3155: Physics Paths

2025-10-16T01:24:29Z

2601:246:4A00:3E80:9402:5418:7F4:9810:

{{comic
| number = 3155
| date = October 15, 2025
| title = Physics Paths
| image = physics_paths_2x.png
| imagesize = 433x663px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If nothing else, that reasoning definitely overturns syllogisms.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT trying to prove its value. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] wishes to validate his existence as a person. To do this, he turns to {{w|Albert Einstein}} as a role model, and attempts to replicate his success by making a revolutionary scientific discovery. After an indeterminate amount of time passes, Cueball laments that he has failed. At this point, the comic diverges into two timelines; one in which Cueball takes a healthy outlook on his failure, and one in which he falls into a self-destructive mode of thinking.

The first path, the "Healthy Path" has Cueball muse that perhaps this was a poorly-thought-out test of his value. The healthy path establishes that Cueball doesn't need a physics-overturning insight to have value. On the other hand, the "Path of Ruin" has Cueball angrily yell that the establishment must be stopping his insight from overturning physics. The path of ruin has Cueball take the idea that to have value, you must have a critical insight as constant. Thus, since, he has value, he must have an insight that overturns physics, and thus the establishment must be suppressing it.

This is the second comic in a row where Cueball tries to replicate Einstein's major contributions to physics.

Einstein had more than one "major insight". His "{{w|annus mirabilis papers}}" covered the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and mass-energy equivalence, all published in 1905.

The path of ruin seems a nod to John Baez's classic [https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html Crackpot Index].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Panel 1, Cueball has one hand out]

Cueball: Einstein had an Insight that overturned physics,
thus proving his value.

:[Panel 2, Cueball has one hand on his chin]

Cueball: I hope I have value. Ill try to have an insight that overturns physics, to check.

:[arrow pointing down with the caption below in between]

Time passes

:[arrow pointing down to Panel 3, which has Cueball with both of his hands out and up]

Cueball: On no! My insight didn't overturn physics! But I don't think I'm worthless...

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the left labeled "Healthy path" points to a panel with Cueball with his hands on his chin:]

Cueball: Maybe this was not a well-thought-out test of my value.

:[Arrow from Panel 3 on the right labeled "Path of ruin" points to a panel with Cueball with his finger out and pointing up:]

Cueball: The establishment must be '''''suppressing''''' my insight!

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3155: Physics Paths