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Off the Board, Opinion

Overcoming human challenges with transhumanism

by Leanne Young, Photo Editor on

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Sometimes, being human involves tragedy: unexpected accidents can alter a person’s future, permanently changing how they need to approach their daily lives. Those with traumatic brain injuries suffer long-term mental and physical challenges, such as trouble with their working memory span, which can play a significant role in their education and longevity. However, if used properly, transhuman aids such as prosthetic limbs can provide solutions to human challenges.

Transhumanism, in a nutshell, is the idea that people can use technology to overcome biological limitations. Just as how we use rational means to improve our life experiences and the world around us, we can use such means to improve ourselves as organisms. It is simply a concept, not a tangible characterization of some futuristic cyborg.

There is reasonable fear that using such technologies would be tampering with nature. This is true. However, whether something is good or bad cannot be decided simply by asking whether or not it is natural. Plenty of natural things are horrible, such as diseases and parasites, where our moral interest is to intervene and improve these conditions. The question to ask is not whether the technology is natural, but rather, what are the various possible consequences that would arise from it, both desirable and undesirable, and the likelihood of each. People who are concerned that our species will stray too far away from what it means to be a ‘natural human’ forget how far we have already evolved as a species.  

Our technology today has already changed the ways our mind works. Many people in modern society cannot live without devices such as computers or phones. We pick up our devices an average of 80 times per day, and that has already changed our brains for the worse—our attention span is only 40 seconds on a screen. It is important to carefully understand what we can control, so that we can approach creating technology with wisdom. It’s optimal to focus with specific areas first: For example, hearing aids started with a goal to help people with hearing loss. With that technology, some adjustments and developments can lead to super-human hearing. Therefore, we should only apply our super-technology in specific areas where we actually want those abilities. 

One area of interest is in improving the educational experiences of students with disabilities. Neuroprosthetics, implants that directly interface with your brain, are already transforming the lives of many deaf, blind, and paralyzed people today. Such technology has the potential to redefine how we learn and take in information, and ultimately expand the horizons for students with difficulties. While we should not be trying to “cure” anyone of their conditions, it is a wonderful opportunity to give everyone the tools they need or desire, while still allowing them to stay true to themselves.

“It is important to carefully understand what we can control, so that we can approach creating technology with wisdom.”

It is unethical to use prosthetics to give someone a mechanical advantage over their natural counterpart. However, if used properly, as is the case with prosthetic arms, hearing aids, and false teeth, that we commonly see today, these aids are not considered unethical: We are already transcending what it means to be a human. Our brains are hardwired to work towards what is in our species’ best interest. Thus, we should not be discouraging the pursuit of transhumanism, rather, we should instead be encouraging its discussion. As long as we are careful and considerate of our creations, we will only be improving our lives, and the lives of those around us. At the end of the day, transhumanism is a choice in the best interest of our species.

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Rapid urbanization is driving biodiversity decline

by Gwenyth Wren on

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Humanity is currently experiencing an unprecedented era of urban growth. By 2030, more than 1.2 billion additional people are expected to live in cities, equivalent to building a city the size of New York every six weeks.

A group of international scientists, including Andrew Gonzalez, a professor in the McGill Department of Biology, surveyed over 922 studies on urban growth’s impacts on biodiversity. Their study, recently published in Nature, found that scientists are not studying the impacts of urban growth in the right places: 72 per cent of studies of direct urban impacts on biodiversity are in high-income countries, while the natural habitat loss in lower-income countries, largely ignored by the scientific community, is much more severe. In essence, researchers are neglecting to study low-income urban growth. 

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Gonzalez explained the importance of studying the effects of urbanization on biodiversity, particularly in developing countries.

“[In] Nigeria, Brazil, and China, where human growth is [greatest] and where biodiversity is the richest, is where we have the most to lose,” Gonzalez said.

Generally, the direct effects of urban growth on habitat loss are well understood: Building construction often results in habitat destruction and fragmentation. According to Gonzalez, however, scientists are not paying enough attention to the indirect effects, which outweigh the direct consequences. 

“The indirect effect of urban expansion is the resources cities demand,” Gonzalez said. “The ecological footprint of cities is much greater than the footprint of just the building. We have a bad understanding of the indirect effects of urban growth.” 

Cities also require land for food and energy, another example of urbanization’s indirect impacts on the environment. This requires converting vast areas of land into agricultural spaces to sustain cities, leading to more habitat loss. 

“The amount of agricultural land required to feed the world’s cities is 36 times greater in size than the urban areas themselves,” Gonzalez said.

 Despite this knowledge, only 34 per cent of studies have quantified these indirect impacts.

Gonzalez pointed out that however detached we may feel living in a city, we are fundamentally dependent on ecosystems. 

“We depend on them for normal things,” Gonzalez said. “Food, fibre, water, air, recycle all those essential things we need for life, species do all of that. What makes these habitats the Amazon or the boreal forest is their biological diversity and the variability of living organisms in these places. Habitat loss impacts the things we rely on.”

People in low-income countries are largely moving to cities due to increasing industrialization and job availability. This presents a major problem for cities with limited infrastructure that must continue expanding to keep up with the influx of people from rural areas. In this case, urban expansion is necessary, and hindering it is unrealistic. Gonzalez suggests tangible ways to reduce the habitat loss caused by urbanization.

“There is nothing wrong with a city per se; the question of how we choose to live in a city is the issue,” Gonzalez said. 

By reducing urban sprawl and allowing nature and people to coexist by enforcing policies such as green belts, or areas where building is restricted, cities can achieve greater sustainability as urban centres grow.

Although there seems to be a plethora of environmental concerns that merit our attention, the loss of  habitat and the disappearance of native species is often not given the weight it deserves.

“Habitat loss used to be the kind of thing we worried about ethically,” Gonzalez said.  “Now we realize it is integral for the functioning of our ecosystems and biosphere. Our fate is determined by how we treat our biodiversity, and in that, our biosphere.”

Ask a Scientist, Science & Technology

Image generation is rendering advertisements artificial

by Doris Tian on

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Decadent delicacies in food advertisements are not always what they seem to be. In these commercials, motor oil poses as pancake syrup, mashed potatoes become scoops of ice cream, and craft glue replaces milk in a bowl of cereal. 

Today, a rendering technique called physically based rendering (PBR) allows advertisers to take further liberties when creating their ads. Rather than cheating customers by passing off one product as another, this rendering technology generates photorealistic images on a computer without relying upon expensive and unwieldy camera equipment. Open any product catalogue today, and it is likely that the images displayed never existed in real life. 

PBR relies on physics to generate realistic depictions of objects. According to Derek Nowrouzezahrai, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, PBR attempts to create images that portray the physics of light as accurately as possible. 

“[PBR] is about getting accurate physical models of the behaviour of light and how it transmits, scatters, reflects, and diffuses for different types of materials,” Nowrouzezahrai said. “Wood versus metal, versus plastic, versus hair, versus skin.” 

In general, rendering takes a three-dimensional scene and attempts to output a two-dimensional picture that realistically portrays the original three-dimensional state. In AI and robotics, PBR gives computers sight through an inverse process, where computers input a two-dimensional scene and use it to figure out its three-dimensional surroundings. 

“If I have a camera sensor on my car, and I’m taking a 2D picture of my scene, how much of the 3D world can I infer?” Nowrouzezahrai said. “This is the traditional computer vision problem.”

Images created through PBR strive to be as true as possible to real world physics. According to Nowrouzezahrai, this helps robots—especially autonomous vehicles, which take in a lot of natural light—to navigate the real world without incident.  

The advertisement industry widely employs PBR technology, since it reduces the cost and time associated with setting up and capturing the ideal shot. PBR also allows directors to be more flexible when designing the scene by freeing them from the restraints of the physical world. As a prominent example, the furniture giant IKEA has entirely adopted PBR technology in the creation of their beautiful catalogues.

“It’s all fake,” Nowrouzezahrai said. “It’s been decades since they have taken a real picture of their product.”

Beyond product advertising and prototyping, PBR is also an integral part of the entertainment industry. In video games and films, PBR produces impressively realistic renderings, even scenes with floating artifacts and fantasy beasts that one would never encounter in real life. 

PBR allows us to recreate more of our material world in the digital realm. At the same time, its realistic images also allow robots, born in the binary realm, to find their way into the physical world. Further research and applications for PBR include creating better simulations for humans and robots. For humans, such simulations come in the form of virtual reality experiences. Robots, on the other hand, might use simulations for training purposes before being allowed to operate in the real world. 

Through research in PBR and other simulation technologies, visual media artists and machine learning scientists like Nowrouzezahrai have teamed up to find out how much our material world we can recreate realistically in the digital world, and what exactly can be done with the results.

Basketball, Sports

McGill Men’s Basketball loses nailbiter to Citadins

by Adam Burton on

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The McGill Men’s Basketball team (8–2) lost in heartbreaking fashion on Jan. 18 in an electrifying home game against the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) Citadins with a final score of 81–75. This loss did not reflect the heart-wrenching efforts from both sides that led to a thrilling eight lead changes throughout the game. 

Neither team had any offensive momentum at the beginning of the first quarter, as both sides forced turnovers and switched screens exceptionally, making easy baskets hard to come by. Only third-year forward Levi Londole made a significant offensive impact, with an impressive seven of the team’s 16 first quarter points. McGill finished the slow-paced quarter trailing the Citadins, 17–16.

The second quarter saw a significant increase in pace, with both teams hitting their rhythm, increasing ball movement, sinking threes, and energizing an already rowdy crowd of 305 in the process. McGill used ball movement and a fast-paced, screen-centric offence, pushing the team into the lead with 36 points to the Citadins’ 32 at the end of the first half.

McGill’s dominance did not last, however, and sloppy ball handling and missed shots plagued the team in the second half. 

“We didn’t [use] the ball particularly well today,” Head Coach David DeAveiro said. “I think we shot 19.4 per cent from three. It’s tough to win games where you don’t shoot the ball, especially for us. We’re not big, our game is shooting threes. But we turned it over 19 times and got out-rebounded.”

The third quarter saw an improvement for McGill. Londole put up a dominant defensive effort and scored six points, including a crowd-pleasing fast-break dunk. Third-year guard Jamal Mayali ended the quarter decisively with an and-one layup and an off-balance three-pointer in the last minute of the quarter to cut UQÀM’s lead to three, 59–56.

McGill came into the fourth quarter red-hot and overtook UQÀM midway through with a one-point lead, bringing the score to 66–65. But McGill’s luck turned with four minutes left in the quarter: Their defence suddenly fell to a flurry of threes, and careless ball handling led to several turnovers. 

With three minutes remaining, the score was 70–66 UQÀM, and McGill broke under the pressure, fouling and turning the ball over consistently. Several time-outs and free throws later, McGill lost 81–75. 

“I’m really confident, […] we’re still in first place,” third-year point-guard JJ Hamel-Carey said of McGill’s chances in the postseason. “It’s our second loss of the season, so we’re not going to hang our heads. It happens, it’s a small loss.”

McGill hopes to turn their luck around in their coming game against the Concordia Stingers (4–3) on Jan. 23. 

 

Moment of The Game

With 15 seconds left in the third quarter, third-year guard Jamal Mayali sunk an off-balance three-pointer to bring McGill within three points of UQÀM, energizing the crowd and spiriting the team to come out strong in the fourth quarter.

Quotable 

“They were [hungrier] because they had something to prove because we had just beat them. So we were feeling good about ourselves, and they punched us in the face. We kind of responded, but we could have been better, and at the end of the game, they made a couple key plays that gave them the edge.” – Third-year point guard JJ Hamel-Carey on the mental aspect of the game.

Stat Corner

JJ Hamel-Carey scored a season-high 16 points, going 7–11 for the entire game. He did this with an athletic slash-and-kick style of play that allowed him to drive to the rim effectively.

McGill, News

McGill mourns victims of the plane crash in Iran

by Abbas Mehrabian on

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On Jan. 16, McGill held a memorial on the Macdonald campus for Negar Borghei, an Iranian master’s student and a victim of the plane crash near Tehran. The Jan. 8 incident claimed the lives of 176 people on the plane, including two members of the McGill community.

Borghei obtained her first master’s degree in Iran and worked as a dietitian. She hoped to obtain her credentials to practice in Canada, so she enrolled in the human nutrition program at McGill in September 2019 to obtain a second master’s degree, according to Anja Geitmann, Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“Negar’s brother tells me that it has helped the family cope with their loss by seeing how Canada, in general, and McGill in particular share their grief,” Geitmann said. “It is upon the family’s request that we will be taking pictures and video footage today […] in the hope that seeing the footage calms Negar’s family.”

Borghei’s husband, Alvand Sadeghi, was on the plane with her. He was a web developer at ViewFin, a fintech company, and lived in Toronto. Negar travelled back and forth between Montreal and Toronto on the weekends to see him. Also aboard were Alvand’s sister, Sahand, and her young daughter Sophie. During the memorial, Linda Wykes, Director of the School of Human Nutrition recounted her memories of Borghei. 

“She was able to influence people through the brightness of her personality,” Wykes said. “She was a leader, an important colleague and a collaborator in many group projects. Negar was a very bright light and we will always remember her.”

Over 100 people attended the memorial, which prompted the organizers to relocate from the MacDonald-Stewart’s faculty lounge to a lecture hall at the last minute. McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier offered her condolences to Borghei’s family, friends, and to the McGill’s Iranian community. The attendees of the memorial were touched when a group of Borghei’s classmates tearfully shared their memories about her. Maureen Rose, Dietetics Credentialing Director, remembers the times spent with Borghei. 

 “She was […] always with a friendly, welcoming smile,” Rose said. “And I think that was an output sign of the nature of a soul. She was warm, generous, always helping others, able to be a leader but also willing to be a team player. Negar, you are a bright light, and now you are shining somewhere else, but you will always be here, shining.”

After the speeches, the attendees returned to the faculty lounge, where they signed a condolence book that will be sent to Negar’s family. Music was provided by a chamber trio from the Schulich School of Music.

Maryam Razaghi, a PhD candidate in human nutrition, went to the same undergraduate school as Negar. Razaghi was comforted by McGill’s condolence messages and the memorial, and recalled the last time she saw Borghei.

“I felt that McGill cares about us and that we are like a family,” Razaghi said. “[I last saw her] in December at a Winners store, I saw her from a distance and noticed she [was] buying a lot of stuff. I guessed she must be going to Iran and is buying gifts for her family. I regret that I did not talk to her for the very last time.”

Faraz Falsafi, who received his master’s degree in computer science from McGill in 2015, was another victim of the plane crash. Sajjad Ghaemi, a Research officer at the National Research Council of Canada, met Faraz in a machine learning course.

“He loved to travel and to take photographs,” Ghaemi said. “After his graduation from McGill, he worked in Montreal for some time, then moved to Toronto and started working there. I last spoke to him in October; he told me he is going to Iran for the holidays to attend his sister’s wedding ceremony. I still cannot believe he is gone. I sometimes call him or check whether he has sent me a Whatsapp message.”

 

Student Life

Supporting student wellness through synergy

by Kate Addison on

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The annual Synergy Mental Health conference, hosted by Students in Mind (SiM), continued the discourse on mental wellness with a particular focus on cultivating a community on campus promoting healthy minds. The conference featured various activities, such as a journal writing workshop and a talk on how to navigate the health care system at McGill and beyond. These workshops facilitated conversations about mental health as well as providing students with the necessary tools to care for the wellbeing of themselves and those in their community. Julia Caddy, U2 Arts and President of SiM, explained the group’s multifaceted approach to addressing mental health challenges.

 “[SiM investigates] the dimensions of mental health, we’re not just focussed on [the question] ‘Am I okay?’” Caddy said. “We’ve really focussed on making sure that we connect to all different dimensions so that we are able to create a conference that people are able to customize to their mental health story. We don’t want people to fit our narrative. We want to be fitting theirs.”

This multi-dimensional approach to mental wellness was the inspiration for the theme of this year’s conference: Synergy. With a multitude of speakers and activities catering to all different learning styles and interests, the event was part of SiM’s year-round efforts to offer accessible resources for obstacles to the mental health of students. 

“Initiatives like this one are important because it’s really difficult to be a student,” Johanna Cline, U3 Arts and SiM’s VP Communications, said. “[…] You need support, and I feel like a lot of people lack access or don’t know how to access [those resources].” 

Dr. Erin Barker, a professor of psychology at Concordia University and the conference keynote speaker, discussed this difficulty. Citing data from an American College Health Association study, Barker noted the high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among university students.

“We see [a] spectrum of distress, stress across large samples of university students,” Barker said. “We need to get over those myths that university students are sort of this privileged healthy class of individuals and start to actually realize that really, […] it can be a distressing experience, and it’s one that large portions of our population are going to have to face.”

With high levels of student stress and inadequate mental health support from the university and the public health care system, SiM hopes to provide students with important resources they may be unable to access elsewhere.  

“It’s the school administration that needs to change its healthcare system, […] but the reality is [that the school’s healthcare is not changing] or [it is] not changing fast enough,” Caddy said. “But our struggle doesn’t just wait […] until policies are passed. What […we can] do is to ensure that everyone has the tools they need at the moment and can equip themselves and their peers to cope as a student and advocate for themselves.” 

To create a community supporting students’ mental wellbeing all year round, SiM holds events throughout each semester such as Mindful meal preps and a Week of Wellness. For Ellie Brehaug, U3 Psychology, this year’s conference was successful in fostering a supportive student body. 

“[Today], I’ve learned that there are other people who are struggling with their mental health,” Brehaug said. “[I discovered] that it’s a common thing to experience in university, which is kind of comforting to know that you’re not alone.” 

Commentary, Opinion

McGill is not an “Antisemitic University”

by Jonah Fried on

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Over the winter break, I was excited to talk with my family and friends about McGill, but defending the university’s name against accusations of antisemitism was not what I had in mind. Instead of sitting down to the ordinary Shabbat dinner with loved ones, I stumbled into defending a McGill on trial, and I did my best as its attorney: But, it seemed like the case was already closed. The Times of Israel had already published a piece lamenting an “antisemitic” Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) resolution, while Bari Weiss, New York Times Opinion Staff Editor, mentioned the incident in a column about the rise of worldwide antisemitism. 

As a Jewish student and representative to SSMU, seeing the issue so misrepresented in the press was jarring to say the least. Instead of a reasoned debate, the dinner table conversation quickly turned into a loud, heated dispute, as my explanations of the nuances of McGill student governance were drowned in a flood of misunderstanding facilitated by journalistic malpractice. The distinction I sought to make to those seated around the table is this: Not everything that is anti-Israel is antisemitic, and the issue is far too complicated to be reduced to “antisemitism” or even anti-Israel bias. Moreover, conflating the two is both damaging to the term “antisemitism” itself and insulting to Jewish people who are critical of Israel and its current leadership. 

The issue at hand is an offer to apply for an all-expenses paid trip to Israel and Palestine, which was pitched by Hillel Montreal to SSMU executives, directors, and other “student leaders.” Hillel extended the invitation through a letter that is worthy of scrutiny, according to student representatives, because it could indicate that the trip presents a conflict of interest. Although SSMU has been plagued by issues that have led to accusations of antisemitism or anti-Israel bias in the past, this situation is hardly identical to the 2017 incident of a councillor being threatened with impeachment for being “pro-Israel.” This time, The McGill Daily exposed councillors who had accepted the invitation, problematizing the unclear motives behind the trip. Debate over the issue culminated in a Nov. 28 resolution to condemn the trip as a conflict of interest for student leaders. The meeting concluded that those concerned should either resign or back away from the trip, lest they will face impeachment. While most councillors and directors renounced their initial acceptances before the resolution was debated, Jordyn Wright, the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) representative to the SSMU Legislative Council, refused to turn down the offer.

“The distinction I sought to make to those seated around the table is this: Not everything that is anti-Israel is antisemitic, and the issue is far too complicated to be reduced to “antisemitism” or even anti-Israel bias.”

Weiss wrote that SSMU resolved to remove Wright over the trip even though “another student government leader is also going,” concluding that “apparently because that student is not a Jew, no resignation was required.” What Weiss failed to acknowledge is that some councilors argued that, as a director, Wright represents the Legislative Council on the Board of Directors (BoD): Had the resolution to condemn the trip as a conflict of interest passed without requiring her to resign, she would have been in defiance of the Legislative Council at large. The other councillor is not on the BoD, and was not asked to resign because councillors felt that his actions would not have affected further decision making on SSMU. And Wright was hardly “singled out” for being Jewish, considering that an Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) representative, who is also a member of the BoD, was also named in the resolution until he backed away from the trip. Moreover, he and other non-Jewish councilors going on the trip were asked by the Social Work representative to resign during a Nov. 14 meeting because the councillor perceived the trip as a conflict of interest. Like Weiss, the Times of Israel failed to account for the existence of these circumstances when they quoted Wright, labelling the resolution as “antisemitic”. Without acknowledging these key details, millions of readers of these media outlets, and others that reported on the issue, will conclude that McGill is an antisemitic university, and that impression will be difficult to dislodge. This could cause some parents to think twice about sending their children here, and potential donors might be deterred.  

Students can reasonably question whether or not SSMU is making a fuss over seemingly needless provisions in its governing documents, but to call the resolution “antisemitic” requires more evidence than the opinion of the councilor whose position (and potential free trip to Israel) is jeopardized in the situation. Labels like “antisemitic” must be applied carefully. Jewish people especially must take every step necessary to safeguard the integrity of that condemnation, by ensuring that when it is levied, it is with the utmost gravity and conviction in its justification. The world is becoming increasingly unsafe for Jewish people, but the censure of “antisemitic” loses weight when it is applied carelessly and incorrectly. Calling McGill antisemitic also tarnishes the university’s reputation, which, in turn, devalues every McGill student’s degree. It is deeply troubling that the media has been able to shape public opinion on this matter without having examined the situation thoroughly. Words are powerful, and in the current political climate, where the value of truth has been questioned by those in power and the internet is rife with fake news, it is imperative that the power of terms like “antisemitic” not be reduced through misuse.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Don’t let its charm fool you; “Bad Boys for Life” is a bad movie

by Patrick Gilroy on

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To analyse Bad Boys For Life on its own terms, as most other critics seem to be doing, would be a disservice to the canon of good-to-great Hollywood films that have been and are being made. Sure, as a buddy-cop movie filled to the brim with gun-fights and corny jokes, the film functions perfectly fine. But the bar doesn’t need to be so low. When considered alongside other, superior crime films, this one is a heaping pile of garbage. 

The last movie in the Bad Boys franchise was released in 2003, a sequel to Michael Bay’s directorial debut. Boasting 147 minutes of runtime, Bad Boys II raked in $273.3 million at the box office but was almost universally panned by critics. Despite the film’s commercial success, the decision to revive the franchise in a market saturated with remakes is questionable. Bad Boys for Life confronts a culture whose attitudes toward both police violence and cliché plot twists have shifted in the 15 years since the previous iteration. The film still does its best to make those work while Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reprise their roles as narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, but it falls short in moving beyond tired tropes. 

The two aging detectives play roles familiar to the cop-drama genre. While Marcus wants to retire, Mike does not. Prolonged bickering thus ensues before personal calamities inevitably bring them both back into the fold. Other clichés ticked off include a brash, hot-headed officer whose penchant for danger frightens his female love interest, a good-cop-bad-cop interrogation, a “club scene” featuring familiar female characters in sexy outfits, and a hero who tries to complete his mission alone before being rescued by his friends. 

What makes this movie palatable is the indisputable chemistry between Smith and Lawrence. Lawrence, playing an Alexa-using, modern version of the ‘I’m getting too old for this’ guy, gets a laugh at every turn, while Smith does a fine job with the loveable-asshole shtick. As a pair, the two manage to turn this action film into a bonafide comedy, albeit an unambitious one. 

Unfortunately, the film’s strengths end there. A high-tech squad that joins the fray plays as a parody of an elite CIA unit, and not in a funny way. Casual references to extreme police surveillance and PTSD aside, the connections that directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah try to forge between Lowery and the techies are embarrassingly stiff, and the primacy of their roles is unjustified. 

Meanwhile, the romantic spark between Mike and fellow officer Rita (Paola Nuñez) is non-existent, as Mike repeatedly clashes with her before she decides to love him again for no apparent reason other than narrative convenience. As such, the film reads as if the writers took the narrative skeleton of a buddy-cop film, decided what point A and point B were, and filled in the rest on the fly. The film simply has too many plot points and too little development.

Despite Bad Boys For Life’s mediocrity, most critics are still giving it praise. Part of this seems to be the penchant for evaluating it as a buddy-cop popcorn movie and nothing else. If done this way, a review might stand for a casual filmgoer, but it does a disservice to movie fans who have an operating standard that goes something like ‘Godfather good, Transformers 4 bad.’ Sure, Bad Boys For Life might be good given its commitment to the standard formula for a buddy-cop movie, but by no means does that make it universally good. All films have creative and artistic potential, and by embracing certain genre films as inevitably uninspired, critics are discouraging innovation and normalizing mediocrity.  

Film lovers should demand more from critics, just as moviegoers should demand more from the studios that have a stranglehold on the means of film production and distribution. With a trite script, worn out tropes, and unfunny writing, Bad Boys For Life is simply not good.

Arts & Entertainment

Kai Cheng Thom questions cancel culture with ‘I Hope We Choose Love’

by Jonathan Giammaria on

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Despite the biting cold of a resurgent Montreal winter, Librairie Drawn & Quarterly saw a packed house on Jan. 17. The crowd was eager to hear Kai Cheng Thom speak about her new collection of essays and poetry, I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World. Though Thom often referred to herself throughout the night, with a hint of ironic self-mockery, as “queer famous,” the McGill alumna has been a prominent voice in recent literary discourse on transgender issues and the notion of a queer community. 

With her book, Thom explores the hostility, both from outside and within marginalized communities, that pervades our lives under the lens of cancel culture and our growing uncertainty about communal integrity. Thom described I Hope We Choose Love not as a prescriptive, technical manifesto on repressing reactionary hostility, but rather as a text that validates the possibility of transformative justice within a community. 

As an alternative to punitive justice, whose emphasis on punishing transgressions Thom believes undermines cancel culture, transformative justice favours open communication and forgiveness between a perpetrator and their victim. During the talk, Thom suggested that this form of peacemaking is often absent in marginalized communities because survival and self-preservation instincts are often inextricable from its members’ identities, which can impede empathy for others.

“In times of crisis we turn on each other. The trauma brain is well developed in many of us,” Thom said. “Our executive functioning shuts down [….] But the desire to be safe is probably what brings a lot of us into activism.”

Later in the talk, Thom read from an essay that discussed the utopian ideal—dubbed “Queerlandia”—that many queer communities seek to obtain. Thom lamented that the search for a space free of persecution or hatred creates an unreachable and unforgiving mentality that punishes even the most minor transgressions. Our collective disavowal of these forms of accountability and justice distract from the inclusive and compassionate world that many marginalized people want to live in.  

“In Queerlandia our politics are woke and our words are revolutionary. Queerlandia is a village, is the village in its ideal form. But of course we do not really live in Queerlandia,” Thom read from her essay. “Real life queer communities are full of wounded dreamers [….] And because we are so wounded, we are not prepared for the reality of bad things happening among us. How to talk about it, how to hold it, how to heal from it. We do not know how to have difficult conversations, how to look at each other through the lenses of love and justice at the same time. You either belong in Queerlandia or you don’t, there is no in between.”

Though much of her collection deals with pressing subject matter, Thom also made sure to include anecdotes of personal victories and happiness. In one essay about a trip to New York, she recounted a night in Times Square in which she and her friend photobombed a couple’s marriage proposal on The Red Steps. Though its content appears trivial in contrast to the collection as a whole, Thom used the story to illustrate the potential in marginalized communities for solidarity and kinship, even if shared between just two people, which larger and often idealized communities currently fail to provide.

“[We] held each other in those glowing stairs to heaven in the centre of the world and we held each other for dear, dear life,” Thom read.

Student Life

Keeping your cool in the cold

by Josephine Wang on

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The winter is brutal: It gets dark too early and the freezing temperatures make going anywhere a miserable experience. The cold environment can make it hard to find joy this season, but here are some winter rituals that might help. 

Be proactive

During the wintertime, the stronger desire to stay home can result in less social interaction. But friendships are essential to our mental health and general well-being. Try to push yourself to connect with others on a regular basis; invite your friends over for various gatherings like a dinner party or a study session. Alternatively, McGill offers plenty of volunteer opportunities such as Homework Zone or the Montreal Heart of the City Piano Program. These are great ways to simultaneously meet new people and give back to the community. 

Move it! 

When the temperatures drop, it is easy to avoid all forms of physical activity. However, keeping up with an exercise routine during the winter can provide numerous benefits for your health and can help boost your mood by increasing your levels of endorphins. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous activity for optimal overall health. Stay accountable with a membership to the McGill Athletic Centre or take advantage of the indoor track and swimming pool. If the frigid walk to the gym already feels like a marathon, develop a regimen that you can keep up with at home. 

Clean up your diet 

Committing to a healthy and regular diet can make a difference in how you feel during the winter. A diet of warm comfort food and buckets of hot chocolate can lead to headaches, increased blood pressure, and bloating. For Vincent Kwong, U2 Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, meal prepping and buying in-season fruits and vegetables is how he maintains a healthy and sustainable diet. 

 “I love baking sweet potatoes and making warm soups using winter squashes,” Kwong said. “It tastes really good and is actually one of the reasons I look forward to the wintertime. It’s also a good way to meal prep, since you already make a lot. You’d also be less tempted to go out [to eat].” 

Lighten up

If the lack of sunlight gets you down, then drop by the McGill Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, at the corner of University and Milton, or the SSMU Office, located in the Brown Building, to use their light lamps for free. These light lamps, which are offered first come, first serve, mimic sunshine and can help suppress your body’s release of melatonin, a chemical that makes you drowsy. McGill’s guidelines recommend using the lamp for 1 hour at 16 inches away from you, or 30 minutes at 12 inches everyday, optimally first thing in the morning. Using light lamps can make a difference within just a few days, so take advantage of them and go light up your life. 

Take care of your skin 

The water in your skin evaporates more quickly in the winter, which results in a dry and tight feeling  in your skin. Investing in a humidifier can add moisture to the air and keep your skin hydrated. You can also try out different lotions and cleansers to see which works best for your skin. Another important skin care tip is to stay hydrated.

While these lifestyle changes may boost your mood, these tips don’t substitute proper solutions to mood disorders, such as Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you’re experiencing any of these issues, consider consulting a professional. 

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