Sisters with Transistors • Hacker News Board

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#51

Post by dasyatidprime » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 8:20 PM UTC

Gunax wrote: post #44

gumby wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an excellent example because Star Trek was itself so very progressive for its time. Yet despite that may plot lines still centered around very rigid sexist assumptions.

Sorry to go on a tangent, but I am surprised how many TNG episodes have 'alien species that is thinly veiled stand-in for some human race'. And this is a show that would have been woke for it's time. [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Up_The_Long_Ladder_(epi... [2] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(episode)

Not to detract from the whole point as far as Star Trek showing its social-commentary age, but AFAIK “Code of Honor” specifically was very much an early outlier in TNG history, including starting with a director who didn't direct any other Star Trek episodes.

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#52

Post by matheusmoreira » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 8:24 PM UTC

Gunax wrote: post #44

gumby wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an excellent example because Star Trek was itself so very progressive for its time. Yet despite that may plot lines still centered around very rigid sexist assumptions.

Sorry to go on a tangent, but I am surprised how many TNG episodes have 'alien species that is thinly veiled stand-in for some human race'. And this is a show that would have been woke for it's time. [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Up_The_Long_Ladder_(epi... [2] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(episode)

Ah, the insane early TNG episodes... For every Measure of a Man and Q Who, there's loads of this.

Here's more fun recaps:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekTheNext...

Honorable mentions:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekTheNext...

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#53

Post by xbar » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

I'm looking forward to watching the film and I'm glad it was reviewed. Thank you sharing this one.

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#54

Post by jasonwatkinspdx » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 8:47 PM UTC

Gunax wrote: post #44

gumby wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an excellent example because Star Trek was itself so very progressive for its time. Yet despite that may plot lines still centered around very rigid sexist assumptions.

Sorry to go on a tangent, but I am surprised how many TNG episodes have 'alien species that is thinly veiled stand-in for some human race'. And this is a show that would have been woke for it's time. [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Up_The_Long_Ladder_(epi... [2] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(episode)

Yeah, it's pretty bad. Babylon 5 is super blatant about it, bordering on racist stereotypes.

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#55

Post by meowkit » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 8:53 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #35

norswap wrote: post #15

I wish we could appreciate women's talents without feeling forced to prefix the whole thing with a blob about restoring them to their righteous place on the pantheon of whatever.

I wish that too, and eventually we will get there. But there is a lot of progress and catching up before we get there. Nowadays when I watch films or read books from the 50s, 60s, and 70s the depth of casual sexism is quite shocking. So that shows some progress. But still there’s a tremendous amount of inequality to be overcome.

I agree with the sentiment, but what I never see discussed is what the benchmarks are for reaching the proclaimed “equality”.

Often times it seems we are overshooting with attempts to create better societies - or worse shooting off in the wrong direction.

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#56

Post by walshemj » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 9:07 PM UTC

dasyatidprime wrote: post #51

Gunax wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to go on a tangent, but I am surprised how many TNG episodes have 'alien species that is thinly veiled stand-in for some human race'. And this is a show that would have been woke for it's time. [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Up_The_Long_Ladder_(epi... [2] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(episode)

Not to detract from the whole point as far as Star Trek showing its social-commentary age, but AFAIK “Code of Honor” specifically was very much an early outlier in TNG history, including starting with a director who didn't direct any other Star Trek episodes.

The writer did get it made again as an early sg1 episode - though Sam Did look cute in her steppes princess outfit

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#57

Post by walshemj » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 9:10 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #41

walshemj wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Star Treck pilot is an example.

What an excellent example because Star Trek was itself so very progressive for its time. Yet despite that may plot lines still centered around very rigid sexist assumptions.

The pilot is an outlier - very blatant sexism against No1 - Captain Pike being in despair and considering reigning.

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#58

Post by fuzzfactor » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 9:11 PM UTC

allturtles wrote: post #30

norswap wrote: post #15

I wish we could appreciate women's talents without feeling forced to prefix the whole thing with a blob about restoring them to their righteous place on the pantheon of whatever.

I particularly don't get the "dead" part about complaining about "dead white men." We all end up dead, one way or another. It will happen to the sisters with transistors, too.

I think part of the situation is that almost no one gets widespread recognition until after they are dead to begin with, if that.

Not even those with a massive PR campaign, plus many experimentalists do not want to divert that kind of effort away from technical progress.

So this is expressing a lagging indicator of a lingering statistic.

Well, electronics itself is only about a hundred years old and it started out completely male dominated and decades of development continued from that point.

Mainly development of technology not diversity, and that was truly challenging.

And even though male dominated from the start, it was still out of reach to almost all men too, more so for those few oportunities mostly to undertake experimental efforts.

So statistically at the beginning, electronics was virtually inaccessbile for almost all men & women to a somewhat equal degree.

It was just not one of the things you could certainly do no matter how much you really wanted to, you had to basically get lucky in addition to your ambition.

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#59

Post by agumonkey » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 9:14 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #48

Gunax wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to go on a tangent, but I am surprised how many TNG episodes have 'alien species that is thinly veiled stand-in for some human race'. And this is a show that would have been woke for it's time. [1] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Up_The_Long_Ladder_(epi... [2] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(episode)

Well science fiction is merely a way to examine current society. The SF angle is an attempt to get a little "outside" perspective. It's pretty hard to make truly alien aliens, as the more alien they are, the harder they are to understand, identify with etc, making the stories themselves less interesting. The aliens in The Gods Themselves are pretty alien but still have, from time to time, a human-like mode of thinkin…

Arrival was a good attempt at that

Re: Sisters with Transistors

#60

Post by gary_0 » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 9:17 PM UTC

layoutIfNeeded wrote: post #31

“Music is haunted by the specters of Beethoven and Mozart, even Elvis and John Lennon, with the canon being built around these names that we are told deserve not just celebrating but worshipping. These old, dead white men.” What a distasteful opening of an otherwise interesting article. As if some patriarchal conspiracy was forcing classical composers like Mozart and Beethoven down people’s throats... No, most simply…

> like Mozart

I am reminded of Maria Anna Mozart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_Mozart

Before she approached "marriageable age" and was forbidden from performing, she was an equal musical talent to her brother, and sometimes received top billing.

None of her compositions have survived.