Editing 2789: Making Plans
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|Created by ABBIE, ABRAHAM, and an AARDVARK named AARON. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
− | + | This comic is about biases created from {{w|alphabetical order}}. According to Wikipedia, "The practice in certain fields of ordering citations in bibliographies by the surnames of their authors has been found to create bias in favor of authors with surnames which appear earlier in the alphabet, while this effect does not appear in fields in which bibliographies are ordered chronologically."[https://decisionslab.unl.edu/pubs/stevens_duque_2018_SM.pdf]. In essence, humans tend to favor whatever is at the top of any given list or data set; this is one reason why randomness is important in any scientifically rigorous trial. | |
− | By this point | + | In the comic, Cueball is telling Megan about some of his upcoming plans; namely, that his plans for that night are to attend pub trivia with Annie and Beth. This is a normal activity, assuming all parties are over the age of 21 or the pub allows minors at certain times. However, he then continues, explaining that his next plans are with Alex and that he invited two more friends, Andrew and Amy. By this point, there is a clear pattern: Cueball has been inviting friends based on the alphabetical order of their names, instead of sorting by something more logical, such as the most recently contacted, as the caption suggests. |
− | The title text continues the joke, implying that Cueball rarely makes it to the bottom of | + | The title text continues the joke, implying that Cueball rarely makes it to the bottom of the alphabetical list; as such, he has not spoken to his friend Yvonne in a very long time. (It can be assumed that she does not use the alphabetical system as well, as "Cueball" would not be so far down the list that she would not have contacted him, either.) |
Peculiar effects of alphabetization were also the subject of [[2927: Alphabetical Cartogram]]. | Peculiar effects of alphabetization were also the subject of [[2927: Alphabetical Cartogram]]. |