Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 406

Videogames As Art, Ctd

Yesterday, the Smithsonian American Art Museum announced that two videogames, Flower and Halo 2600, have joined their permanent collection, saying the acquisitions “represent an ongoing commitment to the study and preservation of video games as an artistic medium”:

In a statement, the museum called Flower — in which players control the wind — “an entirely new kind of physical and virtual choreography.” Interactivity was also cited as a reason for its inclusion in the collection, with the museum saying “the work cannot be fully appreciated through still images or video clips; the art happens when the game is played.” Halo 2600, developed in 2010 to work on the 36-year-old Atari 2600, is less obviously beautiful. Instead, it “deconstructs the gamers’ visual and virtual experience” by re-imagining the 3D shooter on a 2D plane, displaying “the ever-changing relationship between technology and creativity.”

Philippa Warr weighs in:

Other museums and arts-based institutions have already begun adding videogames to their collections, but not always as artworks. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has acquired Space Invaders, Minecraft, EVE Online, The Sims and many other games for its own collection, but as examples of world-class interaction design rather than fine art. … As cultural institutions begin adding games to their collections it will be interesting to see how they approach the technical side of medium — preservation of source code, whether updates, patches, DLC and special events are encompassed in that holding, how to make the work available to visitors and researchers and so on. Which specific titles are acquired will also be revealing both of individual institutional collection policies and the ways in which we choose to define art.

Previous Dish on the subject here, here, and here.

Face Of The Day

A snowy owl is pictured at its zoo enclosure in Duisburg, Germany on December 19, 2013. By Horst Ossinger/AFP/Getty Images.

The Original Welfare Queen

Josh Levin profiles Linda Taylor, the real-life Chicago “welfare queen” who inspired Ronald Reagan’s infamous invective:

It’s impossible to define the exact scope of welfare fraud in America then or now. A 1983 publication sponsored by the Department of Justice, for example, estimated annual Aid to Families With Dependent Children overpayments at between $376 million and $3.2 billion—not exactly a precise range. What’s clear, though, is that Linda Taylor’s larger-than-life example created an indelible, inaccurate impression of public aid recipients.

The plural of anecdote is not data. The plural of the craziest anecdote you’ve ever heard is definitely not data. And yet, the story of the welfare queen instantly infected the policy debate over welfare reform. Sociologist Richard M. Coughlin notes that in 1979, AFDC families had a median of just 2.1 children and a very low standard of living compared to the average American. In 2013, Bureau of Labor Statistics data continue to bear out the stark economic gap between families on public assistance and those who are not. Linda Taylor showed that it was possible for a dedicated criminal to steal a healthy chunk of welfare money. Her case did not prove that, as a group, public aid recipients were fur-laden thieves bleeding the American economy dry.

Taking A Scroll Outside

The virtual outdoors can be good for your health:

In the 1980s, experimental psychologists Rachel and Stephen Kaplan studied the effects of nature on people. They found that small glimpses of the natural world – “nearby nature” – could have measurable effects on well-being. Even an insignificant or faraway sight, such as a few trees viewed through a window, could still give us a good feeling. The Kaplans found that people with access to nearby natural settings were healthier than those without. And these subjects also experienced increased levels of satisfaction with their home, job, and life in general.

Nearby nature does not have to be beautiful or complex. And, surprisingly, you do not have to be actually outside to gain the benefits. Many studies that have looked at this have taken place indoors, using images rather than the real thing. The effect is still potent when viewed through a window or seen in a photograph or video. A painting, even a wall calendar, can have a similarly beneficial effect.

It might seem unlikely that the digital world can provide similar kinds of healing environments. But there is a link between the results described above and today’s virtual landscapes. …  I called this phenomenon “technobiophilia” – the innate attraction to life and lifelike processes that are found in technology. Images of nearby nature on our phones and computers can alleviate mental fatigue. They enhance our attention, help us cope with distraction, and generally improve our well-being.

(Image of a landscape from Grand Theft Auto V by Smade Media) 

Today’s Marriage Equality Victory

Lyle Denniston unpacks it:

Because the ruling is based on state law, not the federal Constitution, the decision is the final word for that state unless a constitutional ban were to be adopted.  With this ruling, New Mexico becomes the seventeenth state to assure marriage equality for same-sex couples. …

Just as the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that same-sex couples have a free-standing constitutional right to get married, the New Mexico court said it would not attempt to answer that question in this case.  Instead, it relied upon the state constitution’s promise that state laws would treat people the same if they are similar in their characteristics and capacities.

Timothy Kincaid updates the marriage equality map:

It’s been a good year for marriage. In 2013, the number doubled from 8 states plus the District of Columbia to the new total: 17 states plus DC.

Doug Mataconis expects the pace to slow:

The number of remaining states where a legislative or popular vote approval of same-sex marriage is realistic at this point is quite small, with Oregon and Colorado considered by most people to be the most likely states where either the state legislature or a referendum approving same-sex marriage is likely to be approved in the next couple years. In other states, we’re going to have to wait for this issue to be fought out in Court over the coming years. In that regard, there are lawsuits pending in a number of states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina. All those cases are in Federal Court, though, and still at the District Court level so there is still a lot of time that will need to elapse before we get a final word in any of those matters.

Christmas Hathos Alert

A reader recoils:

I hate this commercial with a passion. Aside from the creepy brother-sister relationship, it’s nice to know there’s such a dearth of “real coffee” in West Africa.

Or as another puts it:

Do you take incest with your coffee?

Previous Christmas Hathos here.

Can Fears Be Inherited?

Dana Smith gets excited about a study suggesting that fear memories may be heritable through little-understood epigenetic processes:

In the study, mice were trained to be afraid of acetophenone, a fruity smell that’s used in cherry, jasmine, honey-suckle and almond flavorings. The researchers paired this fragrance with a foot shock so that it soon became a warning signal to the mice, instilling fear and alerting them to an impending attack. The mice’s noses and brains also adapted accordingly, generating additional M71 neurons—cells receptive to this particular scent—so that they would be extra sensitive to the smell. So far, this is all basic Pavlovian conditioning and neural adaptation, nothing special yet.

However, the crazy part is that the offspring of these mice, who had never before been exposed to that smell, also showed increased fear and startle responses to the scent. This suggests that the learned association, connecting the smell with danger, was passed down from one generation to the next. And this second group’s offspring also showed heightened sensitivity to the odor. Thus, three generations of mice were affected by the conditioning, even though only one of them had actually experienced it. Behind these behavioral effects were similar changes in the noses of each of these offspring groups, with larger M71 receptors present and an increase in the number of M71 neurons available.

Joe Hanson rains on her parade:

It’s possible that there was an epigenetic change passed down. But it’s not for sure. Beyond that, the way that statistics are applied to mouse behavior studies make it possible that the differences they see are just due to sample sizes, or not including certain controls, or some other random factor like that the humidity on a particular day happened to make the mice very jumpy. There’s also the fact that there is no known way for nerve cell changes or chemical responses within the olfactory bulb to be communicated to the testes, where sperm are made (there’s literally a blood-testis barrier to prevent that kind of thing). … “More work needed” as they say!

Virginia Hughes provided a more in-depth look at the study earlier this month:

There are still some unanswered questions, [MIT research fellow Tomás] Ryan notes. For example, the researchers didn’t do a control experiment where the F0 animals are exposed to the fruity odor without the shock. So it’s unclear whether the “memory” they’re transmitting to their offspring is a fear memory, per se, or rather an increased sensitivity to an odor. This is an important distinction, because the brain uses many brain circuits outside of the olfactory bulb to encode fear memories. It’s difficult to imagine how that kind of complicated brain imprint might get passed down to the next generation. Ressler and Dias agree, and for that reason were careful not to refer to the transmitted information as a fear memory. “I don’t know if it’s a memory,” Dias says. “It’s a sensitivity, for now.”

Our Thirsty Species

Brian Merchant introduces a study finding that the number of people facing “absolute water scarcity” may double within the next few decades:

In other words, when global temperatures rise another 2˚C—they’re well on track to do so—there could be anywhere between 40 percent and 100 percent more people living in places—places like Yemen, Pakistan, India, Australia, the American Midwest—subjected to extreme water scarcity. Climatologists believe we may hit 2 ˚C rise—or more—by midcentury. As in, less than 40 years from now. The EPA, meanwhile projects at least a 4˚C rise by 2100. Which will really bring the thirst. …

The UN fears that conflicts over water-rich territory and transportation infrastructure could deepen or break out as the resource grows even scarcer. Analysts like Lester R. Brown has said that “it is now commonly said that future wars in the Middle East are more likely to be fought over water than over oil.”

Matt Ferner looks at another study mapping water insecurity around the world:

Researchers with the Aqueduct project looked at water risks in 100 river basins and 181 nations around the globe — the first such country-level water assessment of its kind. By taking a close look at regional baseline water stress, flood and drought occurrence over several years time, inter-annual variability and seasonal variability as well as the amount of water available to a particular region every year from rivers, streams and shallow aquifers, WRI was able to give each country a score 0 to 5, with a 5 being the greatest level of water risk.

Walter Russell Mead says we have nothing to worry about now that scientists have found an abundance of freshwater underneath the ocean floor:

Some of these reserves will be fresh enough that they won’t need to go through the energy-intensive desalinization process, while some of them will be only slightly brackish, and will be easier and, importantly, cheaper to desalinate. In fact, this kind of offshore drilling for water is already happening; NPR notes that there are already operations in places like Cape May, NJ to drill for and eventually desalinate low-salinity water.

Water scarcity has been a favorite topic for the Chicken Littles of the world. Just 18 years ago the vice president of the World Bank was ominously warning that “the wars of the next century will be fought over water.” It’s easy to drum up fears of “water wars” some undetermined time in the future, but studies like this one, and discoveries of new water sources like this one in Kenya, or this one under the Sahara, suggest that these fears that have gripped Malthusians—and that Malthusians have in turn used to push through otherwise unworkable policy recommendations—are a lot less serious.

Scientists, however, are not yet ready to declare drilling for freshwater a feasible solution:

[T]here are two ways to get to the water: “Build a platform out at sea and drill into the seabed, or drill from the mainland or islands close to the aquifers.” That’s not likely to come cheap. While places such as Cape May, N.J., are already drilling and desalinating freshwater underground for use, getting to freshwater reserves under the oceans will probably be more expensive, says Kenneth Miller, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Rutgers University.

Miller’s research has involved drilling into freshwater reserves offshore, and he says drilling three holes about 2,500 feet down cost around $13 million. And some reserves will be saltier – and need more processing — than others, depending on what kinds of sediment surrounds them. Finer grains seal in fresher water while coarser grains hold saltier water, Miller says. ”[Tapping the freshwater reserves] represents a potential alternative that may be economic,” says [Mark] Person, the study co-author. He notes, however, that the scientists have not yet tapped into one of these reserves and that this is a non-renewable resource.

Keeping An Eye On India, Ctd

A reader responds to a recent post:

As someone who has spent a long time living in, watching, and studying China and it’s rise, I certainly see Oliver Turner’s point on China. But I think he is perhaps overstating the case a bit. The reason that the US is more concerned with China’s rise than India’s – and I would argue that it is actually most concerned with the rise of all military competition in Asia (or at least it should be) – is that the US has major security guarantees with many of China’s neighbors: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan. Any conflict started between China and any of those countries would necessarily be met with some kind of US response. If India were to become entangled with any of it’s neighbors (another conflict with Pakistan for example), it would certainly be a cause for concern, but the US would not be immediately required to join the conflict.

From a reader born in India:

Oliver Turner has really no idea what he is talking about.  He is comparing India and China based on percentage of GDP spent on military expenditures.  He must be wetting his bed worrying about South Sudan which spends over 10% (the highest, according to the source he quotes). In absolute numbers there is no comparison:

India $43 billion USD vs China $164.5 USD!  And if you closely follow Indian military matters, you know that about 25% of their allocated capital budget is returned to the treasury every year due chronic procurement delays. (2012 GDP: $1,825 billion USD, 2.4% of that is $43 billion USD) vs China (2012 GDP: $8,227 billion USD, 2% of that is $164.5 billion USD.  My source for the 2012 GDP figures is here.)

This sort of the deliberate hocus-pocus by an apparently smart person like Turner leads me to believe that he wants to make a point that is not supported by the numbers.  So he massages it till it looks like something else. But the crux of the reason that China’s spending is scary and India’s is not, is alluded to in Turner piece.  China throws it money and military capability around, and it makes its neighbors nervous.  And its military has a very prominent role in its government, economy and policy affairs.  None of which are true for India’s military where the democratic government keeps a very tight control over it.

Are Storms Gaining Speed?

Chris Mooney flags a new report from hurricane expert Jim Kossin of the National Climatic Data Center:

Kossin and his colleagues at NCDC created a 28-year record of storm images across the world’s seven hurricane basins, from 1982 to 2009. Then they used a computer algorithm to compute each storm’s maximum strength, removing human error and unpredictability from the equation. The result? The scientists found that globally, hurricane wind speeds are increasing at a rate of a little more than two miles per hour per decade, or just faster than six miles per hour over the entire period.

There are some key caveats, though, the biggest being that the trend they found was not statistically significant at usually accepted levels. (For nerds: the p value was 0.1). But there were strong and significant trends in some hurricane basins of the world, especially the North Atlantic (the region encompassing the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and open Atlantic north of the equator), where storms have been strengthening at the rate of nearly nine miles per hour per decade (see chart above). But other basins offset that, including the western North Pacific, which showed a negative trend.

The punch line, then, could hardly be called overwhelming. But as Kossin explains, that may be precisely what you expect to see once you’re finally analyzing the troublesome hurricane data reliably. These results, after all, are quite consistent with the idea that the signal of hurricane intensification might be just now emerging from the “noise” of natural climate variability. “What we’re observing could very easily fit into an assumption of this greenhouse gas forced trend in the tropics and the effect that it has on tropical cyclone intensity,” says Kossin.