Editing 2462: NASA Award

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{comic
 
{{comic
 
| number    = 2462
 
| number    = 2462
−
| date      = May 12, 2021
+
| date      = May 11, 2021
 
| title    = NASA Award
 
| title    = NASA Award
 
| image    = nasa_award.png
 
| image    = nasa_award.png
Line 8: Line 8:
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
−
In this comic [[Hairy]] is awarded a "{{w|Nobel Prize}}" by {{w|NASA}}, represented by [[Ponytail]] handing him the award, as well as [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]]. He receives this award because he has found "life on Mars" by looking at NASA's images from their Mars missions. Hairy looks at his prize, and remarks that it is just a rock on a ribbon. To this Ponytail replies that from a certain angle... implying that if he looks hard enough the rock might look like a Nobel Prize. Just like Hairy, by looking at the pictures in the right way, found something that looked like life on Mars.
+
{{incomplete|Created by a NOBEL ROCK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
−
This comic jabs at poorly-supported claims of discovering alien life, particularly when instances of pareidolia are used as "evidence" of such life. {{w|Pareidolia}} is the tendency for perception to spuriously impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous visual stimulus, for example a rock that is interpreted as a face. A famous example is the {{w|Cydonia_(Mars)#%22Face_on_Mars%22|Face on Mars}}, a 2km long hill that can be said to resemble the face of a human when viewed on low resolution images, at a specific angle and lighting conditions. At the time some people claimed this was proof of an ancient Martian civilization. Later higher resolution images showed that the face was an optical illusion.  
+
This comic jabs at poorly-supported claims of discovering alien life, particularly when instances of pareidolia are used as "evidence" of such life. Pareidolia is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous visual stimulus, for example a rock that is interpreted as a face. A famous example is the Face on Mars, a 2km long hill that can be said to resemble the face of a human when viewed on low resolution images, at a specific angle and lighting conditions. At the time some people claimed this was proof of an ancient Martian civilization. Later higher resolution images showed that the face was an optical illusion.  
−
Rocks make for poor prizes as they make for poor evidence,{{Citation needed}} and looking from different angles is of no use for either.
+
Rocks make for poor prizes as they make for poor evidence, and looking from different angles is of no use for either.
  
−
If you're actively looking for patterns in large amounts of data (especially if it's any pattern, largely undefined until it is 'found') then you are likely to dismiss all the data that does not support your preconceived ideas and seize upon the small randomnesses that you have managed to trawl though and classify as 'interesting'. This is an example of {{w|Confirmation_bias|Confirmation Bias}}. It's possible that the featured NASA personnel specifically sifted rocks looking for one that looked like an award.
+
The title text may be using linguistic ambiguity: the discovery mentioned occurs on Mars, rather than life being there. (The discovering entity is probably a robot, as a human astronaut would likely be aware of 1) their own existence and 2) the existence of other living things.{{Citation needed}}). It also pokes fun at borrowing a stranger's camera and seeing all the pictures they've taken before.
  
−
The title text explains how you find life on Mars. Just access other people's images that have been taken on Mars, and look for plants and animals. This is lampooning the simplistic notion that life on Mars would be detected by looking at photos at all.  In reality, all extraterrestrial life (in this solar system at least) is almost certainly microscopic.  The notion of detecting it by studying photos of the Martian surface is just as absurd as the idea of looking at the photos and expecting to see dogs and trees and other familiar macroscopic lifeforms.
+
An alternative interpretation for the title text is that it is lampooning the simplistic notion that life on Mars would be detected by looking at photos at all.  In reality, all extraterrestrial life (in this solar system at least) is almost certainly microscopic.  The notion of detecting it by studying photos of the Martian surface is just as absurd as the idea of looking at the photos and expecting to see dogs and trees and other familiar macroscopic lifeforms.
  
−
Building a camera and landing it on Mars is what NASA does with their Mars rovers and other Mars missions. The camera is a small part of the entire mission, though an important part. But this is why the title text talks about landing the camera on Mars. The space probes are the cameras.
+
==Transcript==
 +
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
−
==Transcript==
+
:[Cueball, Ponytail, Hairy, and Megan stand on a platform. Ponytail and Hairy are elevated further on another platform placed on top of the first]
−
:[Cueball, Ponytail, Hairy, and Megan stand on a two tiered platform. Ponytail and Hairy are are on the top step, with Cueball and Megan standing on the lower step looking up at the other two. Ponytail holds a necklace with a rock attached to the end up in both hands offering it to Hairy.]
+
:[Ponytail holds a necklace with a rock attached to the end, offering it to Hairy]
 
:Ponytail: We're honored to present you with this Nobel Prize!
 
:Ponytail: We're honored to present you with this Nobel Prize!
 
:Hairy: That's just a rock.
 
:Hairy: That's just a rock.
Line 29: Line 30:
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
−
 
+
[[Category:Space]]
 +
[[Category:Biology]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
−
[[Category:Space]]
 
−
[[Category:Space probes]]
 
−
[[Category:Biology]]
 
−
[[Category:Nobel Prize]]
 

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)

Templates used on this page:

Retrieved from "https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2462:_NASA_Award"