0242: "The Difference"

[cmacis]

http://xkcd.com/c242.html

Wouldn't the scientist look around to see how it worked before seeing if it works every time. Or if he's a professor, get one of his grad students to do it, who will probably outsource to an undergrad or two, who will outsource to younger siblings.

Ah, uni hierarchy.

[warriorness]

The layman uses his survival instinct to make the decision, whereas the scientist is guided by his quest for knowledge and truth.

Perhaps Randall is trying to convey the message that humans' quest for truth (via religion or science) will lead to our species' eventual downfall, and that we should regress to a more transcendentalist way of life? Or am I looking too much into this?

[Belial]

Or am I looking too much into this?

Yes.

[warriorness]

Belial, the Merciless Crusher of Hopes and Dreams, strikes again!

[Belial]

I does what I cans.

[cmacis]

Ps I woke up just in time to get first post on this. Usually I'm lucky to get first page. Ah well, sleeping all of Thursday meant I didn't have to wait too long for a comic either.

[Pathway]

There's been a run of really good ones lately. This is one such.

[OneLess]

I have to admit, my roommate had just gone to sleep, and when I read this I yelled "Yes!" loud enough to wake him up

[Phy]

Probably won't get as many new people signing up but this is much funnier than Ender puns.

I've caught myself thinking the exact same thing. Monkeying around with locks in aikido comes to mind.

[Phil]

This comic is the explanation of why I break everything I see for the first time. If I notice a strange behavior of an object, even if it can break the object, I still check it out. A good example of it:whenever there's a small fissure in something, I always widen it to see it's exact shape, or to see in which direction it will expand.

I should always buy things twice. I break open one and use the other.

[jwwells]

Beautiful. The joke's been made before, but never so elegantly.

[Code J]

Indeed. I think I may just be a scientist.

[Gelsamel]

<3

[Derjaak]

Loved it, my favorite one in a good while. I was always a little different as a child (And as an adult, I suppose ), and this is a great example why, hehe.

[cmacis]

Of course, what is scientist minus normal person?

And should the scientists be put in with the mathematicians?

After all:

The biologists think they are biochemists.
The biochemists think they are physical chemists.
The physical chemists think they are physicists.
The physicists think they are God.

God, well he thinks he's a mathematician.

[ly_yng]

Yes!

[Solt]

Mahahahahahaaha.

This is SO true. Awesome.

Most people know when to let well enough alone. There must be something wrong with us curious types.

Kinda reminds me of one of the early experimenters with electricity, who used his tongue to gauge the relative strength of electric currents because he had no other way of measuring them. I think it was Volta?

[GrifMoNeY]

If the shock didn't kill me, I would move to the side and try again. Then I'd try attaching a string to the lever and pulling it. A magic lightning device in the right context can be a powerful tool :3

[mikekearn]

I would get someone else to do it again. I wouldn't want to put myself in the same situation again. Of course, that opens a whole avenue of exploration. If it doesn't work, does that mean it only works for me? If it does work, does it only work the first time someone does it? What makes it work at all? Why did it still strike me when my friend pulled it?

So much exploring...so little time...

[aldimond]

The layman uses his survival instinct to make the decision, whereas the scientist is guided by his quest for knowledge and truth.

Perhaps Randall is trying to convey the message that humans' quest for truth (via religion or science) will lead to our species' eventual downfall, and that we should regress to a more transcendentalist way of life? Or am I looking too much into this?

The next person that calls the rejection of the idea of perpetual progress through accumulation of knowledge "regression" gets bitch-slapped!

*goes back to cave*

[Toeofdoom]

The layman uses his survival instinct to make the decision, whereas the scientist is guided by his quest for knowledge and truth.

Perhaps Randall is trying to convey the message that humans' quest for truth (via religion or science) will lead to our species' eventual downfall, and that we should regress to a more transcendentalist way of life? Or am I looking too much into this?

The next person that calls the rejection of the idea of perpetual progress through accumulation of knowledge "regression" gets bitch-slapped!

*goes back to cave*

yeah... why do you think we all wanted to move to an island of our own? so we could tech it up? sure, but only for raptor protection. the rest of the time we'd just sit around making lots of music and paintings and tasty food or something and maybe smoking pot. more interesting and social than computer stuff all day anyway

[Ace_NoOne]

Wait - so according to this comic, Homer Simpson is a scientist!?

[Toeofdoom]

Wait - so according to this comic, Homer Simpson is a scientist!?

Since when has he not been a scientist? I can't recall anything making him not a scientist, although I haven't thought about it much.

[cmacis]

He does work in a nuclear plant with a big desk. Though the answer to everything is yes. Or 'y' to tripe productivity.

Let's say he has the scientific spirit or spark.

[Pebbles]

hmmm im sure thats not the only difference between scientists and normal people.. but a good one nonetheless! btw, im definatley a 'normal person' by the definition of this cartoon. Ill do anything to get away from pain.
xx

[mikekearn]

hmmm im sure thats not the only difference between scientists and normal people.. but a good one nonetheless! btw, im definatley a 'normal person' by the definition of this cartoon. Ill do anything to get away from pain.
xx

It doesn't say anything about pain! It just zaps you with what is presumably a bolt of electricity, leaving you smoking. It doesn't say it was painful. More tests must be done to determine painfulness.

[Pebbles]

hmmm im sure thats not the only difference between scientists and normal people.. but a good one nonetheless! btw, im definatley a 'normal person' by the definition of this cartoon. Ill do anything to get away from pain.
xx

It doesn't say anything about pain! It just zaps you with what is presumably a bolt of electricity, leaving you smoking. It doesn't say it was painful. More tests must be done to determine painfulness.

oh.

[Prometheus]

I generally consider myself a scientist. It's not what you know, or a formal education in the sciences, it's a state of mind.

I personally would disassemble the podium and try to trace the power source.

[warhorse]

How does that joke go? Something like:

A mechanic, a lawyer, and a computer scientist are in a car going down a big hill when the brakes go out. They get to the bottom and manage to safely stop the car. The mechanic says, "let's try to fix the brakes before continuing."

The lawyer says, "let's sue the car company for the defective brakes."

The computer scientist says , "let's push the car back up the hill and see if it happens again."

[Pau!]

Actually, the alt text does imply pain =p

And I would -definitely- pull it again. Then try pulling it slowly...and then try pulling it without actually touching it (string idea mentioned earlier) and from far away, to see if it always hit the same place or what.

I am very much a scientist

[cmacis]

Or the cs responds to the broken car by opening and closing the windows to see if it works.

[Frenchy]

Brilliant.

I know I'd do it again.

[skeptical scientist]

I think I'd leap immediately to the string idea. Preferably with a nonconducting string.

There's science, and then there's shooting yourself in the head to find out if there's an afterlife.

[spm]

I have found myself doing this with several things. Most notably social settings: Despite the fact that whenever I talk to a girl I end up getting hurt, I try again and again, all in the name of science.

Or that other thing.

[Marten (the great)]

science, penis, whatever

[mikekearn]

Actually, the alt text does imply pain =p

Ah, missed that one. However, it says a 'little' pain, and such is acceptable in the quest for scientific knowledge!

[neneko]

I'd just pull the lever again if it didn't hurt me that bad . I would be too curious to think of a non painful solution before hurting myself a few times more to figure it out .

[OneLess]

This is most likely the reason that I broke my headset mic 4 hours after I took it out of the package...It has a "telescoping" boom (it telescopes about 1 centimeter) and I decided to see just how far it would go back. Lo and behold, there are electrical parts in there that can apparently be crushed/snapped/mashed into a fine silicon pulp. I'm sending it back Monday in the name of warranty...er... science

[TheTankengine]

This is definitely the reason there are a limited number of scientists in the world.

We are just not right in the head. simple as that.

[richlayers]

What doesn't kill you only makes you curious.