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Photo: Matt Golding<\/p>\n
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au<\/a>. Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here<\/a> for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.<\/p>\n Echoes of the past Sword of Damocles Burbling along Keep to ourselves Sky is not falling Symbolism is a start Problem, no solution The time factor Fertility not a factor Howard\u2019s way to war
It is extremely disturbing to hear former workers at Anthropic warn of the impact artificial intelligence may have on the future of humanity (\u201cAnthropic insiders stunning AI warning<\/a>\u201d, 11\/9). AI technology systems could develop an independent power of their own, subsequently out of the control of humans.
I am reminded of the splitting of the atom that developed into nuclear power and nuclear weapons (the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima) and continue to pose a constant threat to civilisation. The development of AI is proceeding so fast that political leadership seems unable to grasp the magnitude of its potential danger, while a few individuals make billions of dollars.
Judith Morrison, Nunawading<\/p>\n
Human inventions are a double-edged sword. The Anthropic article reports that artificial super-intelligence, is capable of killing us all in a decade. Toxic pesticides, efficient factory robots and sophisticated weapons, originally considered beneficial, are projected to eventually contribute to our demise too. I\u2019m not sure how any individual or social intervention can prevent these things happening. Nevertheless, the other side of the sword could be a more pristine environment due to human extinction \u2013 what the Earth\u2019s other inhabitants yearn for.
Andrew Smith, Leongatha<\/p>\n
Your correspondent (Letters, 10\/9) is right re postcode snobbery. More examples include parts of Moorabbin changing to Hampton East or Bentleigh East (which used to be East Bentleigh), Cheltenham to Pennydale, Gardenvale to Brighton and East Brighton to Brighton East (except hopefully on my Age letters!).
Samantha Keir, East Brighton<\/p>\n
Australia should not need a crystal ball or Kevin Rudd\u2019s undoubted expertise to predict the inevitability of China\u2019s takeover of Taiwan (\u201cRudd warns nation on borrowed time<\/a>\u201d, 11\/9). The likelihood of a takeover, peaceful or not, has always been a question not of whether, but when, and there is frustratingly little anyone can do about it. Turning a blind eye will not work any better than appeasement or resistance. Australia will be wise to get its own house in order and not seek to interfere in other people\u2019s problems.
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at the maths behind the overblown rhetoric that is coming from certain politicians. \u201cThe sky is falling with a supposed 10 per cent drop in the housing market.\u201d That market has risen 2300 per cent to 2600 per cent in the past 50 years. Let that sink in. If there is a 10 per cent fall that would only bring house prices back to 2024 prices \u2013 and they were overblown then. Too much scaremongering and less proper analysis is being done by people who have vested interest in creating disruption.
Greg Tuck, Warragul<\/p>\n
Your correspondent (Letters, 11\/9) uses deflection to avoid the legitimate point Ed Miliband is making (Israel blasts UK\u2019s West Bank stance\u2033\u2063, 10\/9). Rightful individual owners of land, which has been in their hands for generations, are being threatened with the intention of forcing them off that land.
The Israeli Defence Force is doing little or nothing to protect them. So who is going to come to their aid? In these circumstances the UK is right to impose sanctions on illegal settlers \u2013 even if they achieve little. This action may be symbolic but at least it\u2019s a start.
Ivan Glynn, Vermont<\/p>\n
Columnist Jenna Price<\/a> and your correspondents (Letters, 11\/9) rightly point out that far too many parents appear to leave too much of the teaching of proper behaviour to school teachers.
They, however, do not address the main problem that some parents are simply not cut out for the task. Some lack the necessary skills, some lack the required interest and others are just too busy. Asking parents to do better will almost certainly go unheeded by many of those most in need.
Although perhaps a harsh judgment, it is a simple fact that nearly everyone is capable of producing children. Regrettably, some people shouldn\u2019t.
In other words, we seem to have an intractable problem with no solution in sight.
Al Morris, Doncaster<\/p>\n
Once I was approached by an angry father with the words: \u201cYou want to call yourself a teacher, and you cannot even control my kid!\u201d I was very upset, having not taught long at this stage. I asked my principal for advice. He asked, how long per week do you teach the student? Two hours a week! How long is he with his parents?
I was reconciled. Still teaching and loving it.
Luise Mock, Tawonga South<\/p>\n
In a parent-teacher meeting I explained how the student in question\u2019s behaviour towards his peers, especially females, could improve. Aggressive response, \u201cDo you have children?\u201d As it happens, I did not and could not. Was told, \u201cI thought not.\u201d
I have several teaching and other qualifications, but was not told on entering any of the courses that fertility was a prerequisite.
Rosalind McIntosh, Camberwell<\/p>\n
It seems John Howard has conveniently forgotten he sent troops into the folly of Iraq on the false premise of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9\/11 and he ignored the intelligence that stated Hussein was not a threat.
Ross Hosking, Blackwood, SA<\/p>\n