## 0836: "Sickness"

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glasnt
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### 0836: "Sickness"

Alt: At least, with p<0.05 confidence.

No image yet, broken for me.
Last edited by glasnt on Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:01 am UTC, edited 1 time in total.

plin25
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

´¯·.¸¸.·´¯·.¸ }<((((((º>

glasnt
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Getting a 503 on the image, but the rest of it's ok?

"Service Temporarily Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later."

edit: now site wont load, even on my mobile O_O

I got the alt cos of the placeholder broken image tag.
Last edited by glasnt on Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:05 am UTC, edited 1 time in total.

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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

the site won't but the pic will...

ha, it's great.

plin25
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

How'd you get the image and title text if the site's down?

Also, regarding the comic:
"SCIENCE! It works, Bitches!"
´¯·.¸¸.·´¯·.¸ }<((((((º>

black_hat_guy
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Is this the first time Randall's done that in the comic? (randomly revisiting an old comic)
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

My guess is that now that it's break, a bunch more people decided to catch it at midnight, and we crashed his server

let's all go back to the main page and click reload until it works
Last edited by quadmaster on Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:12 am UTC, edited 1 time in total.
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Kain
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

quadmaster wrote:My guess is that now that it's break, a bunch more people decided to catch it at midnight, and we crashed his server

This sounds reasonable, and also falsifiable.

Anyways, GooMHR! I was just reading a bit of Hitchens, saw that it was midnight, realized it was Monday, and navigated here. Heh.
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LordDragonfang
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

black_hat_guy wrote:Is this the first time Randall's done that in the comic? (randomly revisiting an old comic)

You mean besides your usernamesake? But yeah, he'll do that on occasion, but usually in the alt-text or not as the main punchline...

Also, is that supposed to be the black hat guy's counterfoil, "white hat guy", or just some generic religious dude?

nash1429
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

LordDragonfang wrote:Also, is that supposed to be the black hat guy's counterfoil, "white hat guy", or just some generic religious dude?

Interesting... Have we seen white hat guy before?

CobaltMouse
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

*applause*

shashwat986
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

p<0.05 confidence???

Shouldn't it be p<0.05 courage
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Jenni Nikki
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

I want to print that out and frame it.

Ninjin
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Reminded me of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes:

"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."

SerialTroll
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Just remember that science also says that you are nothing more than a vat of chemicals and that there is no ultimate purpose to your life. Also remember that science says that there is no such thing as free will that your actions are a combination of your environment and your genetic programming.

While science has been wonderfully beneficial to us as a species, I think a world run by scientists would be as scary as the (Western) world when it was run by the Catholic church.

Age of Fable
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

IMO this is a textbook example of a comic that's exactly one word too long.
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nykevin
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Yay science!

ZephyrDark
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Age of Fable wrote:IMO this is a textbook example of a comic that's exactly one word too long.

I don't know if you get it, but its a reference to this: http://xkcd.com/54/

Tobu
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Hopefully this is mirroring real-life events and $RELATIVE is becoming better. udqbpn Posts: 29 Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 5:49 am UTC ### Re: 0836: "Sickness" Woahhh, Randall officially opens fire on religion. Everybody find cover, quick!!! *edit: just fixed some spelling errors. Last edited by udqbpn on Mon Dec 20, 2010 6:11 am UTC, edited 3 times in total. Airbuilder7 Posts: 21 Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:20 am UTC ### Re: 0836: "Sickness" Ninjin wrote:Reminded me of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes: "Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all." Followed by a chorus shouting ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER? I like how this echoes back to the original "science" strip and adds some personal overtones to it. My favorite part: "...bought us some pretty damn powerful slings and arrows of our own." As for the alt text, I just got through a semester of sequences and series, so I immediately thought of p-series and noted that that number isn't going to converge... But then I managed to remind myself that it was break. What is the significance of 0.05, though? Turing Machine Posts: 98 Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:48 am UTC ### Re: 0836: "Sickness" someone forgot to tell Lemaître I guess oracle989 Posts: 65 Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:00 am UTC Location: Terra, Segmentum Solar ### Re: 0836: "Sickness" Oh gods, religion mentioned in the comic. We've all seen how that Atheists thread is immortal! MAN THE BUNKERS! Ulc wrote:Evolutionary psychology makes sense yes. But you're not just making a mockery of it here, we're talking full scale orgy abuse while it cries. I reserve the right to quote you both out of context and incorrectly. Qaanol The Cheshirest Catamount Posts: 2971 Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 11:55 pm UTC ### Re: 0836: "Sickness" oracle989 wrote:Oh gods, religion mentioned in the comic. We've all seen how that Atheists thread is immortal! MAN THE BUNKERS! Read that comic again please. Because when I read it, I see no mention of religion. Plenty of mentions of science (four by my count) one of which is in the phrase “looking for answers beyond science”, but there is no mention of religion. Allusion, perhaps, but not outright mention. wee free kings SecondTalon SexyTalon Posts: 24659 Joined: Sat May 05, 2007 2:10 pm UTC Location: Louisville, Kentucky, USA, Mars. HA! Contact: ### Re: 0836: "Sickness" Indeed. If anything, it's a variation on the flood victim joke. (Just the details version) Spoiler: Religious person hears that a huge storm with flooding predicted is coming, and orders to evacuate. Religious person does not, confident that God will save them. During the course of the joke, Religious Person turns down offers of help from a neighbor driving away, another neighbor in a boat when flooding happens, and helicopter when flooding has put the Religious Person on the roof, with other variations of help thrown in as per the joke teller's whim. Religious Person drowns, goes to Heaven. Religious Person asks God why God didn't save them. God replies "I tried. I sent storm warnings, your two neighbors and a fricken Helicopter!" - aka$Deity\$ provides Humans with the ability to solve their own damn problems with SCIENCE.
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gormster
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Ninjin wrote:Reminded me of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes:

"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."

Beat me to it.
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cjcurrie
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Ninjin wrote:
Reminded me of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes:

"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."

Followed by a chorus shouting ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER?

I like how this echoes back to the original "science" strip and adds some personal overtones to it.

My favorite part: "...bought us some pretty damn powerful slings and arrows of our own."

As for the alt text, I just got through a semester of sequences and series, so I immediately thought of p-series and noted that that number isn't going to converge... But then I managed to remind myself that it was break. What is the significance of 0.05, though?

It's a referral to the statistical test of significance. If something is greater than .05% likely to happen through random chance, it's not considered a significant correlation.

Also, I love the Hamlet reference going on here.

BlueNight
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Qaanol wrote:
oracle989 wrote:Oh gods, religion mentioned in the comic. We've all seen how that Atheists thread is immortal! MAN THE BUNKERS!

Read that comic again please. Because when I read it, I see no mention of religion. Plenty of mentions of science (four by my count) one of which is in the phrase “looking for answers beyond science”, but there is no mention of religion. Allusion, perhaps, but not outright mention.

Science simply means the gathering of data through observation of phenomena and experiments. Whatever the rules of this universe are, I want to know them... even if the science leads to a multiverse of branes, an ideal being, passions that can affect spacetime, or nothing except a pale blue dot infested for one short gigayear, then silence forever.
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DreamTheEndless
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

FYI - I have a serious hetero man-crush on you Randall...
(PS - everyone loves my "Science, it works bitches" shirt.)

(PPS - Apropos of nothing; I'd love to see Phil Plait and James Randi guest star in a strip. I think they'd fit in well.)

That's all. Thanks.

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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Not to mention "I begrudge nobody their sources of solace". Even if we take the allusion as a direct reference and the "beyond science" in question to be explicitly religion, he's saying: "there's nothing wrong with being comforted by your religion if that's your thing, but I'm not going to just pray for better health, I'm going to look for practical, scientific solutions to my problem, because those are the kind of solutions that work... bitches". The closest to "bashing" is saying that prayer or whatever is ineffectual except as a psychological comfort, but that there's nothing wrong with using it as such, so long as it's not used as a substitute for science... which works, bitches.
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

the title is surprisingly appropriate as reading this comic made me want to vomit all over my computer
Last edited by from canada on Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:10 am UTC, edited 1 time in total.

nash1429
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

SerialTroll wrote:While science has been wonderfully beneficial to us as a species, I think a world run by scientists would be as scary as the (Western) world when it was run by the Catholic church.

How many scientists have you met in person? While the world should never be run solely by one group of people, scientists are far preferable to Medieval theocracy.

SecondTalon wrote:Indeed. If anything, it's a variation on the flood victim joke.

I thought it was more talking about faith healing and alternative medicine, especially since this is something Randall has brought up before and is more closely related to the medical issue and the role of science in society (IMO).

cjcurrie wrote:If something is greater than .05% likely to happen through random chance, it's not considered a significant correlation.

That would be 5%, not 0.05% (a ridiculous standard).

mmmcannibalism
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

That was truly awe inspiring.
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squareroot
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

nash1429 wrote:
LordDragonfang wrote:Also, is that supposed to be the black hat guy's counterfoil, "white hat guy", or just some generic religious dude?

Interesting... Have we seen white hat guy before?

He appeared in http://xkcd.com/796/

Cite_note-1: Google for "xkcd white hat guy".
Last edited by squareroot on Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:16 am UTC, edited 1 time in total.
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SecondTalon
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

nash1429 wrote:
SexyTalon wrote:Indeed. If anything, it's a variation on the flood victim joke.
I thought it was more talking about faith healing and alternative medicine, especially since this is something Randall has brought up before and is more closely related to the medical issue and the role of science in society (IMO)
.Hm. Maybe it's just me that interprets comments of the "looking for answers beyond Science" nature to be coming from a standpoint of Science|Faith and the two being in opposition. (nevermind that saying Science and Faith are in fights is like saying Chocolate Ice Cream and a 45mph speed limit are in opposition... aka What The Hell Does One Have To Do With The Other?)
"When Archie is too progressive for you, that's how science identifies you as an earlier species" - Luke McKinney, Cracked.com

Honestly, if you're talking BBQ and 'a guy in a parking lot' isn't part of the conversation, something's wrong.

refugee
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Oh, this is going up on blogs, lab bulletin boards, office doors, and sick room bedstands all over the world, darn betcha.

One of the great classics, and not just of xkcd strips.

I refuse to see this as an attack on faith; it is purely an affirmation of tools, and a certain way of thought.

Hypoon
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

I know I've been beaten to this already, but I'll post it anyway just in case somebody wants it over-explained a bit differently...

The alt text is a reference to statistics: see the Wikipedia page on "Statistical Significance". Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I remember the p-value being the probability that you would observe your results if your null hypothesis is true (the null hypothesis is usually when there is nothing special going on, such as a coin being fair or a study finding no correlation between gender and skill). For example, say you were trying to determine if a coin is fairly weighted. You flip the coin, and it lands tails fifty times in a row. You say that the coin is not equally weighted, and your p-value would be [imath]\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{50}[/imath], or on the order of 0.000000000000001. Because your p-value is so small, you're sure that the coin is not fairly weighted. In fact, since the p-value is less than 0.05 (5%), you could say that you are "confident" that the coin is not fair. There is nothing special about the 5%, it's just a commonly used reference. In my high school class, I remember also having to use 10% and 1% at times.

As a side note, I also immediately noticed the presence of the white-hat-guy. OK, so maybe I noticed the tree first, but I noticed him before I started reading the text anyway.

Max2009
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

I'm just glad that Randall's relative is doing better.
Also, "answers beyond science" could mean magic. It doesn't have to be religion.
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DakkonA
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

SerialTroll wrote:Just remember that science also says that you are nothing more than a vat of chemicals and that there is no ultimate purpose to your life. Also remember that science says that there is no such thing as free will that your actions are a combination of your environment and your genetic programming.

While science has been wonderfully beneficial to us as a species, I think a world run by scientists would be as scary as the (Western) world when it was run by the Catholic church.

What's wrong with being a unique vat of chemicals?

I never quite understood what "ultimate purpose" was given by any of the various ascientific systems of thought that was so appealing and would somehow disappear if they weren't around.

As for free will, all science says is that a will that is somehow separable from the universe doesn't exist. But is that a great loss? How many times would you ever do something that wasn't informed by your past experiences in some way? And if you did do something out of character, there was probably something that caused you to make that decision. We have "free will" in the sense that we can't be forced to do something we don't want to do by another person's mind alone, and that the decision making process is so complex in any given person that a random person couldn't fully predict what you would decide before you decide it.

I'm not sure what's so scary about a world run by scientists, especially compared to a world run by politicians?

Analogy
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### Re: 0836: "Sickness"

Randall, I love the comics and I don't know what is happening in your personal life, but the notes I've read over the last few months suggest someone you love is sick. If they can get better, I hope they do. If they can't, I hope you get to spend as much time as you can with them as you can.

And if the comics are fewer and further between, then I don't mind. I love the perspective you give into the human mind. It is clever, irreverent and funny.

Good luck and best wishes!

Sincerely,

Derek Tomes