Editing 974: The General Problem
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| title = The General Problem | | title = The General Problem | ||
| image = the_general_problem.png | | image = the_general_problem.png | ||
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| titletext = I find that when someone's taking time to do something right in the present, they're a perfectionist with no ability to prioritize, whereas when someone took time to do something right in the past, they're a master artisan of great foresight. | | titletext = I find that when someone's taking time to do something right in the present, they're a perfectionist with no ability to prioritize, whereas when someone took time to do something right in the past, they're a master artisan of great foresight. | ||
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | + | This comic features [[Cueball]] sitting down to a meal and requesting that an off screen person pass him the salt. The off screen person (OSP) then proceeds to solve the problem...generally. Cueball's implied/specific request was "Can and will you pass me the salt immediately?" However the OSP begins to solve the salt problem generally, without regard for time, context, the {{w|specific heat}} of the meal, or what some would call {{w|common sense}}. For the next 20 minutes, while Cueball nibbles at his bland, cooling meal, the OSP works on a device that will pass {{w|condiments}} more quickly than possible by the OSP. The problem, obviously, is that building then using the machine is much slower than just manually passing the salt. This is why in the title-text [[Randall]] states that when someone uses a lot of time to do an easy task when the task is needed to be done quickly he considers them a perfectionist (since they are unable to do something inefficiently even if it satisfies the other person) with no ability to prioritize. Yet if the "perfectionist" were to have completed this machine previously, he would be impressed when the creation passed him the salt. The OSPs argument for taking so much time is that in the end if he were to add up all the time he saved by no longer needing to pass condiments it will equal more time than it took to build the machine, and thus in the long term he will have saved time and solved the general problem of passing condiments. | |
| − | This | + | This situation would be akin to a major website performing maintenance during peak hours instead of waiting till traffic was lower. From the perspective of the person trying to check their email, the upgrade would seem ill-timed and unnecessary. However if the person were to instead log in not till the following day, he would think the upgrade was masterful and full of great insight. |
| − | + | ==Transcript== | |
| − | + | :[A person sits at a table, eating a meal.] | |
| + | :Person: Can you pass the salt? | ||
| − | |||
| − | + | :[The person pauses, a bite of food on his fork, silently.] | |
| − | :[ | ||
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| − | :[ | + | :[The person still has fork in mid-air.] |
| − | : | + | :Person: I said-- |
| − | :Off-screen | + | :Off-screen Person: I know! I'm developing a system to pass you arbitrary condiments. |
| − | : | + | :Person: It's been 20 minutes! |
| − | : | + | :OSP: It'll save time in the long run! |
| − | {{comic discussion}} | + | {{comic discussion}} |
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