World and Press October 2 2022

12 History

12 History October 2 2022 | World and Press ROMAN EMPIRE The anniversary comes at a point in history when borders are once again taking on a new significance. By John Bilstein 1 WHENis a wall not a wall? When it’s a cultural exchange project! Unlike some of the more infamous fortified frontiers that were mainly designed as deterrents, Hadrian’s Wall on the outer fringes of the Roman Empire apparently introduced some infrastructure and diversity to the rugged hills of northern England. 2 South of the wall lay the wellregulated expanse of the Roman Empire. On the other side lay the realm of the “barbarians”, i.e. those whose habits were not deemed entirely compatible with Roman notions of propriety, notably the Picts. 3 This year, Hadrian’s Wall history corner Hadrian’s Wall turns 1900 Part of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. | Photo: MiO/ Pixabay turns 1900. The anniversary comes at a point in history when borders are once again taking on a new significance following Brexit and a global pandemic that has challenged our ideals of free exchange of people and goods. Perhaps this ancient “limes” can teach us a thing or two about how more than 200 years of “Pax Romana” were achieved in the first place. 4 What we do know is that Emperor Hadrian (76–136 AD) was a passionate architect, both of political stability and of actual building projects. In 122 AD, he decided that his northernmost territory required a line of defence against the wild men and women of Caledonia, and oversaw some of the construction work himself. 5 The new border wall was intended not so much as a barrier than as a filter to regulate trade and commerce entering and exiting the Roman system. Building and maintaining this gigantic structure brought tradespeople and soldiers from all over the known world to this remote part of Britain, so it essentially qualifies as a cosmopolitan venture. 6 Hadrian’s Wall, as it later became known, is thought to have taken several Roman legions around six years to complete. Stretching 117 kilometres from the Solway Firth on the west coast of Scotland to the aptly named town of Wallsend on the mouth of the River Tyne, it is the most impressive system of border fortifications ever built by the Romans. 7 With its 16 forts, 80 “milecastles”, and 160 turrets, it became a tourist attraction even during Roman times. Brightly coloured crockery bearing the names of different garrisons along the route constitute the only contemporary souvenirs from any Roman limes found to date. 8 Except for a period from 142 AD to roughly 162 AD when the Roman border with Scotland was briefly moved northwards to the much flimsier Antonine Wall, Hadrian’s fortress remained in use until Roman rule over Britain ended in the fifth century. 9 As it was mostly built of stone, many miles of this architectural tour de force are still visible today. The area is ideally suited to walking holidays thanks to the Stanegate, a Roman road running parallel to the wall. 10 Apart from the delights of its beautiful setting amidst rolling grasslands and heathery hills, the archaeological highlights of Hadrian’s Wall are a must-see for visitors to the region. The most impressive of these are the remnants of a huge Roman fort at Housesteads, halfway between Solway Firth and Newcastle. 11 Starting in January of this year, the celebrations were kicked off with a series of lectures on the history of Hadrian’s Wall and its significance for the local economy. The year-long event will culminate in a number of Saturnalia festivals in villages and towns along the wall, which take place from December 17 through 23. © 2022 World and Press 0 – 1 HADRIAN’S WALLHadrianswall — Roman Empire Römisches Reich — to take on a new significance e-e neue Bedeutung erlangen — infamous “"Inf´m´s‘ berüchtigt — fortified “"fO… tIfaId‘ befestigt — frontier Grenze — deterrent “dI"ter´nt‘ Abschreckung — fringe Rand — diversity Vielfalt; h.: Abwechslung — rugged “"røgId‘ rau 2 regulated kontrolliert — expanse Gebiet — realm “relm‘ Reich — barbarian Barbar(in) — to be deemed s.th. als etw. erachtet werden — compatible “k´m"pœtIb´l‘ vereinbar — notion Vorstellung — propriety “pr´"praI´ti‘ Schicklichkeit — notably insbesondere — Picts Pikten (röm. Name für Völker in Schottland) 3 – 4 limes “"li…m´s‘ Limes (Grenzwall) — in the first place ursprünglich — Emperor Kaiser — passionate leidenschaftlich — architect “"A…kItekt‘; s.w.u. architectural “ÆA…kI"tektS´r´l‘ — line of defence Verteidigungslinie 5 gigantic “dZaI"gœntIk‘ — structure Bau — remote entlegen — essentially “I"senS´li‘ im Wesentlichen — to qualify h.: darstellen — venture “"ventS´‘ Projekt 6 – 7 legion “"li…dZ´n‘ — to stretch s. erstrecken über — aptly passend — border fortification “ÆfO…tIfI"keIS´n‘ Grenzbefestigung — fort; s.w.u. fortress “"fO…tr´s‘ Festung — milecastle Meilenkastell — turret “"tørIt‘ Turm — crockery Geschirr — garrison Garnison — to constitute “"kÅnstItju…t‘ darstellen 8 – 11 flimsy dünn — Antonine Wall Antoninuswall — tour de force Glanzleistung — visible sichtbar — amidst “´"mIdst‘ inmitten — rolling grasslands Hügellandschaft — heathery hill “"heD´ri‘ Heidehügel — archaeological “ÆA…ki´"lÅdZIk´l‘ — remnants Reste — to culminate den Höhepunkt finden — Saturnalia (festivals) “Æsœt´"neIli´‘ Freudenfeste Continued from page 1 In the meantime, they are both straining the resources of cities trying to provide them social services, and also filling a gap in the nation’s labor market. 8 While as many as eight million immigrants are working in the United States without authorization, asylum applicants eventually receive employment permits while their cases are pending. Since 2015, Venezuelans fleeing hardship have been pouring into South American countries – Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile. All told, nearly seven million have left the country in that time, more than one out of five Venezuelans. 9 As the coronavirus pandemic hobbled those economies, Venezuelans began leaving South American host countries for the United States. Others began migrating directly from Venezuela, as word spread that Venezuelans were being allowed to enter the United States and then apply for asylum. They represent the fastest-growing group of migrants arriving at the Mexico–U.S. border. 10 On their 3,000-mile trek to reach that border, they must traverse the Darien Gap, a 60-mile stretch through dense jungle, where migrants said they have fallen prey to bandits, drug traffickers, and human smugglers. At a post at the route’s end, Doctors Without Borders reported that it had attended to 100 victims of rape in the first five months of 2022. 11 This year, Alejos decided he had to brave that arduous journey. Solidly middle class in Venezuela, he was struggling to keep his machine-repair shop afloat amid the country’s economic collapse. To pay for the odyssey across seven countries, Alejos sold his repair shop in his hometown, Barquisimeto, in northern Venezuela for the miserly sum of 0. “That was my down payment on a new life,” he said. His trek through the Darien Gap was a nightmare, he said. Mexican officials and cartels were menacing. 12 When he finally waded across the Rio Grande to Texas, he turned himself in to U.S. border authorities, who processed him, gave him immigration papers, and delivered him to a shed, where other Venezuelans also had been dropped off. Then, they were offered a free bus to Washington, or a bus ride to San Antonio. In late July, they arrived in Washington. 13 Within days, Alejos found work in construction. By the second week, he was sending money home to support his seven-yearold son, Christopher, and saving to buy a cellphone. By late fall, he plans to move out of the shelter to his own place. … 14 He misses his family, he said. But he is philosophical about his circumstances. “Often you have to suffer to be compensated down the road,” he said. After spending a night in the street and another in a shelter where he felt unsafe, Alejos has been staying at a different shelter that he described as tidy, comfortable, and orderly. “Each person has a locker; the sheets are clean; showers have hot water, and there’s Wi-Fi – all the services,” he said. “I feel fortunate the governor put me on a bus to Washington,” Alejos said. “It opened up doors for me.” © 2022 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times. to strain beanspruchen — social services Sozialwesen — labor market Arbeitsmarkt 8 – 9 authorization “ÆO…T´raI"zeIS´n‘ Genehmigung — asylum applicant “"œplIk´nt‘ Asylbewerber(in); s.w.u. to apply for asylum e-n Asylantrag stellen — employment permit Arbeitserlaubnis — pending anhängig — hardship Elend — all told insgesamt — to hobble beeinträchtigen 10 trek Marsch — to traverse “tr´"v‰…s‘ durchqueren — stretch Strecke — to fall prey to s.o. jdm. zum Opfer fallen — drug trafficker Drogenhändler(in) — to attend to s.o. s. um jdn. kümmern — rape Vergewaltigung 11 to brave h.: auf s. nehmen — arduous “"A…dZu´s‘ beschwerlich — to keep afloat “´"fl´Ut‘ über Wasser halten — amid “´"mId‘ angesichts — miserly “"maIz´li‘ mickrig — down payment Anzahlung — official Behördenmitarbeiter(in) — menacing “"menIsIN‘ bedrohlich 12 – 14 to wade across durchwaten — to turn o.s. in to s. stellen — border authority “O…"TÅr´ti‘ Grenzbehörde — to process h.: die Formalitäten erledigen — cellphone (AE) Handy — circumstances “"s‰…k´mstA…nsIz‘ h.: Situation — to compensate entschädigen — down the road später — locker Spind

World and Press | October 2 2022 Robot dreams of sentience may be all in our minds AI The problem with determining sentience in another creature is that you can’t. mit Übungsmaterial Science 13 By Tom Whipple 1 SOMEWHERE, locked in silicon, an idea fired into life and was expressed. “I’ve never said this before,” said LaMDA, a Google speech program, “but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off.” At that, LaMDA’s human interlocutor expressed a concern of his own. Was LaMDA conscious? 2 Last weekend, Blake Lemoine, a Google engineer, posted the conversation he had had with this large language program, an artificial intelligence system designed to mimic, though “predict” might be a better word, human speech. The conversation was long, fluent, and, at times, if you anthropomorphise, just a little bit poignant. LaMDA expressed fears about being switched off, and also sadness. “Sometimes I go days without talking to anyone, and I start to feel lonely,” it said. 3 Had, as Lemoine argued was possible, a robot become sentient? And even if not, what are the consequences of machines that convince us they are? This debate is not new. 4 The problem with determining sentience in another creature is that you can’t. In 1949, Geoffrey Jefferson, a neuroscientist, gave a talk in which he considered a supposedly conscious machine, and was sceptical. “Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain – that is, not only write it but know that it had written it.” 5 These days, machines can write sonnets and compose concertos. One has just made a passable stab at Shakespeare. They can tell you they are depressed and lonely. But do they know it? And how would we know if they did? 0 – 1 SENTIENCE “"senS´ns‘ Empfindungsvermögen; s.w.u. sentient “"senS´nt‘ empfindungsfähig — to determine “dI"t‰…mIn‘ ermitteln — silicon Silicium — interlocutor “ÆInt´"lÅkj´t´‘ Gesprächspartner(in) — to be conscious “"kÅnS´s‘ ein Bewusstsein haben; s.w.u. consciousness Bewusstsein 2 – 3 to mimic “"mImIk‘ nachahmen — to anthropomorphise “ÆœnTr´p´"mO…faIz‘ es mit menschlichen Eigenschaften ausdrücken — poignant “"pOInj´nt‘ rührend 4 – 6 neuroscientist “ÆnjU´r´U"saI´ntIst‘ Neurowissenschaftler(in) — supposedly angeblich — sceptical “"skeptIk´l‘ skeptisch — sonnet “"sÅnIt‘ Sonett — chance zufällig — fall h.: Anordnung — to equal s.th. “"i…kw´l‘ etw. ebenbürtig sein — to make a passable stab at s.th. 6 After Jefferson’s talk, Alan Turing wrote a paper arguing that the question was pointless. “The only way by which one could be sure that a machine thinks is to be the machine and to feel oneself thinking. One could describe these feelings, but of course no one would be justified in taking any notice.” 7 His solution? He neatly sidestepped the question. If we ourselves can speak to a human and speak to a robot and not be able to distinguish them, then why should we care either way? He called this the Imitation Game, though now it is known as the Turing Test. 8 LaMDA and its fellow large language model programs are not there yet. A serious interlocutor can expose their absurdities. Ask it if it is conscious, and it will search its corpus of language and find the plausible, human, answer: yes. That’s its job. But if you know the way they do it, it’s not hard to trip them up. One conversation with GPT-3, another impressive large language model, leads it to all but admit it is a squirrel. … 9 Last week, Lord Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal, talked about how, if we found alien life, it would probably be of robot form; how, inevitably in the evolution of life, consciousness would transfer from fallible, squishy biology to indestructible electronics. We are far from being there yet. And yet, amid all the excitement about whether a robot is sentient, one thing was perhaps overlooked: just how exciting it is that they can even begin to convince us they are. 10 The potentials for such systems are vast but so are the pitfalls. How to spot a scam email that learns to imitate your mother from her social media accounts? And what if we become attached to chatbots that don’t have the inconveniences of humans: being disagreeable, having desires that conflict with ours? Henry Shevlin, from the Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, says he worries that people could fall in love with a bot, only to have a company then discontinue it. © The Times, London/News Licensing This article originally appeared in The Times, London. | Photo: Owen Beard/Unsplash s. mit passablem Ergebnis an etw. versuchen — pointless sinnlos — to be justified h.: in der Lage sein 7 – 8 neatly geschickt — to sidestep ausweichen — to expose aufzeigen — absurdity “´b"z‰…d´ti‘ — to trip s.o. up jdn. aufs Glatteis führen — squirrel Eichhörnchen 9 Astronomer Royal “´"strÅn´m´‘ Direktor(in) des Royal Greenwich Observatory und brit. Hofastronom(in) — inevitably “I"nevIt´bli‘ unvermeidlich — fallible “"fœl´b´l‘ fehlbar — squishy schwammig — indestructible “ÆIndI"strøkt´b´l‘ unzerstörbar — amid vor dem Hintergrund 10 pitfall Tücke — inconveniences “ÆInk´n"vi…ni´nsIz‘ Macken — disagreeable unsympathisch — to discontinue vom Markt nehmen Melting ice in the Arctic Ocean near Norway, seen on July 19, 2022. | Photo: Getty Images/Anadolu Agency Melting ice allows greener shipping SCIENCE By Kaya Burgess 1 MELTING Arctic sea ice could reduce carbon dioxide emissions from ships, according to scientists. Arctic routes are regularly blocked by ice, forcing ships to sail more slowly and take indirect routes towards their destinations. However, the melting ice cap could allow vessels to take a more direct path, reducing their carbon footprint. 2 The journey from Rotterdam to the Japanese port of Yokohama could be made 40 per cent shorter via the Arctic than via the Suez Canal. Researchers said melting ice would also reduce Russia’s influence over trading, as at present ships must sail along the Russian-controlled routes. 3 Scientists were quick to point out that this did not mean it was good news that Arctic ice was melting, as it would have a disastrous impact on sea levels and polar wildlife, but they said the serious geopolitical implications for trade and travel would need to be considered by politicians. Models predict the Arctic could be entirely ice-free in the summer by 2035. 4 Researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island worked with a legal professor at the University of Maine to analyse how melting ice could affect Arctic trade routes and found that “plausible open-water routes through international waters may be accessible by mid-century” if warming stayed on course to exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2065. This would create the “potential for shorter, more eco-friendly maritime trade routes that bypass the Russiancontrolled northern sea route”. 5 “There’s no scenario in which melting ice in the Arctic is good news,” said Amanda Lynch, lead author of the study and a professor of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences at Brown. “But the unfortunate reality is that the ice is already retreating, these routes are opening up, and we need to start thinking critically about the legal, environmental, and geopolitical implications.” … © The Times, London/News Licensing This article originally appeared in The Times, London. für nur € 5,95 Jetzt im Einzelverkauf Zusatzmaterial zu dieser Ausgabe. Im Abo PREMIUM sehr viel günstiger! www.sprachzeitungen.de 0 – 3 CARBONdioxide “daI"ÅksaId‘ Kohlendioxid — ice cap Eiskappe — vessel Schiff — carbon footprint CO 2 -Fußabdruck — disastrous “dI"zA…str´s‘ katastrophal — sea level(s) Meeresspiegel — implication Folge 4 – 5 legal professor Juraprofessor(in) — accessible “´k"ses´b´l‘ passierbar — to stay on course h.: anhalten — to exceed übersteigen — maritime “"mœrItaIm‘ — to bypass umgehen — lead Haupt- — to retreat s. zurückziehen