3254: Detector - Revision history

208.59.176.206: /* Transcript */

2026-06-04T01:49:47Z

‎Transcript

130.76.187.61: /* Transcript */ false neg

2026-06-04T00:57:40Z

‎Transcript: false neg

130.76.187.61: /* Explanation */ wlink

2026-06-04T00:55:34Z

‎Explanation: wlink

130.76.187.61: /* Transcript */ formatting

2026-06-04T00:54:40Z

‎Transcript: formatting

DKMell: touch-up

2026-06-04T00:19:12Z

touch-up

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

2026-06-04T00:14:46Z

‎Explanation

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */

2026-06-04T00:12:50Z

‎Explanation

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Ok, there you go.

2026-06-04T00:12:12Z

‎Explanation: Ok, there you go.

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ Too many differences to work out if I should correct the Edit Conflct straight off. Give me a moment.

2026-06-04T00:10:47Z

‎Explanation: Too many differences to work out if I should correct the Edit Conflct straight off. Give me a moment.

AdmiralMemo: /* Explanation */ Typo fix

2026-06-04T00:03:35Z

‎Explanation: Typo fix

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 :Cueball: What does it detect?
-:[The next panel zooms in on the detector]
+:[The next panel zooms in on the detector. Ponytail's voice comes from the left of the panel.]
-:Ponytail: (off-screen) Lots of stuff.
+:Ponytail (off-panel): Lots of stuff.
-:Ponytail: (off-screen) Gas, dust, particles, light, radio waves, gamma rays, protons, neutrons, electrons, fields, forces, events, potentials, or states.
+:Ponytail (off-panel): Gas, dust, particles, light, radio waves, gamma rays, protons, neutrons, electrons, fields, forces, events, potentials, or states.
-:[The next panel zooms out. Cueball and Ponytail are standing to the left of the machine, and Hairy on the right]
+:[The next panel zooms out. Cueball and Ponytail are standing to the left of the machine, and Hairy on the right.]
 :Cueball: I don't understand. Aren't most of those ''always'' present?
 :Hairy: Yeah, it's been saying "detected" continuously since we turned it on.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:57, 4 June 2026
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	[[Category:Physics]]		[[Category:Physics]]
	[[Category:Science]]		[[Category:Science]]
		+	[[Category:Statistics]]

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 Cueball points this out and Hairy says that it ''has'' been continuously lit this way since they turned it on. And Ponytail is left shocked when Cueball asks what would happen if the light labeled "Not detected" were to shine. Hairy claims that such a thing would be pretty bad, the presumption being that, if that were to happen, there would have to be no matter, light, forces, etc. within the detector's range of detection. (With almost no reason for the "Not detected" light to shine, they could have simply provided continuous power to the "Detected" light, but the reactions of the experts present show that neither of them think that this has been done.)
-The title text states that the machine has the lowest false-negative rate out of any other machine as the "Detected" light will always continue shining. If it never ''ever'' states a negative, then it can never be wrong about it being negative, even though it is not clear what circumstances would result in a negative state being required, nor whether the detector will then (correctly) state that, rather than just continue to provide a (now) false-positive.
+The title text states that the machine has the lowest {{w|false-negative}} rate out of any other machine as the "Detected" light will always continue shining. If it never ''ever'' states a negative, then it can never be wrong about it being negative, even though it is not clear what circumstances would result in a negative state being required, nor whether the detector will then (correctly) state that, rather than just continue to provide a (now) false-positive.
 Randall had recently talked about detectors in [[3249: Neutrino Project]].

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 ==Transcript==
-[Hairy is standing next to a large machine labeled "Detector". The front of the machine has two lights, labeled "Detected" and "Not detected". The "detected" light is lit up in green. Ponytail and Cueball walk towards the machine]
+:[Hairy is standing to the right of a large machine labeled "Detector". The front of the machine has two lights, labeled "Detected" and "Not detected". The "detected" light is lit up in green. Ponytail and Cueball walk towards the machine from the left.]
-Ponytail: Over there are our electron microscope, XRF scanner, and mass spectrometer. And this is our most sensitive detector.
+:[The next panel zooms in on the detector]
-Cueball: What does it detect?
+:[The next panel zooms out. Cueball and Ponytail are standing to the left of the machine, and Hairy on the right]
-[The next panel zooms in on the detector]
+:[Cueball and Ponytail still standing to the left of the machine, and Hairy on the right. Ponytail has her hand on her chin.]
 :Cueball: What happens if it says "not detected"?
-Ponytail: (off-screen) Lots of stuff.
+:Ponytail: Oh gosh.
+:Hairy: That would be pretty bad, I think.
 {{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 In this case, "more sensitive" seems to mean that it is sensitive to more ''different'' things. To quote Ponytail, it detects "gas, dust, particles, light, radio waves, gamma rays, protons, neutrons, electrons, fields, forces, events, potentials, or states", which runs almost the entire gamut of things that ''might'' be detectable, and leaves little room for there being any situation in which none of the aforementioned items are there to be detected.
-Cueball points this out and Hairy says that it ''has'' been continuously lit this way since they turned it on. And Ponytail is left shocked when Cueball asks what would happen if the light labeled "not detected" were to shine. Hairy claims that such a thing would be pretty bad. The presumption being that, if that were to happen, there would have to be no matter, light, forces, etc within the detector's range of detection. (With almost no reason for the not detected light to shine, they could have simply made a simple circuit board with a led and written a program so that the light is always on, but the reaction shows that neither of the existing experts think that this has been done.)
+Cueball points this out and Hairy says that it ''has'' been continuously lit this way since they turned it on. And Ponytail is left shocked when Cueball asks what would happen if the light labeled "Not detected" were to shine. Hairy claims that such a thing would be pretty bad, the presumption being that, if that were to happen, there would have to be no matter, light, forces, etc. within the detector's range of detection. (With almost no reason for the "Not detected" light to shine, they could have simply provided continuous power to the "Detected" light, but the reactions of the experts present show that neither of them think that this has been done.)
-The title text states that the machine has the lowest false-negative rate out of any other machine as the "Detected" light will always continue shining. If it never ''ever'' states a negative, then it can never be wrong about it being negative, even though it is not clear what circumstances would result in a negative state being required, nor whether the detector will then (corretly) state that, rather than just continue to provide a (now) false-positive.
+The title text states that the machine has the lowest false-negative rate out of any other machine as the "Detected" light will always continue shining. If it never ''ever'' states a negative, then it can never be wrong about it being negative, even though it is not clear what circumstances would result in a negative state being required, nor whether the detector will then (correctly) state that, rather than just continue to provide a (now) false-positive.
 Randall had recently talked about detectors in [[3249: Neutrino Project]].

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Explanation==
 {{incomplete|This page was detected recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
-[[Ponytail]] and [[Hairy]] are showing [[Cueball]] a machine, claiming it is their most sensitive detector. Normally, detectors have a designated detecting job, such as smoke detectors which detect smoke. Being more sensitive means that it can detect (and perhaps quantify) far lower quantities/magnitudes of the target of its deterctions.
+[[Ponytail]] and [[Hairy]] are showing [[Cueball]] a machine, claiming it is their most sensitive detector. Normally, detectors have a designated detecting job, such as smoke detectors which detect smoke. Being more sensitive means that it can detect (and perhaps quantify) far lower quantities/magnitudes of the target of its detections.
 In this case, "more sensitive" seems to mean that it is sensitive to more ''different'' things. To quote Ponytail, it detects "gas, dust, particles, light, radio waves, gamma rays, protons, neutrons, electrons, fields, forces, events, potentials, or states", which runs almost the entire gamut of things that ''might'' be detectable, and leaves little room for there being any situation in which none of the aforementioned items are there to be detected.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 [[Ponytail]] and [[Hairy]] are showing [[Cueball]] a machine, claiming it is their most sensitive detector. Normally, detectors have a designated detecting job, such as smoke detectors which detect smoke. When Cueball asks what the machine detects, Ponytail claims it detects gas, dust, particles, light, radio waves, gamma rays, protons, neutrons, electrons, fields, forces, events, potentials, or states, all of which are obviously supposed to be detected.{{Citation needed}} However, they could have just made separate detectors, but that would ruin the joke.
-Cueball points this out and Hairy says that is why it has been continuously running since they turned it on. Ponytail is shocked when Cueball asks what would happen if the light labeled "not detected" were to shine, and Hairy claims it would be pretty bad. If that were to happen, the result would be really bad, as there would be no matter, light, forces, etc. If there is almost no reason for the not detected light to shine, they could have simply made a simple circuit board with a led and written a program so that the light is always on.
+Cueball points this out and Hairy says that is why it has been continuously lit since they turned it on. Ponytail is shocked when Cueball asks what would happen if the light labeled "not detected" were to shine, and Hairy claims it would be pretty bad. If that were to happen, the result would be really bad, as there would be no matter, light, forces, etc. If there is almost no reason for the not detected light to shine, they could have simply made a simple circuit board with a led and written a program so that the light is always on.
-The title text states that the machine has the lowest false-negative rate out of any other machine as the "detected" light will always continue shining. This might not even be a real detector, because it will continuously shine "detected."{{Citation needed}} The title text may be a reference to how medical tests and other measurments can sometimes be misleading. However, no further details are given.
+The title text states that the machine has the lowest false-negative rate out of any other machine as the "detected" light will always continue shining. This might not even be a real detector, because it will continuously shine "detected."{{Citation needed}} The title text may be a reference to how medical tests and other measurements can sometimes be misleading. However, no further details are given.
-Randell has recently talked about detectors before in [[3249|3249: neutrino project.]]
+Randall has recently talked about detectors before in [[3249|3249: Neutrino Project.]]
 ==Transcript==