3155: Physics Paths
| Physics Paths |
 Title text: If nothing else, that reasoning definitely overturns syllogisms. |
Explanation
|
This is one of 52 incomplete explanations: This page was created by a BOT trying to prove its value. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
Cueball wishes to validate his existence as a person. To do this, he turns to Albert Einstein as a role model, and attempts to replicate his success by making a revolutionary scientific discovery. After an indeterminate amount of time passes, Cueball laments that he has failed. At this point, the comic diverges into two timelines: one in which Cueball takes a healthy outlook on his failure, and one in which he falls into a self-destructive mode of thinking.
The first path (the "healthy path") has Cueball muse that perhaps this was a poorly-thought-out test of his value. The healthy path establishes that Cueball doesn't need a physics-overturning insight to have value. On the other hand, the "path of ruin" has Cueball angrily yell that the establishment must be stopping his insight from overturning physics. The path of ruin has Cueball take the idea that to have value, you must have a critical insight as constant. Thus, since he has value, he must have an insight that overturns physics, and thus the establishment must be suppressing it.
The title text mentions syllogisms, logical deductions from two propositions. An example of a syllogism is "All scientists that overturn physics are valuable. Einstein overturned physics. Therefore, Einstein is valuable." Since Cueball gets it the other way around, one could say he overturned syllogisms.
Transcript
|
This is one of 27 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
- [Panel 1, Cueball has one hand out]
- Cueball: Einstein had an insight that overturned physics, thus proving his value.
- [Panel 2, Cueball has one hand on his chin]
- Cueball: I hope I have value. I'll try to have an insight that overturns physics, to check.
- [arrow pointing down with the caption below in between]
- Time passes
- [arrow pointing down to Panel 3, which has Cueball with both of his hands out and up]
- Cueball: On no! My insight didn't overturn physics! But I don't think I'm worthless...
- [Arrow from Panel 3 on the left labeled "Healthy path" points to a panel with Cueball with his hands on his chin:]
- Cueball: Maybe this was not a well-thought-out test of my value.
- [Arrow from Panel 3 on the right labeled "Path of ruin" points to a panel with Cueball with his finger out and pointing up:]
- Cueball: The establishment must be suppressing my insight!
Trivia
Einstein had more than one major insight. His "annus mirabilis papers", all published in 1905, covered the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity, and mass-energy equivalence. The fourth of these is a consequence of the third (though still a major development in its own right), but the first three are about essentially-unrelated areas of physics, and represent significant new understanding of them. The photoelectric effect, the only discovery mentioned in Einstein's Nobel Prize citation, was a foundational concept of what was later called quantum mechanics. The third, titled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", is the one that can be said to have 'overturned' physics as it introduced the concept of special relativity. Special relativity made unnecessary the concept of luminiferous aether for the propagation of light, a substance which had been disproven by the Michelson–Morley experiment but which had left the previous system of classical physics unable to explain why light behaved as it did. The theory of special relativity was also one of the great unification of theories in physics. The first unification was by Isaac Newton, whose law of universal gravitation unified physics (gravity as observed on Earth) with astronomy (the motion of planets) at a time when the two subjects were considered different fields. The second unification was by James Clerk Maxwell, who produced equations unifying the behavior of electricity and magnetism. With the paper on special relativity, Einstein unified space and time, showing that gravity was actually a result of spacetime bending, and not a force solely dependent on the mass of two objects, as classical physics assumed. Incredibly, less than two months after publishing the third great unification, Einstein's fourth paper, titled "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", produced the fourth great unification, when it introduced the equation E=mc2 and unified mass and energy. Einstein later (1915) discovered general relativity, another revolutionary physical concept. This unparalleled achievement of several fundamental breakthroughs in physics is why Einstein is held in such high regard to this day, to the point that his last name as a mononym is synonymous with intelligence, insight, and greatness. Indeed Einstein's papers remain a large part of the foundation of modern physics.
The path of ruin seems a nod to John Baez's classic Crackpot Index. xkcd has mocked the idea of the physics community suppressing new ideas before, such as in 675: Revolutionary, 2113: Physics Suppression, or the "science thought police" in 955: Neutrinos. This is also the second consecutive comic about Einstein in some way after 3154: Physics Insight.
Add comment 
Create topic (use sparingly) 
Refresh Discussion
I made a Major contribution that overturns physics by making the first comment 115.70.50.107 20:31, 15 October 2025 (UTC)
I cant make the first comment explainxkcd must be supressing me 202.150.104.50 (talk) 20:41, 15 October 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
I cant make the first comment explainxkcd must be supressing me 202.150.104.50 (talk) 20:40, 15 October 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- Not only did you fail to make the first comment, you also didn't sign it properly and you posted twice. Cancel! Barmar (talk) 20:59, 15 October 2025 (UTC)
The global scientific community will RUE THE DAY it dismissed my insights! Go ahead! Start rueing! 2601:601:C85:EDD0:F0F1:ACFC:F3E5:6BAE 22:08, 15 October 2025 (UTC)
- You could have talked about syllogisms to overturn physics even more! --81.96.108.67 02:05, 16 October 2025 (UTC)
- Now you're just being sylly. 82.13.184.33 08:12, 16 October 2025 (UTC)
The description of the special theory of relativity as showing that gravity is the result of curving spacetime is incorrect; that was the later general theory. The special theory only deals with the fact that measurements of space and time will be different for differently moving observers, and specifically excludes gravity. 206.204.218.11 (talk) 05:04, 16 October 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Is it only me thinking that the unhealthy path already starts in the trial to „prove“ one‘s value? 62.93.15.96 (talk) 05:58, 16 October 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Has Randall watched Dr. Angela Collier's recent video? --Coconut Galaxy (talk) 06:38, 16 October 2025 (UTC)
The whole “ Einstein had more than one major insight” paragraph is interesting, but irrelevant to the comic. It should be moved into a trivia section. 172.83.161.157 11:04, 16 October 2025 (UTC)
I’m thinking that part of the joke in the title text is that the term “overturn” is used to literally mean “turn upside down” in that the logic of the syllogism is reversed in an “any scientist that overturns physics is valuable, therefore anyone with value has overturned physics” fashion. I don’t think the current paragraph gets that across very well, and I’ve tried a handful of times to rephrase it, but haven’t been able to get something I’m happy with. If anyone else has any ideas to communicate it better, it would be greatly appreciated. KelOfTheStars! (talk) 18:34, 16 October 2025 (UTC)
While [Einstein] did have many insights, I think it's fair to say that his theories of relativity are the ones that caused major paradigm shifts. They others were just normal scientific progress. Barmar (talk) 15:42, 19 October 2025 (UTC)
Anyone who invokes the old "the Establishment is suppressing this invention/discovery" trope gets an immediate hard pass from me. Sorry, all you college students who solved the energy crisis with a paper cup filled with Coke. These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 00:29, 20 October 2025 (UTC)
I used to work with the "Path of Ruin" guy. SSteve (talk) 15:48, 29 October 2025 (UTC) Add comment
