1377: Fish

2014-06-04T11:55:53Z

Ent: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1377
| date = June 4, 2014
| title = Fish
| image = fish.png
| titletext = [Astronomer peers into telescope] [Jaws theme begins playing]
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Fermi Paradox}} is the contradiction that arises between the high likelihood of {{w|extraterrestial life}} and the fact that no evidence for it has thus far been found.

[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are having a conversation regarding this, when Megan suggests that perhaps our search for extraterrestrial life is like looking at a patch of ocean floor looking for a fish. The diver knows that there must be a fish somewhere, but is unable to actually find it. She then goes on to ask why the fish would be hidden - i.e. camouflaged, and what it means about the remaining fish. The suggestion is that the fish would be hidden to avoid being eaten by predators, and perhaps the reason no extraterrestrial life is sending any sign of existence back is that they would be destroyed soon after they revealed their location.

The final panels take the metaphor further, suggesting that there is literally a planet sized shark swimming through space eating planets, and since we are panning away from earth and out to the Shark it is obviously heading our way... And it turns out that Earth is the next fish!

This explains the title text that has the theme from the movie ''{{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}'' playing while astronomers look into their telescopes. This may also be a reference to the film ''{{w|Alien (film)|Alien}}'', which was pitched with the three word proposal "''Jaws'' in Space."

BTW, a Chinese SciFi writer has published a trilogy called "Three Body", focusing on this idea (he called it "dark forest"): what if all the visible civilizations have been destroyed? What if revealing your neighbor's location to the universe is similar to the MAD situation? The English version should hit the market this year, I think.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

[Cueball and Megan are walking down a hill]

Cueball: The Fermi paradox keeps getting worse. If planets are common, where '''is''' everybody?

Megan: Imagine you're a SCUBA diver looking at the ocean floor. You know there's a fish there, but you can't see it. Why?

Cueball: Maybe the fish looks like sand.

Megan: Yeah...

[Zoom out to the Earth from space]

Megan: ...and what would that tell you about the ecosystem?

[Pan to a shark swimming through space towards Earth]

{{comic discussion}}

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1377: Fish