Editing Talk:258: Conspiracy Theories

I have an alternate interpretation of the last panel: instead of Randall using the concept of religion as a conspiracy theory, Cueball clearly believes in a god that exists and this god answers when directly addressed.  The existing paragraph's explanation seems to bypass most of the humor in favor of the irony in the religion-conspiracy link.  Each time I see this comic, I view the last panel as Cueball (who I would expect to participate in user-driven software quality assurance) legitimately contacting the author/creator (of the universe/Earth/Humanity) to submit a bug report in the same way he would contact the Firefox developers about a bug in their browser. However, it does stand to reason that Randall could have intended both the in-place joke and the external irony.[[User:Tryc|Tryc]] ([[User talk:Tryc|talk]]) 14:44, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

:I agree that there is nothing in the comic to suggest a 'religion' or 'atheist' conspiracy theory.  I personally would just trash it, but people are sensitive to religious crap, I find.  I also have a personal belief that the majority of the 95% (or whatever the true figure is) of Americans who believe in God do so only to the extent that they will answer 'Yes' to a survey question asking if they believe in God.  Such a belief does not otherwise inform or alter their lives in any perceptible way.  [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:25, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

Religion is not a conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theorists have proof. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.63}}
:Why are so many atheists so incompetent at basic principles of logic and skepticism? What you mean to say is that conspiracy theorists have ''evidence''. They tend to lack proof. There is a huge difference, fundamental to the principles of logic and the philosophy of science. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 05:51, 29 October 2019 (UTC)
 :It's not just atheists specifically, it's ALL humans! It's because of the way our brains are wired, we can't help but believe in the most ridiculous made-up nonsense, it's a survival trait (or it used to be, in the ancestral evolutionary environment). [[User:The Cat Lady|--The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 12:51, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

For me, the most interesting tension comes from ("self-reflective") bug report which doesn't (only) refer to conspiracy theorists but, maybe even more, to Cueball himself who beleives in God but still thinks that his own belief in God is a bug to be reported. Reporting could be seen as reporting to God in which he beleives. And that's the simple one. But also reporting that bug could be a report to the consciousness existing beyond the constraints of very comic Cueball is part of. That consciousness is then xkcd audience. Existence of such a consciousness beyond comic's universe would be the equivalent of God in some other universe. Self-reflective awareness of that "alien" existence, and not having a proof for its own comic universe, would make Cueball a religious guy. Randall Munroe decides about the proving possibilities in this particular case. [[User:Marcell|Marcell]] ([[User talk:Marcell|talk]]) 00:39, 13 April 2014 (UTC)


There's a bug in paragraph three... As of the time of this comment, the second sentence reads "The people are more involved in this questioned issues are just getting frustrated about this human behavior." As written, this is nonsense, and clearly exhibits several grammar errors. Unfortunately the explanation lacks clear clues as to what this sentence is intended to convey, so I have no point of reference from which to fix it without occluding the intended meaning. Help, please. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.88|108.162.216.88]] 02:18, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
: I've done my best to fix it to what I think was the intended meaning, and to make it flow with the surrounding explain.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.6|162.158.92.6]] 02:34, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

What started with a single click on Wikipedia's "self-replicating machine" page has led to an ever-increasing number of browser tabs containing articles on self-replication.  Please help.  --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.147|162.158.255.147]] 23:09, 16 July 2016 (UTC)


I interpreted the last panel as a jab at the subset of atheists who claim intellectual superiority while still believing in random conspiracy theories. {{unsigned|Flewk}}

before:
The title text refers the large number of educated people who believe in Young Earth creationism, stating that the earth is only thousands of years old, instead of the billions of years evolutionary scientists suggest. 
after:
The title text refers the large number of educated people who believe in Young Earth creationism, stating that the earth is only thousands of years old, instead of the billions of years evolutionary scientists and geologists(isotope dating) and physicists(big bang theory) suggest.

I don't think young earth creationism matches the comic's description of uncovering a lie and confirmation bias. I would bet that most young earth creationists believe in it because they were raised to believe it. It may be scientifically invalid, but I don't think it's technically a conspiracy theory for most believers anyway.

you guys all believe in the moon?[[User:Overlord of oddities|Overlord of oddities]] ([[User talk:Overlord of oddities|talk]]) 02:16, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

maybe in the world of xkcd randall is "god" and they just break the 4th wall [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 00:44, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

Dear God, please get rid of this ripoff. In Jesus' name Amen. [[User:Z1mp0st0rz|Z1mp0st0rz]] ([[User talk:Z1mp0st0rz|talk]]) 20:17, 11 April 2024 (UTC)