1760: TV Problems

2016-11-17T09:05:06Z

PacMan: /* Explanation */ Added a link to 795: Conditional Risk

{{comic
| number = 1760
| date = November 16, 2016
| title = TV Problems
| image = tv_problems.png
| titletext = Certified skydiving instructors know way more about safely falling from planes than I do, and are way more likely to die that way.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Some links to previous comics where things go unexpectedly wrong could probably be added.}}
In this comic, [[Cueball]] has broken his computer's software so much that he is unable to "turn on the news" as requested by [[White Hat]]. Since his computer is not working at all, he is using the next best thing to download a fix: his smartphone, via a {{w|CD}}. He later states that even that first step of mending won't be enough to display the news, as his computer's state is so bad that being able to send information to the TV screen is just the first step of debugging. In the last panel, he tells White Hat that his computer science degree just helps him understand ''how'' he ended up with such a terrible situation, but did not give him enough foresight to prevent the most unexpected issues. The title text clarifies this statement with a similar problem- when things start to go horribly wrong while falling from a plane, certified skydiving instructors will be able to better understand why and how bad the situation is, but won't be able to do anything if their usual tools have failed them. Besides, while they are less likely to make a fatal mistake on a given flight and fall, they are more likely to make one in their life, because of the far greater number of attempts. This also resembles [[795: Conditional Risk]]: the more informed a person is, the more likely this person is to suffer from the issue they know about.

This comic is probably political, as were 1756 & 1759. Cueball is doing everything that he can not to watch the news; even after he fixes his computer, he still won't be able to bear watching it. White Hat misinterprets him, asking about his computer science degree to imply he ought to be able to take care of a simple thing like this. Cueball replies that no, this is not the case - much as his computer science degree allows him to diagnose computer problems, being well educated does not help him to perform anything more than a postmortem on how wrong election forecasts were. The title text might imply that knowing something about a topic has nothing to do with determining how events actually transpire: knowledge must be put into action.

This may also be a joke on how many millennials believe that they need to use their phone as a remote control for a TV and are not aware that the remote control that came with their TV is simpler and easier to use.<ref>Martin_Samuelson, [https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/3w32by/eddy_cue_says_were_working_on_a_new_apple_tv/cxt0noy/ "Physical buttons are great"]</ref> In this instance Cueball has his single tasking phone busy while he downloads to it and cannot interrupt what he's doing just to use the phone as a remote for the TV, although it appears more that the TV is one of the things he is trying to fix.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting by his TV, holding his phone, when White Hat walks in.]
:White Hat: Hey, turn on the news.
:Cueball (Sitting on the floor in front of a computer holding a cell phone): Can't. Downloading a CD onto my phone.

:White Hat (off panel): Why?
:Cueball: So I can use it to fix my computer's operating system enough that I can teach it to talk to my TV screen.

:White Hat: But then you'll be able to watch the news?
:Cueball: (off panel): No.

:White Hat: Don't you have a computer science degree?
:Cueball: That just means I ''understand'' how everything went so wrong.

==References==
<references />

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Computers]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1760: TV Problems