| Latest revision |
Your text |
| Line 8: |
Line 8: |
| | | | |
| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| − | [[Cueball]] awakens to find himself trapped for eternity in an endless expanse of sand and rocks. At first, he uses this time to derive all of mathematics and physics, plus more, including {{w|quantum mechanics}} and {{w|general relativity}}. Next Cueball creates a computer that can process any possible function, out of rocks and rules for the interaction between rocks. He then simulates a particle followed by the interactions between particles, followed by the entire universe. The amount of time it takes to simulate the change in the universe merely from one instant to the next takes an extremely long time, as the time it takes to update just one row of rocks would be eons, assuming a realistic time to place each rock. | + | {{incomplete}} |
| | + | [[Cueball]] awakens to find himself trapped for eternity in an endless expanse of sand and rocks. At first, he uses this time to derive all of mathematics and physics, including {{w|quantum mechanics}} and {{w|general relativity}}. The Swiss patent office line refers to {{w|Albert Einstein}}, who supposedly came up with the idea for general relativity while bored at work as a Swiss patent clerk. |
| | | | |
| − | Cueball is using the rocks to build a {{w|cellular automaton}}, a computational model based on simple rules to advance from one state to the next. Certain cellular automata are {{w|Turing-complete}}, which means that they can be used to represent any conceivable algorithm if expanded infinitely, including simulating the physics of the universe. He specifically seems to be running Wolfram's {{w|Rule 110}}, which is capable of universal computation. When using Rule 110 for universal computation, one builds a background pattern, which can be seen in the comic as the pattern of smaller triangles, and then performs computation by sending out "rockets" to collide and interact with each other. Cueball can simulate the functioning of an entire universe because he has unlimited time and space (and rocks). | + | Next, armed with infinite time and space (and rocks), Cueball uses the rocks to build a {{w|cellular automaton}}, a computational model based on simple rules to advance from one state to the next. Certain cellular automata are {{w|Turing-complete}}, which means that they can be used to represent any computer program (given finite-but-possibly-extremely-large time and space). He specifically seems to be running Wolfram's {{w|Rule 110}}, which is indeed capable of universal computation. Cueball then uses his enormous, hand-powered computer to simulate a universe. |
| | | | |
| − | Cueball then apologizes for any flaws we see in the simulation. This implies that the audience is living in Cueball's simulation, making Cueball essentially God, and that he might make mistakes along the way. The final frame cuts to a classroom where a bored student stares at his hands waiting for class to end. Cueball admonishes the student for thinking that class is lasting forever, the joke being that the boredom felt in a classroom is nothing compared to the boredom that inspires Cueball to spend his endless time toiling to keep the universe moving. Indeed, the minutes of lecture actually took many "billions and billions of millennia" for Cueball to simulate. Another possible explanation is that the entirety of this comic is a fantasy in Cueball’s mind as he zones out during a math lecture.
| + | When using Rule 110 for universal computation, one builds a background pattern, which can be seen in the comic (especially panels 12 and 20) as the nigh-universal pattern of smaller triangles, and then performs computation by sending out "rockets" (the patterns of larger triangles seen in panel 20) to collide and interact with each other (for example, the triangular outlines in panel 13). |
| | | | |
| − | The Swiss patent office line refers to {{w|Albert Einstein}}, who was employed as a Swiss patent clerk while coming up with his theory of special relativity. This joke is also referenced in [[1067|1067: Pressures]]. Also, there is a standing joke that very few important inventions have come from Switzerland, since the country hadn't been involved in the world wars, and thus has not been part of the weapons race, nor was it a driving force in the preceding Industrial Revolution. In the center of the comic, the binary numbers pointing to the particle are both 42. This is a reference to the comedic answer to the ''Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything'' from the ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series. | + | The last panel then implies that the universe Cueball is simulating is, in fact, ''our'' universe. In panel 24, Cueball mentions he must have made a mistake in the last "billions of billions of millenia." A millennium is a thousand years, which implies that the time needed to run this computer through a single step of computation is trillions of years. This means he spends much more time on a single step of computation than our universe has spent existing, and this single step of computation simulates an extremely short span of time (a {{w|Planck time}} most probably); to put this massive difference into perspective, our universe is around 13.772 billion years old, which corresponds to roughly 8,060,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years of Cueball's computation. (Give or take a few duodecillion years.) Suffice to say, this is a ''very'' long time. |
| | | | |
| − | Cueball mentions that if we see an artifact flutter in and out of reality, he must have made a mistake in the last "billions and billions of millennia." This implies that the small period of time the artifact is present in his time is much longer than our universe has existed. That is a ''very'' long time. However, because it was a really long time, the difference could be [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect more than just a small mote of dust disappearing]. It is also possible, however, that it took billions of years to simulate an instant in our universe.
| + | The diagrams in panel 8 are, from left to right: A {{w|Gaussian function}} (probably the {{w|Normal distribution}}); what seems to be a reproduction of the {{w|Inclined plane#History|Epitaph of Stevinus}}; a weird diagram with lines in it (something to do with thermodynamic cycles?). |
| − | The line "I've rederived modern math in the sand and then some," is possibly referring to "Surreal Numbers: How two ex-students turned on to pure mathematics and found total happiness" by Donald Knuth, in which a young couple finds themselves stranded on a deserted island (similar to Cueball), and spend much of their time deriving the properties of surreal numbers from a few base axioms.
| |
| | | | |
| − | The title text suggests that {{w|Rule 34 (Internet meme)|Rule 34}} should be called on {{w|Elementary cellular automaton#Random initial state|Wolfram's Rule 34}}. Rule 34 (see [[305: Rule 34]]) is a humorous rule of the Internet that states, "If you can imagine it, there is porn of it. No exceptions." Wolfram's Rule 34 is a cellular automaton. Therefore, the title text says that either someone has made pornography featuring the cellular automaton in question, or someone has used the cellular automaton to produce pornography.
| + | Rule 34 is a humorous rule of the Internet which states "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions." Wolfram's Rule 34 is a cellular automaton. Randall is suggesting that someone should make pornography featuring the cellular automaton in question. This might prove to be quite challenging as Wolfram's Rule 34 quickly devolves into a bunch of diagonal lines given almost any input. |
| − | | |
| − | From ''[[xkcd: volume 0]]'':
| |
| − | {{quote|Things simulated in stones in the desert are ''exactly'' as real as things simulated in silicon on your computer.}}
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Graphs===
| |
| − | The three diagrams in the "Physics, too. I worked out the kinks..." panel are, from left to right:
| |
| − | # The {{w|Normal distribution}} of the {{w|Gaussian curve}} marking the points that represent a standard deviation of σ and 2σ. This is one of the fundamental building blocks of statistics. In quantum mechanics, particles are viewed as inherently random, therefore the time at which a particle will decay, the position of a particle, and its velocity are all calculated using similar curves. A deviation of at least σ occurs 32% of the time, while a deviation of 2σ or more occurs about 5% of the time.
| |
| − | # The {{w|Inclined plane#History|Epitaph of Stevinus}}, an explanation of the mechanical advantage of using an {{w|inclined plane}}. The inclined plane is one of the six classical {{w|simple machine}}s, one of the fundamental building blocks of mechanical and civil engineering.
| |
| − | # The last graph is unknown. It may represent coupled pendulums, {{w|length contraction}}, or a hypothetical solution to something we haven't derived yet.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The graph that represents particle interaction is a {{w|Feynman Diagram}}. This shows the interaction of subatomic particles that collide and exchange some momentum via a photon. The slope of the middle line represents the distance moved and the time lost/gained during the interaction.
| |
| | | | |
| | ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
| − | :[Cueball is standing in a desert with lots of rocks lying around. He is narrating his own situation. The first panel spans the entire width of the comic. The first line of text is written to the left of him, the second line to the right.] | + | :[Cueball is walking, alone in desert, narrating his own situation.] |
| − | :So I'm stuck in this desert for eternity. | + | :Narrator: So I'm stuck in this desert for eternity. |
| − | :I don't know why. I just woke up here one day. | + | :Narrator: I don't know why. I just woke up here one day. |
| − | | |
| − | :[The next four panels take up the second line of the comic.]
| |
| − | :[Cueball stand in the desert.]
| |
| − | :I never feel hungry or thirsty.
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[Cueball walks in the desert.] | + | :Narrator: I never feel hungry or thirsty. |
| − | :I just walk. | |
| | | | |
| − | :[Zooming out while Cueball continues to walk in the desert.] | + | :Narrator: I just walk. |
| − | :Sand and rocks
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[Zooming far out as Cueball again just stands in the desert. First line of text, above him, is a continuation of the text in the previous panel. The second line is below him.] | + | :Narrator: Sand and rocks... |
| − | :stretch to infinity.
| |
| − | :As best as I can tell.
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[The next three panels take up the third line of the comic. The last takes up half the width.] | + | :Narrator: ...stretch to infinity. |
| − | :[Cueball is sitting in the desert, in a contemplative position. First line of text above him, the second below.]
| + | :Narrator: As best as I can tell. |
| − | :There's plenty of time for thinking out here. | |
| − | :An eternity, really. | |
| | | | |
| − | :[Cueball is sketching stuff in the sand. First line of text above him, the second below.] | + | :[Cueball is sitting in the desert, in a contemplative position.] |
| − | :I've rederived modern math in the sand | + | :Narrator: There's plenty of time for thinking out here. |
| − | :and then some. | + | :Narrator: An eternity really. |
| | | | |
| − | :[Three different graph types are depicted. First line of text above them, the second below.] | + | :[Cueball is sketching stuff in the sand.] |
| − | :Physics too. I worked out the kinks in quantum mechanics and relativity. | + | :Narrator: I've rederived modern math in the sand |
| − | :Took a lot of thinking, but this place has fewer distractions than a Swiss patent office. | + | :Narrator: and then some. |
| | | | |
| − | :[The next eight panels take up the fourth and fifth lines of the comic. All pictures are the same size.] | + | :[Different graph types are depicted.] |
| − | :[Cueball is walking along the desert, laying out rocks on a line. Four have been deployed. He is laying down the fifth and has a sixth in his other hand.] | + | :Narrator: Physics too. I worked out the kinks in quantum mechanics and relativity. |
| − | :One day I started laying down rows of rocks. | + | :Narrator: Took a lot of thinking, but this place has fewer distractions than a Swiss patent office. |
| | | | |
| − | :[Cueball, with a rock in his hand, continues to deploy rock 16, in a more intricate pattern. There are grid-lines in the sand (5 rows, 6 columns), with each intersection either empty of filled with a rock. No rocks lay anywhere but at an intersection on the grid.] | + | :[Cueball is walking along the desert, laying out rocks.] |
| − | :Each new row followed from the last in a simple pattern. | + | :Narrator: One day I started laying down rows of rocks. |
| | | | |
| − | :[Zooming out showing even more laid out rocks. Cueball is seen directly from above, and we see his shadow falling on the grid of rocks (7 rows, 14 columns).] | + | :[Cueball continues to deploy rocks.] |
| − | :With the right set of rules and enough space, | + | :Narrator: Each new row followed from the last in a simple pattern. |
| | | | |
| − | :[Continues to zoom further out showing clear triangular patterns (with no rocks) in the laid out grid of rocks. Cueball is not seen. (8 rows, 42 columns). First line of text above the grid, the second line below.] | + | :[Image continues to zoom out showing laid out rocks.] |
| − | :I was able to build a computer. | + | :Narrator: With the right set of rules and enough space, |
| − | :Each new row of stones is the next iteration of the computation. | |
| | | | |
| − | :[Zooming far out (no Cueball) with rows intersected by five clear V lines on top of them. The V's are drawn inside each other, with the smallest V at the top right, and the other V's starting just to the right of the previous one, and then continuing the same distance past the previous V, as the total length of the first V. The "*" in the first line of text above this grid references to the footnote below written in a smaller font.] | + | :Narrator: I was able to build a computer. |
| − | :Sure it's rocks instead of electricity, but it's the same* thing. Just slower. | + | :Narrator: Each new row of stones is the next iteration of the computation. |
| − | :<nowiki>*Turing-complete</nowiki>
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[Cueball stands in a contemplative pose (on a clean white background - i.e. no dessert).] | + | :Narrator: Sure it's rocks instead of electricity, but it's the same* thing. |
| − | :After a while, I programmed it to be a physics simulator. | + | :Narrator: Just slower. |
| | + | :Notation: *Turing-complete |
| | | | |
| − | :[A black panel with white drawings and text. A small white dot (a particle) is labeled by two arrows coming of two binary strings.] | + | :[Cueball in contemplative pose.] |
| − | :Every piece of information about a particle was encoded as a string of bits written in the stones. | + | :Narrator: After a while, I programmed it to be a physics simulator. |
| − | :00101010
| |
| − | :00101010
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[A Feynman diagram showing two particles interacting. Two arrows going in and out with a snaking line between them.] | + | :[Image of binary encoding depicted in rocks.] |
| − | :With enough time and space, I could fully simulate two particles interacting. | + | :Narrator: Every piece of information about a particle was encoded as a string of bits written in the stones. |
| | | | |
| − | :[The next two panels take up the sixth line of the comic. The second panel takes up three-quarters of the width.] | + | :[Representations of two particles interacting.] |
| − | :[Cueball standing before the vastness of the desert, with his programmed lines of rock stretching to infinity.] | + | :Narrator: With enough time and space, I could fully simulate two particles interacting. |
| − | :But I have <u>infinite</u> time and space. | |
| | | | |
| − | :[A black panel with white drawings and text. Depiction of two large galaxies, one with four jets coming out of its center, the other a flat disc. Several smaller galaxies and/or stars are shown around them.] | + | :[Cueball standing before the vastness of the desert.] |
| − | :So I decided to simulate a universe. | + | :Narrator: But I have infinite time and space. |
| | | | |
| − | :[The next four panels take up the seventh line of the comic. They are of similar widths.] | + | :[Depiction of a universe.] |
| − | :[Cueball is walking by his grid of rocks, lines indicate he has just thrown another rock down in its place. It falls so hard it sinks into the sand that splashes out around it. The 14 rocks above him lie on the grid, four others below this grid have not been used yet.] | + | :Narrator: So I decided to simulate a universe. |
| − | :The eons blur past as I walk down a single row. | |
| | | | |
| − | :[Zoom far far out to show multiple rows of rocks. It is not very clear that there are several triangular patterns (with no rocks) in different sizes in the laid out grid of rocks. There are about 50 rows and 90 columns. There are six large triangles on top of each other at the left edge. To the right, there are three even larger triangles from top to bottom, the one in the middle further to the left than the one above, but further right than the bottom one.] | + | :[Cueball is walking about his rocks, changing placement.] |
| − | :The rows blur past to compute a single step. | + | :Narrator: The eons blur past as I walk down a single row. |
| | | | |
| − | :[Shows the placement of two particles in the simulation.] | + | :[Zoom out of the rows of rocks.] |
| − | :And in the simulation... | + | :Narrator: The rows blur past to compute a single step. |
| | | | |
| − | :[The two particles have moved just long enough as to not overlap with their previous positions, shown as an after-image with faint gray lines. The text continues directly the one from the previous panel.] | + | :[Shows placement of two rocks.] |
| − | :another instant ticks by. | + | :Narrator: And in the simulation... |
| | | | |
| − | :[The next two panels take up the eighth line of the comic. They each take up half the width.] | + | :[The two rocks have moved; an after-image of their previous placement is present.] |
| − | :[A Cueball-like person (you) observes a mote of dust vanish.] | + | :Narrator: ...another instant ticks by. |
| − | :So if you see a mote of dust vanish from your vision in a little flash or something
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[Cueball is standing between two rocks on the ground, while holding two rocks, one lifted up to his head. The first line of text is above him. It is a direct continuation of the text in the previous panel. The second line stands below to the right of him.] | + | :[A person observes a mote of dust vanish.] |
| − | :I'm sorry. I must have misplaced a rock | + | :Narrator: So if you see a mote of dust vanish from your vision in a little flash or something |
| − | :sometime in the last few billions and billions of millennia.
| |
| | | | |
| − | :[Cueball stands in the "clean" part of his infinite desert, in front of the vastness of his infinity of infinite lines or rocks.] | + | :[Cueball is rearranging rocks.] |
| − | :Oh, and... | + | :Narrator: I'm sorry. I must have misplaced a rock... |
| | + | :Narrator: ...sometime in the last few billions and billions of millennia. |
| | | | |
| − | :[A Cueball-like student sits in a classroom with his head in his hands, Megan sits behind him, and a teacher points to the blackboard. A clock shows the time at five minutes to ten.] | + | :[Cueball in front of the vastness of his infinite desert.] |
| − | :If you think the minutes in your morning lecture are taking a long time to pass for <u>''you''</u>... | + | :Narrator: Oh and... |
| | | | |
| − | ==Trivia==
| + | :[Cueball is in a classroom setting, girl and professor are present.] |
| − | This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125023401/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
| + | :Narrator: if you think the minutes in your morning lecture are taking a long time for <u>YOU</u>... |
| | | | |
| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
| − |
| |
| | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] |
| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
| |
| − |
| |
| − | [[Category:Binary]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Math]]
| |
| | [[Category:Physics]] | | [[Category:Physics]] |
| − | [[Category:Programming]]
| |
| − | [[Category:Footnotes]] <!-- * Turing-complete -->
| |
