explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1546: Tamagotchi Hive

2026-06-15T11:49:47Z

82.132.238.93: /* Explanation */ Please turn off (or don't even activate) the Smartquote function of your editor, whatever you did to do that.

{{comic
| number = 1546
| date = July 3, 2015
| title = Tamagotchi Hive
| image = tamagotchi_hive.png
| titletext = The Singularity happened, but not to us.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series]]. It describes a distributed computing network using an automated system to simultaneously run trillions of Tamagotchis. As with most of the "My Hobby" series, the concept would work, and is intricately connected to real world activities, but twisted enough to make it inherently absurd.

A {{w|Tamagotchi}} is a keychain-sized virtual pet simulation game from 1996. Ostensibly for children, they had appeal for people of all ages. The characters are colorful and simplistically designed creatures based on animals, objects, or people. Beginning with the 2004 Tamagotchi Plus/Connection, a second wave of Tamagotchi toys emerged, featuring a different graphic design by JINCO and gameplay which elaborated upon the first generations. However, the story behind the games remained the same: Tamagotchis are a small alien species that deposited an egg on Earth to see what life was like, and it is up to the player to raise the egg into an adult creature. The creature goes through several stages of growth, and will develop differently depending on the care the player provides, with better care resulting in an adult creature that is smarter, happier, and requires less attention. Gameplay can vary wildly between models, and some models, such as TamagoChu, require little to no care from the player.

{{w|Distributed computing}} is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system is a software system in which components located on networked computers communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages. The components interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal. Examples of distributed systems vary from {{w|Service-oriented architecture|service-oriented architecture}} based systems to {{w|multiplayer online games}} to {{w|peer-to-peer}} applications. Distributed computing is often used for tasks that require resources which would otherwise be impossible or prohibitively expensive to manage with single computers. This may include large {{w|Bitcoin network}} mining operations, the {{w|Worldwide LHC Computing Grid}} or, yes, running trillions of simultaneous Tamagotchis using an artificial intelligence (AI) protocol. That said, using AI to keep trillions of Tamagotchis perfectly taken care of is a complete waste of time; the whole point of Tamagotchi is the challenge of caring for the digital pet yourself.

"The Singularity" in the title text refers to the {{w|technological singularity}}; a concept prevalent in science fiction and discussions of AI. The idea is that AI would become so sophisticated compared to a human brain that no human would be able to predict its behavior, motivations etc. from that point onward, and potentially human history after that point would therefore become unpredictable, as AIs would play dominant roles in determining its direction. It uses the metaphor of a mathematical "singularity", which is a point where established rules can no longer apply (for example, in a black hole or during the Big Bang, physical conditions are such that the physical laws as we currently understand them can no longer meaningfully predict what happens). An AI that is more sophisticated than a human brain could then presumably simulate human brains within itself, making it possible to upload human consciousness into a machine-simulated environment (see {{w|simulated reality}} and the {{w|simulation hypothesis}}). Thus, much science fiction that is based on the idea of The Singularity also focuses on the creation of a virtual world that much of the human race decides to plug itself into, much like the Tamagotchi Hive that Randall has created. Randall's mind, and the processing power in his computer, is far greater than any individual Tamagotchi mind, so simulating Tamagotchis becomes trivial for Randall, and no Tamagotchi could predict or control its own history with Randall around, in a humorous analogy with the Singularity concept.

==Transcript==
:My Hobby
:[A tree graph of Tamagotchis.]
:Running a massive distributed computing project that simulates trillions and trillions of Tamagotchis and keeps them all constantly fed and happy

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Singularity]]

Talk:3257: Beam Pipe

2026-06-15T11:38:52Z

82.132.238.93:

Ok why did this take so long to be created? [[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]] ([[User talk:GSLikesCats307|talk]]) 12:58, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
:I think it was because explainxkcd was down when this comic was published (agian :/) --[[User:Clarkexckd8|Clarkexckd8]] ([[User talk:Clarkexckd8|talk]]) 13:01, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
::It was like that with the last comic as well. What's causing these outages? [[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]] ([[User talk:GSLikesCats307|talk]]) 13:03, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
::: Maybe it's something with the servers. I have no clue why it took until 12:00 (UTC) to upload though.--[[User:Clarkexckd8|Clarkexckd8]] ([[User talk:Clarkexckd8|talk]]) 13:15, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
::::I'm going to theorise that some third party, out there, is running something that hammers our servers. From the little information the change-logs gives, they're starting it around 22:00 (server time) and it only ends (or people, including the comic-update-BOT, only realise it has ended) at around 12:00 (server time, again).
::::While this inconsiderate thing is happening, everyone else (and probably themselves, if they're running their hammering massivelg in parallel) is finding it ''almost'' impossible to connect, as the back-end is too busy serving the site-database results to the hammerer. (Some edits were made ~05:00ish, the other day. Might have been lucky/persistent to do that. Or hit a rare pause by the bad-actor's efforts.)
::::Probably not a deliberate DDOS, as these other periods of sanity wouldn't be in such a plan by someone. I suggest it's either someone/something doing (or trying to do) a lot of webscraping, without any though to throttling it down to a less disruptive level, or even an intended auto-spammer (getting thwarted by the initial hurdles that protect this site, but their spamming algorithm just keeps trying).
::::And the inconvenience to us mere mortals is as applicable to the comic-upload-BOT. The only difference being that it can (in a way programmed specifically ''not'' to self-defeatingly DDOS the site) just try again, perhaps every half an hour or so, so is more likely to be the first contributor to the site (when there's a new comic still to post, in its backlog) once the data-pummelling has stopped for the day.
::::What can we do about it? Not much. Curse the person who (intentionally or otherwise) did this? But it seems to not involve any traces of activity that aren't purely server-log level, or maybe on the prody servers that we also don't control. With any luck, they'll realise their (unintended) mistake and rethink it. Or just have no more reason to do so. Not very comforting, but the best outcome I can imagine happening easily. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.149|82.132.236.149]] 12:53, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

This is probably nitpicking, but covering the opening of a hose doesn't increase the pressure of the stream, it increases flow rate instead, and with it the nozzle velocity. The pressure at the end of a hose is equal to ambient pressure, and the flow rate adjusts itself to achieve this. (At least in sub-sonic conditions that you would normally encounter, though this may not apply to the LHC...) [[Special:Contributions/2A02:590:1404:9301:2CAC:E347:73BF:C11|2A02:590:1404:9301:2CAC:E347:73BF:C11]] 14:30, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
:Yeah, I noticed that... decreasing the diameter should actually decrease the pressure by bernoulli's law, right? [[Special:Contributions/12.159.97.176|12.159.97.176]] 14:31, 11 June 2026 (UTC)
::Yeah I was about to mention that too [[User:GreaterDog6065|GreaterDog6065]] ([[User talk:GreaterDog6065|talk]]) 14:55, 11 June 2026 (UTC)[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:GreaterDog6065 GreaterDog6065] 09:54, 11 June 2026 (CDT)

What if you put your hand in a particle accelerator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UgKki1tCKI
Also, LHC actually has two adjacent parallel beamlines (or beam pipes) each containing a beam, which travel in opposite directions. Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider#Design --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 12:40, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

Wasn't there a guy who accidentally stuck his head in a similar collider a while ago? Or was it actually the LHC? [[User:RG|RG]] ([[User talk:RG|talk]]) 02:20, 15 June 2026 (UTC)
:If you mean Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, he was already mentioned in the article. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.93|82.132.238.93]] 11:38, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

3255: Planetary Science

2026-06-15T11:34:08Z

82.132.238.93: /* Explanation */ Originally wanted to use "terrestriality", or maybe "terrestrialness", to say it 'simpler' and with fewer padding words, but chickened out regarding whether it would be understood as intended.

{{comic
| number = 3255
| date = June 5, 2026
| title = Planetary Science
| image = planetary_science_2x.png
| imagesize = 277x388px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The research was overseen by the Institutional Review Board, which is what I named my surfboard.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is presented as a scientific article in which astronomers claim to have discovered "evidence for liquid water on the surface of a {{w|terrestrial planet}} in the {{w|habitable zone}}". Finding other planets that have liquid water is a notable result, as water is considered necessary to support life, or at least Earth-like life on sufficiently Earth-like (i.e. terrestrial) planets that allow sufficient liquid water to exist. So a terrestrial planet with liquid water would be far more likely to have some form of recognisable life on it, compared to one that does not, and especially compared to a location that is increasingly unlike even being terrestrial. (Alternative forms of life may exist, with other environmental cues replacing the need for liquid water or even a more general terrestrial nature. But we are somewhat limited to expectations that match more the directly observable nature of life.)

However, the accompanying photos (four people on a beach, two sitting under an umbrella and one making sand castles) suggest that the planet in question is {{w|Earth}}. This would not be considered a noteworthy discovery, since we already know about the existence of life on Earth, and the 'evidence' for the liquid water also evidences (at least in the apparent form of highly conspicuous vacationing visitors) the presence of life, so this article is hardly useful or practical.

There is value in using Earth as an example of a planet in a habitable zone, such as [https://www.nasa.gov/universe/atacama-rover-astrobiology-drilling-studies-arads/ testing life-detection experiments in remote inhospitable environments] or [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-would-we-know-theres-life-on-earth-this-bold-experiment-found-out/ as a proxy for future astronomical observations], but not in-situ photographic investigation. Maybe the astronomers should have brought their {{w|spectrometer}} on vacation.

An {{w|institutional review board}} is a committee of researchers which ensures that research carried out at their institution is ethical. In the title text, this is claimed to be the literal name of a {{w|surfboard}}, which is a board used for the recreational activity of {{w|surfing}}, and not serious academic activities ([https://www.cornwall.ac.uk/courses/fdsc-surf-science-degree/ mostly]). Presumably, one of the researchers has been using their research time to take a surfing holiday, and is trying to justify it by misleadingly claiming that the Institutional Review Board was involved. 'The Institutional Review Board' is a very strange name for a surfboard, and the only purpose for calling it this would seem to be for this (somewhat bad) excuse.

The comic may also be a reference to the Movie/Book "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (The former releasing a few months before the comics release). In it, the protaginist (a microbiologist by the name of Ryland Grace), releases a paper refuting the idea that water is nessecary for life, and in it, calls people names and gives the section titles (by standards of scientific papers) some vulgar words. Which is of course not taken to kindly by his peers as it's not standard practice to call someone an idiot in a scientific paper.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[An article from a journal is shown.]
:[Title of journal article:] Evidence for Liquid Water on the Surface of a Terrestrial Planet in the Habitable Zone
:[Below the title are four lines of blurred text presumably representing the name of the author or authors and their affiliations. Below that, the text of the article is blurred, displayed in two columns. There are three sections of blurred text each with a blurred boldface heading. Two pictures are included amid the blurred text. The picture in the left column shows the sea running alongside a beach. The picture in the right column shows Jill and Kidball playing at the beach, with Jill running and Kidball building a sandcastle, while Cueball and Megan are sitting under a beach umbrella watching them.]
:[Caption below the article:]
:Planetary science journals have asked astronomers to please stop submitting their vacation photos.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring children]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Kidball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

3255: Planetary Science

2026-06-15T11:26:52Z

82.132.238.93: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3255
| date = June 5, 2026
| title = Planetary Science
| image = planetary_science_2x.png
| imagesize = 277x388px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The research was overseen by the Institutional Review Board, which is what I named my surfboard.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is presented as a scientific article in which astronomers claim to have discovered "evidence for liquid water on the surface of a {{w|terrestrial planet}} in the {{w|habitable zone}}". Finding other planets that have liquid water is a notable result, as water is considered necessary to support life, or at least Earth-like life on sufficiently Earth-like (i.e. terrestrial) planets that allow sufficient liquid water to exist. So a terrestrial planet with liquid water would be far more likely to have some form of recognisable life on it, compared to one that does not, and especially compared to a location that is increasingly unlike even being terrestrial. (Alternative forms of life may exist, with other environmental cues replacing liquid water. But we are somewhat limited to expectations that match more the directly observable nature of life.)

However, the accompanying photos (four people on a beach, two sitting under an umbrella and one making sand castles) suggest that the planet in question is {{w|Earth}}. This would not be considered a noteworthy discovery, since we already know about the existence of life on Earth, and the 'evidence' for the liquid water also evidences (at least in the apparent form of highly conspicuous vacationing visitors) the presence of life, so this article is hardly useful or practical.

There is value in using Earth as an example of a planet in a habitable zone, such as [https://www.nasa.gov/universe/atacama-rover-astrobiology-drilling-studies-arads/ testing life-detection experiments in remote inhospitable environments] or [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-would-we-know-theres-life-on-earth-this-bold-experiment-found-out/ as a proxy for future astronomical observations], but not in-situ photographic investigation. Maybe the astronomers should have brought their {{w|spectrometer}} on vacation.

An {{w|institutional review board}} is a committee of researchers which ensures that research carried out at their institution is ethical. In the title text, this is claimed to be the literal name of a {{w|surfboard}}, which is a board used for the recreational activity of {{w|surfing}}, and not serious academic activities ([https://www.cornwall.ac.uk/courses/fdsc-surf-science-degree/ mostly]). Presumably, one of the researchers has been using their research time to take a surfing holiday, and is trying to justify it by misleadingly claiming that the Institutional Review Board was involved. 'The Institutional Review Board' is a very strange name for a surfboard, and the only purpose for calling it this would seem to be for this (somewhat bad) excuse.

The comic may also be a reference to the Movie/Book "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (The former releasing a few months before the comics release). In it, the protaginist (a microbiologist by the name of Ryland Grace), releases a paper refuting the idea that water is nessecary for life, and in it, calls people names and gives the section titles (by standards of scientific papers) some vulgar words. Which is of course not taken to kindly by his peers as it's not standard practice to call someone an idiot in a scientific paper.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[An article from a journal is shown.]
:[Title of journal article:] Evidence for Liquid Water on the Surface of a Terrestrial Planet in the Habitable Zone
:[Below the title are four lines of blurred text presumably representing the name of the author or authors and their affiliations. Below that, the text of the article is blurred, displayed in two columns. There are three sections of blurred text each with a blurred boldface heading. Two pictures are included amid the blurred text. The picture in the left column shows the sea running alongside a beach. The picture in the right column shows Jill and Kidball playing at the beach, with Jill running and Kidball building a sandcastle, while Cueball and Megan are sitting under a beach umbrella watching them.]
:[Caption below the article:]
:Planetary science journals have asked astronomers to please stop submitting their vacation photos.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring children]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Kidball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]