2047: Beverages

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 07:16, 17 September 2018 by 172.69.22.140 (talk) (Transcript: Removed incomplete notice; all parts of image are transcripted)
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Beverages
If I wait a while, it's not so bad, because then it's just shaped like me, plus some pipes and tanks and probably eventually all of Earth's oceans.
Title text: If I wait a while, it's not so bad, because then it's just shaped like me, plus some pipes and tanks and probably eventually all of Earth's oceans.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Should be expanded upon. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This comic is about how a beverage traveling through the human digestive tract may look unsettling without any visible guidance for its flow. The title text references how some particles from any ingested liquid will eventually mix with all water on earth.

Transcript

[Inside a panel, liquid pouring out of a cup and through the esophagus to the stomach is shown.]
It freaks me out to imagine what a beverage is shaped like when I’m in the middle of drinking it.
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Discussion

Randall Munroe needs to be less existential ... oh wait. 162.158.155.146 (talk) 05:22, 17 September 2018‎ (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Hey, it's not as crazy as SMBC tho ;) SilverMagpie (talk) 21:47, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

Wouldn’t it warrant being freaked out *more* if it were shaped like lungs? Now that would freak me out. (Choking on food is but one example that even nature can not get a dual function, single endpoint API perfectly right. Luckily nature was unaware of GraphQL - or we’d have one orifice, 1 endpoint for all bodily functions. 172.69.130.70 (talk) 05:36, 17 September 2018‎ (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

(Responding to the above unsigned) Aren’t there some animals where that is the case? Jellyfish and starfish (I think) are the examples that comes to mind, but I’m sure there are others (especially among sea life). Also wow, humanity (at least the English speaking portion) really likes naming things that aren’t fish “fish” 😂 PotatoGod (talk) 07:19, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
But there's 'No Such Thing as a Fish' :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Such_Thing_as_a_Fish --OliReading (talk) 12:31, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
Well you can think yourself lucky that you are not designed like a flatworm which only has one opening to its digestive cavity... 162.158.166.191 11:17, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
Isn't that a cloaca?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_y4DbZivHCY
ProphetZarquon (talk) 13:25, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
Yes, coming in really late, but no. A cloaca is a combined anus and urinary outlet, as in birds. Generally it's also a reproductive opening (as in birds). A single opening that is used for eating and defecating is known as the "mouth", as in the Cnidaria (formerly coelenterates, the jellyfishes and medusae). Nitpicking (talk) 00:26, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

Isn't the stream of beverages interrupted in intervals by swallowing? Sebastian --172.68.110.10 06:16, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

The bulge in the middle of the vertical portion of the flow (oesophagus) is from the effects of peristalsis, which does not cut off the flow entirely in order to push stuff down, but leaves a little gap. That is part of the reason you can belch and barf. Nutster (talk) 12:37, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

I think what he means with "if I wait a while" the beverage at the end of digestion is then connected to the toilet, sewers and oceans... -- Benjamin3005 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Similar Imagery

Radiotopia's recently released "Everything is alive" podcast's premiere episode, Louis Can of Cola, is about this experience from the perspective of the beverage. The episode features a discussion of between the beverage and a the host who {spoiler alert} offers to drink it. The episode was featured by podcasting legend Roman Mars on his own Radiotopia show "99 Percent Invisible, podcast" earlier this summer in July 2018. Iggynelix (talk) 12:24, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
I've moved both to a trivia section. Doesn't explain anything. --Dgbrt (talk) 14:18, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
Is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy acknowledged? Ford Prefect warns Arthur Dent that his first space trip by hyperspace transit will be unpleasantly like being drunk, and it is. [email protected] 141.101.107.42 01:30, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

What are the two organs beneath the stomach?

Liver makes sense because they are involved in the digesting process; but kidneys are ruled out because they filter blood where the liquid hasn't arrived yet. Any ideas? --Dgbrt (talk) 13:31, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Looks to me like that is the stomach. The "bulge" above looks like peristalsis. Baldrickk (talk) 13:44, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

"Further two small organs with no connection to the rest are also wetted." I'm pretty sure those, "...two small organs..." are actually part of the stomach from (possibly) a previous drink of the beverage.162.158.79.107 15:24, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

I am thinking that is just the fluid splashing around inside the one stomach, as opposed to anything making it to other organs yet. While still drinking, the fluid will be collecting in the stomach as it prepares to hit the contents with enzymes and acid to break it down prior to going to the intestines, a process that can take over an hour, depending on how complex the contents are. Nutster (talk) 10:09, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
I agree. While being poured, the liquid isn't filling all available space within the container, it will mainly coat the bottom (i.e. of the stomach) due to gravity or sides (i.e. esophagus) due to adhesion, and there will be splashing as well. I think those two disconnected blobs of liquid are just splashes that have become disconnected from the rest of the flowing liquid. -boB (talk) 18:45, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
I've moved this matter from the transcript to the explanation. Thanks for your suggestions. --Dgbrt (talk) 19:51, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Liver isn't directly involved in digestion, which means no food passes through it, although it does absorb nutrients and is involved in bile production, which is secreted by the gallbladder in response to fats. If I had to guess, it would probably be the duodenum (first part of the small intestine). Four (talk) 23:45, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

You're right. See my comment above. --Dgbrt (talk) 19:51, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Invisible Man

The picture looks like "The Invisible Man" drinking. (Actually "Keybounce", but login is neither working nor complaining for some reason.) --173.245.48.177 20:05, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Optimism/Pessimism

Hmm... Thinking about it logically, the glass isn't half full. Considering it's being emptied, it should be considered half empty. It's probably not an overly important distinction, but I'm pedantic, and I feel Randall would probably approve...162.158.155.146 16:31, 19 September 2018 (UTC)

Trivia

Sargent Schlock (Schlock Mercenary webcomic) is a fictional character who has only one orifice, "with which he eats, breathes, smells, excretes, and conceals weaponry" (Technically, he can smell with his entire body mass.) These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 22:26, 22 October 2018 (UTC)