2072: Evaluating Tech Things

2020-12-27T23:27:41Z

108.162.245.140: /* Explanation */ Cueball's concerns about technology and society are a near perfect paraphrase of White Hat's comment in 1215: Insight

{{comic
| number = 2072
| date = November 14, 2018
| title = Evaluating Tech Things
| image = evaluating_tech_things.png
| titletext = Also known as the Black Mirror-Mythbusters scale.
}}

==Explanation==

Many things are possible today thanks to technology, and while often the "wow factor"—how cool it is that we can do that—kicks in right away, there can also be deep potential longer term consequences for humanity. Things like {{w|atomic fission}}, the {{w|Internet}}, {{w|CRISPR}} technology, are amazing things we have learned how to do, but they also have the potential, in some cases already realized, of massively affecting human life (e.g. nuclear annihilation, instant wide-scale communication, elective genetic engineering), both for the better and for the worse.

Here [[Cueball]], upon hearing of a cool idea he hadn't thought of before, mentally measures it on a scale to decide if he can be excited about it, or should be worried about how it might affect humanity. After weighing it out, he decides it's just plain cool and it will not adversely affect humanity at all. In the comic, it appears this mental decision took awhile, judging by the multiple panels showing him thinking, ambivalently rubbing his chin as the dial oscillates left and right, before he gives his response.

The title text refers to this mental weighing also being known as the ''Black Mirror''–''Mythbusters'' scale. ''{{w|Black Mirror}}'' and ''{{w|Mythbusters}}'' are both TV shows that explore science and technology. ''Black Mirror'', on the one end of the scale, explores the unintended and often dire consequences of many of our more influential technologies—the horrible stuff that can happen—whereas ''Mythbusters'', on the other end of the scale, explores the fun side of technology to see what kinds of cool things can or cannot be done.

Worrying about the effect that technology has on our lives is a theme that has been explored before, in [[1215: Insight]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball talking.]
:Megan: Sooner or later, someone is going to fly a drone into a tornado and post the footage to YouTube.

:[Zoom in on Cueball imagining a semicircular dial with a moving pointer currently fixed vertically in the mid value. The left-most value indicating his opinion to be "This raises big questions about technology and society" and the right-most being "Haha, cool!"]

:[Panel with just Cueball and the imaginary dial above his head, the pointer having shifted a small amout to the right.]

:[Same panel with Cueball, his right hand pensively on his chin, the pointer having shifted an equally small amount to the left of the mid value.]

:[Panel with Cueball, Megan and the imaginary dial above, the pointer now all the way to the right.]
:Cueball: Haha, cool!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

Talk:163: Donald Knuth

2015-12-24T03:29:53Z

108.162.245.140:

In Pascal you define the lower and upper bounds of an array when you declare it, e.g.,

anArray[-5 .. 5] OF integer

which has always struck me as a much better idea than having arrays always starting at 0.
[[User:Jstout|Jstout]] ([[User talk:Jstout|talk]]) 20:41, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Why the swipe at Ada? I don't know about "the programming language of the future", but it's not a historical footnote either. It's used in many safety critical systems such as flight control, trains, even banking, and not just because that's what was used in the past. This language is still heavily used in these areas and is still being updated under MIL-STD and ISO.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.185|108.162.217.185]] 15:33, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
:Wikipedia verifies your claims. Removed. [[User:Suspender guy|Suspender guy]] ([[User talk:Suspender guy|talk]]) 20:28, 9 October 2015 (UTC)
:Same is true of BASIC; you can specify any range, including negative numbers (I have used this). I program in C as well though --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.140|108.162.245.140]] 03:29, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2072: Evaluating Tech Things

Talk:163: Donald Knuth