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It's Monday, the 18th of September, 2023. I'm

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Adam Roberts, the Economist's digital editor.

0:46

Welcome to Editor's Picks, where you can hear three

0:48

highlights from the weekly edition of The Economist,

0:51

read aloud.

0:53

We have two cover stories this week. One

0:55

of them examines how artificial intelligence

0:58

might supercharge progress in science.

1:01

Amidst concerns over the potential fallout

1:04

of rapidly advancing AI, scientists

1:07

find hope in how this technology

1:09

could revolutionise the way research

1:11

is done.

1:12

Our other cover story strikes a

1:14

more sombre tone as we look at the rise

1:17

of an emboldened hard right. Europe's

1:20

populist right-wing parties are growing, in

1:22

both strength and their ability

1:24

to wield political power. That

1:27

presents a real challenge to democracy

1:29

on the continent. And

1:31

finally, we turn to America, where

1:34

the new weight-loss drugs that have been taking the world

1:36

by storm look promising for treating

1:39

alcoholism.

1:41

The stories you're about to hear are just a sample

1:43

of what's on offer in the weekly edition of The

1:45

Economist. With a subscription,

1:48

you can read or listen to all

1:50

of what we do. If you're not

1:52

already a subscriber, get a month's worth

1:54

of our digital content for free by going

1:56

to economist.com slash podcastoffer.

1:59

The link is in the show notes. First

2:08

up, how AI can revolutionize

2:11

science. Debate about

2:13

artificial intelligence, or AI,

2:16

tends to focus on its potential

2:18

dangers. Algorithmic bias

2:20

and discrimination, the mass destruction

2:23

of jobs, and even, some say, the

2:25

extinction of humanity. As

2:28

some observers fret about these dystopian

2:31

scenarios, however, others are focusing

2:33

on the potential rewards. AI

2:36

could, they claim, help humanity solve

2:38

some of its biggest and thorniest problems.

2:41

And they say AI will do this

2:43

in a very specific way, by

2:46

radically accelerating the pace of scientific

2:48

discovery, especially in areas such

2:51

as medicine, climate science, and green

2:53

technology. Luminaries

2:56

in the field, such as Demis Hassabis

2:58

and Jan Lekoun, believe that AI

3:00

can turbocharge scientific progress,

3:03

and lead to a golden age of discovery.

3:07

Could they be right? Such claims

3:09

are worth examining, and may provide a useful

3:12

counterbalance to fears about large-scale

3:14

unemployment and killer robots. Many

3:17

previous technologies have, of course, been

3:19

falsely hailed as panaceas. The

3:22

electric telegraph was lauded in the

3:25

1850s as a herald of world peace, as

3:28

were aircraft in the 1900s. pundits

3:31

in the 1990s said the internet

3:33

would reduce inequality and eradicate

3:35

nationalism. But the mechanism

3:38

by which AI will supposedly

3:40

solve the world's problems has a stronger

3:42

historical basis, because there

3:44

have been several periods in history when

3:46

new approaches and new tools did

3:49

indeed help bring about bursts

3:51

of world-changing scientific discovery

3:53

and innovation. In

3:55

the 17th century, microscopes

3:58

and telescopes opened up. new

4:00

vistas of discovery and encouraged

4:02

researchers to favor their own observations

4:05

over the received wisdom of antiquity,

4:08

while the introduction of scientific journals

4:10

gave them new ways to share and publicize

4:13

their findings. The result

4:15

was rapid progress in astronomy,

4:18

physics, and other fields and new

4:20

inventions from the pendulum clock to the

4:22

steam engine, the prime mover of the

4:24

Industrial Revolution. Then

4:27

starting in the late 19th century, the establishment

4:30

of research laboratories, which brought

4:32

together ideas, people, and materials

4:35

on an industrial scale, gave

4:37

rise to further innovations such as artificial

4:40

fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, and

4:42

the transistor, the building block of the computer.

4:46

From the mid-20th century, computers

4:48

in turn enabled new forms

4:50

of science based on simulation

4:52

and modeling, from the design of weapons

4:55

and aircraft to more accurate weather

4:57

forecasting. And the computer

5:00

revolution may not be finished yet. As

5:02

we report in a special science section,

5:05

AI tools and techniques are

5:07

now being applied in almost every field

5:09

of science. Though the degree of adoption

5:12

varies widely, 7.2% of

5:15

physics and astronomy papers published in 2022

5:18

involved AI, for example, compared

5:20

with 1.4% in veterinary science. AI

5:25

is being employed in many ways. It

5:27

can identify promising candidates

5:29

for analysis, such as molecules

5:31

with particular properties in drug discovery,

5:34

or materials with the characteristics

5:36

needed in batteries or solar cells.

5:39

It can sift through piles of data, such

5:41

as those produced by particle colliders

5:44

or robot telescopes looking for patterns.

5:47

And AI can model and analyze

5:50

even more complex systems, such

5:52

as the folding of proteins and

5:54

the formation of galaxies. AI

5:57

tools have been used to identify new antibiotics.

6:00

robotics, reveal the Higgs boson,

6:02

and spot regional accents in

6:04

wolves, among other things. All

6:07

this is to be welcomed, but the journal

6:10

and the laboratory went further still.

6:12

They altered scientific practice

6:15

itself and unlocked more

6:17

powerful means of making discoveries by

6:19

allowing people and ideas to mingle

6:22

in new ways and on a larger scale.

6:25

AI2 has the potential

6:28

to set off such a transformation. Two

6:31

areas in particular look promising. The

6:33

first is literature-based discovery,

6:36

or LBD, which involves analyzing

6:39

existing scientific literature using

6:41

chat-GPT-style language

6:43

analysis to look for new hypotheses,

6:46

connections, or ideas that humans

6:48

may have missed. LBD

6:51

is showing promise in identifying new

6:53

experiments to try and even suggesting

6:55

potential research collaborators. This

6:58

could stimulate interdisciplinary

7:00

work and foster innovation at the boundaries

7:03

between fields. LBD systems

7:05

can also identify blind spots

7:08

in a given field and even predict future

7:10

discoveries and who will make them. The

7:13

second area is robot

7:15

scientists, also known as self-driving

7:18

labs. These are robotic systems

7:21

that use AI to form new

7:23

hypotheses based on analysis

7:25

of existing data and literature and

7:28

then test those hypotheses by performing

7:30

hundreds or thousands of experiments

7:33

in fields including systems biology

7:35

and material science. Unlike

7:38

human scientists, robots are less

7:40

attached to previous results less driven

7:43

by bias and crucially easy

7:45

to replicate. They could scale

7:47

up experimental research, develop

7:50

unexpected theories, and explore

7:52

avenues that human investigators might not

7:54

have considered. The idea

7:57

that AI might transform scientific

7:59

practice practice is therefore feasible. But

8:02

the main barrier is sociological.

8:05

It can happen only if human

8:07

scientists are willing and able to use

8:10

such tools. Many lack

8:12

skills and training, some worry about

8:14

being put out of a job. Fortunately,

8:17

there are hopeful signs. AI

8:19

tools are now moving from being pushed

8:22

by AI researchers to being embraced

8:24

by specialists in other fields. Apps

8:28

and funding bodies could help by

8:30

pressing for greater use of common standards

8:33

to allow AI systems to exchange

8:35

and interpret laboratory results

8:38

and other data. They could also

8:40

fund more research into the integration

8:42

of AI smarts with laboratory

8:45

robotics and into forms of

8:47

AI beyond those being pursued

8:49

in the private sector, which has bet nearly

8:51

all its chips on language-based

8:54

systems like chat GPT. These

8:57

fashionable forms of AI, such

8:59

as model-based machine learning, may

9:02

be better suited to scientific tasks such

9:04

as forming hypotheses. In 1665,

9:09

during a period of rapid scientific

9:11

progress, Robert Hooke, an

9:13

English polymath, described

9:15

the advent of new scientific instruments

9:17

such as the microscope and telescope as the

9:20

adding of artificial organs to

9:23

the natural. They let researchers

9:25

explore previously inaccessible

9:27

realm and discover things in new

9:29

ways with prodigious benefit

9:32

to all sorts of useful knowledge.

9:35

For Hooke's modern-day successes, the

9:37

adding of artificial intelligence to

9:39

the scientific toolkit is poised to do

9:42

the same in the coming years with

9:44

similarly world-changing results.

9:52

Live deeper on AI and Science on our Babbage

9:54

Podcast.

9:55

Last week, my colleague, Alok Jha, interviewed

9:58

the technologist Mustafa

9:59

Suleiman.

10:01

On Wednesday, Alok will be asking whether

10:03

AI can change the paradigm of science.

10:06

Find Babbage from The Economist every Wednesday,

10:09

wherever you listen.

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10:47

This is Editor's Picks from The Economist. Next,

10:50

the real threat from Europe's hard right.

10:54

A spectre is haunting Europe.

10:57

The spectre of a rising hard

10:59

right. In Germany,

11:01

the overly xenophobic Alternative

11:04

for Germany, or ASD,

11:07

has surged to become the country's second

11:09

most popular party. Its

11:12

success is polarising domestic

11:14

politics, and it seems poised

11:17

to triumph in state elections in

11:19

the East next year. In

11:22

Poland, the ruling Law and Justice

11:24

Party is leading the Poles ahead of

11:26

a general election on October 15th, and

11:30

it is being drawn further to the right

11:32

by an extreme new party, Confederation.

11:36

As we explain

11:38

in this week's briefing, there could be

11:40

more grim news to come. Next

11:44

year, the hard right could gain more

11:46

sway in elections for the European

11:48

Parliament, due to be held in

11:50

June. Marine Le Pen,

11:53

the leader of National Rally, could

11:55

win the presidential election in France

11:58

in 2027. If

12:01

she did, France would become the

12:03

second big country to be run by

12:05

the hard right,

12:06

after Italy, where

12:08

Georgia Maloney and her brothers

12:10

of Italy took power last year in

12:12

a coalition with the Nativist League.

12:14

Make no mistake,

12:17

Europe is not about to be overrun by

12:20

fascists in a repeat of the 1930s. But

12:24

the new right-wing wave presents

12:27

a big challenge. Handled

12:29

badly, it could toxify

12:31

politics, disenfranchise

12:33

a large share of voters, and

12:36

prevent crucial reforms of the European

12:38

Union, or EU. Rather

12:41

than trying to exclude hard right

12:44

parties entirely from government and

12:46

public debate, the best response

12:49

is for mainstream parties to engage

12:51

with them, and on occasion

12:53

do deals with them. If

12:56

they have to take some responsibility

12:58

for actually governing, they

13:00

may grow

13:00

less radical.

13:03

Europe's hard right has enjoyed

13:05

several surges over the past quarter

13:07

of a century. In 2000,

13:11

Jörg Heider, an anti-establishment

13:14

demagogue, shocked the continent

13:16

by entering government in Austria. His

13:18

Freedom Party is now the most

13:21

popular there. A

13:23

migration crisis in 2015,

13:26

when over one million people from

13:28

poor and war-torn countries crossed

13:31

the EU's borders, led to

13:33

another wave of support for xenophobic

13:36

and Eurosceptic parties, including

13:39

Britain's Brexiteers.

13:42

The new wave that is breaking is different

13:44

in three ways.

13:46

First, the hard right has

13:48

opportunistically found new topics

13:51

to drum up fury about. Such

13:54

parties are still anti-foreigner,

13:57

but having seen Britain's experience

14:00

Some have moderated their hostility

14:03

to EU membership and

14:05

fewer want to ditch the single currency.

14:08

All are animated by new concerns,

14:11

most obviously hostility to pro-climate

14:14

policies, which they argue

14:17

are an elitist stitch-up that

14:19

will fleece ordinary people. In

14:21

Germany, the AFD has successfully

14:24

mobilised opposition to a government push

14:27

to require people to install

14:29

expensive heat pumps in their homes,

14:32

forcing the government to water down the

14:34

measures.

14:36

The second shift is the breadth

14:38

of their support. Our

14:41

calculations show that 15 of

14:43

the EU's 27 member countries

14:46

now have hard-right parties,

14:49

which have support of 20% or

14:51

more in opinion polls, including

14:54

every large country bar Spain,

14:57

where the nationalist Vox did badly

15:00

in July's elections. Almost

15:03

four-fifths of the EU's population

15:06

now live in countries where the hard-right

15:08

commands the loyalty of at

15:10

least a fifth of the public.

15:14

The final shift is that the stakes

15:16

have been raised, particularly

15:18

at a European level. The

15:21

war in Ukraine has created

15:23

a pressing need for the EU

15:25

to welcome new members in the East,

15:28

ultimately including Ukraine. In

15:31

tandem, it will need to streamline

15:34

decision-making to reduce the

15:36

veto power member states wield.

15:39

The presence of a larger bloc

15:42

of anti-immigrant nationalists

15:44

could make that crucial task far

15:46

harder. Hungary's Viktor

15:49

Orban, a guru to other populist

15:52

nationalists, has consistently

15:54

tried to block EU reform. Imagine

15:58

if he gains more allies.

16:01

How should centrist voters and parties

16:04

respond to the threat from the hard right?

16:08

The old answer was to erect a cordon

16:10

sanitaire. Mainstream

16:13

parties refused to work with the insurgents.

16:16

Mainstream media refused to

16:18

air their views. That

16:21

approach may have run out of road.

16:23

In places, it is becoming counterproductive.

16:27

In Germany, the isolation of the AFD

16:30

has reinforced its narrative

16:32

of being the only alternative to a

16:35

failed establishment. Mainstream

16:38

parties cannot pretend forever

16:41

not to hear the voice of 20% of

16:43

voters without eventually corroding

16:46

democracy.

16:48

Meanwhile, there is more evidence that

16:50

hard right parties in Europe tend

16:53

to moderate their views when they have

16:55

to take responsibility for governing.

16:59

Exhibit A is Ms Maloney,

17:02

the first hard right Prime Minister

17:04

of a Western European country since

17:06

the Second World War. Despite

17:09

liberal fears, she has not,

17:12

or at least not yet, picked

17:14

fights with upended

17:16

migration policy or

17:19

restricted abortion or gay rights.

17:22

She has remained a supporter of NATO

17:24

and Ukraine, by no means

17:27

a given on the hard right. In

17:30

the Nordics, a similar pattern has

17:32

played out. The Finns and

17:34

the Sweden Democrats, two

17:36

nationalist parties, have become

17:39

more pragmatic since either joining

17:41

or agreeing to support a governing coalition.

17:46

Any decision to include a hard right

17:48

party in local or national government

17:51

should be taken with extreme caution,

17:54

especially in places where a history

17:56

of fascism arouses acute

17:58

sensitivity. Some

18:00

rules of the road may help. One

18:03

is that to be considered, any

18:06

party must agree to renounce violence

18:08

and respect the rule of law. Just

18:11

as important is the constitutional

18:13

context. At what

18:15

level of government should they be included?

18:19

What are the checks and balances

18:21

created by the electoral system and

18:23

other institutions? It

18:26

may make sense to allow the AFD

18:29

to take part as junior members

18:31

of local government coalitions in

18:33

Germany, for example.

18:35

It would be a disaster if the hard right

18:38

were to win France's presidency

18:40

with its enormous powers.

18:44

Last, mainstream parties

18:46

must accept that they have not done

18:48

enough to satisfy a large

18:50

and angry minority of their citizens.

18:54

Trying to accelerate the green transition

18:57

by loading people up with costs

18:59

they cannot afford. Germany's

19:01

rules on boilers, for instance, or

19:04

Emmanuel Macron's ill-fated

19:06

attempt to increase taxes

19:08

on fuel is just making

19:11

greenery unpopular. Better

19:14

communication and compensation

19:16

for the worst hit are both essential.

19:20

Failing to control national borders

19:22

alienates people, whereas

19:25

a well-managed migration system

19:27

could be shown to benefit them. The

19:30

new success of the hard right in Europe

19:33

is in part a failure of the centre,

19:36

so the centre needs to raise

19:38

its gain.

19:45

And finally, the promise of using drugs

19:48

to treat alcoholism.

19:50

impact

20:00

on their lives. Over 140,000 die

20:02

from alcohol-related causes each year. Alcohol is the

20:09

fourth biggest cause of preventable

20:11

death in America. These

20:13

statistics are especially devastating

20:16

because for many people the suffering

20:18

could have been avoided. For

20:21

decades, drugs have existed

20:23

to help with alcohol addiction. Dissulfirum,

20:27

also known as Antabuse, was

20:29

approved by the Food and Drug Administration,

20:32

or FDA, in 1951. It deters

20:36

alcohol use by causing patients

20:39

to get ill when they drink. Naltrexone

20:42

was approved in 1984 and

20:45

Acamprosate 20 years later.

20:48

They help reduce alcohol cravings

20:51

and make withdrawal more manageable. These

20:54

drugs work fairly well, if not dramatically

20:56

well, in most patients, says

20:59

Joshua Lee of New York University

21:01

Grossman School of Medicine, who

21:03

specialises in addiction medicine. Other

21:06

drugs, such as Topiramate, are

21:09

used off-label for alcoholism,

21:11

that is, doctors prescribe them for reasons

21:14

beyond their approved use by the FDA.

21:18

These drugs are as effective for treating

21:20

alcoholism as selective

21:22

serotonin reuptake inhibitors,

21:25

such as Prozac, are for depression.

21:28

Yet they are rarely prescribed. Fewer

21:31

than 2% of patients with

21:33

alcohol use disorder report

21:36

using any medication. By

21:38

comparison, 22% of patients with

21:41

opioid problems and over half

21:44

of patients with depression take

21:46

prescription drugs. Why

21:48

the reluctance to use them? They

21:51

are not covered deeply in medical schools,

21:53

says Dr. Lee. Practitioners

21:55

lack adequate knowledge, training and

21:57

confidence.

21:59

Other common ailments, such as depression,

22:02

have more FDA-approved drugs,

22:05

enabling clinicians to mix and match

22:08

and deal with side effects. You

22:10

need as many medications as possible,

22:12

because some will work for some people,

22:15

but not others, says Lorenzo

22:17

Legio of the National Institute

22:19

on Drug Abuse and the National

22:21

Institute on Alcohol Abuse and

22:24

Alcoholism.

22:26

And many sufferers are loath to

22:28

seek help. Only 7%

22:30

get any treatment, be it counselling,

22:33

support groups or drugs. By

22:35

the time folks seek treatment, it

22:37

has been lingering for some time, says

22:40

Laura Ray, a clinical psychologist

22:42

at the University of California, Los Angeles.

22:46

Dr Ray estimates that many wait 10 years

22:49

to get help. Some may not

22:51

know that drugs are available.

22:54

All this could soon change. Some

22:57

aglutides, more commonly known as Ozempic

23:00

and Wigovi, have recently

23:02

become popular drugs to treat diabetes

23:05

and obesity. Ozempic

23:07

is not FDA-approved for weight

23:09

loss, but some doctors prescribe

23:11

it off-label. They may also

23:14

work for curbing drinking. If

23:16

approved for alcohol use disorder,

23:19

they could change how patients seek

23:21

help and how doctors respond.

23:25

Patients have reported reduced alcohol

23:27

cravings while on Ozempic

23:30

and Wigovi, and preclinical

23:32

trials on rats and monkeys suggest

23:35

that semaglutide helps reduce

23:38

such cravings. Of course

23:40

anecdotes and trials on animals

23:42

are not enough to declare them safe and effective.

23:46

The National Institutes of Health and

23:48

Oklahoma State University, or OSU,

23:51

have started randomized clinical

23:54

trials on humans to determine

23:56

if semaglutide is effective

23:59

for alcohol. This

24:02

drug could be a Prozac

24:04

moment for addiction medication, says

24:07

Cal Simmons, a pharmacology professor

24:09

at OSU, who is running the

24:12

clinical trial. Before

24:14

the FDA approved Prozac in 1987,

24:17

depression drugs were usually reserved for

24:19

the most serious cases due

24:21

to their side effects. With

24:24

Prozac, doctors became comfortable

24:26

prescribing drugs for depression. Doctors

24:30

started to ask for the medication. Similarly,

24:33

the popularity of Asempic and Wigovi

24:36

could change the way doctors and patients

24:38

think about drugs for alcohol addiction

24:40

if the FDA approves them

24:43

for that purpose. Dr

24:45

Simmons is optimistic about Simaglutide's

24:48

potential, but he cautions

24:50

patients and practitioners eager

24:52

to use it for alcohol use disorder

24:55

now. We don't know for

24:57

certain that it works, he says, and

25:00

his study's results will not be available

25:02

for about two years. Fortunately,

25:05

patients do not need to wait to get

25:08

help. They can turn to the drugs

25:10

for alcoholism that have been ignored

25:12

by many for so long.

25:19

I'm

25:28

Adam Roberts, and in London, this

25:31

is The Economist.