ANS -- Review of Mulan

Here is a movie review with some interesting ideas in it.  What do you think?  Is it correct?

I remember hearing, when I was a kid, that one of the reasons so many girls wanted to be ballerinas is because it's the only thing open to women where you are judged by what you can do rather than how you look. It's changed some, but not enough. 

--Kim

Tony Binns

Tony Binns - It's a long one... brace yourself. Mulan-y... It's a long one... brace yourself. Mulan-y Sue: Or How I Almost Agreed with Petulant Fanboys for about a Minute...

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It's a long one... brace yourself.

Mulan-y Sue: Or How I Almost Agreed with Petulant Fanboys for about a Minute.

So… the wife and I watched the Disney live action Mulan last night. She really liked it. I didn't. Some nice fight choreography, but on the whole…meh. She literally had to tell me to put my phone down at one point. My issues with it, apart from turning Chi back into the Force, and literally stealing lines out of Star Wars was that unlike the original, Mulan was a fully complete, magic martial arts expert who kicks arrows out of mid-air from the start. She didn't work to earn the powers, she was just flawless going in. This is what many a neck bearded internet pundit calls a "Mary Sue".

"Mary Sue" is not a term I like. It feels inherently dismissive, condescending and sexist. After all a lot of these guys who complain about a female protagonist like Rey being too invincible from the start will breathlessly explain why John Wick is the greatest action hero of the modern era in the same breath. But I felt myself really starting to agree. Mulan didn't train for her powers she just had them . As a screenwriter that feels wrong to me. I started to feel like…. Blergh… maybe these guys were actually on to something.

Then I had a revelation, which formed into a theory. Again, I would never presume to say I know how women think or any such nonsense, so feel free to contradict or correct me here, but….

The Heroes journey fantasy for men is always starting at the bottom and coming into your own, so you are the complete bad ass at the end. The heroes journey fantasy for women is to be acknowledged for the power they already possess.

This has real world echoes. Men have always been told to roll up shirt sleeves and work their way to the top, whereas women are struggling to be heard, to not be interrupted, to be taken seriously, to not have their ideas stolen and to have equal pay and opportunity as their male counterparts. We fight for position, they fight for recognition.

So it's no surprise then that the female power fantasy so often centers around ability being recognized rather than acquiring the ability in the first place. Wonder Woman was bad ass from the start. She comes into a world where that isn't recognized and has to kick a few asses to get some respect.

The other example is Captain Marvel. When I saw it, I thought, "Yeah it's pretty good. I would have liked to see it told in a more linear way, I'd be more interested in seeing how she developed" What I didn't realize is that's not the point. The point is she is being gaslighted, held back and controlled. It's not about a classic hero's journey, it's about her breaking free of the constraints that have been placed on her. Brie Larson famously pissed off fanboys when she said "It's not for you." But she was right, it isn't for me. I haven't lived that experience so obviously I'm not going to get it. But it must have resonated because it made over a billion at the Box Office.

Part of the problem with the fanboy community is they can't handle the idea that someone might make a comic book movie that isn't for them. They get online and rant about alienating the fans, review bomb Rotten Tomatoes but in reality it's like they are little boys who want to take their action figures away from their little sister because she "Isn't playing with them right" Well, the little sister is playing with them based on her own feelings experiences and desires. She isn't playing with them for you, she's playing with them for her. That's why when you get female writers, directors, and producers you are going to get more movies from the sister's point of view. It's not for me, and I'm totally okay with that. I don't need everything to be about me. I have Dune coming out in 4 days. I'm gonna be just fine.

It has started me wondering about how we get taught to develop characters and stories in screenwriting. These sometimes seemingly arbitrary rules, The protagonist must change and grow by page XX, after the incident etc. etc. These are based on time tested storytelling structures, but…

Is there inherent bias tilted toward the male point of view baked into story structure? Is the classic heroes journey based off male experience? I mean obviously you can have a female protagonist go on the journey, there are lots of examples of that, but when the story is told with male power fantasies in place, is that becoming increasingly less relevant to what women want to see?

I don't have the answer to any of those questions, but this framing does give me a little insight, and something I will carry with me when creating female protagonists in the future.

But for the record, the animated Mulan was better.

ANS -- The last adult in the room

Joyce liked this article so much, she suggested I send it on to you all, in case you didn't get it from Robert Reich.  It's about Biden, the adult in the room.  We are enthused at the job Biden is doing, and this summarizes some of it. 

--Kim

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

The last adult in the room

Joe Biden is shrewd, careful, and calibrated. Almost everyone else on the stage is a wild child.

ROBERT REICH OCT 19

READ IN APP

Friends,

When we talk about someone being "adult" these days, it's usually by comparison to people who are technically adults but who act like children.

As I look at the people on the center stage of America now — the Republican clowns in the House, the childishly narcissistic Donald Trump, the juveniles on Fox News, the forever infantile Elon Musk, the fraudulent RFK Jr., the greedy CEOs who are raking in record compensation while refusing to raise the wages of their frontline workers, the spoiled financiers who want to make even bigger bets with other people's money — I'm appalled at how few adults are in the room.

When I look at people on center stage abroad — at autocrats like Netanyahu, Putin, and Xi, at mindless fanatics like the leaders of Hamas, and at dithering European prime ministers who waver over dependence on Russian oil, aid to Ukraine, and efforts to slow climate change — I'm dismayed by the paucity of adults.

But there is at least one adult in the room — in the American room and the global room — and his name is Joe Biden.

While Israel is rudderless and leaderless, Biden gives a pitch-perfect speech about the October 7 massacres, holding Hamas clearly and firmly accountable. Then he says publicly that an Israeli occupation of Gaza would be a "big mistake." And he quietly and shrewdly engages other Arab heads of state to help restore peace.

While Republicans accuse Biden of being responsible for the massacre because of $6 billion promised to Iran in exchange for prisoners (which has not even been delivered), Biden risks his life on a trip to Israel. He shows the Israeli people and the world that America will not back down from its commitment to the safety and sanctity of that country. He brokers a deal with Egypt to allow truckloads of aid into Gaza.

While Republicans bellyache that Biden has no policy for the Middle East, he negotiates the beginnings of a Saudi-Israeli peace pact that would make considerable concessions to Palestinians. It is the single best opportunity for a more ordinary life for Palestinians and Israelis since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and Anwar Sadat, by Israelis and Arabs opposed to peace.

While House Republicans can't select a speaker because they put their own selfish ambitions over the nation's well-being — once again forcing America to risk a government shutdown because of their antics — Biden quietly and competently does the work of governing the nation. His Cabinet is talented and committed. His White House staff is one of the best I've seen.

While Republican Senator Thomas Tuberville holds up the nominations of 301 senior military leaders to force changes in the Defense Department's position on equal access to reproductive health care services, Biden remains steadfast in his support for the military and for a woman's right to bodily autonomy.

While Trump and other Republicans pretend to be on the side of average working Americans — while promising their big corporate backers even more tax cuts — Biden raises the threshold salary for overtime pay, and makes it easier to unionize. Biden is the first president in history to walk a picket line.

As Senate Republicans prepare to impeach him for no reason and drag his son Hunter through the muck of right-wing media, Biden doesn't take the bait. He doesn't attack them or act vindictively, as would his predecessor. He maintains a dignified silence.

As Trump concocts nonstop lies about him, which are then repeated and amplified on Fox News and Newsmax, Biden remains unperturbed.

As the adult in the room, Biden doesn't lash out in ways that make entertaining news clips. He doesn't ridicule his opponents or call them names. He doesn't intentionally lie. He doesn't exaggerate his successes or minimize challenges ahead.

In contrast to his explosive and deranged predecessor (and likely rival for the presidency in the next election), Biden is emotionally mature, even-tempered, sensible.

America and the world need an adult in the room — especially now, when the kids are on a rampage. I thank our lucky stars that Joe Biden is in charge.

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ANS -- Scientists and philosophers identify nature's missing evolutionary law

Here is an interesting article about a new thing in science.  Actually, I learned about this in the early 1990s, in a class on theoretical physics. (It was a graduate level class in the Philosophy department.)  It was called Complexity Theory, and a few other names, then.  It was very new. Too new for the name to have settled.  I wrote a paper and gave a lecture on it for the class. In our class, it was expressed as: There is a mathematical principle that drives complex systems to become more complex, and has to do with Boolean Logic.  I actually enjoyed that class. And not because I was the only female in the class.

Find it here: Scientists and philosophers identify nature's missing evolutionary law 

Scientists and philosophers identify nature's missing evolutionary law A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes "a missing law of nature," re...

--Kim

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OCTOBER 16, 2023

 Editors' notes

Scientists and philosophers identify nature's missing evolutionary law

by Carnegie Institution for Science

As Earth formed, new geologic processes, especially those related to the interaction of hot fluids with rock during igneous activity and plate tectonics, gave birth to over 1500 new mineral species (4.55 to 2.5 billion years ago). At 2.5 billion years ago, emerging biological life introduced oxygen into the atmosphere. This was a time of pivotal change, when photosynthesis began and the interaction of iron with oxygen-based minerals changed ancient life, providing the blueprint for our future evolution, together with minerals. Credit: Dr. Robert Lavinsky

A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes "a missing law of nature," recognizing for the first time an important norm within the natural world's workings.

In essence, the new law states that complex natural systems evolve to states of greater patterning, diversity, and complexity. In other words, evolution is not limited to life on Earth, it also occurs in other massively complex systems, from planets and stars to atoms, minerals, and more.

Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology Daily science news on research developments, technological breakthroughs and the latest scientific innovations

It was authored by a nine-member team— scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Cornell University, and philosophers from the University of Colorado.

"Macroscopic" laws of nature describe and explain phenomena experienced daily in the natural world. Natural laws related to forces and motion, gravity, electromagnetism, and energy, for example, were described more than 150 years ago.

The new work presents a modern addition—a macroscopic law recognizing evolution as a common feature of the natural world's complex systems, which are characterized as follows:

• They are formed from many different components, such as atoms, molecules, or cells, that can be arranged and rearranged repeatedly
• Are subject to natural processes that cause countless different arrangements to be formed
• Only a small fraction of all these configurations survive in a process called "selection for function."

Regardless of whether the system is living or nonliving, when a novel configuration works well and function improves, evolution occurs.

The authors' "Law of Increasing Functional Information" states that the system will evolve "if many different configurations of the system undergo selection for one or more functions."

"An important component of this proposed natural law is the idea of 'selection for function,'" says Carnegie astrobiologist Dr. Michael L. Wong, first author of the study.

In the case of biology, Darwin equated function primarily with survival—the ability to live long enough to produce fertile offspring.

The new study expands that perspective, noting that at least three kinds of function occur in nature.

The most basic function is stability—stable arrangements of atoms or molecules are selected to continue. Also chosen to persist are dynamic systems with ongoing supplies of energy.

The third and most interesting function is "novelty"—the tendency of evolving systems to explore new configurations that sometimes lead to startling new behaviors or characteristics.

Life's evolutionary history is rich with novelties—photosynthesis evolved when single cells learned to harness light energy, multicellular life evolved when cells learned to cooperate, and species evolved thanks to advantageous new behaviors such as swimming, walking, flying, and thinking.

The same sort of evolution happens in the mineral kingdom. The earliest minerals represent particularly stable arrangements of atoms. Those primordial minerals provided foundations for the next generations of minerals, which participated in life's origins. The evolution of life and minerals are intertwined, as life uses minerals for shells, teeth, and bones.

Indeed, Earth's minerals, which began with about 20 at the dawn of our solar system, now number almost 6,000 known today thanks to ever more complex physical, chemical, and ultimately biological processes over 4.5 billion years.

In the case of stars, the paper notes that just two major elements—hydrogen and helium—formed the first stars shortly after the big bang. Those earliest stars used hydrogen and helium to make about 20 heavier chemical elements. And the next generation of stars built on that diversity to produce almost 100 more elements.

"Charles Darwin eloquently articulated the way plants and animals evolve by natural selection, with many variations and traits of individuals and many different configurations," says co-author Robert M. Hazen of Carnegie Science, a leader of the research.

"We contend that Darwinian theory is just a very special, very important case within a far larger natural phenomenon. The notion that selection for function drives evolution applies equally to stars, atoms, minerals, and many other conceptually equivalent situations where many configurations are subjected to selective pressure."

The co-authors themselves represent a unique multi-disciplinary configuration: three philosophers of science, two astrobiologists, a data scientist, a mineralogist, and a theoretical physicist.

Dr. Wong said, "In this new paper, we consider evolution in the broadest sense—change over time—which subsumes Darwinian evolution based upon the particulars of 'descent with modification.'"

"The universe generates novel combinations of atoms, molecules, cells, etc. Those combinations that are stable and can go on to engender even more novelty will continue to evolve. This is what makes life the most striking example of evolution, but evolution is everywhere."

Among many implications, the paper offers:

1. Understanding into how differing systems possess varying degrees to which they can continue to evolve. "Potential complexity" or "future complexity" have been proposed as metrics of how much more complex an evolving system might become
2. Insights into how the rate of evolution of some systems can be influenced artificially. The notion of functional information suggests that the rate of evolution in a system might be increased in at least three ways: (1) by increasing the number and/or diversity of interacting agents, (2) by increasing the number of different configurations of the system; and/or (3) by enhancing the selective pressure on the system (for example, in chemical systems by more frequent cycles of heating/cooling or wetting/drying).
3. A deeper understanding of generative forces behind the creation and existence of complex phenomena in the universe, and the role of information in describing them
4. An understanding of life in the context of other complex evolving systems. Life shares certain conceptual equivalencies with other complex evolving systems, but the authors point to a future research direction, asking if there is something distinct about how life processes information on functionality (see also https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2022.0810).
5. Aiding the search for life elsewhere: if there is a demarcation between life and non-life that has to do with selection for function, can we identify the "rules of life" that allow us to discriminate that biotic dividing line in astrobiological investigations? (See also "Did Life Exist on Mars? Other Planets? With AI's Help, We May Know Soon")
6. At a time when evolving AI systems are an increasing concern, a predictive law of information that characterizes how both natural and symbolic systems evolve is especially welcome

Laws of nature—motion, gravity, electromagnetism, thermodynamics—etc. codify the general behavior of various macroscopic natural systems across space and time.

The "law of increasing functional information" complements the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy (disorder) of an isolated system increases over time (and heat always flows from hotter to colder objects).

More information: On the roles of function and selection in evolving systems, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2310223120. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310223120

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

Provided by Carnegie Institution for Science 

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Explore further

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ANS -- Scientists finally know why people get more colds and flu in winter

This article was sent to me by one of our readers.  Apparently, cold air really is bad for your immune system -- or, they think it is.  More studies to confirm the findings will happen. 

--Kim

Scientists finally know why people get more colds and flu in winter

Sandee LaMotte, CNN

Tue, October 17, 2023 at 3:45 AM PDT·6 min read

130

Scientists finally know why people get more colds and flu in winter

Editor's Note: Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.

There's a chill is in the air, and you all know what that means — it's time for cold and flu season, when it seems everyone you know is suddenly sneezing, sniffling or worse. It's almost as if those pesky cold and flu germs whirl in with the first blast of winter weather.

Yet germs are present year-round — just think back to your last summer cold. So why do people get more colds, flu and now Covid-19 when it's chilly outside?

In what they called a "breakthrough," scientists uncovered the biological reason we get more respiratory illnesses in winter — the cold air itself damages the immune response occurring in the nose.

"This is the first time that we have a biologic, molecular explanation regarding one factor of our innate immune response that appears to be limited by colder temperatures," said rhinologist Dr. Zara Patel, a professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. She was not involved in the new study.

In fact, reducing the temperature inside the nose by as little as 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) kills nearly 50% of the billions of helpful bacteria-fighting cells and viruses in the nostrils, according to the 2022 study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

"Cold air is associated with increased viral infection because you've essentially lost half of your immunity just by that small drop in temperature," said study author Dr. Benjamin Bleier, director of otolaryngology translational research at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

"it's important to remember that these are in vitro studies, meaning that although it is using human tissue in the lab to study this immune response, it is not a study being carried out inside someone's actual nose," Patel said in an email. "Often the findings of in vitro studies are confirmed in vivo, but not always."

A hornet's nest

To understand why this occurs, Bleier and his team and coauthor Mansoor Amiji, who chairs the department of pharmaceutical sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, went on a scientific detective hunt.

A respiratory virus or bacteria invades the nose, the main point of entry into the body. Immediately, the front of the nose detects the germ, well before the back of the nose is aware of the intruder, the team discovered.

At that point, cells lining the nose immediately begin creating billions of simple copies of themselves called extracellular vesicles, or EV's.

"EV's can't divide like cells can, but they are like little mini versions of cells specifically designed to go and kill these viruses," Bleier said. "EV's act as decoys, so now when you inhale a virus, the virus sticks to these decoys instead of sticking to the cells."

Those "Mini Me's" are then expelled by the cells into nasal mucus (yes, snot), where they stop invading germs before they can get to their destinations and multiply.

"This is one of, if not the only part of the immune system that leaves your body to go fight the bacteria and viruses before they actually get into your body," Bleier said.

Once created and dispersed out into nasal secretions, the billions of EV's then start to swarm the marauding germs, Bleier said.

"It's like if you kick a hornet's nest, what happens? You might see a few hornets flying around, but when you kick it, all of them all fly out of the nest to attack before that animal can get into the nest itself," he said. "That's the way the body mops up these inhaled viruses so they can never get into the cell in the first place."

READ MORE: Is it a cold, flu or Covid-19? A doctor helps sort it out

A big increase in immune power

When under attack, the nose increases production of extracellular vesicles by 160%, the study found. There were additional differences: EV's had many more receptors on their surface than original cells, thus boosting the virus-stopping ability of the billions of extracellular vesicles in the nose.

"Just imagine receptors as little arms that are sticking out, trying to grab on to the viral particles as you breathe them in," Bleier said. "And we found each vesicle has up to 20 times more receptors on the surface, making them super sticky."

Cells in the body also contain a viral killer called micro RNA, which attack invading germs. Yet EVs in the nose contained 13 times micro RNA sequences than normal cells, the study found.

So the nose comes to battle armed with some extra superpowers. But what happens to those advantages when cold weather hits?

To find out, Bleier and his team exposed four study participants to 15 minutes of 40-degree-Fahrenheit (4.4-degree-Celsius) temperatures, and then measured conditions inside their nasal cavities.

"What we found is that when you're exposed to cold air, the temperature in your nose can drop by as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit. And that's enough to essentially knock out all three of those immune advantages that the nose has," Bleier said.

In fact, that little bit of coldness in the tip of the nose was enough to take nearly 42% of the extracellular vesicles out of the fight, Bleier said.

"Similarly, you have almost half the amount of those killer micro RNA's inside each vesicle, and you can have up to a 70% drop in the number of receptors on each vesicle, making them much less sticky," he said.

What does that do to your ability to fight off colds, flu and Covid-19? It cuts your immune system's ability to fight off respiratory infections by half, Bleier said.

READ MORE: Why people who qualify should get the RSV vaccine

You don't have to wear a nose sock

As it turns out, the pandemic gave us exactly what we need to help fight off chilly air and keep our immunity high, Bleier said.

Wearing a mask can protect you from cold air that can reduce your immunity, an expert says. - sebra/Adobe Stock

"Not only do masks protect you from the direct inhalation of viruses, but it's also like wearing a sweater on your nose," he said.

Patel agreed: "The warmer you can keep the intranasal environment, the better this innate immune defense mechanism will be able to work. Maybe yet another reason to wear masks!"

In the future, Bleier expects to see the development of topical nasal medications that build upon this scientific revelation. These new pharmaceuticals will "essentially fool the nose into thinking it has just seen a virus," he said.

"By having that exposure, you'll have all these extra hornets flying around in your mucous protecting you," he added.