1191: The Past - Revision history

Whoop whoop pull up: /* Explanation */

2024-04-12T05:09:23Z

‎Explanation

141.101.98.136: /* Explanation */ More edit-friendly version of what is ultimately a wikilink.

2024-02-27T03:16:19Z

‎Explanation: More edit-friendly version of what is ultimately a wikilink.

172.71.26.2: Closed parenthesis.

2024-02-26T20:16:42Z

Closed parenthesis.

172.71.31.60: Added relevant text.

2024-02-26T20:16:02Z

Added relevant text.

172.71.242.172: /* Explanation */ Better internal link. Made changes (and added sample link) regarding possible inconsistencies.

2023-05-22T20:47:28Z

‎Explanation: Better internal link. Made changes (and added sample link) regarding possible inconsistencies.

Tromag at 19:21, 22 May 2023

2023-05-22T19:21:37Z

162.158.63.22: /* Explanation */

2022-09-27T16:58:38Z

‎Explanation

162.158.63.22: /* Explanation */

2022-09-27T16:58:18Z

‎Explanation

162.158.63.22: /* Explanation */

2022-09-27T16:57:16Z

‎Explanation

172.69.62.81: Undo revision 270835 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

2022-05-21T02:51:02Z

Undo revision 270835 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

Show changes

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 The "If history has taught us anything" is usually used to introduce a lesson that the speaker takes to be clear and obvious from history. The title text of this strip subverts that by implying that lessons learned from history can count as military intelligence to use against it.
-The concept of going back to the past to collect resources (or, at least, set up the collection of resources) shows up again in [[2321: Low-Background Metal]]
+The concept of going back to the past to collect resources (or, at least, set up the collection of resources) shows up again in [[2321: Low-Background Metal]].
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 The pensive way in which he makes these points implies that he's genuinely considering trying to mount an invasion of "the past".  Such an invasion would, of course, require inventing a time machine, and could introduce all sorts of potential issues with the space-time continuum (depending on {{w|Time_ travel#Philosophy|how the space-time continuum actually works}}). But [[:Category:Time travel|time travel is hardly unknown in the XKCD universe]], and Black Hat isn't the type to worry about consequences when there's an opportunity to gain some benefit.
-This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources. As another example (from the short story ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Zaphod_Plays_It_Safe Young Zaphod Plays It Safe]''), “When the hunt for new sources of energy had at one point got particularly frantic, one bright young chap suddenly spotted that one place which had never used up all its available energy was - the past. And with the sudden rush of blood to the head that such insights tend to induce, he invented a way of mining it that very same night, and within a year huge tracts of the past were being drained of all their energy and simply wasting away. Those who claimed that the past should be left unspoilt were accused of indulging in an extremely expensive form of sentimentality.”
+This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources. As another example (from the short story ''{{w|Young Zaphod Plays It Safe}}''), “When the hunt for new sources of energy had at one point got particularly frantic, one bright young chap suddenly spotted that one place which had never used up all its available energy was - the past. And with the sudden rush of blood to the head that such insights tend to induce, he invented a way of mining it that very same night, and within a year huge tracts of the past were being drained of all their energy and simply wasting away. Those who claimed that the past should be left unspoilt were accused of indulging in an extremely expensive form of sentimentality.”
 The "If history has taught us anything" is usually used to introduce a lesson that the speaker takes to be clear and obvious from history. The title text of this strip subverts that by implying that lessons learned from history can count as military intelligence to use against it.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 The pensive way in which he makes these points implies that he's genuinely considering trying to mount an invasion of "the past".  Such an invasion would, of course, require inventing a time machine, and could introduce all sorts of potential issues with the space-time continuum (depending on {{w|Time_ travel#Philosophy|how the space-time continuum actually works}}). But [[:Category:Time travel|time travel is hardly unknown in the XKCD universe]], and Black Hat isn't the type to worry about consequences when there's an opportunity to gain some benefit.
-This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources. As another example (from the short story ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Zaphod_Plays_It_Safe Young Zaphod Plays It Safe]'', “When the hunt for new sources of energy had at one point got particularly frantic, one bright young chap suddenly spotted that one place which had never used up all its available energy was - the past. And with the sudden rush of blood to the head that such insights tend to induce, he invented a way of mining it that very same night, and within a year huge tracts of the past were being drained of all their energy and simply wasting away. Those who claimed that the past should be left unspoilt were accused of indulging in an extremely expensive form of sentimentality.”
+This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources. As another example (from the short story ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Zaphod_Plays_It_Safe Young Zaphod Plays It Safe]''), “When the hunt for new sources of energy had at one point got particularly frantic, one bright young chap suddenly spotted that one place which had never used up all its available energy was - the past. And with the sudden rush of blood to the head that such insights tend to induce, he invented a way of mining it that very same night, and within a year huge tracts of the past were being drained of all their energy and simply wasting away. Those who claimed that the past should be left unspoilt were accused of indulging in an extremely expensive form of sentimentality.”
 The "If history has taught us anything" is usually used to introduce a lesson that the speaker takes to be clear and obvious from history. The title text of this strip subverts that by implying that lessons learned from history can count as military intelligence to use against it.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 The pensive way in which he makes these points implies that he's genuinely considering trying to mount an invasion of "the past".  Such an invasion would, of course, require inventing a time machine, and could introduce all sorts of potential issues with the space-time continuum (depending on {{w|Time_ travel#Philosophy|how the space-time continuum actually works}}). But [[:Category:Time travel|time travel is hardly unknown in the XKCD universe]], and Black Hat isn't the type to worry about consequences when there's an opportunity to gain some benefit.
-This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources.
+This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources. As another example (from the short story ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Zaphod_Plays_It_Safe Young Zaphod Plays It Safe]'', “When the hunt for new sources of energy had at one point got particularly frantic, one bright young chap suddenly spotted that one place which had never used up all its available energy was - the past. And with the sudden rush of blood to the head that such insights tend to induce, he invented a way of mining it that very same night, and within a year huge tracts of the past were being drained of all their energy and simply wasting away. Those who claimed that the past should be left unspoilt were accused of indulging in an extremely expensive form of sentimentality.”
 The "If history has taught us anything" is usually used to introduce a lesson that the speaker takes to be clear and obvious from history. The title text of this strip subverts that by implying that lessons learned from history can count as military intelligence to use against it.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 [[Black Hat]], however, decides to take the first part of the quote literally, and consider "the past" as it it were an actual foreign country. In true Black Hat fashion, the first thing he considers is that this "nation" would have an outdated military (by definition, because current technology and military doctrine hadn't been invented) and huge oil reserves (because their reserves would not yet have been depleted). The implication of these two points is that such a country would be ripe for invasion by a more powerful nation, seeking to control their natural resources.
-The pensive way in which he makes these points implies that he's genuinely considering trying to mount an invasion of "the past".  Such an invasion would, of course, require inventing a time machine, and would introduce all sorts of potential issues with the space-time continuum. But [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Time_travel time travel is hardly unknown in the XKCD universe], and Black Hat isn't the type to worry about consequences when there's an opportunity to gain some benefit.
+The pensive way in which he makes these points implies that he's genuinely considering trying to mount an invasion of "the past".  Such an invasion would, of course, require inventing a time machine, and could introduce all sorts of potential issues with the space-time continuum (depending on {{w|Time_ travel#Philosophy|how the space-time continuum actually works}}). But [[:Category:Time travel|time travel is hardly unknown in the XKCD universe]], and Black Hat isn't the type to worry about consequences when there's an opportunity to gain some benefit.
 This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there" is the opening line of "{{w|The Go-Between}}", a novel by {{w|L. P. Hartley|Leslie Poles Hartley}} (1895–1972), published in London in 1953. [[Black Hat]] notes that a country's past military tends to be less advanced than its current one, and that countries in the past had larger oil reserves as they had consumed less oil then.
+"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there" is the opening line of "{{w|The Go-Between}}", a novel by {{w|L. P. Hartley|Leslie Poles Hartley}} (1895–1972), published in London in 1953. The phrase was intended to highlight the impact of changing social norms and customs. As when dealing with a foreign society, one must be prepared to encounter different ways of life than one is accustomed to. And that's true, even over a single lifetime, so in recalling one's past, it's important to understand the context in which those memories take place.
-If a country from the past existed in its old state today, other countries would likely leap at the opportunity to exploit its oil reserves.
+[[Black Hat]], however, decides to take the first part of the quote literally, and consider "the past" as it it were an actual foreign country. In true Black Hat fashion, the first thing he considers is that this "nation" would have an outdated military (by definition, because current technology and military doctrine hadn't been invented) and huge oil reserves (because their reserves would not yet have been depleted). The implication of these two points is that such a country would be ripe for invasion by a more powerful nation, seeking to control their natural resources.
-Or: Black Hat could be considering sending the modern troops of a country from today back in time to rob the oil from the countries in the past. It could be profitable to invent a time machine for just that.
+The pensive way in which he makes these points implies that he's genuinely considering trying to mount an invasion of "the past".  Such an invasion would, of course, require inventing a time machine, and would introduce all sorts of potential issues with the space-time continuum. But [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Time_travel time travel is hardly unknown in the XKCD universe], and Black Hat isn't the type to worry about consequences when there's an opportunity to gain some benefit.
-"Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources.
+This notion has shown up in fiction before. For example, "Mozart in Mirrorshades" is a short story by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, which features the use of time travel to exploit earlier eras' natural resources.
-Also, in the {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}} series, time has been exploited to use as energy. They say: "The Past is like a foreign country. They do things exactly the same there."
+The "If history has taught us anything" is usually used to introduce a lesson that the speaker takes to be clear and obvious from history. The title text of this strip subverts that by implying that lessons learned from history can count as military intelligence to use against it.
 The concept of going back to the past to collect resources (or, at least, set up the collection of resources) shows up again in [[2321: Low-Background Metal]]

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 A more recent movie, Christopher Nolan's {{w|Tenet (film)}}, also deals with destroying the past.
-The concept of going back to the past to collect resources (or, at least, set up the collection of resources) shows up again in [[2321: Low Background Metal]]
+The concept of going back to the past to collect resources (or, at least, set up the collection of resources) shows up again in [[2321: Low-Background Metal]]
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:57, 27 September 2022
Line 24:		Line 24:

	A more recent movie, Christopher Nolan's {{w\|Tenet (film)}}, also deals with destroying the past.		A more recent movie, Christopher Nolan's {{w\|Tenet (film)}}, also deals with destroying the past.
		+
		+	The concept of going back to the past to collect resources (or, at least, set up the collection of resources) shows up again in 2321

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==