Editing 1409: Query

{{comic
| number    = 1409
| date      = August 18, 2014
| title     = Query
| image     = query.png
| titletext = SELECT * FROM GHOSTS
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] picks up a strange device that mysteriously asks her to enter a query after stating "Loaded table: People/ Enter query." In computer databases, "{{w|Table (database)|tables}}" are groups of similar information consisting of records each having certain attributes. Databases are generally made up of many tables, each containing different types of records. A database for a traditional library might have a "Books" table and a "Cardholders" table with records of all of the books in the library, and all of the people who have library cards. Each table will have different columns for certain attributes for every record. For example, the "Books" table might have columns for "title", "author", "date", etc.

A request from a database by a user is called a "query". {{w|SQL}} (Structured Query Language) is a programming language designed for databases, and has a certain syntax for its queries. A common query is "select" which requests certain information from the database. In the library example, one might select (in plain English) all books written by a certain author or published after a certain date, etc.

Megan uses the device by entering an SQL query into it: "Select * from people where age > 30" (show all the people older than 30). It appears that the actual people around her who are over 30 are wrapped in a yellow light, which does not apply to Megan in this query. Megan then tries other experimental queries, presumably to determine whether the results are correct. First, she queries for people with a high annual income (a group that does not include her), then for those who are afraid of flying (which does include her). Because the results for herself are valid both times, she then indulges her curiosity by asking who has watched porn in the preceding twelve hours. This suggests that whatever "database" she is accessing is extremely thorough as it contains updated records of people's day-to-day activities.

The percentage of people lit appears to approximately correspond to real demographic data: note, 5 of the 10 characters are female; the median world/US age are fairly close to 30; top decile income in the USA is approximately $100,000 (and top earners are usually men); up to 40% of people are afraid of flying.

Finally, she types "Drop table People". Drop is an SQL command to delete a table. When she enters the command the entire table disappears and because she is also in this table she disappears, too. The implications are unclear. It may be a suggestion that all of reality is a computer program, all of the people are merely "data" in the program, and Megan was somehow granted access to the database for the program. It could also be an allusion to the fact that human life is so rich, diverse, & interesting, but also extremely fragile. Someone who controls much power can, simply with the press of a few buttons, erase everything that thousands or millions of people had worked so hard on.

The drop table command was also used in [[327: Exploits of a Mom]], although with less fatal results.

The title text may suggest that when the people disappeared or "died", their records were moved to a table called "Ghosts". The query would then, presumably, see all the people that were deleted. In some implementations of databases deleted records are still hidden and remain until a "Ghost Cleanup Process" removes the data permanently; the title text may also allude to this process. Alternatively, the title text may refer to movies such as ''{{w|The Sixth Sense}}'', in which certain people are ghosts, unbeknownst to those around them, another quality that may be elucidated by Megan's device.

==Transcript==
:[The first and then every second part of the comic is drawn without any frames around the panels. They depict Megan with the device she finds. In the first and last of these there are more than one "panel" where Megan is drawn more than once without frames between. In between these frameless panels, in all even numbered rows, are a framed picture with an overview of the surroundings.]

:[The first two panels are drawn in the first row.]
:[Megan walks up to device lying on the ground.]

:[Megan picks up a device and looks a the screen. The screen is shown in black with white text and a white bar for her to enter text in.]
:Loaded table: People
:Enter query

:[Megan looks around and sees nine people nearby: A black haired girl with ponytail talking on the phone; a Cueball-like guy talking to a hairy guy; a group of three people, with Ponytail and another Cueball-like guy sitting, and a Megan-like girl lying on the ground; another hairy guy sitting with an ice cream cone on a big box; Another Ponytail girl leaning up against the box with her phone together with a third Cueball-like guy also with a phone in his hand. The device still shows the last part of the text in white on black, and with room to enter a query]
:Enter query
:Megan: ??

:[Megan types into the device.  The query is shown as coming from the devices screen:] 
:Select * from people where age > 30

:[Five people are highlighted in a yellow cloud around their bodies: Black haired ponytail, both guys talking, and the two last of the group of three.]

:[Megan types again:] 
:Select * from people where annual_income > 100000

:[One person is highlighted in yellow - the one talking to the first Cueball.]

:[Megan types:] 
:Select * from people where afraid_of_flying = True

:[Four people, including herself, are highlighted in yellow. Also the Megan-like girl on the ground and the last two behind the box.]

:[Megan types:] 
:Select * from people where hours_since_watching_porn < 12

:[Three people are highlighted. The two girls around the second Cueball and the third Cueball.]

:[The next three panels are drawn on the same row.]
:[Megan looks at the device, while holding it in two hands.]
:Megan: Neat.

:[Megan holds the device in one hand, still looking at it.]
:Megan: ...

:[Megan types:] 
:Drop table People

:[Everyone disappears; the items they were holding drop to the ground, including the device Megan has been using. the other devices are three phones and one ice cream cone.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Programming]]