Comments on: Seismograph

By: Cris

Cris — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:57:34 +0000

ok this is what I thought too, that the protip text implied that a lie detector would fluctuate during an Earthquake like a seismograph, and the drawing was a silly alternate interpretation of the protip.

By: Jeffery

Jeffery — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:59:02 +0000

The idea is that if the lie detector is accurate, then asking any question it will tell whether the answer is true or not.

The question being asked is whether there is an earthquake happening. If there is, and a person answers no, the detector will say that it is a lie. Much like if asked is there life on other planets, the answer to the question, and the lie detector’s reaction, could answer whether there was life on other planets.

The author chose a seismograph because of the similarity of the devices, as well as the humor of the flavor text.

The flavor text is humorous because a seismograph would be able to detect a nervous twitch, and a subject with a twitch would twitch when he lied.

By: BamaCracker

BamaCracker — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:54:36 +0000

OK, I see this as, “There are two ways to use a lie detector as a seismograph.”

One, being sensitive to vibration, a lie detector would (or should) fluctuate wildly during an Earthquake.

You could also ask someone (assuming the quake was close enough and powerful enough for a human to feel) connected to the detector if there was an Earthquake. No matter what the person says, the lie detector will indicate the truth.

So, I thought it was funny as a double entendre.

By: kevin

kevin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:38:15 +0000

I thought the comic was mocking lie detectors. The idea being lie detectors are silly and inaccurate because it determines someone’s honesty by measuring vibrations in the person’s voice or shaky hands much like how a seismograph detects earthquakes, vibrations. A scared person can tell the truth and a liar can remain completely calm.

By: sir wilberfocer kanerton

sir wilberfocer kanerton — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:15:44 +0000

Explanation is wrong, darkside is on the right track. Hes asking if there is an earthquake happening and assuming there is and the test taker is lying then the results on the graph would appear the same as if it were a siesmograph.

Just need to ask a liar if he feels the ground moving…

By: Darkside

Darkside — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:54:20 +0000

This is making the assumption that a lie detector is 100 percent accurate. Thus, one can divine truth by simply asking. The lie detector being positioned horizontally is inconsequential.

By: sz

sz — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:52:19 +0000

placing a lie detector on its side? :O

i think the comic just shows us that if a human can detect X (earthquake, bad smell, financial crisis), then connecting lie-detector to a human turns it into X-detector.

image text: and the reverse of this generalization works even more rarely than the seismograph case