Last night we viewed “Stowaway,” a Netflix film about a three man mission to Mars.  Or rather, a two woman, and one man mission that becomes a four person mission with the discovery of a stowaway, after the launch of the spacecraft Kingfisher.  The acting is excellent. Toni Collette is mission commander Marina Barrett.  Crew members are played by Daniel Dae Kim, and Anna Kendrick.  Shamier Anderson plays Michael Adams, the stowaway.

This is a thinking person’s film. The visual effects serve the story line, avoiding the overkill which is often a distracting feature of Sci-Fi movies. The story line revolves around the philosophical conundrum known as the Trolley Problem. The Trolley Problem is a standard feature of ethical discussion. What is the ethical thing to do when resources are insufficient for everyone. What action ought to be taken? Is it justified to kill so that a majority can live? The film brings this to a heightened intensity, given the inhospitable conditions of space, and the limited supply of oxygen on a months long mission, designed to provide life support for three people. Who dies and who lives…

I suggest viewing the film before reading a review. A review by the L.A. Times can be found HERE.

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A few more things are on my mind this morning:

Plutocrats All

This is from today’s New York Times: 

Hundreds of companies awarded their leaders pay packages worth significantly more than most Americans will make in their entire lives. C.E.O.s of big companies now make, on average, 320 times as much as typical workers at their companies, according to one analysis. For executives who own large stakes in giant companies, the gains have been even more pronounced.

Clockwise from top left, Calla Kessler/The New York Times; Chris Delmas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Presley Ann/Getty Images for WarnerMedia; pool photo by Stefani Reynolds; Whitney Curtis for The New York Times; Kyle Johnson for The New York Times; Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for Norwegian Cruise Line

You must decide for yourself if it is morally permissible for the few to become more wealthy and powerful than monarchs in past history, when a growing majority live with food insecurity (hunger) and cannot afford medical care.  What do I think?  I think that capitalism as practiced in America is the heart of darkness of this “liberal democracy.”

Balancing On A High Wire

Also this was in a report in today’s New York Times.

Biden’s Pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse emissions by half below 2005 levels by 2030?    big risk — or a big potential payoff.

Scientists say that his pledge to cut America’s climate warming emissions in half by 2030 is technologically feasible and ecologically imperative. The speed of the economic transition away from fossil fuels, however, risks exposing vulnerabilities in the nation’s electricity system and unsettling its transportation sector. But the rewards could be high: lower risk of catastrophic climate change, new jobs and renewed global leadership for American companies.

I know this is just my imagination but, I can picture a scenario of a summer of prolonged, extreme heat affecting major portions of the country.  A power grid supplied by fluctuating renewable energy sources is slammed with unsustainable demand to power the air conditioning.  Would that be “game over” for some?

In any case odds are, “good” Republican’s in congress will stand in the way of anything Biden decides to do.  Even if it kills them, and the rest of us.

Black Lives Have To Matter

Again from the New York Times:

Elizabeth City, N.C., where seven sheriff’s deputies were put on leave after they shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man, on Wednesday. The governor called for the release of body-camera footage.

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Why do we love the tunes that we love?  Do you think music resonates with the wild, untamed portion of ourselves, which we call the id?  The lyric lines of this song came to my waking awareness this morning.

Rebel Rebel
By David Bowie

Doo doo doo-doo doo doo-doo doo
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo-doo doo
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo-doo doo

You’ve got your mother in a whirl
She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl
Hey, babe, your hair’s alright
Hey, babe, let’s go out tonight
You like me and I like it all
We like dancing and we look divine
You love bands when they’re playing hard
You want more and you want it fast

They put you down, they say I’m wrong
You tacky thing, you put them on

Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress
Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could they know?
Hot tramp, I love you so

Don’t ya?
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo-doo doo

You’ve got your mother in a whirl
‘Cause she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl
Hey, babe, your hair’s alright
Hey, babe, let’s stay out tonight
You like me and I like it all
We like dancing and we look divine
You love bands when they’re playing hard
You want more and you want it fast

They put you down, they say I’m wrong
You tacky thing, you put them on

Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress
Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could they know?
Hot tramp, I love you so

Don’t ya?
Ooh!
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo-doo doo
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo-doo doo

Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress
Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could they know?
Hot tramp, I love you so (don’t ya?)

You’ve torn your dress, your face is a mess
You can’t get enough, but enough ain’t the test
You’ve got your transmission and your live wire
You got your cue line and a handful of ludes
You wanna be there when they count up the dudes
And I love your dress
You’re a juvenile success
Because your face is a mess
So how could they know?
I said, how could they know?
So what you wanna know?
Calamity’s child, chi-chi, chi-chi
Where’d you wanna go?
What can I do for you? Looks like I’ve been there too
‘Cause you’ve torn your dress
And your face is a mess
Ooh, your face is a mess
Ooh, ooh, so how could they know?
Ah, ah, how could they know?
Ah, ah

Lyrics by David Bowie