JK Rowling Backlash

[Yukaphile]

Professionally crafted novels can still follow the same format and style as fanfiction, dude. Though perhaps I merely tune out the low-brow fanfiction. I'm talking more primarily something like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time fanfic by Arxane.

I can't comment as to whether or not Rey is a Mary Sue or not, given there are equally valid views for both sides. I do find it amusing new EU had to insist she downloaded Kylo's knowledge to be as competent as she is. That's on par with the worst of the older EU - or at least what people trash. I think it works functionally, as part of the new EU, but it still amuses me to see people's double standards at work. That said, I think Anakin is way more of a Mary Sue, in Episode I. And is there anything wrong with changing your tune? It's constantly evolving views and growth. We're all still learning, period. There is no definitive truth, no definitive answer to life.

[AlucardNoir]

Professionally crafted novels can still follow the same format and style as fanfiction, dude. Though perhaps I merely tune out the low-brow fanfiction. I'm talking more primarily something like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time fanfic by Arxane.

I can't comment as to whether or not Rey is a Mary Sue or not, given there are equally valid views for both sides. I do find it amusing new EU had to insist she downloaded Kylo's knowledge to be as competent as she is. That's on par with the worst of the older EU - or at least what people trash. I think it works functionally, as part of the new EU, but it still amuses me to see people's double standards at work. That said, I think Anakin is way more of a Mary Sue, in Episode I. And is there anything wrong with changing your tune? It's constantly evolving views and growth. We're all still learning, period. There is no definitive truth, no definitive answer to life.

Fanfiction does not have a style or format. It's merely fiction written by fans of a certain work set in the same universe as that work and usually involving at least some characters from said work. Depending on their talent or on the style and/or format it might be trying to emulate it falls under a multitude of styles, formats and genres. There might be bad published books but you don't compare them to fanfiction unless you intend to insult them by calling the unprofessional and unworthy to get published, otherwise the comparison goes the other way around, you compare the best of fanfiction to professionally published works.

Fanfiction isn't an insult, but it's by definition "unprofessional" since it's unoriginal and unpublishable under the current copyright regime since it constitutes a derivative work. There's a reason we have licensed works and fanfiction as separate categories (SW fanfiction vs the old SW EU) - and that's the law. And there's a reason why if someone wants to publish fanfic they need to change the names and enough of the setting to make the work stand on its' own.(50 shades of gray and Eragon)

If you think something is bad then call it bad. If you think something is derivative then call it derivative. If you think it overuses tropes or cliches then say so. But don't call an original work fanfiction when it's not. It insults the work by unfavorably comparing it to something that can't be legally published at worst and deprives the word fanfiction of any meaning at best. Fanfiction isn't a genre or a style, it's a word describing an unauthorized derivative work.

No, there is no problem with changing your tune, but you were quite vocal as to WHY you didn't think Rey could be a Mary Sue.

[Yukaphile]

That would make both the old and new EU fanfiction as well. Though I could see your point, I guess.

Well, maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Convince me.

[CmdrKing]

*skims*
Genetics have very little to do with how sexual dimorphism actually expresses in mammals. Each stage of sexual development is the body’s response to hormones, and that includes all the natal ones. It’s entirely possible, though uncommon, for XX males and XY females to be fertile, for an easy example.

It’s telling though that you consider the *only function* of gender in society to be reproduction, and to be solely synonymous with sex. Might wanna have that checked.

[AlucardNoir]

That would make both the old and new EU fanfiction as well. Though I could see your point, I guess.

Well, maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Convince me.

Read my post again, fanfiction is unauthorized derivative media, both the old and new EU were anything but unauthorized. Which is why people had a problem with them being declared noncanon in the first place.

There's an entire thread about that, go there.

*skims*
Genetics have very little to do with how sexual dimorphism actually expresses in mammals. Each stage of sexual development is the body’s response to hormones, and that includes all the natal ones. It’s entirely possible, though uncommon, for XX males and XY females to be fertile, for an easy example.

It’s telling though that you consider the *only function* of gender in society to be reproduction, and to be solely synonymous with sex. Might wanna have that checked.

Genetics have very little to do with sexual dimorphism? Genetics? the literal building blocks of Terran life? The stuff that is responsible for literally every proteine, enzime and hormone your body produces and how the cells that form your body react to said proteins, enzymes, hormones, peptides etc? Those genetics? congrats, you just disqualified any opinion you might have on the topic and will be ignored in the future.

As for the second part of your "reply". You're a living being, there is no god. You only exist as a result of a DNA strand trying to duplicate itself. You literally only exist to have children and take care of them until they themselves can have children of their own and rear them. You're no more special then a rat or an ant. Life has only single purpose, to perpetuate itself.

And no reproduction isn't the only function of gender in society, reproduction is the basis of sexual dimorphism and sexual dimorphism is at the core of the concept of gender. But we as humans are a lot less controlled by instinct then most animals and as such have attached societal norms and traditions to observations of biological reality. Women have long hair and men have short hair? purely cultural attachments. Women were skirts and dresses, men wear trousers and shorts? again, purely cultural. Woman can bear children, men can't? societal observation of biological reality.

You took the idea of divorcing the cultural baggage gendered words might have to the extreme and are now making ludicrous statements like your genetics statement above. There is one thing to say "there is nothing intrinsically feminine about the color pink and nothing intrinsically masculin about the color blue" and something entirely different to say the absurdity you uttered in the quoted post.

[Admiral X]

Reading through this, I'm reminded of how the left can be every bit as anti-science as the right when they want to be.

[User 2632]

Fanfiction does not have a style or format. It's merely fiction written by fans of a certain work set in the same universe as that work and usually involving at least some characters from said work. Depending on their talent or on the style and/or format it might be trying to emulate it falls under a multitude of styles, formats and genres. There might be bad published books but you don't compare them to fanfiction unless you intend to insult them by calling the unprofessional and unworthy to get published, otherwise the comparison goes the other way around, you compare the best of fanfiction to professionally published works.

Fanfiction isn't an insult, but it's by definition "unprofessional" since it's unoriginal and unpublishable under the current copyright regime since it constitutes a derivative work. There's a reason we have licensed works and fanfiction as separate categories (SW fanfiction vs the old SW EU) - and that's the law. And there's a reason why if someone wants to publish fanfic they need to change the names and enough of the setting to make the work stand on its' own.(50 shades of gray and Eragon)

If you think something is bad then call it bad. If you think something is derivative then call it derivative. If you think it overuses tropes or cliches then say so. But don't call an original work fanfiction when it's not. It insults the work by unfavorably comparing it to something that can't be legally published at worst and deprives the word fanfiction of any meaning at best. Fanfiction isn't a genre or a style, it's a word describing an unauthorized derivative work.

What if the author is a fan?

[CmdrKing]

Genes are a blueprint. After that? Sexual maturity is achieved in stages, all of which allow for deviation from that blueprint.
It’s been a while so some of these might be a bit mixed up.
Genital differentiation for example is a two stage process in utero, the first for whether the glans trends towards penile or clitoral growth and the second for finalizing structure and differentiating the gonads.

Then of course it’s a few weeks until the gonads finish positioning themselves and generating their own hormones.

Then god damn the hot mess of puberty.

At any stage the environment, health of the person, compounding changes from previous development, influence from unrelated genes, disease, all have a say on whether the gene blueprint is followed.

But genetics are the end all of human development? It’s just an explanation for the concept of what genes are to children, because the complexities of cellular biology are a bit much to dump on someone all at once.

But that’s the trick in general: the heart of science is uncertainty and delight in the unknown, and treating it otherwise leads only to ignorance and rejecting the scientific process.

This video is about black holes, but the learning process on display is perfect: https://www.wired.com/story/an-astronomer-explains-black-holes-at-5-levels-of-difficulty/

[AlucardNoir]

Genes are a blueprint. After that? Sexual maturity is achieved in stages, all of which allow for deviation from that blueprint.
It’s been a while so some of these might be a bit mixed up.
Genital differentiation for example is a two stage process in utero, the first for whether the glans trends towards penile or clitoral growth and the second for finalizing structure and differentiating the gonads.

Then of course it’s a few weeks until the gonads finish positioning themselves and generating their own hormones.

Then god damn the hot mess of puberty.

At any stage the environment, health of the person, compounding changes from previous development, influence from unrelated genes, disease, all have a say on whether the gene blueprint is followed.

But genetics are the end all of human development? It’s just an explanation for the concept of what genes are to children, because the complexities of cellular biology are a bit much to dump on someone all at once.

But that’s the trick in general: the heart of science is uncertainty and delight in the unknown, and treating it otherwise leads only to ignorance and rejecting the scientific process.

This video is about black holes, but the learning process on display is perfect: https://www.wired.com/story/an-astronomer-explains-black-holes-at-5-levels-of-difficulty/

Wow, you really don't know when to quit do you? remove the DNA from a cell and that cell will die. Genes aren't just a "blueprint" for your body, they are the literal "master record" for every molecule a cell produces. These gene products are then used to make literally every single other molecule that makes up the cell or that the cells uses. There is no intelect behind any of this, just random Brownian motion and chemical reactions. Nobody leads the polymarise proteine around the DNA, nobody leads the RNA thus produces to the ribosome, nobody collects and sends specific atoms to the ribosome to make a protein. It's all a matter of random movement and the most likely chemical reactions occurring. It has taken life billions of years to reach the point where you have the highly specialized cells of today with their highly curated interna molecular makeup. Multicultural life itself is barely over half a billion years old.

Your body isn't some multinational factory that makes microcips, it's a thousand different factories, each one producing all the stuff it needs to replace itself plus all the things needed to make another factory and all of them together the stuff needed to make an iPhone - to push the limits of the metaphor.

All those macrocellular factors you mentioned, they don't affect the body, they affect individual cells. All those hormones and nutriment the fetus gets from the mother affect development. As do any toxins and poisons of a nonorganic nature the mother might have ingested. They can have a result that can last for the entire life of the new organism, from fetal alcohol syndrome, to miscarriages caused by cyclopamine, to the strength of gene expressions though epigenetics - a means cells have developed to slow or increase gene product production depending on environmental factors.

Going from the fetus to a newlyborn, again, it's the fucking genes that decide everything you are. Not only are they a "blueprint" that the cells will "follow", but they are the "master record" for everything that makes a cell a cell as well as what a cell produces. If the "master record" gets damaged you are likely to die. For some genes like the gene responsible for producing hemoglobin there are no known mutations, or at least none the last time I checked. Why? because it's a fundamental protein and if you don't have it or it's not as efficient as the body expects it to be you die. But there can also be problems on the blueprint level were because of just one gene mutation you can be born with a hole in your heart. The "blueprint" part of your genes decides how cells differentiate, how they position themselves in regards to other cells and what part of the "master record" each type of cell is going to use. One gene can be all that stands between "born heathy" and "born without a brain"

Some environmental factors do stunt or outright stop development. Viruses do this by replacing the "master record" function of your genes. Bacterian, fungi and amoebas do it by consuming nutrients your body should be using and by releasing toxins that damage your cells. Parasitic organism again steal your nutrients. And other environmental factors can affect your epigenetics, ie. the speed with which your body reads a certain portion of your dna or if it reads it at all.

Nutrition can, via epigenetics - ie. gene expression - retard or quicken the onset of puberty, but it's through epigenetics, not some magical voodoo that has nothing to do with genes. Disease induced sterility as another point you brought up does so by damaging tissue made of specialized cells when the body has gone past the developmental stage where it can differentiate that type of cell again.

So yeah, genetics are the be all, end all of the human species. If you were born with a shorter leg, without legs, with a whole in your hear, without a brain, that's that "genetic bluepring" you talked about. If you get fat really easy, or don't get fat despite consuming over your daily caloric intake, that's also your genes. If you are a genius, or a dunce, that also has more then something to do with your genes. If you are going to develop sickle cell anemia, huntington's, alzheimer's, your genes are also to blame. If your mom had you when she was starving - for whatever reason - and you find you just can't put those kilos away, yeah, that's gene expression - epigenetics. If chlamydia left your sterile, that's also your genes, more precisely the inability of the human body to differentiate enough new cells of that type to regrow the damaged or destroyed tissue. Genes dictate what you like to eat and smell and what you don't. They dictate what you can and can not eat. They dictate what diseases will kill you and to which you are imune. They dictate how tall you can get and if you have a maximum height to begin with - pray you do btw.

Sexual maturity does come in stages but none of those stages allow for deviation from the "blueprint", the "blueprint" has tolerances. Once you go beyond the bounds of what your genes and your epigenetics allows you can be assured that you are suffering from a disease or a disorder caused by a disease. And even within the bounds of your genetic "blueprint" errors abound.

Remember that scene in GATTACA where we find out the only reason our main character ever beat his genetically superior brother was because he cheated? You are your genes.

I've been replaying The Talos Principle and I was reminded of an old Philip K Dick quote that seems apt here: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Genes are a blueprint. After that? Sexual maturity is achieved in stages, all of which allow for deviation from that blueprint.
It’s been a while so some of these might be a bit mixed up.
Genital differentiation for example is a two stage process in utero, the first for whether the glans trends towards penile or clitoral growth and the second for finalizing structure and differentiating the gonads.

Then of course it’s a few weeks until the gonads finish positioning themselves and generating their own hormones.

Then god damn the hot mess of puberty.

At any stage the environment, health of the person, compounding changes from previous development, influence from unrelated genes, disease, all have a say on whether the gene blueprint is followed.

But genetics are the end all of human development? It’s just an explanation for the concept of what genes are to children, because the complexities of cellular biology are a bit much to dump on someone all at once.

But that’s the trick in general: the heart of science is uncertainty and delight in the unknown, and treating it otherwise leads only to ignorance and rejecting the scientific process.

This video is about black holes, but the learning process on display is perfect: https://www.wired.com/story/an-astronomer-explains-black-holes-at-5-levels-of-difficulty/

Wow, you really don't know when to quit do you? remove the DNA from a cell and that cell will die. Genes aren't just a "blueprint" for your body, they are the literal "master record" for every molecule a cell produces. These gene products are then used to make literally every single other molecule that makes up the cell or that the cells uses. There is no intelect behind any of this, just random Brownian motion and chemical reactions. Nobody leads the polymarise proteine around the DNA, nobody leads the RNA thus produces to the ribosome, nobody collects and sends specific atoms to the ribosome to make a protein. It's all a matter of random movement and the most likely chemical reactions occurring. It has taken life billions of years to reach the point where you have the highly specialized cells of today with their highly curated interna molecular makeup. Multicultural life itself is barely over half a billion years old.

Your body isn't some multinational factory that makes microcips, it's a thousand different factories, each one producing all the stuff it needs to replace itself plus all the things needed to make another factory and all of them together the stuff needed to make an iPhone - to push the limits of the metaphor.

All those macrocellular factors you mentioned, they don't affect the body, they affect individual cells. All those hormones and nutriment the fetus gets from the mother affect development. As do any toxins and poisons of a nonorganic nature the mother might have ingested. They can have a result that can last for the entire life of the new organism, from fetal alcohol syndrome, to miscarriages caused by cyclopamine, to the strength of gene expressions though epigenetics - a means cells have developed to slow or increase gene product production depending on environmental factors.

Going from the fetus to a newlyborn, again, it's the fucking genes that decide everything you are. Not only are they a "blueprint" that the cells will "follow", but they are the "master record" for everything that makes a cell a cell as well as what a cell produces. If the "master record" gets damaged you are likely to die. For some genes like the gene responsible for producing hemoglobin there are no known mutations, or at least none the last time I checked. Why? because it's a fundamental protein and if you don't have it or it's not as efficient as the body expects it to be you die. But there can also be problems on the blueprint level were because of just one gene mutation you can be born with a hole in your heart. The "blueprint" part of your genes decides how cells differentiate, how they position themselves in regards to other cells and what part of the "master record" each type of cell is going to use. One gene can be all that stands between "born heathy" and "born without a brain"

Some environmental factors do stunt or outright stop development. Viruses do this by replacing the "master record" function of your genes. Bacterian, fungi and amoebas do it by consuming nutrients your body should be using and by releasing toxins that damage your cells. Parasitic organism again steal your nutrients. And other environmental factors can affect your epigenetics, ie. the speed with which your body reads a certain portion of your dna or if it reads it at all.

Nutrition can, via epigenetics - ie. gene expression - retard or quicken the onset of puberty, but it's through epigenetics, not some magical voodoo that has nothing to do with genes. Disease induced sterility as another point you brought up does so by damaging tissue made of specialized cells when the body has gone past the developmental stage where it can differentiate that type of cell again.

So yeah, genetics are the be all, end all of the human species. If you were born with a shorter leg, without legs, with a whole in your hear, without a brain, that's that "genetic bluepring" you talked about. If you get fat really easy, or don't get fat despite consuming over your daily caloric intake, that's also your genes. If you are a genius, or a dunce, that also has more then something to do with your genes. If you are going to develop sickle cell anemia, huntington's, alzheimer's, your genes are also to blame. If your mom had you when she was starving - for whatever reason - and you find you just can't put those kilos away, yeah, that's gene expression - epigenetics. If chlamydia left your sterile, that's also your genes, more precisely the inability of the human body to differentiate enough new cells of that type to regrow the damaged or destroyed tissue. Genes dictate what you like to eat and smell and what you don't. They dictate what you can and can not eat. They dictate what diseases will kill you and to which you are imune. They dictate how tall you can get and if you have a maximum height to begin with - pray you do btw.

Sexual maturity does come in stages but none of those stages allow for deviation from the "blueprint", the "blueprint" has tolerances. Once you go beyond the bounds of what your genes and your epigenetics allows you can be assured that you are suffering from a disease or a disorder caused by a disease. And even within the bounds of your genetic "blueprint" errors abound.

Remember that scene in GATTACA where we find out the only reason our main character ever beat his genetically superior brother was because he cheated? You are your genes.

I've been replaying The Talos Principle and I was reminded of an old Philip K Dick quote that seems apt here: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

You calling me a dunce?