520: Cuttlefish

|< < Prev Comic #520 (December 22, 2008) Next > >|

Cuttlefish

Title text: Unless the CS students finish the robot revolution before you finish the cephalopod one.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This comic references multiple themes:

1) The Cephalopods' Revolution, with their many appendages, distance communication, mimicry and camouflage, presents the greatest threat to mankind out of all the classes of animals. The cuttlefish is a Cephalopod. It is also slightly ironic to be attacked by a cuttlefish, because it sounds like 'cuddle fish'.

2) There is some rivalry among the main branches of science, with various statements meant to show one's branch to be superior or more important and deserved of funding than others.

3) The title text - CS stands for Computer science. The "robot revolution" references events in film, such as Terminator and The Matrix, as well as literature (Asimov's "I, Robot"), wherein robots, having become commonplace in the workforce, achieve independent thought and declare war on humanity.

Transcript

We visit a bio lab: [Cueball and Megan visit a bio lab where they look into a tank that the scientists point at.]

Scientist: These are cuttlefish.

[Image of a cuttlefish.]

Scientist: They're frighteningly smart, have manipulating arms and tentacles, have ink jets, can dart backwards and see the polarization of light through their w-shaped pupils. And their sides are 200 dpi display screens which they use for camouflage and communication.

Scientist: When we realized how intelligent they were, we began to teach them. They've advanced quickly. Cuttlefish: GO.

[Cuttlefish float out of the tank at Cueball and Megan.]

Cuttlefishes: Kill the physicists... kill the physicists

[Cuttlefish zap Cueball and Megan as they fall.]

[Cueball waking up from his sleep.]

Cueball: Oh god. I knew it.

XKCD^[sic]

Salutes Bio Majors

[Bottle is pouring into a flask, and a man takes the flask and drinks from it.]

If we join you against the chemists, will you train your fleshy minions to leave us alive?

 add a comment! ⋅  add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅  refresh comments!

Discussion

I dispute the idea of "memes." I don't remember my 2008/2009 Internet culture too well, but I certainly don't think cephalopods ever became much of a meme. This needs some revision. --Quicksilver (talk) 02:07, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

There was entire subgenre of cephalopod themed jokes on certain science blogs, especially Pharyngula. Don't think it matters much for this wiki though. 172.68.38.44 16:57, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

Personally I think that "themes" works better, have edited accordingly, feel free to change it back though Whiskey07 (talk) 14:42, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

I added a comment that The Battle for Wesnoth may have added Cuttlefish as a result of this comic. I am not certain on that, if I'm wrong, please correct me. Kyt (talk) 01:41, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

I found a forum entry (http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11168) that refers to the Wesnoth cuttlefish in May 2006 (more than two years before this comic came out) so I have edited the explanation accordingly. Also, non-accordingly. 108.162.219.223 18:38, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

While the evolution of cuttlefish attacking with electricity is probably what Randall meant, I am an avid fan of Dungeons and Dragons and I'd like to think that this is the beginning stages of what is known as an illithid. Cueball and Megan aren't killed by electricity but by the psionic abilities of the newly created illithids. - vegeto18 2014-02-18 03:14 PM

The robots don't revolt in Asimov's "I, Robot." They obey the three laws of robotics, unless programmed with modifications. As far as I understand, the plot of the film does not follow the novel. 02:52, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

I was going to comment just this, but after seeing that I was not the only one who thought this, I have decided to edit the page. 108.162.219.57 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

You are correct, the movie does not follow the plot of the book, as that would be impossible. The book is a collection of short stories about robots, some positive and some negative. As such, saying that the film doesn't follow the novel is unfair. The movie took the themes of the book and concepts from the stories to produce a quite good film.108.162.236.49 22:14, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

The cuttlefish and their method of killing the physicists resemble the Ood from Doctor Who, introduced in the 2006 episode "The Impossible Planet", in which the Ood became possessed by the Beast and began killing off scientists on the colony. The Ood were revisited in early 2008 in " Planet of the Ood", where they electrocuted the individuals who had enslaved them. 108.162.245.75 23:53, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

IF I MUST TEAR YOU APART, SHEPARD I WILL108.162.216.110 11:07, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

In a way, Reapers symbolize a culmination of all science made apocalyptic revolutions implied here, being giant space-faring robots that look like giant squid (and I will never forgive Mass Effect 3 for not having a Reaper kill be part of the final battle scenes, or letting us conclusively kill Harbinger). -Pennpenn 108.162.250.155 04:04, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

Don’t know if this is related but cuttlefish will also change colors rapidly to stun fish (first comment sry if did wrong) 172.69.170.88 02:34, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

"Cephalopod is the class of animals that encompasses cuttlefish as well as squids and octopodes." And the chambered nautilus! And several extinct groups, like the ammonites and belemnites! Muahaha! Signed, mad former bio teacher. Randall, we accept your offer of allegiance as our minion. Nitpicking (talk) 14:22, 29 August 2021 (UTC) Hi guys you are awesome!

Is the biologist Black Hat incognito as Cueball? 172.71.146.137 17:42, 13 September 2022 (UTC)