https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=193.88.197.67&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T08:03:12ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:721:_Flatland&diff=48384Talk:721: Flatland2013-09-03T07:35:15Z<p>193.88.197.67: </p>
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<div>There might be another comic in this joke with Cueball's last line "That was out of line." Where a line would be a 2-dimensional object. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:58, 29 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br>Point of order - a line is a ONE dimensional object (and a point is a zero dimensional object) -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 14:32, 12 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:True, but in the book "lines" were in fact extremely flat triangles. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 21:33, 22 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Also, how has nobody noticed the "What's up?" line from the square? This could be a double - or even a triple entendre, meaning "What is the nature of 'up'?", "What is located in the upward direction?" or "What's going on?". The first two would be plays on the square's inability to sense 'up', which is the general idea of the Flatland story. [[Special:Contributions/193.88.197.67|193.88.197.67]] 07:35, 3 September 2013 (UTC)</div>193.88.197.67https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=703:_Honor_Societies&diff=48367703: Honor Societies2013-09-02T22:31:51Z<p>193.88.197.67: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 703<br />
| date = February 15, 2010<br />
| title = Honor Societies<br />
| image = honor_societies.png<br />
| titletext = Hey, why do YOU get to be the president of Tautology Clu-- wait, I can guess.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete}}<br />
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Cueball finds himself presented with an offer in the form of a circular argument. Because he's an honorable person, he should join an honor society; honorable people are in honor societies and people who are in honor societies are supposedly honorable. He decides that he might as well be in a tautology club, which would be another type of society that depends solely on its own premises: People who are in tautology clubs are in tautology clubs. Thus Randall mocks honor society clubs for being pointless. <br />
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{{w|Tautology}} is an unnecessary repetition of meaning, using dissimilar words that effectively say the same thing. "The first rule of _ Club" is a reference to {{w|Fight Club}} (see also [[Fight Club]] comic).<br />
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The answer to the title text would be a tautology. Thus, he gets to be the president because he is the president.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball sits at a desk, while a teacher or counselor out of frame advises]<br />
:Cueball: Wait. I should join this honor society to show colleges I'm honorable, and I'm honorable because I'm in an honor society?<br />
:Teacher: Basically, yes.<br />
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:[Tighter shot of Cueball.]<br />
:Cueball: Sounds like I could save time by joining the Tautology Club directly.<br />
:Teacher: That's not a real club.<br />
:Cueball: Then I'm starting it.<br />
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:TAUTOLOGY CLUB<br />
:[Seven individuals appear: Ponytail, a man, a shorter male with glasses that bears a striking resemblance to Jason Fox, a taller man with a buzz cut, a brunette woman with curly hair in a ponytail, Megan and Cueball standing on a box.]<br />
:Ponytail: So how'd you learn about us?<br />
:Man: From your Facebook group, "If 1,000,000 People Join This Group, It Will Have 1,000,000 People In It."<br />
:Cueball: LISTEN UP! The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>193.88.197.67https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:703:_Honor_Societies&diff=48366Talk:703: Honor Societies2013-09-02T22:15:22Z<p>193.88.197.67: Created page with "A tautology is a statement that is always true and that doesn't convey any information. A classic example is 'A or not A', which is true if A is true, but also if A isn't true..."</p>
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<div>A tautology is a statement that is always true and that doesn't convey any information. A classic example is 'A or not A', which is true if A is true, but also if A isn't true. 'Either it rains or it doesn't rain' is true, no matter what weather it is. <br />
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"If 1.000.000 people join this group, it will have 1.000.000 people in it" is, strictly speaking, not a tautology, since it wouldn't be true if - somehow - 1.000.000 people were able to join the group without it having 1.000.000 people in it (I don't know - maybe if people leave the group before the counter hit 1.000.000?). It would also be true if there were somehow 1.000.000 members of the group without 1.000.000 people joining it. It is of the form 'if A then A' which is pretty much a much longer version of just 'A'. It's true if it's true, and it isn't if it isn't - so it isn't a tautology.<br />
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The same goes for 'The first rule of the tautology club is the first rule of the tautology club' - It's just a long way of saying "This is the first rule of the tautology club' - which can be true or false. <br />
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Granted; the statements hold enough implied information that we will agree that they are true in a trivial sense, and they are much more fun than 'either there are 1.000.000 people in this group or there aren't 1.000.000 people in this group' and 'either this is the first rule of the tautology club or it isn't' [[Special:Contributions/193.88.197.67|193.88.197.67]] 22:15, 2 September 2013 (UTC)</div>193.88.197.67