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McGill, News

Former Sadie’s location remains vacant

by Amrit Grewal on

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Four months after its closing on May 5, the space that Sadie’s, the former student-run cafe, once occupied on the second floor of the Shatner Building remains vacant. With limited room in the Shatner Building as a whole, this space would be a valuable asset for many other student groups and societies. 

Sadie’s had a history of financial issues. From its launch in 2013, it ran a consistent deficit throughout its operation. In Winter 2015, the SSMU Finance committee brought Sadies’—then called the Student-Run Cafe—deficit of over $100,000 to the Legislative Council’s attention, and ultimately opted to give the cafe a year to restructure its business plan and increase its revenue. 

Although Sadie’s ended 2016 with a deficit that was $20,000 less than the Finance committee anticipated, it still wasn’t enough to keep the operation afloat. As a result, the cafe was shut down, with the staff only receiving three weeks notice of the closure.

“[Sadie’s’ closure] was quite surprising because we had received our contracts to sign and return to the SSMU HR department for the 2017-2018 year until April,” former Sadie’s employee Alex Arkilanian, U3 Science, said. “We had been hearing from both Simona [Trunzo], the manager at Sadie’s, and [former SSMU Vice-President (VP) Operations] Sacha [Magder] that Sadie’s was doing well and better than it had in the past. Contracts for catering were on the rise and we were working on developing relationships with clubs through that and other departments inside McGill to cater to.”

SSMU assured former Sadie’s staff that it would help them find employment in other departments. However, former Sadie’s assistant manager Madison Lowe spoke of the difficulties in finding replacement jobs within SSMU.

“No one actually came forth to me saying here’s the new position, we had to seek it out ourselves,” Lowe said. “I kind of took it upon myself to figure it out if anyone who worked at Sadie’s would want to work at Gerts so we could give them that opportunity.”

According to SSMU President Muna Tojiboeva, space in the Shatner Building is allocated based on the needs of the student population.

"[We would prefer an outside cafe] that is price-friendly and offers a variety of food choices [to take the space],” Tojiboeva said. “For now, however, the space is being used for SSMU’s catering services and from time to time as an events space, although we are still looking into all the different options, and still have lots of consultations to do.”

SSMU VP Finance Arisha Khan also confirmed that the SSMU executive is looking for replacements to fill the empty space.

“Although there are no plans at the moment, obviously any low cost, student-friendly eatery would be ideal,” Khan said. “We have our hands tied, as our lease from the University states that no sublease can extend beyond the end date, currently 2021. Most reliable options are not willing to sign such a short lease, which is why we are limited in choice.”

Khan feels that Tim Hortons would be an ideal client, but doubts it would agree to such a lease. Unlike Sadie’s staff, executives of Midnight Kitchen, a free student-run kitchen that serves lunch daily, were notified in advance of Sadie’s closure as they were offered the space that previously was occupied by Sadie’s, but declined the opportunity to change location.

The Sadie’s space will remain unoccupied for the time being, until the SSMU executive finds a new operation. Lowe continues to grieve its absence.

“I want Sadie’s to be back there and I think that it’s a huge disappointment that it’s closed,” Lowe said. “I think a lot of people are extremely surprised with the abrupt decision to just shut down an establishment like that [….] It was such a positive thing to have on the second floor so I would love to see something like that.”

Science & Technology

From the trash and back again: The importance of recycling on campus

by Ronny Litvack-Katzman on

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From the shelf, the average recyclable is typically used, emptied, and hopefully placed in a recycling container. It then awaits collection and sorting, until it can be sent to the corresponding manufacturer to be reused in the most appropriate manner. The problem in this system lies at the very start: Getting the right product into the right bin is essential.

The issue lies not in the lack of resources to recycle, but in the efforts individuals are willing to make in order to recycle properly.

The Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System (STARS), rates universities and colleges on their sustainability. Out of a comprehensive score of 100, McGill received a 72.6 last year—a ‘gold’ rating according to STARS—but far from where it could be in terms of achieving its sustainability goals.

The “waste” category hit McGill hard, with a score of 3.89 out of a possible 10. After years of attempted reform on waste-reduction initiatives, McGill still scores dismally on this fundamental aspect of sustainability. The systems are in place for McGill to become a recycling haven, but the reality is more dystopian. Despite the recycling bins and compost centers accessible on campus, McGill students and staff throw their recyclables into the trash, and later, the landfill.

Those with or without a background in sustainability can get involved with variety of initiatives on campus—such as McGill Students for Greenpeace and Climate Justice Montreal.

However, recycling starts from the ground up, meaning students should pay attention to what is done with their own recyclables.

The McGill Office of Sustainability (MOOS), which is responsible for providing “strategic guidance to transition McGill into an institutional model of sustainability for society,” states in their 2014-2016 strategy, Vision 2020: “[Zero] waste (energy, water, solid, air) is the target for all activities at McGill. This target is aggressively pursued and improvement is continuous.”

The downtown campus employs a stream-based system for the disposal of waste. The colour profile on bins separates each of these streams; yellow for metals, glass, and plastics, blue for paper products, and black for refuse and non-recyclables. Newly installed electronic-waste disposal centres, including those for batteries, can be found at various locations, such as in the SSMU building. Furthermore, four of McGill’s seven dining halls have the means to properly compost.

The ramifications of neglecting these resources are far-reaching and profound. The garbage that amasses in classrooms and hallways is taken to landfill sites around Montreal where—at the expense of an already fragile environment—it will sit for centuries. Hundreds of Montreal parks and communities have been built atop of repurposed landfill sites: A number set to rise if the amount of trash is not reduced.

The McGill administration is aware of environmental needs on campus and, along with the Vision 2020 strategy, is attempting to reform the way the school handles its waste output. During the 2016-2017 academic year, the MOOS reached out to the McGill community in order to incorporate student and staff sustainability concerns and goals into their revised Vision 2020: Sustainability and Climate Action Plan 2017-2020. This program is set to be released this fall.

Despite flaws in McGill’s waste reduction practices, 3.91 tons of material intended for disposal were repurposed on campus and 15.28 tons of recyclable materials were diverted from the landfill in 2014—a feat of which McGill’s Office of Sustainability, as well as the community as a whole, should be extremely proud.

Individually, McGill students and staff should be thinking about the waste in their hands and where it should be thrown away. By holding on to recyclables in bags and disposing of them properly later, rather than tossing recyclable materials into nearby trash cans, members of the McGill community can keep the growing landfill to a minimum.

Hockey, Sports

Examining sophomore slumps in the NHL

by Wasif Husain on

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The sophomore slump, an infamous term among pundits and fans in North American sports, happens when a player makes an immediate impact in their rookie year and follows up with a disappointing second season. The phenomenon is real for some players, who see their statistical outputs fall between their first and second campaigns, but no more than a myth for others who have no trouble beating their previous season’s marks.

Last year, the NHL had a standout rookie class. A trio of Toronto Maple Leafs—Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitchell Marner—took the league by storm. Meanwhile, Winnipeg Jets sniper Patrik Laine, who scored three hat tricks before his 19th birthday, had a tremendous year of his own. Naturally, a season full of impressive rookie performances begs the question of whether those players are destined for regression or steady development into bonafide stars.

Many factors come into play when considering the potential for a sophomore slump: The first is shooting percentage. It’s common for players to score goals on a high percentage of their shots as rookies, but suddenly see that rate fall back into the normal range in their  second season, leaving fans bewildered as their goal-scoring figures plummet.

Ice time also plays a role in slumping. The more a player plays, the greater the opportunity they have to score and assist goals. If an athlete gets less playing time in their second season, it is difficult for them to maintain or improve production. However, ice time is not the sole measure of opportunity: Audiences must also consider the quality of competition and zone starts. For example, coaches will adjust and try to play to a player’s strengths or push for the development of a more complete game. Matching up with weaker opposing lines and constant starts in the offensive zone can both create misleading stats.

Teammates can play a crucial role too, especially because roster change is inevitable every year. Sometimes, chemistry developed one year can be gone the next. Alternatively, playing with an established star can help boost a player’s production.

Finally, injuries can happen at any point, impeding a player’s progress during the season. The time it takes to get back into shape can also affect the player's performance for the next season. Looking back at past cases, hockey fans can better figure out how much of a role each factor plays.

 

By the numbers

Since the 2005-06 lockout, 26 rookies have scored at least 0.7 points per game (PPG). Four of those players were from this past season (Laine, Matthews, Marner, and Nylander). 

Of the 22 others, nine improved upon their rookie campaign, seven maintained their level of performance, and six meaningfully deteriorated in their second seasons. Those six were Colby Armstrong, Brad Boyes, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Marek Svatos, Jeff Skinner, and Nathan MacKinnon. 

For Armstrong and Svatos, a decline in shooting percentage was responsible for the drop. The former saw his rate drop by over 10 per cent after losing Sidney Crosby as a linemate. Meanwhile, the latter’s astronomically high percentage fell from nearly 20 per cent to a more normal 8.4 per cent as he scored 17 fewer goals in turn. Among the four breakouts from 2016-2017, however, only Laine and Matthews put forth particularly high shooting rates.

On the other hand, Nugent-Hopkins (shoulder), Skinner (concussion), and MacKinnon (broken foot) were all injured at some point during their sophomore seasons. Each individual’s performance suffered as a result, but once healthy, they returned to their rookie-season forms. Nugent-Hopkins has since turned into a two-way centre and managed 56 points in two consecutive seasons. Skinner, coming off a 37-goal season, looks much more like the prolific goal scorer many predicted after his rookie season. MacKinnon has bounced back with two consecutive 50-point years on a rebuilding Colorado Avalanche team.

It’s not likely for such high-calibre players to get worse, especially considering that the injured players bounced back once healthy again. Of the 22 rookies who managed 0.70 PPG, most have established themselves as consistent scoring threats in the league—a transition Laine, Matthews, Marner, and Nylander look to replicate—as long as they avoid injuries.

 

Individual comparisons

In terms of individual comparisons, Matthews’ rookie performance is most similar to Ilya Kolvachuk’s. Their shooting percentages, goal, and assist totals are comparable. Kolvachuk’s progress was encouraged by a significant bump in ice time and the gift of one of the best shots the NHL has ever seen. Time will tell if Matthews receives more ice time and is able to get into areas where he can convert a higher percentage of his opportunities.

From a statistical standpoint, Nylander lines up closely with Brad Richards, with a similar number of goals, assists, and points. If Nylander can increase his shot totals and is afforded the same ice time, he should continue to improve in coming years.

Marner can be likened to a young Patrick Kane. For such a dominant player, Kane’s shooting rate, assists, and goals per game were only just a bit better than Marner’s. If Marner is to follow in Kane’s footsteps, an increase in his shooting volume may help him net more goals in his sophomore season.

Laine has a high shooting percentage, similar to Brian Bellows, a forward who played for the Minnesota North Stars in the early ‘80s. Laine’s inflated shooting percentage could mean he is in for a decrease in scoring; however, it also means he could mirror Brian Bellows, who went on to score 485 goals in his career. If he can continue to shoot at this high rate and increase his total shots taken, he could be a 40-goal scorer next year. 

As they move into their second seasons, these four standout rookies may not turn into the players they were compared to, but—if they can stay healthy—the numbers suggest that they aren’t due for a sophomore slump either. Each had very few unfavourable statistical anomalies, and both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Winnipeg Jets should anticipate a good showing from their blossoming sophomores.

All statistics from hockey-reference.com

Science & Technology

Predicting Alzheimer’s with artificial intelligence

by Sam Min on

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Researchers in the Douglas Mental Health University Institute’s Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory at McGill have created an artificial intelligence-based algorithm to recognize dementia before its onset—an elusive task, even for neurologists. The algorithm uses statistics to learn what the determining markers of the disease are—a process called machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence.

With a success rate of 84 per cent, the algorithm identified individuals who would develop dementia 24 months later.

Dementia is a disease characterized by memory loss. It can range from subtle to severe, with many types—the most common form being Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, no practical treatment exists for Alzheimer’s, while only a few pharmacological studies have reported conclusive data on preventing its onset.

The development of the novel algorithm used in the study took time. First, the algorithm had to be trained to analyze the expression of amyloid protein—a marker for Alzheimer’s—in positron emission tomography (PET) scans of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). These scans are employed by a variety of researchers to identify the health of organs and tissues.

The algorithm had to go through a series of processes before it was applied among patients. Computer scientist and master’s student at McGill University Sulantha Mathotaarachchi told The McGill Newsroom that he “used hundreds of amyloid PET scans of MCI patients […] to train the team’s algorithm.”

Once the training session was complete, the team applied the algorithm to a new pool of patients with mild cognitive impairments, and predict which patients would develop dementia.

Amyloid protein can pile up, forming a deposit in the brain. However, not all regions that have the amyloid deposit may pertain to progression of Alzheimer’s. Over time, the amyloid chunk can grow or wither in specific regions. Identifying such locales within the brain is crucial to make this algorithm capable of predicting the course of the disease.

“The algorithm operates in two stages: First it identifies the brain regions which [could be relevant to Alzheimer’s] progression,” Mathotaarachchi said. “[The second] step is to use these signatures with machine learning to predict if an individual will progress to Alzheimer’s dementia in 24 months.”

The creation of this algorithm marks an unprecedented achievement in the history of  Alzheimer’s research. However, according to Mathotaarachchi, amyloid is only one of the biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.

“The algorithm could be used to enrich clinical trial populations,” Mathotaarachchi said, since subjects who are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s make good candidates for testing the efficacy of new drugs.

To test the efficacy of a drug during clinical trials, clinicians recruit patients, divide them into two groups, and administer a drug of interest to one group (the experimental group), and a placebo to the other. The goal is to prevent the experimental group from developing the illness. However, it is difficult to select patients who will develop the targeted disease in the first place. Some members of the experimental group may not have developed the disease being studied, with or without the drug of interest.

In an interview with Live Science, Dr. Pedro Rosa-Neto, a senior co-author of the paper and associate professor in the Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry at McGill, discussed how this algorithm could benefit future pharmaceutical studies.

“If you can tell from a group of individuals who is the one that will develop the disease, [you] can better test new medications that could be capable of preventing the disease.”  Rosa-Neto said.

With this artificial intelligence-based algorithm, clinician-scientists can select more accurate patient-pools to test the effects of drugs in trials for Alzheimer’s studies.

“The future steps will be to incorporate more biomarkers, including structural imaging and neuropsychiatric measurements,” Mathotaarachchi said.

The lab has also created a real-time prediction tool, free and online.

“This is a pilot prototype using amyloid imaging data,” Mathotaarachchi said. “However, the framework can be used with any biomarker measurements available, including neuropsychiatric measurements.”

With this algorithm, clinicians could find apt patients for Alzheimer's studies, run efficient drug trials, and hopefully discover one that would prove effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease.  

McGill, News

Senate report shows increase in reports of sexual harassment

by Jesse Wu on

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At this academic year’s first Senate meeting on Sept. 19, student representatives, faculty, and administration reviewed the Final Report on the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education. Senate also delivered reports on cases of sexual harassment on campus during the 2016-2017 academic year, and discussed improvements within Counselling Services including shortened wait times for students.

 

Development of the Indigenous Task Force

At the beginning of his presentation on the Provost’s Task Force, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi pointed out the need to improve McGill's efforts in Aboriginal education. He launched a task force on Indigenous education in Fall 2016 and spent this summer implementing it.

“As we discovered more than a year ago, […] we’re actually doing quite a bit [in the area of indigenous education], but we can do more,” Manfredi said. “We can do more in a more coordinated way, so what we need to do is to progress the past, invest in the present, and build to the future.”

In the report, the task force asked the university to create a second staffed Indigenous Recruitment Officer position to engage directly with indigenous students and identify their academic interests at McGill. Whereas in 2016 there was reported to be 300 indigenous students enrolled at McGill, the Provost’s academic plan aims to increase that number to at least 1,000.

Manfredi also highlighted recent initiatives to make attending McGill more feasible to students from a variety of backgrounds, such as McGill’s new acceptance of transfer credits from Ontario colleges and the new Youth in Care Bursary for students who spent time in foster care or youth protection.

“The intention [of these initiatives] is to make McGill accessible for capable students with a wide variety of backgrounds,” Manfredi said. “Beyond opening doors, we must reduce barriers to entry.”

 

Reported increase of sexual harassment claims

According to the Annual Report on the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law prepared by Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) Angela Campbell, there were 42 inquiries and complaints of harassment, sexual harassment, and discrimination last year, higher than the yearly average of 36 cases.

The report indicated that 36 per cent of complainants during the 2016-2017 academic year were undergraduate students, while 42 per cent of respondents were academic staff. The total number of student respondents increased, and male respondents nearly doubled from 20 to 38 in the past two years.

62 per cent of the cases did not proceed beyond the inquiry stage, during which a complainant brings forward concerns about their experience with sexual harassment to an Assessor or the Senior Equity and Inclusion Officer, Pascale Legros. After the inquiry stage, both parties then decide whether or not to carry out a full investigation into the complaint. This year, 7 per cent of the complaints were withdrawn in the process and the remaining 31 per cent proceeded to a full investigation.

“[Having] 31 per cent of cases proceed with a formal investigation [is] actually quite a significant proportion," Campbell said. "The year before, only 10 per cent of cases went to a formal investigation. Last year also saw the highest number of cases ever since the policy’s establishment go through a full investigation process.”

 

Committee on Student Services

After facing criticism last year over the capacity of McGill’s Counselling and Mental Health Services to serve all students, the Committee on Student Services adopted a Stepped Care Model to expand counselling options. Led by Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens, the committee spearheaded the inclusion of new forms of treatment, including Therapist Assisted Online programs to group counselling, while doubling the number of Client Care Clinicians assigned to each student as their mental-health care provider.  

“Hopefully the services will greatly improve this year, so that’s something I am really, really happy to report on,” Dyens said. "[Nonetheless], we still need all the advice, suggestions, and ideas that we can get.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV, Music

Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA live-scores classic kung fu film

by Brandon Kaufman on

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At the Rialto Theatre, on Friday, Sept. 15, Wu-Tang Clan frontman RZA hovered over his computer, smiling and quietly conversing with the DJ beside him. The two were positioned almost offstage that afternoon, preparing to provide a live-scoring of the 1978 kung fu movie The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. The crowd let out a roaring cheer as the hip-hop legend approached centre stage. He offered a few generic comments about the movie, apologized for the presence of a large timer on-screen—it was necessary for the “composers”—and returned to his shadowy booth. 

RZA began with some breezy soul instrumentals over the opening credits. Mere minutes after this period of calm, a meticulously choreographed action scene exploded onto the screen, as RZA spun one of his abrasive bangers. The audience rapped along with the record in sheer elation.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is a fictionalized account of the life of San Te (Gordon Liu), a student living in 18th century China. After the brutal murders of his friends and family at the hands of the oppressive Manchu government, Te becomes determined to seek revenge—pleading for an opportunity to train at the famed temple of Shaolin. The exclusive sanctuary initially rejects the non-member, but the headmaster takes pity on him. He begins training persistently to join the temple as a master. RZA overlaid a montage of Te’s strenuous training with the downtempo “C.R.E.A.M,” setting the stage for an emotional climax.

A story of dedication, rebellion, and most importantly, mastering the three section staff (a prestigious Chinese flail weapon) the movie is rightly considered the apotheosis of martial arts pictures. Te’s master immediately notices his remarkable progress. He asks him to choose one of the 35 chambers to head—each is dedicated to mastering a specific aspect of kung fu. He requests instead to create a new chamber, one devoted to training the common man. Te is initially rejected, the elitist temple accepts only the rich and noble. However, after leading his country to victory, he is granted his wish. The film concludes with Te training laymen in the hitherto elitist art of kung fu.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is in command of its audience from the start. A palpable rush jolts the heart as the viewer watches the protagonist dodge the keen sword of his foe and quickly strike back. This adrenaline-like surge—which only the best action movies are able to bring about—heightened as RZA simultaneously played Wu-Tang’s “Bring Da Ruckus.”

At the end of the film, RZA returned to the stage and spoke about his personal connection to the film. As a child, he, his brother, and cousin (GZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, both Wu-Tang members) watched the movie on repeat. From this, they developed insatiable appetites for art.

Both the music and aesthetic of the Wu-Tang Clan are as fundamentally egalitarian as the concept of the 36th chamber. Their unpretentious songs are raw, simplistic, and to the point. Wu-Tang members don’t look or behave like platinum-selling superstars. They don hoodies and loose-fitting jeans, and rap about being on food stamps and mispronouncing words. The late Ol’ Dirty Bastard  summed it up best at the Grammy’s in 1998 when—10 years before Kanye—he interrupted Puff Daddy’s Best Rap Album of the Year acceptance speech to declare that “Wu-Tang is for the children.”

RZA finished up his speech with some words about perseverance. He reminded the audience that only 25 years ago, he was unknown and destitute, trying to make his friends laugh by spitting absurd lyrics over stripped-down beats. When he closed the show, the audience shot to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. RZA and San Te are two souls separated only by two centuries.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

“Kuso”: A film about bodily substances that has no substance

by Leo Stillinger on

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The magic of cinema lies in projected images’ power to profoundly move us. Everybody knows what it feels like to laugh at Ghostbusters (1984), or to cry at Marley & Me (2008). Kuso, the new film directed by the electronic musician Flying Lotus, demonstrates the power of movies to move us in a different way: That is, to gross us the fuck out.

Kuso prompted walkouts when it premiered at Sundance, along with awed reviews declaring it the “grossest movie ever made.” Even before it screened as part of FilmPOP (the film component of Pop Montreal), a Cinema du Parc employee gave a blunt warning: “This movie is really fucked up.”

Kuso is spectacularly, mercilessly disgusting—a film difficult to describe and even harder to watch. It is a journey into the darkest depths of the human subconscious. Unfortunately, in spite of the countless bodily substances smeared across the screen, the film itself lacks substance. Kuso engages neither the mind, nor the heart, but rather the gag reflex.

Imagine an  experimental conceptual short made by a hipster film student, then cross it with The Human Centipede (2009). This is Kuso. The plot, as far as can be ascertained, follows the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Los Angeles—weaving together the stories of several survivors. In one scene, a boy befriends an alien creature in the woods—and then feeds it his excrement. At another point, a talking cockroach appears out of nowhere and declares, “Do not fear the feces.” It’s not a joke, but rather a necessary piece of advice, for it’s hard to overstate the sheer quantity of feces—along with pus, blood, and semen—in which the film is drenched throughout its 92 long minutes.

Alternating between jarringly indiscernible plot lines and confusing visual tangents, Kuso is a disorienting experience, creative if not cohesive. One highlight is the soundtrack, an ominous groove created by Flying Lotus himself, along with various artists including  Aphex Twin and Thundercat. The music gives the film an underlying consistency, which it otherwise lacks.

Occasional relief comes from the film’s perverse humor, and the best moments of Kuso are its funniest as well. When you laugh at a woman getting hit in the face with her own fetus, you’re also laughing at how quickly your own morals have degraded.

At times Kuso hints at aspirations of becoming something more than a gross-out flick, like in the segment of spoken word poetry referencing “21st-century power structures.” Yet the film teases such themes only to fall back into self-indulgent depravity. That’s a shame, because a post-quake Los Angeles would be a perfect setting for an allegorical look at American society, and the shock of Kuso would have been more powerful if there was something thought-provoking underlying it.

Instead, the film is primarily an experiment in just how far the moviegoer is willing to be pushed. “When will you walk out?” it seems to ask. When a cockroach emerges from the therapist’s anus? When a guy gets a blowjob from the talking boil on his girlfriend’s neck? Kuso makes you question your own limits, even if you don’t want to.

Kuso is a difficult experience to communicate. Just as the film’s earthquake bonds its survivors together, the film itself creates a special bond between anyone who sits through it. For better or for worse, it’s hard to forget.

Student Life, The Viewpoint

Viewpoint: Trying (and failing) to run my first marathon

by Mary Keith on

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Sometimes life gets busy and it becomes hard to focus on ourselves. I, for instance, tend to neglect my health when school and work get in the way, eventually leading me to short, impulsive, guilt-motivated spurts of fitness. In one of these moments this past summer, I talked myself into registering for Montreal’s Sept. 24 Rock N’ Roll marathon—two months, two weeks, and six days before the race. Having previously run a half-marathon, I felt well equipped to add another 13.1 miles in 11 weeks. Boy oh boy, was I wrong.  

I had my work cut out for me from the start. Not only had I not run seriously in a couple months, but I had also moved for the summer from sea-level Montreal to Crested Butte, Colorado, a city with an altitude of 8,909 feet. I was out of shape, and given the altitude, I could not run down a short driveway without a frightening amount of wheezing. Higher altitude air contains less oxygen, so transitioning to running in Crested Butte took a lot out of me during the first couple weeks. However, this effort meant that running in Montreal would be easy in comparison. I believed that if I could run in Colorado, I would surely be able to run the marathon in Montreal come September.

For many runners, marathon training is a long process that involves starting small and increasing one’s mileage each week. The ideal training time is four to five months, and I only gave myself two-and-a-half.  

My training began with alternating between running and walking for three miles until I could run three without stopping. This progression took two weeks, but soon thereafter, my internship took over and the 14-hour work shifts started to hinder my improvement. I knew what was happening: I had aimed too high, and I wasn’t taking the steps to keep myself on track. After weeks of ignoring training, I had forgotten all about my marathon registration. My passion and commitment had gone out the window. 

(Elli Slavitch / The McGill Tribune)

 

Beginning to feel foolish about registering for the marathon, I realized how much I’d overestimated the time I had available to invest in training. Every day that I didn’t run added to my feelings of guilt for under preparing myself. I knew that I was setting myself up for 26.2 miles of absolute pain. Avoiding my training was no way to indulge my pride. I thought about backing out of the race, registering for another one in 2018, and starting this year-long training process from scratch. Instead, I let my ego take over and decided to stick with the goal I had originally set.

Thus, I began another short, guilt-filled burst of training. Work was finally slowing down, so I was able to find more time to incorporate training programs into my daily schedule. I set aside an hour or two everyday to run for as long a distance as I could manage. With only a little over a month to go, I really had no choice.   

Once I got back to Montreal for the school year, my focus switched toward my social life, pushing the marathon to the back of my mind. My training took a full stop and instead, I filled up on beer at OAP with the rest of McGill. Before I knew it, I had not trained in over a week. My motivation levels were sinking fast.

As time in my half-hearted training schedule ran out, the subject line “Marathon is cancelled,” showed up in my email inbox. Officials made the call to cancel the race on Sept. 20—Montreal would face record high temperatures on the day of the race, therefore it would be unsafe to continue with the full marathon. So, on Sunday, Sept. 24, I slept in, avoided the heat, and thanked my lucky stars for not having to go through with my thoughtless decision.

From this tiresome venture, I’ve learned that beer is not fuel, running downhill is fun, and spontaneity pays its price. On a more serious note, however, this defeat taught me a lot about how I treat myself—by setting unrealistic goals and poorly-thought-out expectations, I just made matters worse for myself. I’ve come to realize that sometimes life is going to be unbalanced; maybe with more thought and time put into an appropriate training routine, I could return to my dreams of running a marathon. Though it sounds cliché, this applies to any endeavour: Setting your mind and prioritizing your goals, and knowing when to skip out on OAP to squeeze in a run, can lead to incredible outcomes.

From the BrainSTEM, Science & Technology

‘Westworld’ and the ethical dilemma of sentient machines

by Karl Neumann on

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While deep in conversation with your childhood best friend, you catch glimpse of a frayed wire and grey hinge protruding from the side of their neck.

“I thought you knew,” they calmly remark at your gaze. Suddenly they swing the hinge open to reveal an intricate set of wires and flashing lights hiding behind what you thought was their face. “I’m synthetic, but I think and feel just as you do, so what difference does it make?”

What difference does it make?

Despite Facebook’s $7 million investment into a new artificial intelligence (AI) lab at McGill, AI is still far from matching human capabilities. Nonetheless, pop culture encourages viewers to ponder the controversy of the future of AI. HBO’s critically-acclaimed series, Westworld, explicitly wrestles with many of these same themes.

In the show, humanoid machines known as “hosts” are designed to entertain human customers in a life-sized, Western-themed, adult playground. The hosts are pre-programmed with memories and daily routines—convinced that their lives are as ‘real’ as any human’s. However, their memories reset daily, while guests—humans visiting the park—continue to use them for their own enjoyment.

As the show progresses, the line between hosts and guests blurs. Hosts begin to learn about their imprisonment and question their purpose. They are capable of everything the guests are, most notably the ability to suffer, which raises the question as to whether it is ethical to use the hosts as appliances for the guests’ pleasure.

Modern society grapples with the concept of equality among race, gender, and numerous other identity traits. Now, society must consider what ‘equality’ among those biologically created, and those engineered, means. As with most ethical questions, no answers are self-evident—but philosophy and cognitive science can help shed light on this dilemma.

An important insight comes from what Alan Turing coined the “Imitation Game”—now referred to as the “Turing Test.” Simply, if something can convince humans that it’s able to think, then they must assume it’s conscious.

A converse philosophical quandary, the “Problem of Other Minds,” highlights that an individual can never be certain that anyone else is thinking. Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am,” reassures said person that only they, themselves, can. Although humans believe that other humans are capable of thought because they’re similar, they can never be sure.

However, non-human animals also seem capable of thought, despite having brains that humans struggle to understand. With all of this in mind, if a machine with sensory receptors and a speaker system can maintain a conversation and respond to its environment, one must conclude that it’s conscious. Stevan Harnad, adjunct professor of psychology and cognitive science at McGill and the Université du Québec à Montréal, insists that composition of the cognizer is irrelevant.

“Why would anyone think that [controlling the AI] is any different than a human, because of the metal?” said Harnad.

He went on to assert that the current treatment of non-human beings, AI or otherwise, is more a matter of power than ethics.

Harnad also drew parallels between Westworld and the rodeos that just occurred for Montreal’s 375th anniversary. Bulls in the rodeo are used as a means to an end for human pleasure in the same way the show’s hosts are. Modern treatment of animals dates back to Descartes’ declaration of animals as “automatons”—devoid of feeling—as absurd as that may seem now. This sentiment creates a real-life Westworld in McGill’s own backyard.
History is filled with ethical failures that were only obvious in hindsight. The debate regarding how to treat non-human individuals isn’t a new one, but with the inevitable progress in AI, the time to discuss in thought experiments is shrinking. Conventional ethics assert that discrimination based on origin is unethical. AI demonstrates that human-like cognition can originate outside the realm of biology, and the treatment of animals shows how incoherent the valuation of non-human feeling can be.

If the question is a matter of flesh versus steel, and not consciousness versus unconsciousness, the answer is clear: There is no difference.

Features

Tank tops, hoodies, and bonus points

by Egor Fedorov & Cassandra Lee on

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The two of us met the way many McGillians seem to: On a Saturday night in a poorly-lit bar, a pitcher of Sleeman between us. That evening, we had a conversation about our reservations concerning the various social events we had taken part in: Hype Week, Carnival, Science Games, and Faculty Olympics.

We both felt that these events generated an unhealthy social hierarchy, with the event organizers at the top like “party gods.” The events appeared to revolve around this group of people whom everyone, ourselves included, tried to please and impress. As trusting second years, we instantly felt compelled to befriend these older students and be liked by them. We acted this way despite the fact that they were not particularly approachable, not always helpful, or even people we necessarily liked. And yet we attended event after event, constantly trying to impress and outdo one another. Each event felt like a popularity contest on steroids.

At the time, we were embarrassed to speak so critically of these events, and to think that such hierarchies existed. What our conversation revealed was that the “VIP” culture we were trying so hard to adjust troubled us. Three years later, after finishing our undergraduate degrees and four consecutive years of fierce partying, we return to this conversation with a lot more to say.

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