Editing 1206: Einstein
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | Nobel laureate and ''Time'' Person of the Century {{w|Albert Einstein}} is often considered one of the smartest and most influential men in world history. His theories revolutionized our understanding of the Universe and inspired generations of scientists. Here, though, [[Randall]] plays with the notion that everything Einstein said constitutes words to live by: A casual observation on the quality of sandwiches is treated as a major hypothesis, and any contradictory evidence "disproves" it. | |
− | + | A key part of the humour is that a significant number of people believe Einstein's physical theories (particularly Special and General Relativity) to be wrong: its universal promotion in scientific literature is ascribed to a conspiracy. This attitude has been lampooned before in xkcd [[808|comic 808]] and [[675|comic 675]]. Having read the first panel here, we are expecting Cueball to present a spurious, inadequate thought experiment (as in [[675|comic 675]]) that will 'disprove' relativity. The second panel is amusing because the target is so much more trivial than we expect, and yet Cueball's experiment is better-founded and likely to succeed in its aim. The conspiracy theorists have the satisfaction of Einstein being proven wrong, but the key assertion that they object to (Relativity) still stands. | |
− | The | + | The title text extends the triviality with a reference to the fact that when Einstein published his first major papers he was working at the Swiss Patent Office, which was also alluded to in [[1067: Pressures]]. According to [https://www.ige.ch/en/about-us/einstein/frequently-asked-questions.html the Einstein FAQ] on the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property's website, patent #39561 is one of several patents that "we can assume ... were personally examined by Einstein". A PDF of the patent, which was indeed a gravel sorter, can be found [https://www.ige.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Institut/d/i109401.pdf here] (in German). |
− | In [[947: Investing]], Randall comments on how people put too much credence in a joke Einstein made in passing, and in [[799 | + | This is not the first time that xkcd has addressed people taking scientists too seriously. In [[947: Investing]], Randall comments on how people put too much credence in a joke Einstein made in passing, and in [[799|comic 799]] we see {{w|Stephen Hawking}} in a similar predicament, every word he says taken as a major declaration. |
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] | [[Category:Comics featuring real people]] | ||
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