explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2720: Biology vs Robotics

2023-01-05T22:40:43Z

172.68.138.97:

The Explanation says "'Cueball complains to the robot that biology (And presumably being biological) is annoying/bad, stating "Biology sucks" and "Bodies have all these problems'" but the comic currently says "Biology is *the worst*. Bodies have all these *random* problems." Was the comic updated or is the explanation inaccurate? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.100|172.71.102.100]] 23:29, 4 January 2023‎ (UTC)

As part of building the robot, Cueball (or xer builder, if he didn't build xim) have been drilling holes in xim. Xe doesn't care because xe doesn't have nerve endings. As a result of this conversation, xe discovers that the not-caring would not be reciprocated if xe began drilling holes in humans.{{unsigned ip|172.68.34.215|05:41, 5 January 2023}}
:I think it's not quite that, perhaps just more a passive-aggressive attitude by the robot, who just happens to know that any damage ''they'' suffer is going to need at the very least some form of metalworking handyman to patch the damage up (possibly an engineer). But there's not enough context to reliably narrow it down. For example, does a hole 'hurt' the robot (independently of whether it impairs functionality), or is it just an annoyance (or necessitates a system shut-down) until repairs are completed. Yet obviously they like the idea of having a self-repairing system, without understanding that there are different limitations and consequences...
:''But'', the joke appears to be (to me) that the biological being is bemoaning all the flaws in his body's design, whilst not appreciating how truly remarkable are its many useful features, such as (limited, but not insignificant) recovery from trauma. Something the robot has its own perspective on. Simple as that? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.224|172.70.85.224]] 10:54, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
:: Agree. The joke is Cueball is complaining about a situation where he has advantages over the robot. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 19:09, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

Very tempted to add in that, if there was a designer/engineer, the problems of biology might be so easily identified and designed out (or never designed in, in the first place). Except that there's often a few 'awkward' (or even unidentified) flaws in an ostensibly finalised project (at least with man-made things) and I also would attract the ire of the YECs/etc who believe there ''was'' a biological 'designer' (despite seemingly having made such errors along the way). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.186|172.71.178.186]] 11:51, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
:The paradox is that there 'is' an intelligent designer of robots, yet they don't have remarkable features like self-healing. While there are lots of problems in biology that would be considered design flaws if there were a designer (the inside-out placement of the optic nerve is the classic example), millions of years of evolution still produced results that are incredibly robust and far more flexible than anything human designers can create. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:19, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
::Yet, while the robot is a fairly new thing (less time to sort out the flaws, or understand how not to even introduce them) presumably created by a human (flawed and fallible, we all can agree), the whole issue of biology is millions of years in continuous test/development cycle (or maybe just ''thousands'', but that's still more than mere years or decades) and that designer is supposed to be Perfect (omniscience, omnipresent ''and'' omnipotent) and should have been capable of resolving any loose ends they somehow allowed to be unresolved in the initially rushed six day period of manufacture and integration.
::Ultimately, the reason our bodies weren't made to be unflawed (either initially or by tweaking further down the line) falls into the same sort of philosophical realm as "why do bad things happen" (indeed, it is one, perhaps with the likes of Methuselah and other antedeluvian lifetimes being deprecated after His watery 'product recall', as well as playing their part in confusing Bishop Usher's estimates).
::Usually, the cover-all of having summarised God's 'plan' as being ineffable plasters over all the logical cracks, so it takes a very determined thinker to imagine they fully understand how it could (or could not) have happened, except by just applying the eponymous Razor and declaring all the unknowables to be irrelevent. (Which mightily upsets those who vehementally disagree, by their own principles.) So let us not go too deep into that, beyond acknowledging the competing ideas involved. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.35|172.71.242.35]] 15:58, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

A self-sustaining, self-healing, self-replicating and self-improving system such as a biological one has a very significant limitation: it shall keep working from the very start and through every improvement, no "shutdown time". It is doomed to build upon itself, hence create many flaws and inefficiencies along the way. An electromechanical system built by an external actor may be assembled piece-by-piece from non-working parts and subsystems until it's ready to start. It could be shut down for repairs and improvements. -- [[Special:Contributions/172.68.138.97|172.68.138.97]] 22:40, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

2719: Hydrogen Isotopes

2023-01-05T13:55:29Z

172.68.138.97:

{{comic
| number = 2719
| date = January 2, 2023
| title = Hydrogen Isotopes
| image = hydrogen_isotopes_2x.png
| imagesize = 442x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Oops, All Neutrons is also known as Neutral Quadrium, Nydnonen, and Goth Tritium.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BREAK ROOM DE BROGLIE MICROWAVE USER. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{W|Hydrogen}} is the simplest of the chemical atoms, usually consisting of an electron orbiting a lone proton, but with two other naturally occurring {{w|isotope}}s. This comic shows real and humorously fictional forms of hydrogen, generally depicted according the {{w|Discovery of the neutron#Proton–neutron model of the nucleus|Chadwick model}} of the atom; see [[2100: Models of the Atom]] for details.

{| class="wikitable"
! "Isotope"
! Real?
! Description
|-
|Hydrogen
|Yes
|Hydrogen-1 is the most common isotope of hydrogen, with one proton and one electron, shown with the electron orbiting the proton. It is also known as protium.
|-
|Deuterium
|Yes
|{{w|Deuterium}} is the second most common isotope of hydrogen, with one electron and both a neutron and proton in its nucleus. About one of every 6,760 hydrogen atoms in seawater is deuterium. Its chemical symbol is D or [[2614: 2|<sup>2</sup>H]], and it's also called heavy hydrogen or hydrogen-2.
|-
|Tritium
|Yes
|{{w|Tritium}} is the third most common isotope of hydrogen, with an electron orbiting a nucleus of one proton and two neutrons, for an atomic mass of about three {{w|Dalton (unit)|daltons}}. It is radioactive with a half-life of about twelve years, and is very rare (but not as rare as unbound "instant hydrogen" neutrons.) It's also designated hydrogen-3, with the symbol of T or more often, <sup>3</sup>H.
|-
|Ium
|Only in the lab
|This is a free electron orbiting around nothing. In line with the naming of the heavier hydrogen isotopes (a prefix designating the number of {{w|nucleons}} is followed by the suffix "-ium"), the lack of a nucleus is designated here by the absence of a prefix. A free electron will not circle around nothing but will react to electromagnetic fields when suitably configured. A {{w|Penning trap}} can confine electrons to move in circles.
|-
|Wheelium
|No
|This fictional form consists of a proton, electron, and neutron orbiting around nothing, shaped similarly to a wheel. The neutron could bind to the proton, but will more likely {{w|Elastic_scattering#Nuclear particle physics|elastically scatter}} away.
|-
|Instant hydrogen (ready in 15 minutes)
|Yes, but rare[https://radioactivity.eu.com/phenomenon/neutronic_radiation]
|This is just a single neutron. An unbound neutron will decay into a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino, with a mean lifetime of just under fifteen minutes. The proton and electron ''can'' form into a hydrogen atom, but that [https://van.physics.illinois.edu/ask/listing/1207 only happens about four times in a million.] The name is likely a reference to "instant" food such as noodles which are reduced for convenience and can be quickly reconstituted.
|-
|Hydrogen (maximum strength)
|No
|This fictional isotope consists of a proton, an electron, and what appear to be at least 14 neutrons. This isotope's proton would not be bound to all the neutrons. It would immediately decay by {{w|Nuclear drip line|dripping}} most all of them away, producing a large amount of energy. "Maximum strength" may be a reference to over-the-counter medicines containing the largest quantity of active ingredients permitted.
|-
|Oops, All Neutrons
|Extremely unlikely
|This fictional form consists of four neutrons, with one orbiting around a group of three. As the existence of {{w|tetraneutron|tetraneutrons}} is still uncertain, their possible configurations are unknown. But the depicted configuration is very unlikely given the characteristics of fundamental forces. The name is likely a reference to an American breakfast cereal called {{w|Cap'n Crunch#Variations|Oops! All Berries}}, which has also been referenced in [[2256]].
|}

The title text provides three other names: 1. "Neutral Quadrium": {{w|Isotopes_of_hydrogen#Hydrogen-4|Quadrium}} is the extremely rare artificial isotope hydrogen-4, with a proton and three neutrons.[https://www.chem.ccu.edu.tw/~hu/Web_Lib/articles/Muonium+H2_Science_2011.pdf][https://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/GodesRcontrolled.pdf] The proton and electron have been replaced with neutrons. 2. "Nydnonen" is the word "hydrogen" with three consonants replaced by the letter 'n' so it has four of them representing the four neutrons. 3. "Goth Tritium": All the particles in the depiction are black, resembling typical {{w|gothic fashion}}, and in the same configuration as the particles of tritium.

==Transcript==
:[Eight drawings of different versions of hydrogen atoms are shown. They are arranged in two rows of four. The depictions use the planetary model version with for instance a negative electron (with a "-" written inside a small circle) orbiting a positive proton (with a "+" written inside a larger circle) and a black neutron depicted as a circle of the same size as the neutron, as in the second atom - Deuterium. Each has a label underneath. Here, they are listed in reading order:]
:[An electron orbiting a proton:]
:Hydrogen

:[An electron orbiting a proton connected with a neutron:]
:Deuterium

:[An electron orbiting a proton connected with two neutrons, so they form a triangle:]
:Tritium

:[An electron orbiting nothing:]
:Ium

:[An electron a proton and a neutron all orbiting on the same circle around nothing. They are placed equidistant from each other forming a large triangle:]
:Wheelium

:[A single neutron:]
:Instant Hydrogen (ready in 15 minutes)

:[An electron orbiting a proton connected with many neutrons, 13 visible with six touching the proton which are in front. Four more are close to those six and mostly shown and then three are only just visible behind the others. Looking closely there are also two smaller dots near the edge indicating at least two more, for 15 that can be seen. And several more would be behind the visible neutrons if this forms a spherical shape. The electrons orbit just barely goes around the outer neutrons:]
:Hydrogen (maximum strength)

:[Four neutrons arranged like the particles in Tritium with a neutron orbiting a triangle of neutrons.]
:Oops, all neutrons

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

1973: Star Lore

2022-10-23T20:49:08Z

172.68.138.97: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1973
| date = March 28, 2018
| title = Star Lore
| image = star_lore.png
| titletext = That one is a variable star which pulses every 30 seconds. Its name comes from a Greek word meaning "smoke alarm."
}}

==Explanation==
Computers, chargers, and other electronic items often have status lights in various colors. In a dark room, these lights appear as pinpricks of light, similar to constellations. Presumably, Randall's room has many such items. This may be a [[My Hobby]] comic in the sense that his room doesn't really look like that, rather, he claims it does for humor value. It's also not clear whether this refers to Randall's bedroom (typical US usage of "my room" refers to one's bedroom) or some other room Randall spends a good deal of time in. However, since a bedroom is generally the only room in which one might spend significant time in the dark, it seems very likely this is referring to Randall's bedroom.

The comic's narrator is explaining how some of his lights remind him of stars, which gives him an opportunity to show off his knowledge of sci-fi trivia: "The Five Sisters" could be a reference to a pentagon-shaped constellation from Isaac Asimov's book ''Foundation's Edge'', though it could not have been 'known to the ancients' since it was less than 100 years old; though it could also be a somewhat more oblique reference to the Pleiades cluster (often called the Seven Sisters). It could also refer to the cluster of 5 lights next to the speech bubble, which is reinforced by the next bubble talking specifically about the bigger red light in the cluster.

Interestingly, there are some green stars. Stars might look green due to a neighbouring star, but {{w|Green star (astronomy)|green stars are actually impossible}} due to the principle of black body radiation. Green status lights on electronics are common, however.{{Citation needed}}

In the title text, the narrator describes his {{w|smoke alarm}} status light as a pulsing variable star. A smoke alarm (which in ''modern'' Greek is "synagermós kapnoú", whatever name might be derived from the ancient-Greek version) is a device that detects smoke, which would indicate a fire. These are commonly placed in houses as a safety precaution. Typically, many smoke alarms have a status light that blinks to assure that they are still functioning. A subtle blinking light is more clear in its (intermittent) activation than a steady one that might actually be inactive but reflecting external illumination, while a high-intensity photoemitter capable of being seen in near-direct daylight would be annoyingly bright when the lights are off at night.

==Transcript==
:[A black panel with 31 dots of different sizes and in various colors (white, red, yellow, blue and green). These bright dots are scattered around three white speech bubbles for off-panel speakers. Next to the top left corner of the first bubble, there are five dots close together. Two white, two yellow (one brighter than the other) and a red dot that is clearly larger than any of the other four.]
:Person 1 (off panel): That cluster was known to the ancients as the Five Sisters.
:Person 1 (off panel): The red one is a supergiant and will probably explode within the next million years.
:Person 2 (off panel): Wow!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:There are too many status LEDs in my room.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Computers]]