explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3155: Physics Paths

2025-10-17T11:26:58Z

Duckwing:

{{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 prove his value 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.

The title text mentions {{w|syllogisms}}, logical deductions from two propositions. An example of a syllogism is "All scientists that overturn physics are valuable. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, Einstein was a person of value." Since Cueball, invalidly, gets it the other way around ("Einstein was a person of value. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, all people with value overturn physics."), one could say he overturned syllogisms.

==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. I'll 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!

==Trivia==
Einstein had more than one major insight. His "{{w|Annus mirabilis papers|''annus mirabilis'' papers}}", all published in 1905, covered the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and mass-energy equivalence. The fourth of these is a consequence of the third (though still a major development in its own right), but the first three are about essentially-unrelated areas of physics, and represent significant new understanding of them. The photoelectric effect, the only discovery mentioned in Einstein's Nobel Prize citation, was a foundational concept of what was later called quantum mechanics. The third, titled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", is the one that can be said to have 'overturned' physics as it introduced the concept of {{w|special relativity}}. Special relativity made unnecessary the concept of {{w|luminiferous aether}} for the propagation of light, a substance which had been disproven by the {{w|Michelson–Morley experiment}} but which had left the previous system of classical physics unable to explain why light behaved as it did. The theory of special relativity was also one of the great {{w|unification of theories in physics}}. The first unification was by Isaac Newton, whose law of universal gravitation unified physics (gravity as observed on Earth) with astronomy (the motion of planets) at a time when the two subjects were considered different fields. The second unification was by James Clerk Maxwell, who produced equations unifying the behavior of electricity and magnetism. With the paper on special relativity, Einstein unified space and time, showing that gravity was actually a result of spacetime bending, and not a force solely dependent on the mass of two objects, as classical physics assumed. Incredibly, less than two months after publishing the third great unification, Einstein's fourth paper, titled "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", produced the fourth great unification, when it introduced the equation ''E''=''mc''<sup>2</sup> and unified mass and energy. Einstein later (1915) discovered {{w|general relativity}}, another revolutionary physical concept. This unparalleled achievement of several fundamental breakthroughs in physics is why Einstein is held in such high regard to this day, to the point that his last name as a {{w|mononym}} is synonymous with intelligence, insight, and greatness. Indeed Einstein's papers remain a large part of the foundation of modern physics.

The path of ruin seems a nod to John Baez's classic [https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html Crackpot Index]. xkcd has mocked the idea of the physics community suppressing new ideas before, such as in [[675: Revolutionary]], [[2113: Physics Suppression]], or the "science thought police" in [[955: Neutrinos]]. This is also the second consecutive comic about Einstein in some way after [[3154: Physics Insight]].

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Albert Einstein]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]

3155: Physics Paths

2025-10-17T11:25:26Z

Duckwing: /* Explanation */

{{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 prove his worth 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.

The title text mentions {{w|syllogisms}}, logical deductions from two propositions. An example of a syllogism is "All scientists that overturn physics are valuable. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, Einstein was a person of value." Since Cueball, invalidly, gets it the other way around ("Einstein was a person of value. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, all people with value overturn physics."), one could say he overturned syllogisms.

==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. I'll 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!

==Trivia==
Einstein had more than one major insight. His "{{w|Annus mirabilis papers|''annus mirabilis'' papers}}", all published in 1905, covered the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and mass-energy equivalence. The fourth of these is a consequence of the third (though still a major development in its own right), but the first three are about essentially-unrelated areas of physics, and represent significant new understanding of them. The photoelectric effect, the only discovery mentioned in Einstein's Nobel Prize citation, was a foundational concept of what was later called quantum mechanics. The third, titled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", is the one that can be said to have 'overturned' physics as it introduced the concept of {{w|special relativity}}. Special relativity made unnecessary the concept of {{w|luminiferous aether}} for the propagation of light, a substance which had been disproven by the {{w|Michelson–Morley experiment}} but which had left the previous system of classical physics unable to explain why light behaved as it did. The theory of special relativity was also one of the great {{w|unification of theories in physics}}. The first unification was by Isaac Newton, whose law of universal gravitation unified physics (gravity as observed on Earth) with astronomy (the motion of planets) at a time when the two subjects were considered different fields. The second unification was by James Clerk Maxwell, who produced equations unifying the behavior of electricity and magnetism. With the paper on special relativity, Einstein unified space and time, showing that gravity was actually a result of spacetime bending, and not a force solely dependent on the mass of two objects, as classical physics assumed. Incredibly, less than two months after publishing the third great unification, Einstein's fourth paper, titled "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", produced the fourth great unification, when it introduced the equation ''E''=''mc''<sup>2</sup> and unified mass and energy. Einstein later (1915) discovered {{w|general relativity}}, another revolutionary physical concept. This unparalleled achievement of several fundamental breakthroughs in physics is why Einstein is held in such high regard to this day, to the point that his last name as a {{w|mononym}} is synonymous with intelligence, insight, and greatness. Indeed Einstein's papers remain a large part of the foundation of modern physics.

The path of ruin seems a nod to John Baez's classic [https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html Crackpot Index]. xkcd has mocked the idea of the physics community suppressing new ideas before, such as in [[675: Revolutionary]], [[2113: Physics Suppression]], or the "science thought police" in [[955: Neutrinos]]. This is also the second consecutive comic about Einstein in some way after [[3154: Physics Insight]].

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Albert Einstein]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]