https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Russrobot 2026-04-22T10:35:16Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1545:_Strengths_and_Weaknesses&diff=96790 2015-07-01T15:12:32Z

<p>Russrobot: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1545<br /> | date = July 1, 2015<br /> | title = Strengths and Weaknesses<br /> | image = strengths_and_weaknesses.png<br /> | titletext = Do you need me to do a quicksort on the whiteboard or produce a generation of offspring or something? It might take me a bit, but I can do it.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br /> Here the character is in a job interview and is being asked the prototypical job interview questions, &quot;What is your greatest weakness?&quot;, &quot;What is your greatest strength?&quot; and &quot;Where do you see yourself in five years?&quot;<br /> <br /> The character answers that he is essentially a living organism that could die easily. This is a reference the fact that biological system are &quot;messy&quot; and are not always optimal in design or operation. For example cancer is a disease where the cellular machinery that governs cell replications breaks down and prolific cell division happens, endangering the organism (tumors). While this is true weakness it is also a weakness of all humans and is not likely to help the interview determine if the candidate is right for the job.<br /> <br /> For the second question the character answers that he is likely to be the ancestors to all living humans. As time progresses a human alive today is likely to have three conditions related to the future populations:<br /> 1) The have no descendants (the did not reproduce or all their descendants eventually did not reproduce.<br /> 2) The have some descendants (the likely outcome)<br /> 3) People people alive are their descendant (very unlikely)<br /> <br /> As you go farther and farther into the future the ratio of people alive will either go to 0% or 100% of the descendants of the character. The last time humans had an universal common ancestor was ~15,000 years ago. For it to happen again would require a very, very long time and for the character's genes to be far superior and eventually permeate the entire population after generations and generations. While this feat would definitely be considered a great achievement in the biological imperative sense this answer likely does not help the interview determine what his great job strength is.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Ponytail is shown sitting on a swivel chair, to the left of a desk.]<br /> :Ponytail: What would you say is your biggest weakness?<br /> <br /> :[The view expands to show Cueball sitting on another swivel chair, on the opposite side of the desk.]<br /> :Cueball: Probably that I'm a giant tangle of parts that don't always work right, so I can die easily.<br /> <br /> :Ponytail: Biggest strength?<br /> :Cueball: There will come a day when I'm either an ancestor to ''all'' living humans, or to ''none'' of them.<br /> <br /> :Ponytail: Where do you see yourself in five years?<br /> :Cueball: Probably not the ancestor of all living humans yet. But you never know!<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}</div>

Russrobot https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1545:_Strengths_and_Weaknesses&diff=96774 2015-07-01T14:53:38Z

<p>Russrobot: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1545<br /> | date = July 1, 2015<br /> | title = Strengths and Weaknesses<br /> | image = strengths_and_weaknesses.png<br /> | titletext = Do you need me to do a quicksort on the whiteboard or produce a generation of offspring or something? It might take me a bit, but I can do it.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br /> Here the character is in a job interview and is being asked the prototypical job interview questions, &quot;What is your greatest weakness?&quot; and &quot;What is your greatest strength?&quot;<br /> <br /> The character answers that he is essentially a living organism that could die easy. This is a reference the fact that biological system are &quot;messy&quot; and are not always optimal in design or operation. For example cancer is a diseases where the cellular machinery the governs cell replications break down and prolific cell division happens endangering the organism (tumors). While this is true weakness it is also a weakness of all humans and is not likely to help the interview determine if the candidate is right for the job.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> {{incomplete transcript}}<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}</div>

Russrobot