‘Marvel Comics Introducing a Muslim Girl Superhero’ NYT

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Editors

With most superheroes, when you take away the colorful costume, mask and cape, what you find underneath is a white man. But not always. In February, as part of a continuing effort to diversify its offerings, Marvel Comics will begin a series whose lead character, Kamala Khan, is a teenage Muslim girl living in Jersey City.

No exploding planet, death of a relative or irradiated spider led to Kamala’s creation. Her genesis began more mundanely, in a conversation between Sana Amanat and Steve Wacker, two editors at Marvel. “I was telling him some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim-American,” Ms. Amanat said. “He found it hilarious.” Ms. Amanat and Mr. Wacker noted the dearth of female superhero series and, even more so, of comics with cultural specificity.

When they told G. Willow Wilson, an author, comic book writer and convert to Islam, about their idea, she was eager to come on board as the series’ writer. “Any time you do something like this, it is a bit of a risk,” Ms. Wilson said. “You’re trying to bring the audience on board and they are used to seeing something else in the pages of a comic book.”

Kamala, whose family is from Pakistan, has devotedly followed the career of the blond, blue-eyed Carol Danvers, who now goes by Captain Marvel, a name she inherited from a male hero. When Kamala discovers her powers, including the ability to change shape, she takes on the code name Ms. Marvel — what Carol called herself when she began her superhero career.

“Captain Marvel represents an ideal that Kamala pines for,” Ms. Wilson said. “She’s strong, beautiful and doesn’t have any of the baggage of being Pakistani and ‘different.’ ” Link for Full article;

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/books/marvel-comics-introducing-a-muslim-girl-superhero.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

FREE WILL, DETERMINISM, QUANTUM THEORY AND STATISTICAL FLUCTUATIONS: A PHYSICIST’S TAKE

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Editors

By Carlo Rovelli

Since Democritus suggested that the world can be seen as the result of accidental clashing of atoms, the question of free will has disturbed the sleeps of the naturalist: how to reconcile the deterministic dynamics of the atoms with man’s freedom to choose? Modern physics has altered the data a bit, and the ensuing confusion requires clarification.

Democritus assumed the movement of atoms to be deterministic: a different future does not happen without a different present. But Epicurus, who in physical matters was a close follower of Democritus, had already perceived a difficulty between this tight determinism and human freedom, and modified the physics of Democritus, introducing an element of indeterminism at the atomic level.

The new element was called “clinamen.” The “clinamen” is a minimum deviation of an atom from its natural rectilinear path, which takes place in a completely random fashion. Lucretius, who presents the Democritean-Epicurean theory in his poem, “De Rerum Natura”, “On Things Of Nature,” notes in poetic words: the deviation from straight motion happens “uncertain tempore … incertisque loci “, in an uncertain time and an uncertain place [Liber II, 218].

A very similar oscillation between determinism and indeterminism has happened again in modern physics. Newton’s atomism is deterministic in a similar manner as Democritus’s. But at the beginning of the twentieth century, Newton’s equations have been replaced by those of quantum theory, which bring back an element of indeterminism, quite similar, in fact, to Epicurus’s correction of Democritus’s determinism. At the atomic scale, the motion of the elementary particles is not strictly deterministic.

Can there be a relationship between this atomic-scale quantum indeterminism and human freedom to choose?

The idea has been proposed, and often reappears, but is not credible, for two reasons. The first is that the indeterminism of quantum mechanics is governed by a rigorous probabilistic dynamics. The equations of quantum mechanics do not determine what will happen, but determine strictly the probability of what will happen. In other words, they certify that the violation of determinism is strictly random. This goes in exactly the opposite direction from human freedom to choose. If human freedom to choose was reducible to quantum indeterminism, then we should conclude that human choices are strictly regulated by the chance. Which is the opposite of the idea of freedom of choice. The indeterminism of quantum mechanics is like throwing a coin to see if it falls heads or tails, and act accordingly. This is not this what we call freedom to choose. click link for full article;

http://www.edge.org/conversation/free-will-determinism-quantum-theory-and-statistical-fluctuations-a-physicists-take

The Reluctant Giant: Why Germany Shuns Its Global Role

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Editors

An Essay by Ullrich Fichtner

German industry is admired the world over. But Germans themselves collectively...

Today, 68 years after the end of the war and 24 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we Germans are respected, admired and sometimes even loved. The fact that we generally don’t know what to do with all this admiration, because we collectively still seem to assume that we are not likeable and therefore must be unpopular, is a problem that very quickly becomes political. It’s obvious that Germans’ perception of themselves and the way we are perceived by others differ dramatically.

Even if some would not consider a travel guide to be the most credible basis for political reflections, it’s easy to find other sources of praise for Germany and the Germans. The BBC conducts an annual poll to name the “most popular country in the world.” Germany came in a clear first in the latest poll, and it wasn’t the first time. Some 59 percent of 26,000 respondents in 25 countries said that the Germans exert a “positive influence” in the world (and not surprisingly, the only country in which the view of Germany is overwhelmingly negative at the moment is Greece).

In the “Nation Brands Index” prepared by the American market research company GfK, which surveys more than 20,000 people in 20 countries about the image of various nations, Germany is currently in second place, behind the United States. This index is not some idle exercise, but is used as a decision-making tool by corporate strategists and other investors. GfK asks questions in six categories, including the quality of the administration and the condition of the export economy, and Germany is at the top of each category. But when Germans do acknowledge their current standing in the world, they always seem to be somewhat coy or even amused.

The rest of the world doesn’t understand this (anymore). The rest of the world is waiting for Germany. But instead of feeling pleased about Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski’s historic statement that he fears Germany’s power less than its inactivity, we cringe anxiously over such sentiments. When US President Barack Obama calls Germany a leading global power, we hope that he doesn’t really mean it. And when politicians in Israel say that Germany should wield its power more actively, we don’t interpret it as a mandate to become more committed, but are puzzled instead.

We Germans? Exercise power? Take action? Lead?

A ‘Europeanized’ Germany

The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Germany’s government-run aid organization operating in 130 countries, made a concerted effort in 2012 to question decision-makers around the world about their views on Germany. Instead of quickly flipping through a list of questions, the GIZ conducted real, in-depth conversations with participants, and essentially arrived at two conclusions: Germany’s reputation in the world is sky-high, yet Germany is considered anything from spineless to completely incapable when it comes to investing this “soft” capital in an effective way for the benefit of everyone.

The positive image we enjoy worldwide is fed by a large number of widely dispersed sources, but it’s obvious that Germany’s accounting for its Nazi past, its clear acknowledgement of historic culpability and its development of a model democracy in the West laid the foundation for the Germans to be given a new chance in the 20th century.

But it is also clear that Germany’s reputation has received its biggest boost since the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. Since then, the Germans have managed to demonstrate repeatedly that they are capable of producing economic miracles, which is precisely what reunification and the development of the former East Germany are. At the same time, Germany was able to dispel widely held fears of the return of a gloating major power in the middle of Europe. To everyone’s relief, especially that of our European neighbors, Germany has kept its feet on the ground, only waving its black, red and gold flag during football matches.

Perhaps the European financial crisis — and the key role Germany is playing in the effort to overcome it — has rekindled unease among our neighbors at the moment. But even if there is disagreement over the right way out of the crisis, and even if the German government has often proved to be too intransigent, no European in his right mind fears that Germany is pursuing some sort of secret plan to dominate the continent once again. Instead, Germany has “Europeanized” itself, both intentionally and credibly. But now it’s time to share Germany’s rich experiences along the winding paths of the 20th century with the rest of the world. Click link for full article.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-shies-from-taking-active-global-role-a-919261.html