explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2475: Health Drink

2021-06-16T10:00:00Z

108.162.215.48: typo

Actually, there would be quite a lot of scientists, experts in their fields, which may have trouble using excel or think excel is good way to store data. However, White Hat likely isn't scientist, and "nanoenzymes" may actually be normal enzymes just with cooler name suggesting nanotechnology, because, well, they have the right size for that. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:15, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
:Nanoenzymes are inorganic nanoparticles (typically many thousands of Daltons) with artificial catalytic enzymes stuck on their surface. I don't think they're ever administered by ingestion. And as pertains to the comic, they are impossible to engineer without a solid working familiarity with experimental design. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.199|172.69.35.199]] 09:54, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2475: Health Drink

2021-06-16T09:59:30Z

108.162.215.48: explain more

Actually, there would be quite a lot of scientists, experts in their fields, which may have trouble using excel or think excel is good way to store data. However, White Hat likely isn't scientist, and "nanoenzymes" may actually be normal enzymes just with cooler name suggesting nanotechnology, because, well, they have the right size for that. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:15, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
:Nanoenzymes are inorganic nanoparticles (typically many thousands of Daltons) with artificial catalytic enzymes stuck on their surface. I don't think they're ever administered by ingestion. And as pertains to the comment, they are impossible to engineer without a solid working familiarity with experimental design. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.199|172.69.35.199]] 09:54, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

2475: Health Drink

2021-06-16T06:59:22Z

108.162.215.48: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2475
| date = June 11, 2021
| title = Health Drink
| image = health_drink.png
| titletext = You'd need to keep track of so many people! Would you use, like, Excel or something? Far too fancy for a simple country nanoenzyme developer like me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NANOENZYME. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic pokes fun at health fads, alternative medicine and the like. It points out that many such products will go out of their way to market themselves as legitimate and cutting-edge by using impressive-sounding scientific terms, yet fail to perform even the most basic part of actual science: running a randomized controlled trial to find out if the drink actually helps fight infections. When [[Cueball]] points this out, [[White Hat]] reacts as though this process is highly advanced and unreasonable, which clearly demonstrates that his product is either nonsensical or an active scam (or both).

{{w|Enzymes}} are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. For example, certain proteins aid digestion by breaking down large molecules. Every cell of the human body produces lots of enzymes; the suggestion that people may be lacking them is frequently used as a basis to peddle pseudoscientific products. Nanoenzymes are synthetic materials that perform similar functions to ordinary enzymes; although they may be useful for treating specific diseases and conditions, the average person will probably not find them beneficial. {{w|Amino acids}} are the chemicals that make up proteins, and therefore all natural enzymes are made from amino acids anyway. White Hat's claim use of the term is not particularly explanatory and is likely used to impress and bewilder his audience, so that they are more likely to buy the product.

The comic may reference the FDA's decision [https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/06/08/the-aducanumab-approval three days earlier] to approve a drug for Alzheimer treatment, without direct evidence of efficacy.

The title text further showcases White Hat's incompetence. First, he suggests keeping track of large numbers of people in a clinical trial by storing their data in {{w|Microsoft Excel}}, a popular spreadsheet application. Despite the insistence of many companies and government agencies throughout the years, Excel [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/excel-database-sonal-kanabar|Excel is not a database], and it should not be used to store other people's personal and medical information. He then complains that Excel is too "fancy", and then calls himself a "country nanoenzyme developer" — this is a parody of the idiom "simple country lawyer," a trained professional who pretends to be an average joe to garner sympathy. {{w|Nanomaterials}} are developed using specialized equipment in laboratories by people who are extremely well-versed in science; the notion of comparing one of these scientists to a 'simple country' ''anything'' is ludicrous, and the idea that they would find Excel daunting and overcomplicated is equally so. It's ironic that the person with the seemingly very complicated work and production would be unable to perform the simple procedures which Cueball has suggested in order to make his claims rigorous and supported with evidence. In this, White Hat is demonstrating his complete incompetence and lack of knowledge into what his product actually does.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[White Hat holding a bottle and standing next to Cueball]
:White Hat: My new health drink is packed with amino acid nanoenzymes that I designed to train your immune system to fight infections!
:Cueball: Can you give it to some people and see if they get sick less often?
:White Hat: Whoa, that sounds '''''way''''' too complicated.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

Talk:1455: Trolley Problem

2014-12-03T16:54:24Z

108.162.215.48: added comment

It depends - are any/all of those five people Hitler? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.48|108.162.215.48]] 16:54, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

I think Randall missed a trick here.. He should have had Black Hat offer to leave the lever (killing the 5) if Cueball was the 1 person on the other track, for $1 of course. That way Cueball is put in a situation of moral contradiction: The utilitarian in him says save the 5 (sacrifice self), self interest says save yourself (thereby killing 5). --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:24, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
:Randall had to make a choice between your scenario and Black Hat interrupting Cueball to emphasise BH's lack of care for the people on the track. As he chose the latter, BH didn't know there was a person on the second track, so couldn't have offered your scenario. -- [[User:Notso|Notso]] ([[User talk:Notso|talk]]) 11:05, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
::Good point, I hadn't noticed that BH was never aware of the single person. That makes BH an even less moral person than I'd realised! As far as he knows, he could save 5 lives with no consequences, but that means standing up.... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 12:00, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
:: I think Randall made the morally correct choice there, don't you? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:38, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
:::Thats the thing with morals, something is only 'morally correct' if I subscribe to your moral viewpoint. While not such a popular view, some would argue that intervening to switch the track (thus causing the 1 worker to die) is morally wrong (because of your action you have changed the course of events, or some other reason). While most would agree that it is morally wrong to kill a human, as you start changing the circumstances, it become difficult to stick to hard and fast rules. What about abortion of a foetus, abortion where a life-limiting condition is detected, use of condoms, the death penalty, euthanasia? I would really recommend anyone to run through some of the [http://www.philosophyexperiments.com/ Philosophy Experiments], it certainly made me examine my own morals, which previously I thought were well defined and logical. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:23, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Black Hat first sells his hypothetical decision for $1, which can be seen as a cheap bargain for one's life; but how probable is this concrete situation with these exact persons to come true, except we are speaking of Black Hat here. $5 still is for a hypothetical, but more probable scenario given Black Hat's attitude; agreeing to pay would make Cueball open for further blackmailing in general and so be imprudent, but even for that counter-argument Black Hat has an even more expensive solution. Black Hat goes more and more meta and counters arguments bringing the concrete decision from hypothesis to reality and earning money on the way. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.68|108.162.231.68]] 10:13, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Or one can treat this like Captain Kirk did with the infamous "Kobayashi Maru" problem and cheat, and say that they would throw the lever after the lead wheels have cleared the switch. This would divert the trailing wheels onto the other track which would cause the trolley to derail and thus save all six.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.94|108.162.216.94]] 13:16, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
:And kill everyone on board! Its easy to cheat, and construct ways to avoid the hypothetical situation, or reasons why it could never happen in the first place. To me its more interesting to examine and challenge the thought process involved in making a decision where the answer isn't necessarily 'correct'. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:27, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
::Nowhere does it say there are people on the trolley. You are assuming that there are. I am assuming the opposite — that it is a runaway and no one is aboard; otherwise someone would be able to apply the brakes.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.94|108.162.216.94]] 15:06, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
:::My response was an off the cuff joke, it doesn't matter whether there are people on board, whether they would survive, whether they could pull the brakes on, if the brakes have failed, whether you could fire an orange portal in front of the 5 people and a blue one after them, etc etc etc. The importants part is the second half of my statement, that its easy to cheat, and construct ways to avoid the hypothetical situation, or reasons why it could never happen in the first place. Once you accept the hypothetical limits of the situation, that is where the interesting philosophical questions lie. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:30, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
::The correct answer is to have a moral trolley company that trains its workers to OSHA rules; thus the correct answer would be to throw the lever to head towards the worker, confident that the worker has been trained to listen to the "singing of the rails" indicating an approaching vehicle and will jump out of the way. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:49, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
:::In the original problem, all 6 potential victims are bound and helpless and none of them are "workers". [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 14:07, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
::If the trolley is a runaway trolley, then it's a good chance that all on board (if anyone) would die anyway, so may as well save all six people on the track. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.131|108.162.217.131]] 14:46, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
The explanation is missing that Black Hat doesn't offer to press the lever for $1. He offers to promise to press the lever for $1. [[User:Hsdgsgh|Hsdgsgh]] ([[User talk:Hsdgsgh|talk]]) 13:57, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-05T05:36:00Z

108.162.215.48:

{{comic
| number = 1338
| date = March 5, 2014
| title = Land Mammals
| image = land_mammals.png
| titletext = Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

This comic shows the domination of mankind over the earth. Only in the last century or so have humans and their animal slaves come to occupy such a great proportion of the earth's land mammal mass.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}