

and mineral exports. This drop in production output caused a 15% to 20% reduction in GDP, according to Valeria Gontareva. All of this is on top of the necessary costs of maintaining an armed conflict.

Despite making efforts to meet the criteria to join the European Union, delays have been encountered, and the seven-criteria package has been postponed.

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been encountered, and the sevencriteria package has been postponed from Autumn 2022 to October 2023.

The ongoing war in the country has caused significant damage to infrastructure, with the Kyiv School of Economics estimating the cost to be In 2014, the retail trade turnover in $270 billion. The economy itself has Ukraine decreased by 8.6% compared also suffered, experiencing its largest to the previous year, and in 2015 fall since independence, shrinking it declined by 20.7% by a third in the compared to 2014. The previous year. This The economy itself has significant decrease has led to a sharp suffered its largest fall in exports by 30.9% in increase in poverty since independence, 2015 was mainly due rates, and the and has led to a sharp to a sharp decline in budget deficit is increase in poverty production output in forecasted to reach rates. the Donbas region. $38 billion in 2023 The downward spiral due to a collapse in effect persisted for two years before tax revenues. The country is currently the economy adjusted to the changes running a monthly budget deficit of and began to grow again in 2016. $4 billion USD. Export capacity has also been destroyed, with the total The economic situation in Ukraine economic loss estimated at $564 has been fraught with challenges billion USD. All of these factors have in recent years. Despite making made it difficult for Ukraine to achieve efforts to meet the criteria to join economic stability and growth, testing the European Union, delays have policymakers and citizens alike. ¢

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MADDIE GORMAN explains why she is bewitched by an evolutionary tale of the whales that we all know and love.

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volution is the gradual locate. Examples of Mysticetes include development of life in geological blue whales and humpback whales. time. The word ‘evolution’ is used Examples of Odontocetes include widely but specifically in Biology it is dolphins, killer whales, narwhals, the processes by which life has been belugas and sperm whales. changed from its earliest beginnings The earliest whales to the diversity of found by scientists organisms we know are Indohyus and about today, living and EVEN THOUGH WHALES Pakicetus. Fifty to fiftyextinct. one million years ago ARE ADAPTED TO LIVING lived the Pakicetus UNDERWATER, ABOUT FIFTY Whales, dolphins MILLION YEARS AGO THEY (meaning ‘Pakistan and porpoises are all WALKED ON LEGS. whale’).

Pakicetus, classified as Cetaceans, which was entirely which are mammals. land-based, was found All modern Cetacea live in water through fossils on the shores of what and cannot survive out of water, but is now India and Pakistan, living in Cetaceans also had land ancestors. Even the early Eocene period. Pakicetus though whales are adapted to living has been found by palaeontologists underwater, about fifty million years to have ears that were not adapted ago they walked on legs. Hippos are to the water but only to land, which the closest living relatives to modern is why they only went near the water whales but they are not ancestors. to grab fish. Even though Pakicetus There are two groups of cetaceans: do not look like modern whales, their Mysticetes (baleen whales), such as the skulls, especially the inner region, blue whale, and Odontocetes, such as show a resemblance to the modern dolphins. Odontocetes have teeth and whales. This is a similarity not shown filter ocean water for tiny crustaceans by any other mammal. Pakicetus had and fish, and do not need to echo- long skulls and large teeth that could

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be used for eating meat. Scientists aren’t sure why Pakicetus did start moving into water and evolving into whales or why they were only found in India and Pakistan, but the movement into water is possibly because of the asteroid that killed lots of marine animals, creating space for other mammals to move into the water.

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WITHIN TEN MILLION YEARS, FROM THE AGE OF PAKICETUS TO DORUDON, CETACEANS HAD COMPLETELY ADAPTED TO LIFE IN WATER.

an animal drank by studying the isotopes in their bones. The isotopes in Ambulocetus show they likely drank both salt water and fresh water, supporting the idea that they lived in estuaries or bays between fresh water and open ocean.

Next was Ambulocetus (meaning ‘walking whale’), living around forty-eight to forty-nine million years ago. Ambulocetus spent time in Whales that evolved after Ambulocetus, like and out of the water. Its larger feet and hands Rhodocetus and Kitchicetus, showed even more levels of saltwater oxygen looked more like flippers than isotopes, indicating that they its ancestors’, and it used its These animals evolved lived in marine habitats and muscular tail for swimming, with nostrils positioned could drink salt water like long jaws, sharp teeth, webbed further and further back modern whales. These animals fingers and toes, and shorter legs until modern whales evolved nostrils positioned showing it lived a more aquatic developed a blow hole further and further back until lifestyle. It was about the size of on the top of the head. modern whales developed a an American alligator and was blow hole on the top of the a carnivore. An analysis of the teeth of Ambulocetus shows that they could head above the eyes. Next came Dorudons have lived in many types of water, including (meaning ‘spear-toothed’), which lived about freshwater rivers and lakes to saltwater oceans. 33 to 41 million years ago. Dorudons lived Ambulocetus has been seen by scientists as the alongside Basilosaurus (also known as the missing link between land animals and whales ‘King Lizard’). Dorudons were approximately because they have inner ear structures similar five metres long and had proper flippers and to modern-day Cetaceans, with very whale-like tiny hind legs. It lived fully in water and was a teeth and the ability to swallow underwater, good swimmer. Within ten million years, from which was useful for catching fish. Salt water the age of Pakicetus to Dorudon, Cetaceans had and fresh water have different ratios of oxygen completely adapted to life in water. Scientists isotopes, and animals are what they eat and had previously mistaken Dorudons for their drink, so scientists discover what type of water ancestor, Basilosaurus, but soon realised Dorudons were their own species. They believe Dorudons may have eaten young Basilosaurus because Basilosaurus fossils show Dorudon bite marks. The descendants of Dorudons then went onto evolve into modern whales.

The move into water was the cause of the first and largest boost in evolution for whales because it caused significant changes to their skull shape, like changes in the position of the nose to the

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Mysticetes didn’t develop teeth; instead, they developed baleen plates which were long strips of keratin that form a curtain hanging from the upper jaw.

top of the head while the animals were becoming more aquatic, and there were major changes in the body of the early whales like the almost complete loss of their hind limbs.

The second big evolutionary change for whales was around 30 million years ago, when Mysticetes split off from Odontocetes. Mysticetes didn’t develop teeth; instead, they developed baleen plates which were long strips of keratin that form a curtain hanging from the upper jaw. To eat, they suck water into their mouths then push water back through the baleen.

This means that Mysticetes do not need to use echolocation whereas Odontocetes do. In most toothed whales, the internal organs of the skull are squashed into the left side to make room for soft tissues for echolocation, giving them asymmetric skulls.

Echolocation is a technique that Odontocetes use to navigate and hunt in the dark. They emit high-pitched sounds which bounce off objects and are reflected back at the animal. These reflected noises help the brain to build an image of the animal’s surroundings, allowing them to ‘see’ where objects are. ¢

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THE INTERNAL ORGANS OF THE SKULL ARE SQUASHED INTO THE LEFT SIDE TO MAKE ROOM FOR SOFT TISSUES FOR ECHOLOCATION, GIVING THEM ASYMMETRIC SKULLS.

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Push

Pull

Me

Me

JOSEPH WANG explores what philosopher Rudolf Steiner once called ‘the thoughts in things’.

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wonder if you’ve ever come across a door, and just can’t seem to open it until you realize it opens the other way. Or a TV controller that you just can’t put to work. I’m sure at those moments you feel like the most stupid person alive but, in reality, this occurs alarmingly often and almost every single time the fault lies with the designer, not you. As Dieter Rams, one of the most celebrated product designers of the 20th Century, stated in his ‘good design principles’: ‘A good design makes a product understandable.’

Interaction design is the key to making a product understandable and usable.

Interaction design is ‘an approach of design that focuses on how people interact with products and the goal of all interaction design is to enhance people’s understanding of what can 48

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be done, what is happening and Let’s look first at how humans perceive what has just occurred and react to the world when using a product.’ around them. When you While we make decide to do something, further discoveries in whether it’s as easy THE SAME TECHNOLOGY science, it is inevitable as picking up a jug of THAT SIMPLIFIES LIFE BY that new and more milk from the fridge GIVING MORE FUNCTIONS advanced technology is or as hard as doing a IN EACH DEVICE ALSO developed.

Maths Olympiad, the COMPLICATES LIFE BY first thing you do is MAKING THE PRODUCT This is the paradox of formulate a goal. This is HARDER TO LEARN AND technology, that the done consciously. We USE. same technology that then enter the realms of simplifies life by giving the base sequences of a more functions in each device also human action, the two gulfs. complicates life by making the product harder to learn and use. This is really The gulf of execution is the effort that where interaction design comes in, the user needs to figure out how a and has a rising importance in design product works and what he can do to to balance out the complexity the new work it. We traverse through this gulf technology brings. So how can this be by using the goal we formulated, and done? observations made from the product

to first plan an action. Then, we specify an action sequence; this is where the fine details of each individual segment of action is fixed and specified. Finally, we perform the action sequence to the world and the world responds with some sort of feedback.

Following this, we meet the gulf of evaluation, which reflects the effort that the person must make to interpret the physical state of the product from the reaction that was received.

We bridge over this gulf by using the feedback gained from the product’s reaction. First, we perceive the state of the world (product) and look for feedbacks or changes of states. The knowledge gained is then interpreted and analyzed. Finally, the summarized results are compared with the original goal to check if further action is needed. If so, the first process repeats until the correct goal is reached, or if you deem it impossible.

From this theory, we can deduce that the two most important stages of the action process that a designer can influence is the plan stage and the perceive stage. In the plan stage, the person in question needs information about how the product works to start to be able to plan an action. Furthermore, even in the specify stage, more details and hints on a product can lead the user to understand the product better and in turn make it function properly.

For the perceive stage, clear feedback from the product can make the user more aware of what’s happening while a vague or nonexistent feedback is likely to confuse or lead them astray, resulting in malfunctioning and misuse of perfectly functional products.

To understand how interaction design can help solve this problem, we need to first understand the concept of affordances. Affordances are defined as the possible interactions between people and the environment. Some are perceivable while others aren’t. To fully use a product’s functions, you need to know its affordances and spot how and where to activate them.

This is where the first and arguably most important tool of interaction designers comes to play – the signifiers. Signifiers are the items, features or indicators that show the user what actions are possible, how they should be performed and where they are done. They effectively increase the discoverability of the product significantly and provide a feeling of control to the user. All signifiers should be perceivable but not necessarily direct.

Take the simple example of a door. Here the designer’s aim is to tell the user that the door is a push door. On the door is a sign that reads ‘push’.

This is a direct signifier, and these often work on people who have little experience of the action

Interaction design is the key to making a product understandable and usable.

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they are about to undertake. The hinge, on the other hand, is an indirect signifier.

Due to its appearance of being in front of the door and thicker, our mind formulates a visceral association reaction that indicates that the door should be pushed out of our experiences opening countless doors. Now that was an example of signifiers used well. Now let’s see some counterexamples of ‘Norman doors’ – a concept first created by Donald A. Norman, famous designer and ergonomist, meaning a badly designed door with poor usability could also be referred to as a badly designed product in general.

For this door, the designer has clearly done an abysmal job. First, he overemphasizes the aesthetics of the varnished glass door, which is nice, but does not show any indirect signifiers in that sense. The door’s only perceivable affordances are the handles, but they are identical on both sides (back to front, you can see a reflection through the glass vaguely) so offers no indication at all to how to open the door. For all I know it could be a slide door! No direct signifiers are apparent at all. Chances are you will be standing outside that door for ten minutes before someone from the inside opens it the right way.

Showing you what to do or could be done is a way to manipulate your actions to the right way of using the

GOOD, FUNCTIONAL STOVE DESIGNS ALWAYS LINK THE POSITIONING OF THE STOVES AND THE SWITCHES IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER. product, but some argue that for some people, who are not as perceptive or as clever, limiting what they could do may be the better way. This leads to the introduction of constraints.

Constraints are elements in a design that prevent the user from doing certain things or limit the degree of action that could be done. Constraints come in all shapes and forms. It could be physical constraint, where you simply can’t push a switch, which suggests to your cognitive thought that you should turn it. Or it could be logical constraints like on a sword: you wouldn’t want to hold the blade since

GIVEN TIME, THE CONSTRAINTS WILL DIRECT THE USER TOWARDS TAPPING THE ICON OF AN APP TO START IT, AND YOU NEED NOT SAY A WORD. 50

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it’s edged and uncomfortable; instead you would hold the ergonomically designed handle.

One way or another, constraints turn you against certain actions and shut down many wrong interpretations easily.

By eliminating wrong interpretations and providing information about potentially right interpretations, a designer has already earnt a fair chance of you performing the right action; now we must communicate where and which affordance is correct for the action.

That is where mapping comes into play. Mapping is using the positioning of the affordances to demonstrate their functions. The best mapping places the affordances on top of the module/part that you want to start, since it speaks for itself. A good example is the apps on a phone or tablet: given time, the constraints will direct the user towards tapping the icon of an app to start it, and you need not say a word. When it isn’t possible, you place the affordance as close to the module/part that takes effect. Desk lamps are designed this way. Finally, if you couldn’t put the affordances near the modules at all, the best way you can do it is to align the affordances the same way as the modules. This triggers our mind to

associate both and therefore recognize the right affordance. Think about stoves. Good, functional stove designs always link the positioning of the stoves and the switches in some way or another.

Now we’ve got our user to recognize how to act, we need to work on how he/she should react.

In the perceive stage, what the user really needs are understandable and obvious feedbacks given in relatively short time or with no delay. These feedbacks could be almost anything that triggers human senses, from smell to sound. They often use previous experiences an average human may have had; for example, the red light on a display screen usually indicates the failure of an action while a green one probably indicates otherwise.

Good feedbacks are often constant and easily perceivable. A very commonly used item – smartphones – are fine examples of great feedback. Most interfaces have colour, and shape changes almost at any instance if you perform an affordance and different sounds of warning or confirmation are present. This provides a wholesome and variable feedback in your mind, which helps formulate your next action. However, simply using only feedbacks are not enough since, if you don’t understand the information, it’s useless.

A tool that enhances both the discoverability and the response of a product is the conceptual model. A conceptual model is a mental framework suggested to someone of how the design works: it may be true, it may be false, or it may be partially

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WHILE EVERYDAY ITEMS AROUND YOUR LIFE SEEM DULL, ORDINARY AND SIMPLE, THE WORK THAT DESIGNERS PUT IN IS COMPREHENSIVE.

true. Its main advantage lies in its flexibility, and different levels of complexity can be provided to different user groups. For example, a driver simply understands the pedal he is stepping on as: ‘If I step on this, the car will accelerate.’ But a mechanical engineer will think completely differently in more detailed and technical levels that the driver neither understands nor needs to understand.

This is the charm of a conceptual model: to use a product adequately you need not understand it fully; you only need to formulate a conceptual model that may even be false but allows you to spot affordances and react to feedback.

Conceptual models can be communicated in many ways. It could be an instruction manual, or a button with a label: ‘push to start’ in print or a brief sentence from a driving instructor. The driver can drive the car with a basic conceptual model of the engine, where the mechanic can fix it or make another car with his more complex and detailed conceptual model. Thus, everyone is happy.

A very commonly used item – smartphones – are fine examples of great feedback.

While everyday items around your life seem dull, ordinary and simple, the work that designers put in behind is massive and comprehensive. We need to recognize and appreciate the essence of interaction design so that next time you try opening a door it does not stay shut, but flies open. ¢

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he t h c u m s how r e d n o the w n i I L d e A g n K e cha v ANNI a h s g n op s o p f o s c ades. i c r e ly d w e f last

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PROMINENT ARTISTS SUCH AS LEWIS CAPALDI, ARIANA GRANDE, OLIVIA RODRIGO, AND ADELE MAKE PROFITS OVER £6 BILLION WITH THEIR HIGHLY STREAMED SONGS.

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here are ultimately two elements that make up a song: the melody and the lyrics. Lyrics are the bridge of understanding that connects the artist with the audience. They are crucial for the artist to add a deeper meaning to the song by expressing themselves through words. To the audience, lyrics impart further insights into the artist’s emotions. However, in recent years, the bridge has appeared to crumble under the weight of lost meaning and changes in how lyrics are being written. Is that true, or are the modern artists laying a new foundation to fortify the bridge? Is the change for better or worse?

the modern audience and for the better.

Songs, including love songs, that embrace the concept of eternal happiness have become unrealistic to many listeners. Therefore, they give way to the umbrella category of sad songs, which explore a much wider range of emotions, from grief Lyrical trends have seen changes during to regret to desperation and anger. People the last few decades. For example, love are more likely to listen to music when words used in lyrics showed a stark they are sad than when they are happy. decline between the 50s and the 80s, LYRICS ARE THE BRIDGE then a slow rise from the 90s up to now.

OF UNDERSTANDING THAT Scientists have found that listening to a song that you relate to – in this case, a sad This can be explained by how many songs CONNECTS THE ARTIST song, when you are feeling down, causes in the modern ‘romance’ category are not WITH THE AUDIENCE. a rise in dopamine, a ‘feel-good’ hormone about falling in love, but out of it. that balances out emotion and matches the amount of pleasure that an initially According to Spotify, a digital music happy person might already be feeling without the help service popular amongst many young people, of music. This explains the upsurge of swearing and more prominent artists such as Lewis Capaldi, Ariana Grande, negatively associated words in lyrics of songs that we call Olivia Rodrigo, and Adele make profits over £6 billion our favourites. with their highly streamed songs deriving from personal heartbreak. Research shows that modern listeners tend Moreover, the usage of specific words in each category to prefer breakup songs over love songs, by which they of song evolves along with the speaking, phrasing, and feel they can connect better with the artist’s state of conversational trends in the wider community. Each mind. Apparently, the decrease of love words in lyrics widely used word in the category of love words has shown over time evolves according to the changed tastes of differing positions of popularity throughout the decades, except for the word ‘love’ itself, which has kept a consistent path at the top of the statistics. This is because words such as ‘love’, ‘hell’ and ‘gold’, falling into the respective categories

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Modern listeners tend to prefer breakup songs over love songs, by which they feel they can connect better with the artist’s state of mind.

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LYRICS IN POP SONGS HAVE ALSO BECOME SIMPLER OVER THE YEARS.

of love words, swear words and money words, tend to be perceived as timeless in the lyrical world. As a result, they can be used in different time periods by artists of different generations, without appearing incompatible with the latest trends in wording.

Scientific studies suggest that the average age for a person to stop listening to new music is around thirty.

Lyrics in pop songs have also become Scientific studies suggest that the simpler over the years. This is possibly average age for a person to stop due to the rapidly narrowing attention listening to new music is around thirty. span of people across the globe. A This means that newer recently published generations will make up study from the Technical Taboo language has most of the people tuning University of Denmark become increasingly in to recently released suggests that this is music.

Consequently, tolerated throughout because ‘people now artists tend to adjust society and is reflected have more things to focus in a lot of recently the wording used in on’, increasing the urge written lyrics. lyrics to suit the ears of to multitask and gather the listeners. This is one bitesize information. In of the reasons why most of the lyrics return for the decrease in collective created these days include more slang patience, modern artists tend to make and swearing than they would have their lyrics more concise and cut to the in the past, to match the habits that point where a listener can understand emerge in an average adolescent’s immediately what the song is about. As conversations.

Taboo language a result, the use of metaphors, deeper has become increasingly tolerated meanings, and philosophical messages throughout society and is reflected in a are less common in songs today than lot of recently written lyrics. they would have been in the past decades.

This change is arguably damaging society’s intellectual and creative ability because it gives listeners fewer chances to practise evaluating hidden meanings in literature and confines the artist’s expression of emotions to a small range of basic vocabulary. On the other hand, this change arguably leads to less misunderstanding between artists and listeners. This can be important

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to musical artists because negative impressions regarding their private lives can arise from misinterpretations of metaphorical lyrics, causing them to lose popularity because of a tarnished reputation.

activities like filling in an incomplete word; they found that aggressive Aside from language, the level of lyrics in music encourage aggressive aggression in lyrics has thoughts and feelings also increased since the from the listener. This can In return for the 1970s. An example of breed hostility among the this is rap music, which decrease in collective audience and fuel actions patience, modern has become increasingly of violence. This then begs artists tend to make popular. Some rap music the question: to what their lyrics more is believed to influence extent should songwriters concise. negative behaviour in be responsible for bringing listeners with the use of about a positive impact? suicidal and violent content in its lyrics. Are they obligated to produce ethical Other common themes that appear in lyrics and ethical lyrics only? rap music include racism, discrimination and the mention of weapons. So, the bridge of connection between Researchers from the Texas Department artists and listeners has not been lost of Human Services conducted a series of but is instead modified and rebuilt to experiments which required a group of the liking of today’s pedestrians. In college students to listen and respond other words, the amount of good or to music evoking different emotions via bad that has come from this change is debatable. However, one thing is clear: lyrics we hear in songs today touch our hearts and souls the same way they did when they were written and appreciated differently in the past. ¢

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SOME RAP MUSIC IS BELIEVED TO INFLUENCE NEGATIVE BEHAVIOUR IN LISTENERS WITH THE USE OF SUICIDAL AND VIOLENT CONTENT IN ITS LYRICS.

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ALISA WONG explains why Hunter X

Hunter is her favourite anime, and why you should watch it too!

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unter X Hunter (2011) is no doubt that each year only a handful of applicants my all-time favourite anime, and it pass. During the hunter exam, Gon meets will always hold a special place in Killua, who becomes his best friend. They my heart. Not only is the plot unique and stay with each other throughout their unpredictable, but the details are also adventures while learning and improving incredibly written with excellent pacing, their Nen to get stronger. Nen is the power so time just flies by as you binge-watch system in Hunter X Hunter. It is a technique the show. Hunter X Hunter is 148 episodes to manipulate and use their life energy to long, with each episode being 23 minutes. create unique abilities used in fighting.

It only took me a little over a week to finish all of Although lots of fighting is it! Every character is very involved, there is also lots well designed, and most of strategic planning that characters add depth to IT IS VERY SATISFYING TO SEE is incredibly well thought the story, unlike many THE CHARACTERS’ AMAZING out. Their adventures shows where only the DEVELOPMENT WHILE THEY include fighting in a main character(s) matter LEARN AND GROW THROUGHOUT tournament, going into and the side characters THEIR ADVENTURES. a game, fighting chimera are almost completely ants, and more. Each story irrelevant. It is also very arc is just so well written satisfying to see the characters’ amazing there is no other anime like this. Gon and development while they learn and grow Killua’s friendship is on another level. Their throughout their adventures. On top of conversations are funny too. this, its animation, fight scenes and even music are outstanding, despite being One of the main antagonists is Hisoka, produced in 2011. someone who is attracted to power. He is such an interesting character because, The story of Hunter X Hunter follows a even though he is supposed to be a villain, 12-year-old boy, Gon, whose goal is to he sees the potential in Gon and Killua so become a hunter just like his dad, who left he sometimes helps them, because his him when he was a baby, and hopefully ultimate desire is to have a good fight find him one day. In Hunter X Hunter, being and kill them when they become worthy a hunter is a very high-status job. There opponents. The other main characters – are many types of hunters, who devote Kurapika, Leorio and The Phantom Troupe, themselves to tracking down priceless are all very interesting characters that play items, fighting creatures to protect a huge role in the series. humanity, discovering unseen parts of the world, and a lot more.

Many people say Hunter X Hunter is a masterpiece, because it is. So do yourself But to obtain the hunter licence, everyone a favour and watch it, because it will make must undergo a series of bizarre hardcore your life better. ¢ tests, known as the hunter exam. It is so hard

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AUGUSTIN COOK reflects on how, now Covid is over, budget airlines are back to making a killing.

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e have come so far in aviation On budget airlines, everything is an addtechnology that you can now watch on. One example is Ryanair, which offers television, shop, eat and drink at 35,000 cheap single fares aimed at tourists rather feet. On short-haul flights, you usually must than business passengers. Ryanair is the first pay for food and drink but on long-haul European airline to have carried over one flights they are usually provided. There is billion passengers on its fleet of 490 planes not a lot of anything provided serving 229 airports in 36 in economy class. In business countries. and first class the seats are a lot more expensive, but the Such enviable success comes food is served more regularly, from an extensive customer COMPANIES IN THE FOOD and it is of a higher quality. base that doesn’t mind AND DRINK INDUSTRY paying extra for a checked WANT TO PARTNER WITH All types of flight offer dutybag, or an £11 meal deal even AIRLINES BECAUSE THEY free products which you pay though it might cost more CAN CHARGE HIGHER for on the plane. In terms than the ticket. They don’t PRICES ON THEIR BASIC of food, some airlines have really factor that in, especially COMMODITIES. alliances with food and drink if they are flying with kids. companies. For example, Ryanair’s low airfare is the British Airways serves Marks & Spencer food chief selling point. on short-haul flights at vastly inflated prices and Delta serves Starbucks Coffee on longBudget airlines in Europe have mastered haul flights. People like this because it gives this business model because people seem them a familiar taste, especially if they are to love it, and they rake in billions of dollars travelling to a country they have never been every year. A few years ago, at the height to before and are not a fan of the cuisine. of the budget airline craze, lots of full-cost airlines, like Lufthansa and KLM, created Companies in the food and drink industry their own budget airlines to get in on the want to partner with airlines because they act: Lufthansa created Eurowings and KLM can charge higher prices on their basic created Transavia, neither of which is doing commodities. Once the plane is in the sky, if as well as Ryanair and EasyJet. ¢ you are hungry there are no other options.

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AYAN JAIN admires the way ants chemically signpost efficient paths for each other, and the way human beings are using computers to imitate those paths.

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ot only are ants intriguing, but they also have a deep psychology.

These small insects may not have brains the size of ours but they exhibit astonishingly complex behaviour and an extraordinary capacity for environmental adaptation.

Biomimicry is the term used to describe the imitation of natural systems and processes that serve as models for solving human issues. Because of their amazing skills and behaviours, ants have served as an inspiration for numerous biomimicry designs.

Biomimicry describes not so much the utilisation of naturally occurring systems to solve human issues.

The ant colony optimisation method is one of the most well-known biomimicry creations. This algorithm is 60

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based on how ants behave when they are looking for food.

quickest path to the food source. The chemical signal pheromones evaporate with time, aiding the ant to find his food Scientists have found that ants use source more quickly and to preserve chemical signalling substances and energy. This means that longer trails pheromones, which are less desirable than they leave behind shorter routes because when they move so that pheromones evaporate other ants can follow to a larger extent along SIMILAR TO FOOTSTEPS their trail, to determine these longer routes.

IN A SNOWFALL, THESE the shortest path to a Similar to footsteps PHEROMONE TRAILS REMAIN food source. The first in a snowfall, these VISIBLE ALONG THE MORE ants choose a shortcut pheromone trails TRAVELLED PATHS WHILE or take the shortest remain visible along BECOMING OBSCURED BY route to a food source. the more travelled THE SNOW ON THE LESS They then make their paths while becoming TRAVELLED ONES. way back to the nest obscured by the snow ahead of other ants looking for food. on the less travelled ones. The ants’ Strong chemical signals are left behind ability to communicate with one by these competitive ants throughout another via chemicals is crucial to the their route of travel, enabling their colony’s ‘intelligent’ motions to and nestmates to preferentially take the from a food source.

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The strategies of the ant have been used by computer scientists to create computational algorithms that are better able to address challenging issues. The shortest route between sixteen different cities, for instance, can be determined using computerised virtual ants rather than the ‘brute-force’ calculation that involves testing each and every possible path from the billions of options. Ant colony optimisation is a method for resolving complex computational issues by simplifying them so that the only action required to solve them is to discover the best route through a problem ‘map’, much as how ants find the best route through your wall crack, underneath the dishwasher, and up onto your counter.

Ant colony optimisation, for instance, can be used to determine the quickest path between the 16 places in Europe that you want to visit this summer.

This is also referred to as the travelling salesman issue, and while the number of locations to visit increases it can become increasingly complex and challenging to solve using ‘brute force’ calculation.

But the ‘best’ or shortest route can be positively reinforced by launching a swarm of virtual ‘ants’

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ANT COLONY OPTIMISATION IS ALREADY BEING USED BY NUMEROUS POSTAL DELIVERY AND FUEL TRUCK FIRMS TO ENHANCE THEIR STOPTO-STOP ROUTES.

into the problem set, which will quickly and simply lead to an optimised solution. Similar to how actual ants leave chemical odours for their other ants to “smell” as they move along shortcuts they discover, this positive reinforcement happens as the virtual ants leave signals for each other along the optimal routes.

In the actual world, ant colony optimisation has various uses. For instance, virtual ants have assisted in improving communications and vehicle network routing. Ant colony optimisation is already being used by numerous postal delivery and fuel truck firms to enhance their stop-to-stop routes.

Similar ideas have been used in communications networks, where ant colony behaviour has inspired improved media distribution to mobile users and through networks. ¢

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THE CHEMICAL SIGNAL PHEROMONES EVAPORATE WITH TIME, AIDING THE ANT TO FIND HIS FOOD SOURCE MORE QUICKLY.

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ANTONINA SHATS looks at the tension in Soviet film between genuine creativity and towing the party line.

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ince it began in 1888, the art of film has captivated audiences worldwide, serving as a medium to evoke emotions, provoke thought and communicate personal experiences. However, like any other form of artistic expression, film can also be used to promote specific agendas and imposed meanings, particularly under the influence of the authorities.

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body to decide which films would reach the audience and which would remain shelved.

So, while independent cinema was nowhere to be found, auteur cinema emerged, though its fate was also ultimately controlled by the state. However, it is important to note that not all films were pure propaganda, at least in the contemporary sense. Rather, they aimed at promoting the Soviet way of life and the values of the Soviet person, opposing them to the values of the West.

Before delving into a detailed analysis of Soviet films and the presence of propaganda, it is crucial to deconstruct By presenting this image THE SOVIET VALUES the concept of ‘independent as heroic and exemplary, PROMOTED BY THE cinema’ itself. Originally rooted viewers were forced to STATE WERE NEEDED TO in the United States, the term emulate these traits, leading MAKE IT CONVENIENT TO refers to movies produced to an illusory world where CONTROL PEOPLE AND, IN outside of major studio all citizens aspired to be THIS SENSE, THE SOVIET systems and distributed by like those in the movies – GOVERNMENT WORKED independent entertainment strong, upright, fair-minded.

LIKE A CLOCK. companies. In the Soviet In essence, the Soviet values Union, however, the notion of independent that were promoted by the state were needed cinema was virtually absent. Unlike today’s to make it convenient to control people and, easy accessibility to film production tools, in this sense, the Soviet government worked creating feature films in the Soviet era like a clock. required substantial financial resources and sophisticated equipment, available only to Despite the prevalent image of the heroic large film companies located in several cities Soviet citizen, not everyone in Soviet society of the USSR – Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa, desired or could conform to this ideal. Life in Tbilisi and Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinbrug). the Soviet Union offered stability, with free These companies worked for public money, education, healthcare, steady wages, and making real independent cinema in the social mobility. Yet, many found themselves Soviet Union non-existent. leading the same monotonous lives and merely being able to stand out from the Although some exceptional filmmakers crowd. Freedom was a distant thought, were occasionally given money for various rather than a reality. Those who yearned ‘experiments’ as a testament to their talent, to break free from the conformist life and the Ministry of Culture remained the only express their true beliefs and interests were ‘Mirror’ (1975), Andrei Tarkovsky.

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eventually ridiculed and portrayed as absurd, unadapted individuals.

This contrariety forced people to live by double standards and adhere to societal norms while suppressing their honest desires.

This double life was presented in films such as September Vacation, Flights in Dreams and in Reality, Mirror and others, all of which subtly exposed the challenges faced by individuals leading this perilous lifestyle. Cinematography can often reflect society’s happenings, with talented directors acting as delicate instruments and capturing societal sentiments before they fully manifest.

‘Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears’ (1979). Written by Valentin Chernykh and directed by Vladimir Menshov.

In pursuit of victories in work, Katerina eventually loses herself as a person.

Soon she begins to wonder what is wrong with her: she is surrounded by material values but they do not bring her happiness. Katerina ultimately discovers happiness when she A prime example is the 1979 film, encounters an individual not from her Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, which world at all – an individual who is free, became the first ever Soviet film to spontaneous and independent of the pressures of society she win an Oscar for Best had grown accustomed International Feature True artistic freedom to.

This revelation Film. The film captures is incompatible with prompts her to reflect on the prevailing mood of authoritarian regimes, her own life and yearn that time, when people and a regime that for freedom of choice. stifles freedom of began to question the creativity is inevitably For the Soviet people of automated life that was destined to fail. that time, this film was glorified in all kinds of a breath of fresh air. It art around them. The protagonist, Katerina, has spent her seemingly granted permission to chart whole life chasing professional success a different path – one that challenges whilst not getting any pleasure from authoritarian regimes which thrive on her own existence. Conversely, other weak-willed, compliant individuals. heroines in the film are seen finding Film, like any other form of art, serves peace in their monotonous home lives. the purpose of stimulating people to ‘Don novel’ Lenfilm (1964).

Directed by V. Fetin.

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think, analyse their surroundings and stop living on autopilot, thinking as you are told. While it is essential to recognise that propaganda can serve educational purposes and expand knowledge, the Soviet Union employed it to spread lies and hypocrisy in the interest of the government, placing it at the service of the state.

So Soviet cinema unavoidably contained elements of propaganda, and even the most exceptional and unique works faced criticism if they deviated from the prescribed ‘party line’. Nevertheless, true artistic freedom is incompatible with authoritarian regimes, and a regime that stifles freedom of creativity is inevitably destined to fail. Genuine and authentic film should embody independence and resist negative propaganda at all costs. ¢

‘ ot too n s ’ t i s n recko N A orld.

H w C e h N t I f A o end SYLV e h t e n o p st late to po .

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MANY PEOPLE DO NOT FEEL PERSONALLY THREATENED BY CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE THEY VIEW IT AS TOO VAGUE AND ABSTRACT A CONCEPT TO COMPREHEND.

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ass hysteria surrounding the ‘end of the world’ plagued the internet in 2012 when people took speculations made by the Mayans more than 1000 years ago as gospel, Arguably, these artificial deadlines are fully believing that an apocalypse was rooted in altruistic intent to increase to occur on 21st December. Given that climate awareness.

Psychology you and I are still here, it is evident research shows that many people that this has merely been a case of do not feel personally threatened by misinformation based on a lack of climate change because they view compelling evidence, it as too vague and and a concerning abstract a concept Dangerous weather underutilisation of to comprehend. events are becoming critical thinking.

Therefore, eliciting more frequent and visceral distress within severe, while habitat Today fear-mongering these groups, about destruction increasingly takes on less fantastical how climate change diminishes biodiversity. forms. With global can rob us of a stable warming the new future, can significantly pseudo-Armageddon, the threat of the help disengage people from the status Earth’s demise becomes much more quo. tangible. Dangerous weather events are becoming more frequent and severe, However, this method only works when while habitat destruction increasingly people feel personally vulnerable. And diminishes biodiversity. Because it is a unfortunately, the adverse impacts of direct consequence of intensive human climate change are most immediately activity, citizens and politicians alike felt in disadvantaged communities, have begun to use apocalyptic rhetoric who are not necessarily responsible to highlight the immediacy of action for a large proportion of emissions. required to prevent climate change Despite how the US produces 30 from worsening. times more greenhouse gas emissions than Bangladesh, the latter is left to The 2021 UN climate summit in bear the burden of the consequences.

Glasgow was branded ‘our last chance’ Sea level rise, flooding, and cyclones to tackle the ‘climate catastrophe’ and frequently exploit the country’s already ‘save humanity’, with US climate envoy geographically vulnerable low, flat John Kerry warning the public that we terrain. This has exposed 56% of its only have nine years left to avert most population to ‘high climate exposure ‘catastrophic’ global warming. Yet it areas’, forcing people to either adapt seems almost every climate summit with what little resources they have or has been branded as such. be displaced.

DESPITE HOW THE US PRODUCES 30 TIMES MORE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS THAN BANGLADESH, THE LATTER IS LEFT TO BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES. Climate injustice causes the underprivileged to internalise both fear and blame, whilst further distancing large industries and the privileged from the bleak reality of our future: ‘I’m not from Bangladesh, so this threat does not concern me.’

Our current profit-driven society encourages people to act in pursuit of their own good without regard for sociopolitical pressure. This self-interest corrupts basic compassion and sympathy for the world around us.

Propagating the notion that we are running out of time, however true this may be, can furthermore lead to panic and poor policies. In The Precipice, author Toby Ord makes various numerical estimates of how much time we have on Earth before irreparable ecological damage makes the Earth uninhabitable. But what exactly does hypothesising a specific time frame contribute to actually alleviating the climate crisis? It indeed creates a sense of urgency to address and change our practices both on an individual behavioural level, and more importantly an industrial and international scale. Current global gas emission levels are projected to put the planet on track for an average 2.8C temperature rise this century, far surpassing the 1.5-2C limit established at the COP27 climate convention. Yet in subscribing to the mentality that we do not have much longer to live, short-term, dubiously sustainable, and insufficiently thought-out approaches become the norm. We become so fixated on finding immediate solutions that we fail to effectively pick at arguably the root cause of all our issues: capitalism.

Ecological destruction is encoded in the inherent structures of the capitalist mode of production. As the accumulation of capital is absolute, production and consumption more than often, if not always, occur at the expense of the natural environment. Climate injustice has been perpetuated since the colonial era, making it difficult for those in the present to recover stably.

For example, French colonists by the end of the 19th Century had banned rural communities in North and West Africa from practising their centuries-old subsistence farming methods, in favour of cotton plantations and cash crops, leading to extensive desertification. So, not only are many former colonies still ‘developing’ or ‘under-developed’, but also they lack the freedom their colonial counterparts had in undergoing industrial and technological revolutions without needing to be environmentally conscious.

It seems that capitalism’s propensity to exacerbate environmental problems means that only an alternative economic system is able to achieve a harmonious and respectful relationship with nature. Yet is it possible to address the climate crisis through capitalist means? ‘Market Environmentalists’ assert that

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FRENCH COLONISTS BANNED RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NORTH AND WEST AFRICA FROM PRACTISING THEIR CENTURIES-OLD SUBSISTENCE FARMING METHODS IN FAVOUR OF COTTON PLANTATIONS.

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market solutions such as free trade and technological innovation can effectively fix environmental problems because competition weeds out destructive practices.

One example would be Germany fixing the price of renewable energy in 2000, which encouraged China to enter the solar energy market by massconstructing cheap solar panels. This caused the price for a watt of solar, an arguably more carbon-friendly energy alternative, to drop to 20 cents today.

Unfortunately, success stories such as these come few and far between amongst the constancy of destruction in profit-motivated behaviour. Singleuse plastics for packaging are still the norm, and as trends in mass consumption cycle through the latest fashions, more and more waste is produced. There have also been recent trends in companies capitalising from environmentalism by green-washing: falsely promoting their goods and services as environmentally conscious.

Furthermore, some critics argue that it is the ‘type’ of capitalism, rather than capitalism per se, that is problematic for environmental justice. Mikler and Harrison’s 2012 study finds that the US liberal market economy was less effective in addressing climate change than the coordinated market economies of Germany and Japan.

SINGLE-USE PLASTICS FOR PACKAGING ARE STILL THE NORM, AND AS TRENDS IN MASS CONSUMPTION CYCLE THROUGH THE LATEST FASHIONS, MORE AND MORE WASTE IS PRODUCED. However, this approach suggesting there are ‘varieties of capitalism’ fails to overlook their common emphasis on competition, which means ecological damage remains a constant regardless of the specific manifestation of capitalism.

The powers that are steering us headfirst into the climate crisis are bigger than any politician or wellmeaning entrepreneur. It is also difficult to place faith in the upper political class, given that they were the ones who

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caused this mess in the first place. Yet though this may seem overwhelming, it is all the more reason not to passively accept these puppeteering systems.

Despite how large corporations are significantly more responsible for ecological destruction than us individuals, being selective with our behaviour as consumers still has powerful potential to generate change. Refusing to participate in fastfashion microtrends or abstaining from Amazon purchases on a large scale can lead to detrimental boycotts. And while peaceful protests are helpful at elevating marginalised voices and bringing awareness to issues, we may be at a point in the climate crisis where more evocative retaliation needs to be taken. Considering how some proPalestine activists frequently dismantle or vandalise arms manufacturing plants, what’s to say the climate movement is not capable of disrupting the capitalist order?

It’s incredibly easy to become nihilistic about the future. Hamlet’s existential ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy strikingly rings true to the ‘climate depression’ common among youth. ‘To die: to sleep; no more’ seems like a morbidly good method of escaping suffering the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’, these being the profit-motivated

While peaceful protests are helpful at elevating marginalised voices and bringing awareness to issues, we may be at a point in the climate crisis where more evocative retaliation needs to be taken.

machinations and growing pressures spurred on by the failing model of capitalism. Coupled with the unspoken burden of our generation to steer us back on the right path, we have a seemingly insurmountable load on our plates.

Social ecology shows that interactions between individuals can affect society and the environment as a whole.

But even professionals in the climate field have felt distressed and frustrated with our current position. Dr. Natalie Jones, a specialist in existential risk at the University of Cambridge, states that ‘…everyone who works on climate change has been there. For me that was like ten years ago. You have to acknowledge these things and come to some level of acceptance.’

Those who seek to escape our anti-ecological society need to develop methods of coping and understanding our situation that do not emotionally tear us asunder or burn us out in the process of trying to fight and survive.

Part of this requires treating each other with more compassion; social ecology shows that interactions between individuals can affect society and the environment as a whole. If we are living and recreating relationships of domination and exploitation with each other, we will similarly dominate and exploit nature, perpetuating the adversities of capitalism.

An unrecoverable climate catastrophe is not guaranteed so long as we cultivate our mental health and consistently act upon the belief that change is possible. ¢ Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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OLIVIA BYWATER loves coffee.

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offee can make a positive impact, such as bringing up people’s moods, especially when they have a nice cup of coffee they have been craving or attend a coffee tasting group while making friends.

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Brazil produces the most coffee in the world and has been the top producer of coffee for over 150 years, so there are generations of families who are in the coffee business and that is their income. Brazil produces 2,680,000 metric tons of coffee a year.

Coffee contributes £17.7 billion to the UK economy and $200 billion to economies Caffeine increases dopamine levels and worldwide. Three million literally makes you happier. cups of coffee are consumed Up to 400mg of caffeine a day every day because it is these is healthy for an adult, which days a part of a lot of people’s is equal to about four cups routines. It may even be why of coffee. If an energy boost some people get up in the is what you need, coffee is IF AN ENERGY BOOST morning! definitely a healthier option IS WHAT YOU NEED, than energy drinks because COFFEE IS DEFINITELY A Coffee contains a stimulant a black coffee, for example, HEALTHIER OPTION THAN called caffeine that increases contains no sugar, whereas ENERGY DRINKS energy levels so it is the perfect an energy drink contains drink to start your morning. about 40 grams, which is There are over 30 different combinations of more in one go than the average daily coffee in the world and there are four types healthy allowance for most men. With there of beans. being no sugar in coffee (unless you add it yourself ) there is no risk of a sugar crash and Coffee is one of the world’s most there are generally fewer additives. popular drinks and as a result it provides approximately 125 million jobs worldwide, So, next time someone asks you if you fancy from farming the beans to being a barista. nipping out for a coffee, you know what to Starbucks is the biggest coffee chain in the say. ¢ world. It has over 32,000 shops in 80 different countries, with 402,000 employees.

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AKI WATANABE takes on the eternal question of whether you should listen to music while working.

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t is widely known that music can help with physical exercise by giving you a steady rhythm, and research suggests upbeat music with a high tempo improves your motivation and focus.

Your mood can be easily changed by your surroundings and music can greatly combat laziness and negative emotions. Studies show that music provides improved mood and enhanced perception that increases work speed and quality, extending work time for many students.

While mental states are important for studying, concentration can also be boosted when music, classical in particular, helps you take in and process work. It is said that music trains your brain to focus clearly and make 72

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clear interpretations of what is in front of you, which is ideal for reading work.

Music can reduce the stress of studying, and so music can improve your work.

It is said that classical music also There are programs like the ‘TLP Level helps many older people memorize One Program’ that helps you improve material and do tasks. your health through Physically, when you music, delving deeper listen to music, stress and training your hormones (such as brain. This program cortisol) decrease, ultimately helps you while oxytocin and to achieve your goals ‘MUSIC IN HOSPITALS AND dopamine levels more easily, and so CARE’ HELPS THE WELLBEING increase, improving could help you in OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN your mood. studying. There is ALIKE WITH ‘THE HEALING also a charity called POWER OF LIVE MUSIC’.

Depending on the ‘Music in Hospitals and music you listen to, the Care’ that helps the changes can vary, since listening to wellbeing of adults and children alike music you like will show different results with ‘the healing power of live music’. from music you don’t like. Although This charity shows that music makes a study can be mentally draining, music big impact in reducing stress. can make you keep a positive attitude.

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However, music can distract you from your work if you prioritise listening. If the music is loud or very fast, you could use unnecessary energy to blot it out and this could overwhelm you, or it could interrupt and make you lose your train of thought.

Listening to songs with voices can make you unintentionally split your focus, which can result in not fully understanding what you are working on, making it a bad environment for work.

It could also worsen your working memory, which is the memorization of steps, lists and sequences.

When listening to music, your working memory capacity decreases, which hinders studying. It can lower reading comprehension skills, and certain types of music can make it harder because reading comprehensions require reading and putting the information you gathered into use, which would be hard to do while listening to music. If you study with fear as a driving factor, music will only cause distraction and irritation, so music would not be recommended.

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ALTHOUGH STUDY CAN BE MENTALLY DRAINING, MUSIC CAN MAKE YOU KEEP A POSITIVE ATTITUDE.

There are many types of music you could listen to. Nevertheless, songs with lyrics, surprising, experimental music or music with commercials are known to be ones to avoid, while slow and instrumental music and songs you feel neutral in are ones that are usually favoured. With the volume low, you can enjoy studying with some background music to soothe you.

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WITH THE VOLUME LOW, YOU CAN ENJOY STUDYING WITH SOME BACKGROUND MUSIC TO SOOTHE YOU.

To conclude, it depends on the person whether music is the right choice or not, although what you are listening to would be the biggest factor. It may not be for you, but if you ever come to understand the joys of music while studying, it will surely help you in the future. ¢

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ELEANOR SYMONS assesses the chances of a second civil war in the United States.

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s the world became obsessed with the illusive world of Tiger King, and the weekly family zoom calls plagued houses around the world, a very different environment was unfolding outside our windows, and this was most apparent in the United States.

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question that remained in my mind wasn’t whether Carol Baskin did kill her husband, although I would also like to find out the answer to that one. It was one of far greater importance: could the US have a second civil war?

The question is difficult to answer, and I have A Putin-admiring A PUTIN-ADMIRING PRESIDENT struggled to think of president sat in the SAT IN THE OVAL OFFICE AND the best way to portray Oval Office and slowly SLOWLY ERODED THE ‘LAND OF this answer to you. So, eroded the ‘land of THE FREE’.

I have come up with the free’. The sidethis method. I have effect of having an looked at many civil aspirant dictator in arguably the most wars across history, ranging from the powerful office in the world is that Sudanese Civil War in the mid 1800s, to they consequently have the power the Yugoslav War at the end of the last to completely shift the very fabric of century. Although in many cases there the country to suit themselves, and seems to be no connection between those close to them, and, having been the causes of these wars, I noticed proved by countless countries, that patterns. They all stem from three policy can only create a country rife umbrella issues: economic, political, with inequality, where the rich reside and societal. Using this idea, I have in a happy dream, and the poor suffer broken the US’s problems into these from the indecisions and selfishness of categories to answer this question. the few. So, as Donald Trump began to achieve his goals, the country shifted Perhaps the easiest cause to answer: towards a darkening social climate. The economic issues. The US simply does

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not have enough economic issues to account for a second civil war.

The country accounts for just under one quarter of the world’s economy, and although the emergence of powerhouses in the East, such as China or India, which may threaten their longlasting economic superiority over the rest of the world, there is no impending doom of a financial crash or economic ruin on the American horizon and, if there is, the UK should worry because America is our biggest trading partner.

It would be dangerous to believe that the USA is not open to the influence of global catastrophes, such as Covid-19, which shrunk the powerhouse’s GDP by 3.5% in 2020, the worst drop since 1946, but also over-cautious to think that this in turn could cause a civil war.

So, at this point, I’m sure the answer the impending question seems relatively simple to answer, but the non-existent economic crisis in the US is only one of three general causes, and the following two hold more weight in the answer to my question.

The political climate of the country is next. This is a trickier one to navigate.

The USA claims to be an example of the power of democracy, and an advocate for liberalism, but in reality, according to the NGO inequality.org, the country ‘exhibits wider disparities of wealth between rich and poor than any other major developed nation.’ So, not only

does the very political ideology of the country betray the prosperity of its citizens, but the gleaming White House also only has room for one president. In a country of such huge political division, the election process is one which promises to alienate the other half of such a divided country.

Of course, this is not only apparent in the US. Look only to London to see the effect of the Brexit referendum, which divided the United Kingdom itself, and resulted in the projected shrink of the economy by 4%. Politics is a divisive game, and there will always be those

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upset by results, but with a country whose two biggest parties are so far from being aligned, and the fate of said parties falling on the hands of their one leader, it is the country’s destiny to have a larger divide than most in a similar position. It is this divide in turn that allows for cracks to grow and, in turn – well, you guessed it – provoke civil war. The election process seems to swing from a Democrat to a Republican sitting in the Oval Office, and 2024 will prove to be the year in which the entire world will sit on the edge of their seats, wondering which side of the scale the country will fall this time. So, the question swings as well, with the political climate of the country pointing towards the possibility of a civil war.

The answer to the question hangs in the balance, and only the social climate of the country can decide. While taking my first steps into researching the social situation within the country, I struggled to digest the information facing me. From almost 50,000 doses of opioids being taken every day, which is over four times the rate in the UK, to the overturning of Roe vs Wade, which was due to turn 50 this year, to the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, it was clear to me that this would not be an easy side to explain in anything less than a thesis.

The social climate of the US is so volatile it resulted in, on average, 140 protests a day during 2020.

The social climate of the US is so volatile it resulted in, on average, 140 protests a day during 2020. There is no shortage of causes for these divisions, ranging from religion to drugs. Religion in the USA has caused many controversial decisions, such as the creation of Roe vs Wade in 1973, and the later overturning of it, 49 years later. Religion has provided a mask for the far right to disguise their bigotry as the word of God. This allows citizens to use religion to make their beliefs acceptable, and in turn people may become vulnerable to the decisions of others, which is implemented by the lawmakers of the United States, hence the abolition of Roe vs Wade.

The fear of other religions, which has increased significantly in the age of social media, led to president Trump seeking to prevent all Muslims from entering the country, during his time in office. This in turn can allow for the increased persecution of a certain minority, which alone is not likely to lead to civil war, but the persecution of anyone can promote anger, and in turn push the use of violence as a tool to convey the increased desperation of said demographics, which, combined with the oppression of other minorities, may lead to civil war.

The opioid epidemic within the country is also a useful way of conveying this idea. On average, over half a million teenagers use illegal Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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marijuana each month, while the US has spent over $1 trillion in the past 50 years. Rather than creating the societal issues, drug usage instead perpetuates the issues withstanding in the society: poverty, opportunities of the users, not to even mention the effect on the medical infrastructure of the country.

All of these side-effects of drug abuse, not only on the users, but also on the state as a whole, are a cause of the increased instability of the society, and have in turn contributed significantly heart of the United States democracy on to the risk of a war erupting. There is a cool January afternoon, I would point a plethora of other factors which are out to you the proceeding committee significant within the USA’s society, and which was formed to investigate said account for the rise in insurgents as well as dissatisfaction within the reaction of the rest Over half a million their society, but at of the country. teenagers use illegal marijuana a month, while the risk of boring you, the US has spent over I will pass over them.

However, America $1 trillion in the past 50 is at a tipping years.

It has come to the point. Civil unrest point when I must is increasing, and give an answer to the question I posed their society is facing unprecedented at the beginning: could the US have a levels of inequality, with a completely second civil war? When I began writing unequipped workforce trying to fight I was sure that it would be a yes or no unbeatable enemies. The economic answer, although I am now realising situation of the country paints the that may have been a naïve belief. The picture of an infallible country, who truth is that the US, no matter its flaws, could not fall to the level of civil war. is a country which values democracy. However, the social and political It is the ‘land of the free’, and although climate of the country disagrees. It is you may be wondering how that can incredibly fragile, and anything could be true if a group of a few thousand send America into ruin. So, to give as insurgents can break into the symbolic concise an answer as possible, no, you

will not wake up to read the headlines tomorrow morning saying that war has erupted; however, it would be foolish to say it is impossible.

All the societal issues are pointing in the direction of civil war, and all it needs to push it over the edge into a deep abyss is the misjudgement of a leader.

I highly doubt that Joe Biden would be that leader, as he represented the will of American democracy to replace an extremist president, which means that the fate of the 2024 presidential election will, very probably, be the catalyst of the civil war. Either side may begin the war, fuelled by the democrats’ anger at losing, or the republican supporters, far more of whom have weapons, in dismay at having a democrat in office once again. The war is not the suggestion of fearful or overcautious intellectuals. It is indeed a very real possibility. ¢

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CARMEN WU is frustrated that those who have tried to implement the theories of Marx have actually missed the point.

The hammer-and-sickle is now living in its second century since its striking advent brought about by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Upon hearing the word ‘Marxism’ what inevitably comes to mind for most people are red banners, anti-establishment slogans, and zealots clogging the streets chorusing ‘down with the bosses’ and ‘redistribution of wealth’.

The truth is that much of the academic technicalities of Marxist thinking has been watered down to rallying cries of ‘eating the rich’, and little truth of the established consensus that was orthodox Marxism remains undiluted from the years of revising, tampering and misinformation, from which almost no one was innocent.

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‘old-school’ Marxist principles, to the modern ruling class pushing a petty bourgeois agenda filtering Marxist ideas through their perspective and interests – plus the works of rumours and extrapolations made by the credulous masses – socialism of the 21st Century has been tweaked into a hybrid, into reformism that trivialises the need for ground-lifting revolutionary change and suggests that making mere tweaks to a system plagued with inherent flaws and contradictions would be a sufficient remedy for the cancerous scourges capitalism brings, departing almost entirely from Marx’s original assertions.

With the rise of identity politics and leftism in today’s popular culture, such erroneous and reactionary deviations are now entitled to hide behind a shield of progressive phraseology and further dilute Marxist statements, with the Intersectionalists, who appear to be the fighters for social justice, categorising

each proletarian by their identity only to sow division in the working class.

Marxism is now tied in with any marginalised or oppressed groups becoming a popular label among minorities and ‘the peculiar’ of society.

It is not far-fetched to claim that Marxism has undergone the grossest of distortions, abstractions, and falsifications in history. Today the term is juggled around by reactionaries, revisionists, self-proclaimed Academic Marxists lurking in universities and oblivious teenagers alike. Bereft of almost all of its sophistications and nuance, it is made into a battle cry for bigots and bitter ne’er-do-wells, while simultaneously becoming one more quirky label on a nametag.

Marxism is about the ownership of the means of production, commerce, and exchange. The lexis of Marxism is never bigotry and rebellion, but

contradiction, negation, and fluidity. The philosophy that supports the infrastructure of Marxist thought is criminally overlooked. In an era of rampant cynicism, post-modernist denials of societal progress and staunch believers in the inevitability of history repeating itself and humanity marching to its demise, the optimism which a realistic and unambiguous outlook that is the dialectical and materialist philosophy could bring, can be something positive which the present world ridden with irrationality and pessimism needs.

The hardline creed that is materialism refuses to succumb to the mysticism of idealistic solutions and be seduced by short-term benefits, and vows to understand the world as the material reality it is, rather than a well-tailored version presented by the ruling class. Nonetheless the powers of dialectical materialism go beyond simply explaining Marxist beliefs, but extend into the realms of daily life and common knowledge, making it applicable to scientific as well as metaphysical analysis.

Placing a great emphasis on material concerns, material interactions with the world and the conclusions we can draw from them, the metaphysical worldview of materialism stresses the importance of accepting the material, tangible reality in any form of analysis. The exclusion of heavily spiritual or superstitious interpretations would provide an especially rational outlook on the world and our relationship with it. Its reductionist character allows us to dissect the complexities of social and historical change into the economic development of society, class antagonism, division of labour and the change in ownership of productive forces, all of which are results of contradictions eventually arising from capitalism that provided such a material basis for its self-destruction.

to acknowledge the material reality of class struggle and exploitation occurring in actuality. Addressing this reality remains a prerequisite to any progress society is to make, a prevailing problem which a materialist would have observed.

So far only the materialist aspect of dialectical materialism has been addressed. As for the dialectical half of Marx and Engel’s coinage, it is derived from an interesting phenomenon that the rigidity of logic can ignore the complication of matters and events, primarily in the example of Formal Logic. Formal Logic, which the Linnaean taxonomy and other modules of classification were based on, regards matter as generally fixed and motionless. When sorting organisms into species and orders this approach isn’t completely unforgiveable, but when dealing with more complicated events and movement Formal Logic makes oversimplifications and neglects change.

Materialists propose that motion has always been the mode of existence of matter, with the Earth revolving around its axis and the Earth revolving around the sun. Heraclitus presented the notion of fire being a symbol of that very motion and development through self-consumption, evincing a point that all matter is fluid and in ‘a state of flux’. Two thousand years later comes the Hegelian dialectic with Hegel’s clever triad of

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IT IS NOT FAR-FETCHED TO CLAIM THAT MARXISM HAS UNDERGONE THE GROSSEST OF DISTORTIONS, ABSTRACTIONS, AND FALSIFICATIONS IN HISTORY.

Simple materialism condemns the world of ideas generally expressed in idealism, the notion that asserts perception as the arbiter of the world, placing ‘pure thought’ on a pedestal and oblivious to the dangers of relying on abstractions. Marxist materialism, however, would focus on the elitism of thought which idealist values entail, observing the condescending nature of idealism that allows it to justify elevating existence above the world of subsistence labour. ‘The mind is to the body what the master is to the slave, the educated to the uneducated.’ In a society where one subjugates the labour of another, a world of ideas is considered a higher entity raised well above the grimy world of work, which does nothing Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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dialectical stages of development – the thesis, its negation, and their reconciliation, which presents the idea that change is brought about by internal contradictions arising from an event. His contribution being: if one looks at history as an evolutionary concept, seeing it as a dynamic process of necessity which morphs into more sophisticated forms, we can tell how old ideas gradually conjured the multitude of new and diverse concepts we see in the world today.

However, it is important to clarify that his Unification of Truth through reason and the ‘Absolute Idea’ becomes highly idealistic, as it claims to transcend all contradictions in the world with an ultimate, higher synthesis, which also is an idea that ignores complexities and motion. Thus, through the lens of the dialectical theory of motion, nothing is absolute and without a transitory character, a method that enables us to spot nuance and anticipate change.

In the 21st Century with its signature pessimistic zeitgeist, a conclusion the dialectician can draw is that humanity is not simply a pawn subjected to the forces of society, but that we are an active force within an active, material world. If we have the ability to change and progress, we have conscious control over our fate, and the human race is not predestined to be doomed; there will be no Armageddon, and Joshua will not blow his trumpet on Judgement Day. Speaking of Hegel and an absolute, consider a question which Trotsky’s ABCs of a Materialist’s Dialectics poses: Does a pound of sugar equal a pound of sugar? A dialectician is very much in denial of this axiom, but not without valid reason. Though it appears that A = A is an undeniable truth, the same pound of sugar could always change in size, weight and colour, and upon closer inspection, and with the aid of a scale of greater precision, smaller nuances would always be revealed. Are they equal at the given moment then?

Dialectics would argue that ‘moment’ – generally meaning a miniscule interval of time – is a mathematical abstraction describing a zero of time, 82

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which does not exist. Everything exists in time, and even in the course of the ‘moment’ changes to the pound would take place. Trotsky goes on to explain that though we can never presume A = A, there is an exception, being when it is not necessary to point out the quantitative changes in A for the task at hand, like when a vendor and purchaser considers a pound of sugar in a trade or when a weather broadcaster presents the current temperature of the sun.

This way, we are fully acknowledging the material nature of the sugar and its organic process of change, but also making certain allowances and being realistic in the context of daily life while making such clarifications.

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THE SAME POUND OF SUGAR COULD ALWAYS CHANGE IN SIZE, WEIGHT AND COLOUR, AND UPON CLOSER INSPECTION, AND WITH THE AID OF A SCALE OF GREATER PRECISION, SMALLER NUANCES WOULD ALWAYS BE REVEALED.

Having established the inert property and lifelessness of Formal Logic, I present another interesting contribution from Hegel on the idea of the Unity of Opposites, a notion of non-duality and the co-existence of two opposite yet presupposing conditions within a field of tension.

A metaphysician would think in absolute and irreconcilable antitheses, ignoring the fact that opposites can be organically linked or identical – consider static electricity where opposites charges attract, or positively charged nuclei repel each other but combine through nuclear fusion to release mass amounts of energy.

Hegel also describes cases of the Finite and Infinite, subjectivity and objectivity, and many other paradoxical pairs that complement and presuppose each other. If our two associated conditions are the development of capitalism and the existence of class antagonism, this idea would help draw a Marxist conclusion, that class antagonism gave rise to the emergence of capitalism, yet

those very same class struggles would lead it down its path to perdition.

If we are to speak of historical change, another dialectical view presents the idea that quantitative change would give rise to a subsequent qualitative change. What happens when water boils into hot vapour? The Quantity (temperature or number of degrees) is transformed into Quality (a change in state). Similarly, in a case of nuclear fission and fusion, the quantitative difference of the number of protons in the nucleus gives rise to a qualitative difference which changes the element into a heavier or lighter element altogether. Viewing the trends of this change can also be interesting.

Punctuated Equilibria is a dialectical breakthrough establishing that the evolution of species did not take place in a straight line, but through a long process of an organism accumulating changes then unlocking a higher state of being through successive, qualitative leaps. Single-cellular life roamed the Earth 3.6 billion years ago, underwent such leaps, and eventually culminated in the dominion of human beings with rationality and thought. We could view history in the same way: had the chauffeur of Archduke Franz Ferdinand taken the correct turn, could the needless bloodshed of the First World War have been avoided? A dialectician’s answer would be no.

Inter-European tensions have provided a solid material basis for the war, except its outbreak was expressed through accidence. Had it been another set of circumstances, another event would have equally triggered the outbreak, because the material conditions for the outbreak of war had long been established and became an inevitability.

The origins of the recent Black Lives Matter movement is arguably another case of such kind, the material premise of the historical oppression of black people and institutionalised racism having been prepared in advance for years, the George Floyd incident then being a mere catalytic event that tipped it over the edge. Similarly, a strike taking place in a factory would

hands of the proletariat, the second negation would occur, when we are destined to return the earliest form of human society only on a significantly higher level.

The above describes the interesting ways in which a dialectical materialist world view can be used to observe and analyse real life as well as historical development and the contradictions arising from the capitalist mode of production, manifesting in the form of class struggle and rampant crisis as of today. The philosophy of dialectical materialism explains not only those contradictions, but also the interesting phenomena of life and enables us to draw wider conclusions on historical trends and the progress of humanity.

A STRIKE TAKING PLACE IN A FACTORY WOULD NOT BE THE RESULT OF SIMPLE AGITATORS OR SHORT-TERM DISSATISFACTIONS, BUT OF THE HISTORICAL CHANGE THE MODE OF PRODUCTION. not be the result of simple agitators or short-term dissatisfactions, but of the historical change in mode of production, division of labour, the extraction of surplus with decades and even centuries in the making, quantum changes finally giving rise to a qualitative change pushing the labour force into strike action.

We speak of all things coming full circle. Since progress unfolds in a spiral process through a series of contradictions, we couldn’t help but notice that at each stage an event is being negated, only to be negated once more. A grain of barley grows into a plant, under specific material conditions (heat & moisture & sunlight); the grain’s existence is negated when it dies, but when it flowers, fertilises and produces more grains, it is negated again, but not with total elimination – it returns to the grain of barley, but no longer as its original version, but tenfold.

There came a time where I myself understood that the process of discovering life occurs in repeated negations. Suppose a teen gets told by the adults of their life never to mess with a centipede, which they initially obey, but then decide to debunk in rebellion and do the exact opposite; eventually they fall victim to its merciless poison and learn the hard way, deciding never

to cross another centipede again, going back to the old notion they had began with. They return to keeping their fair distance from the creature, but at a higher level of understanding and with a personal lesson learnt.

Bringing it back to humanity, the first negation occurs when primitive communism moves into class society with a capitalist mode of appropriation; however, when the contradictions of capitalism eventually arise and bring about its destruction, leaving the means of production ultimately in the

Not only true and orthodox Marxist beliefs, but countless other material realities have been watered down, or dismissed, leaving important questions long unanswered and crises long unresolved. A world of science and of deterministic awareness has no room for ambiguity and irresolution. A realistic presentation of the world void of mysticism, uncertainty and irrational pessimism needs to be acknowledged in the 21st Century. Capitalism or not, the material truth has got to be saluted.¢

THE MATERIAL PREMISE OF THE HISTORICAL OPPRESSION OF BLACK PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONALISED RACISM HAVING BEEN PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR YEARS, THE GEORGE FLOYD INCIDENT WAS THEN A MERE CATALYTIC EVENT THAT TIPPED IT OVER THE EDGE. Mind’s Eye | July 2023

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It’s about time women stopped being anxious because of social media body shaming, says SUMMER XU, and realise that health is the new beauty.

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ody anxiety is caused by an individual’s negative perception of their figure. Social media platforms are convenient for people nowadays. It is a public field of communication, but also often invisibly increases the regulation of women’s bodies. Under pressure, women’s bodies have become the object of social media consumption, constantly being constructed as ‘anxiety’ itself, and the body health that should have been paid attention to has been alienated into the so-called ‘perfect body’.

The following is a simple analysis of the impact of social media on women’s body anxiety:

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1. Relatively single aesthetic orientation

2.

Bloggers spreading anxiety intentionally or unintentionally

Under the influence of the Shenmei pop culture of ‘slimming as beauty’, Today, when everyone can be selfsociety links women’s mediated and a fat and thin figures to ‘healthy and perfect good and bad. Skinny figure’ outputs an women symbolize anxious mentality in self-confidence, selforder not to achieve SKINNY WOMEN SYMBOLIZE discipline, and success. such a figure, it is SELF-CONFIDENCE, SELFIn contrast, the others actually producing DISCIPLINE, AND SUCCESS. are labeled as lazy, and and spreading the IN CONTRAST, THE OTHERS failures. More and more anxiety symbol itself.

ARE LABELED AS LAZY, AND women begin to have a The media is open FAILURES. negative experience of and communicative their own bodies. Many so even personalized female audiences are easily attracted notes are exported outward and have by the figures of celebrities and social a guiding effect. Moreover, spreading media influencers and follow suit. body anxiety brings invisible pressure on the audience.

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Some people have begun to accept themselves and overcome their body anxiety.

3. Forced to give in under information bombing

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The media’s ability to give users picture before and after will stimulate accurate portraits is getting stronger the audience’s deformed slimming and stronger. When behaviour and adopt you are remembered a radical slimming by big data, you will approach, resulting be accurately pushed in both physical and SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS some similar anxious psychological damage.

ARE CONVENIENT FOR PEOPLE notes about body shape.

NOWADAYS. IT IS A PUBLIC The assimilation of We need to see the selfFIELD OF COMMUNICATION, the standard concept awareness awakening BUT ALSO OFTEN INVISIBLY of the young figure of women. With the INCREASES THE REGULATION easily generates selfcorresponding resistance OF WOMEN’S BODIES. doubt, and the anxiety of women, some people mentality continues to have begun to accept increase. The blogger’s ‘perfect figure’ themselves and overcome their body or the blogger sharing the comparison anxiety. Body shape is not the only criterion for judging beauty, and health is the most important thing. Life is not only about losing weight, but also has more valuable things.

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THE BLOGGER’S ‘PERFECT FIGURE’ WILL STIMULATE THE AUDIENCE’S DEFORMED SLIMMING BEHAVIOUR AND ADOPT A RADICAL SLIMMING APPROACH.

‘The world is not beautiful; therefore it is.’

(Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World). ¢

Body shape is not the only criterion for judging beauty, and health is the most important thing.

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From

the

Heart

JULIA WU wants us to know that Hong Kong is about food as much as money.

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ong Kong is a densely populated metropolis with a rich cuisine that enjoys a vast conglomerate of flavours from all around the world.

Given its international influence and connections, the possibilities are endless! Hong Kong food is mainly influenced by Cantonese, as well as European and other South Asian styles. But Hong Kongers have made them their own and added their own delicious twist. Here are some classic signature dishes that Hong Kong has grown to love over the years: Egg Waffles The iconic ‘egg waffle’ is a spherical egg-based waffle that originated from 86

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Hong Kong and is widely popular in dawn to prepare delicious and steamy Macau. It is made of an egg-leavened dishes, aiming to ‘touch the heart’ batter fried between two plates with of customers. Dim sum restaurants semi-spherical cells. Although they can typically serve a wide range of dishes. be served as a savoury In fact, they serve snack with fruit and up to a couple of flavours like strawberry, dozen types per day, coconut, or chocolate, each unique and they are often served distinct. Traditionally, hot and consumed they are offered to HONG KONG FOOD IS MAINLY plain. customers on steamINFLUENCED BY CANTONESE, heated carts. Drinking AS WELL AS EUROPEAN AND Dim Sum traditional Chinese OTHER SOUTH ASIAN STYLES. Translated from tea is an important Chinese, ‘dim sum’ ritual in going to ‘yum directly translates as cha’, which literally ‘touch the heart’. The hardworking means ‘drink tea’. Many families go to chefs get to work before the crack of diners that serve dim sum for family

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gatherings to catch up over dim sums and tea. Some popular dishes are: har gow (shrimp dumplings); siu mai (pork dumplings); and fung zao (chicken feet).

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Egg Tarts & Pineapple Buns Egg tarts are a type of Wonton with Noodles custard tart derived Egg noodles are typically from the English custard served in a hot broth and tart and the Portuguese topped with wonton ‘Pastel de Nata’. The dish THE TART’S SUGARY TOP dumplings and green consists of an outer CRUST IS BAKED TO A vegetables.

Common pastry crust filled with GOLDEN-BROWN COLOUR, green vegetable egg custard. Egg tarts AND ITS CHECKERED TOP varieties include ‘gai-lan’, are often served in dim RESEMBLES THE SKIN OF A commonly referred to sum restaurants, local PINEAPPLE, HENCE THE NAME. bakeries and Hong Kong as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale. Sometimes style cafés. Pineapple wontons could be Buns are Hong Kongreplaced with a type of dumpling called originated pastries sold in bakeries. ‘shui jiao’. Hong Kong wontons are Despite being referred to as a ‘pineapple known for being 70% prawn, the other bun’, the traditional version does not 30% pork or chicken, and spring onion. consist of pineapples. The tart’s sugary top crust is baked to a golden-brown colour, and its checkered top resembles the skin of a pineapple, hence the name.

There is a buttered variant with a stick of butter in the bun. ¢

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TRANSLATED FROM CHINESE, ‘DIM SUM’ DIRECTLY TRANSLATES ‘TOUCH THE HEART’.

Many families go to diners that serve dim sum for family gatherings to catch up over dim sums and tea.

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FRED BOSLEY is worried that rewilding

might be merely a quixotic solution to climate change created by the starryeyed middle class.

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t has been a long time coming, but my dad’s meadow suddenly unfolds into a warm, fuzzy tapestry of flowers. The flaxen grasses flex in the breeze, whilst the leaves of an old oak flutter like the wings of a red admiral. The hazy summer evening is not complete without sneezes of hay fever and bubbles of lemonade.

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native mammals are at risk of extinction and, between 2015 and 2020, 48% of bird species were in decline. Whether this be due to agriculture, urbanisation or industrialisation, it is shocking that a country which pledged to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has placed its own wildlife in jeopardy.

IT IS SHOCKING THAT A But within a matter of Rewilding offers a COUNTRY WHICH PLEDGED days, a cloud of pesticides paradigm shift in the coTO REACH NET ZERO from the fields adjacent existence of humans, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS to the house chokes all animals and plants, which BY 2050 HAS PLACED ITS life in the garden. The aims to restore Britain to OWN WILDLIFE IN JEOPARDY. gentle humming and its original natural self. By chirping of insects and reconnecting ourselves birds is drowned out by a cacophony of to nature, we can help restore natural roaring tractors. On dog walks I begin to processes and create the conditions for comprehend the miles of cereal crops and nature to prosper again. This may include arid soil blowing off the cracked ground. re-introducing native species, expanding This is when I first truly see the countryside woodland, giving back agricultural land, or for what it is. allowing waterways to follow their natural courses.

Our so-called green and pleasant land was once a thriving ecosystem but recently However, the more one delves into Britain was rated in the bottom 10% rewilding, the more it seems a quixotic on the biodiversity intactness index. To solution created by the starry-eyed middle put this into perspective, 11 out of 47 class. Perhaps rewilders are romanticising.

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WHILST SOME ASSOCIATE IT WITH LYNX AND WOLVES TERRORISING DOG WALKERS UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY, OTHERS BELIEVE IT IS AS SIMPLE AS NOMOW MAY.

On dog walks I begin to comprehend the miles of cereal crops and arid soil blowing off the cracked ground.

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Perhaps now it is all the rage, soon to be forgotten. Or perhaps this tremendously optimistic approach to conservation and sustainability is exactly what we need to save our countryside. garden. Be messy, create habitats, plant There is some ambiguity to the term pollen-rich flowers and get rid of your ‘rewilding’. Whilst some associate it cat! with lynx and wolves terrorising dog walkers up and down the country, Shockingly, according to Guy others believe it is as simple as no- Shrubsole, author of environmental mow May. We obviously bestseller, Who Owns The main risk of need a happy medium England, half of the land rewilding farmland between the two. And we in England is owned by is that it would need to make everyone only 25,000 landowners. move offshore feel like they can make Although this is so food production to a significant difference. few people, there are countries with even A small garden doesn’t rewilding efforts that lower environmental standards. mean you cannot make show we can improve an impact. Isabella Tree nature in our own (the custodian of the Knepp Estate communities, especially in or close to rewilding project) recently said that urban environments. you do not need a vast estate to make a difference; you can instead apply Noddle Hill in North Bransolme is within rewilding principles to your own a hundred yards of Hull’s largest council estate. Thanks to local campaigners, the previously abandoned site was turned into a nature reserve, along with support from the council, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Natural England.

Presently, the reserve is scrubland dotted with wetland and could develop into woodland in years to come. Most importantly, it is local volunteers who keep this project alive and residents who established it in the first place.

Ecologist Richard Broughton says that

‘it’s an authentic working class success story.’ It is truly an example of the people of England taking back control of their environment.

However, if rewilding only works near urban environments in small areas, this won’t make room for key aspects of rewilding, such as species reintroduction. 72% of land in the UK is agricultural, so for true rewilding You can apply much of this land will have to be used. rewilding principles Again, this is where the dreams of ecoto your own warriors and farmers clash. The main garden.

Be messy, risk of rewilding farmland is that it create habitats, would move offshore food production plant pollen-rich to countries with even lower flowers. environmental standards than ours. On a global scale, this could destroy the remaining ecosystems that we still have, causing more harm than good.

Overall, rewilding may be something for the near future, after we have made our farming methods more sustainable and efficient. It is not something to rush into. With that said, as creatures of habit, we seem to apply the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ to the ways we manage land in the UK, but now it is time to have more respect for our green and pleasant land. ¢

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A SMALL GARDEN DOESN’T MEAN YOU CANNOT MAKE AN IMPACT.

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PERHAPS THIS TREMENDOUSLY OPTIMISTIC APPROACH TO CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED TO SAVE OUR COUNTRYSIDE.

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War of

Words

hether w s k s a S DAVIE ay captured N O T N A eming w añola H r o l l e Or w ivil Esp C a r r e u La G correctly.

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‘HOMAGE TO CATALONIA’ HAS A MUCH MORE STARK, HONEST TONE BECAUSE IT IS MEANT TO BE AN UNFILTERED DEPICTION OF ORWELL’S TIME FIGHTING IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

T

he Spanish Civil War comprised a military revolt against the republican government led by fascist troops under General Francisco Franco. It lasted from 1936 to 1939, when Franco won the war and assumed power. engage the reader in the plot, in While the war was contained within Spain, the fascists contrast to Homage to Catalonia. received support from Nazi Germany and Italy, and the republicans received support from the Soviet Union Furthermore, throughout the first and the International Brigades (volunteer soldiers from half of the novel war feels distant Western Europe and the United States of America). The and more part of the setting than the members of the International Brigade narrative. Instead, the reader is getting an travelled to Spain to protect western insight into the characters living through democracy against the growing threat of the war and their everyday lives and fascism in Europe, George Orwell being MEMBERS OF THE conversations. Nonetheless, this is not one. Orwell reports his time fighting in INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE necessarily romanticising the war but the International Brigade in his memoir TRAVELLED TO SPAIN demonstrating how life is continuing and Homage to Catalonia (1938).

TO PROTECT WESTERN shedding light on how much of the war DEMOCRACY AGAINST was stagnant and drawn out, an idea also Ernest Hemingway also travelled to Spain THE GROWING THREAT OF touched upon by Orwell. during this period, as a journalist, but FASCISM IN EUROPE. writes his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls Where the novel starts to idealise the life of a soldier (1940) from the perspective of a fictional character, more is through the way Robert Jordan indulges himself Robert Jordan, who is a member of the International in both food and sex. There are long descriptions of the Brigade. mealtimes in this cave in which Robert Jordan and a few other characters have settled, as well as references to the For Whom the Bell Tolls follows Robert Jordan as he absinthe he is drinking. He also has a love interest, Maria, navigates guerrilla warfare in the Spanish mountains, with whom he shares a sexual relationship; under the having been given the task of blowing up a bridge backdrop of war this relationship appears as more exciting under Fascist control. On a basic level, the fact that the and their desire for each other is stronger. Hemingway novel is fictional immediately allows for some level of celebrates the indulgent lifestyle of his characters under romanticisation as the primary aim of the book is to the Mediterranean sun, and this is further portrayed in his other novel, The Sun also Rises, which is arguably a more romantic portrayal of Spanish life.

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The fascists received support from Nazi Germany and Italy, and the republicans received support from the Soviet Union and the International Brigades.

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From the outset, however, there is an underlying feeling of tragedy amongst the characters.

Robert Jordan is told stories of massacres and the way Maria has been abused. Whilst Robert and Maria’s relationship is passionate and exciting, it seems as though it will not survive the war. Therefore, behind these glamourised depictions of Spanish life there is a mournful sense of what is being destroyed by the civil war and the human cost, as shown by the title itself.

There are long descriptions of the mealtimes in this cave in which Robert Jordan and a few other characters have settled.

There is a turning point in the novel when Robert kills his first fascist and, from this point onwards, violence predominates. There is a clear shift from the romanticised portrayal of Spanish life into the brutality of the war.

Through this, perhaps Hemingway is using this romanticisation in the first half of the novel to reflect Robert Jordan’s naivety surrounding the war, which is then shattered by its bloody reality that he is thrust into.

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THERE IS A CLEAR SHIFT FROM THE ROMANTICISED PORTRAYAL OF SPANISH LIFE INTO THE BRUTALITY OF THE WAR.

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Behind these glamourised depictions of Spanish life there is a mournful sense of what is being destroyed by the civil war and the human cost.

Homage to Catalonia has a much more stark, honest tone because it is meant to be an unfiltered depiction of Orwell’s time fighting in the Spanish Civil War. However, the start of the novel reflects For Whom the Bell Tolls in the eagerness that Orwell shows to fight. He states he was disappointed when he found out he couldn’t use a machine gun as well as when he discovers how stagnant the front line of the battle is. In this way, however, he is not romanticising the war but shedding light on how many members of the International Brigades travelled to Spain with this heroic picture of war in their head, which is simply not true.

It is estimated that 40,000 to 59,000 volunteers served in the International Brigades.

Orwell does also appreciate the Spanish culture and way of life but through a sad film; he mainly respects their stoicism through such a tragic and destructive time and by no means portrays it as romantic. Like For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia has a turning point in which Orwell realises that the communist party in Spain, for whom he is fighting, is not free from corruption either. Thus, he realises how his sense that he was fighting against corruption and oppression was idyllic and recognises how he himself has had a potentially naïve and romantic perception of the war.

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It is estimated that 40,000 to 59,000 volunteers served in the International Brigades. Therefore, undoubtedly there was to some degree a heroic perception of the war for so many people to go to Spain. Orwell underlines this through his own shift in attitude and so does Hemingway in a more subtle way by choosing to write the novel from the perspective of Robert Jordan (in third person narrative) who is, unquestionably, innocent about the true horrors of the Spanish Civil War. So, Orwell does not romanticise the Spanish Civil War but recognises the way it has been romanticised. Hemingway, on the other hand, certainly does romanticise the life of a soldier at war but uses this romanticisation as a device to underline the naivety of many of the men choosing to go and fight on the battlefields of Spain. ¢

ORWELL WAS DISAPPOINTED WHEN HE FOUND OUT HE COULDN’T USE A MACHINE GUN AS WELL AS WHEN HE DISCOVERS HOW STAGNANT THE FRONT LINE OF THE BATTLE IS.

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ORWELL DOES ALSO APPRECIATE THE SPANISH CULTURE AND WAY OF LIFE BUT THROUGH A SAD FILM; HE MAINLY RESPECTS THEIR STOICISM THROUGH SUCH A TRAGIC AND DESTRUCTIVE TIME.

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Valley of the Fallen - Memorial dedicated to victims of the Spanish Civil War.

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