https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Jacomo 2026-04-19T18:02:53Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1716:_Time_Travel_Thesis&diff=124737 2016-08-05T10:38:38Z

<p>Jacomo: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1716<br /> | date = August 5, 2016<br /> | title = Time Travel Thesis<br /> | image = time_travel_thesis.png<br /> | titletext = 'Hey, what are those futuristic goggles for, anyway?' 'Oh, this is just a broken Google Glass. It was 2010's night at the club.'<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br /> [[Cueball]] has apparently been reading about {{w|time travel}} (whether in a book or online, we are not told). He tells [[Megan]] about this, and Megan excitedly remarks that she did her college thesis on time travel, meaning she did a lot of learning and knows how to not have a bad problem that will make it so she will not go to 1812 today.<br /> <br /> Cueball starts talking to her about time travel, trying to {{w|mansplaining|mansplain}} various facets about it to her, but Megan keeps trying to say that she already knows all of this (and likely much, much more) because she wrote her thesis all about this. <br /> <br /> Suddenly, a Megan from the future uses time travel (likely adapted from the work in her thesis) to come back and tell Megan that this conversation doesn't go anywhere and isn't important, and so present Megan can leave and not waste her time anymore. Up till then, Megan was presumably relucatant to break off a conversation on the topic of time travel, since the conversation could potentially have improved.<br /> <br /> The Title Text mentions Google Glass and also that it broke in 2010. This is another reference to the time traveling, as there were no Google Glasses available to the public in 2010 (not even now in 2016). So whoever broke the Glasses in 2010 has to be from a future where you can buy them and he/she had to travel back to 2010 to an presumably awesome Party where he/she broke them.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> [Cueball is facing Megan, talking to her.]<br /> :Cueball: I've been reading about time travel.<br /> :Megan:Cool! I did my thesis on time travel!<br /> <br /> [Cueball is now gesturing toward Megan. An explosion of some sort is shown behind Megan, toward the bottom of the panel.]<br /> :Cueball: Nice! So you know about closed timelike curves?<br /> :Megan: Yup. Thesis.<br /> :Cueball: Apparently wormholes can use exotic matter to–<br /> :Megan: I know. Like I said–<br /> :Explosion: BZZZZT!<br /> <br /> [Cueball and Megan both look right, toward the direction of the explosion. An alternate Megan, wearing a headset and a machine strapped to her back, faces them from the right.]<br /> :Alternate Megan: You can skip this conversation. It doesn't turn out to be important.<br /> :Megan: Oh, thank God.<br /> <br /> [In the fourth panel, both Megans are absent. Cueball continues to stare at their former location. He does not speak.]<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}</div>

Jacomo