Editing 1520: Degree-Off

{{comic
| number    = 1520
| date      = May 4, 2015
| title     = Degree-Off
| image     = degree off.png
| titletext = I'M SORRY, FROM YOUR YEARS OF CONDESCENDING TOWARD THE 'SQUISHY SCIENCES', I ASSUMED YOU'D BE A LITTLE HARDER.
}}
==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] (physics), [[Hairbun]] (biology), and [[Megan]] (chemistry) appear to be on a talk show stylized as a game show called Degree-Off, hosted by [[Hairy]], where representatives of different fields, try to explain why their field is the best and why to get a degree in their field. The title "Degree-Off" is a portmanteau of "{{w|Academic degree|degree}}", as in the recognized completion of studies at a school or university, and "{{w|face-off}}", a direct confrontation between two people or groups. Since there are three participants, this is not a true face-off, unless Megan, who does not speak, is not counted.

The host asks the physicist Cueball to go first. He light-heartedly begins to tell what appears to be long story, beginning with a {{w|Richard Feynman}} anecdote. During the {{w|Manhattan Project}} in Los Alamos, Richard Feynman got bored because of the isolation and started learning {{w|lock picking}} on the secret documents' safes. Using these new skills, he played lots of pranks on his colleagues, like leaving notes and spooking them into believing there was a spy among them (which, of course, {{w|Klaus_Fuchs|there was}}). He finishes his case with [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford a quote] from {{w|Ernest Rutherford}}, implying that his speech was quite long and winding. The quote communicates the idea that physics is the only fundamental framework, so that the job of chemists, biologists and other scientist simply is to catalog and systematize observations ("collect stamps") on phenomena too complicated to presently be fully described in terms of physics. This idea was earlier lampooned by [[Randall]] in [[435: Purity]] (and is also stated in the title text of [[1158: Rubber Sheet]]).

The biologist goes next, showing with a graph (see below) that the field of biology has helped reduce disease. She then goes on to claim that the heroes in biology (the part known as Medicine) have even "{{w|Eradication_of_infectious_diseases|slain}}" one of the {{w|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse}}. Different traditions designate the Four Horsemen differently, but it is common for their number to include Plague or Pestilence. Hairbun claims that the field of biology has eliminated widespread {{w|Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse#As_infectious_disease|Pestilence}}. The imagery of Pestilence being thwarted by modern medicine was also used in the book {{w|Good Omens}}, by {{w|Terry Pratchett}} (of whom Randall is a fan, see [[1498: Terry Pratchett]]) and {{w|Neil Gaiman}}, where Pestilence has retired after the discovery of {{w|Penicillin}}, and been replaced by {{w|Pollution}}.

The graph shows the death rate from infectious disease in the USA with the range of 1900-2000. The spike is attributable to the {{w|1918 flu pandemic}}. It has been published in the paper [http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=768249 Trends in Infectious Disease Mortality in the United States During the 20th Century].

The woman then goes on to directly accuse Cueball (i.e. physicists) of creating a new Horseman to replace the one slain by the biologists. She refers to the development of the {{w|atomic bomb}}, which was built and tested in the {{w|New Mexico desert}}. The new horseman is therefore the atomic bomb, or the various perils associated with it.

The woman's implied condemnation of the physics community has been echoed by some of the scientists involved in the project itself. After the test detonation of the first nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945, {{w|J. Robert Oppenheimer}}, the director of the {{w|Los Alamos National Laboratory}}, found himself inwardly quoting the {{w|Bhagavad Gita}}: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."  {{w|Kenneth Bainbridge}}, the organizer of the actual Trinity test (which he called a "foul and awesome display"), remarked more prosaically to Oppenheimer that day, "Now we are all sons of bitches."

This harsh moral judgement shocks Cueball, who exclaims "I thought this was supposed to be fun and lighthearted!" While the set-up is of a frivolous friendly competition, the woman's presentation is surprisingly dark. Her retort in the final panel reveals that she was angered by the off-hand dismissal of 'soft' sciences as "stamp-collecting" and turned the game from a light-hearted fun into something more serious.

In the title text the biologist goes on to declare in {{w|All caps}} that she is surprised a physicist isn't "harder", after all their condescending towards the "squishy" sciences. The use of 'hard' and 'squishy' is a play on the colloquial division between the so-called 'hard' sciences (such as physics and chemistry) and 'soft' sciences (such as biology and geology). 'Hard' sciences usually refer to the perception that in fields like physics, precisely repeatable experiments and measurements are possible, as opposed to 'soft' sciences seen as placing less emphasis on precisely quantifiable predictability - however Hairbun is extending 'hard' to its meaning of 'stoic', mocking Cueball for not being able to weather a personal moral attack. Again, she is indicating that she's upset by directly referencing a mocking portrayal of other fields allegedly made by Cueball.

To be fair to Cueball, the outbreak of disease is more a topic for epidemiology, and biology has spawned multiple diseases, atrocities, and bad movies. However, the Manhattan Project marked the first time in history that humanity possessed the ability to destroy itself — and shortly thereafter humanity got {{w|Cold War|perilously close to doing so}}.

In [[520: Cuttlefish]] Randall shows that he personally respects biologists — or at least fears them.

Within a year Randall has made several other comics about nuclear weapons, this one was the first of these the second, [[1539: Planning]], came out just 1½ month after this one and after that these two were released early in 2016: [[1626: Judgment Day]] and [[1655: Doomsday Clock]]. Nuclear weapons are also mentioned twice in ''[[Thing Explainer]]'', specifically they are explained in the explanation for ''Machine for burning cities'' about {{w|Thermonuclear weapon|thermonuclear bombs}}, but they are also mentioned in ''Boat that goes under the sea'' about a submarine that carries nukes. All three comics and both explanations in the book, does like this comic, comment on how insane it is that we have created enough firepower to obliterate Earth several times (or at least scourge it for any human life).

==Transcript==
:[Hairy is acting as the host of a TV talk show, ''Degree-Off'' holding a microphone up. Cueball, Hairbun, and Megan are acting as representatives of physics, biology, and chemistry, respectively. They each stand behind their own lectern with the respective subject label.]
:Hairy: Welcome to the '''''Degree-Off''''', where we determine which field is the best! Physics, wanna go first?
:Cueball (Phys): Sure! I'd like to tell the story of Richard Feynman's Manhattan project lockpicking pranks...
:Labels: Phys Bio Chem 

:[Zoom in so Megan is no longer visible. Cueball lifts his hand]
:Cueball (Phys): ...and as he said, "all science is either physics or stamp collecting."
:Cueball (Phys): <small>Thank you.</small>
:Hairy: ''Great!'' Bio, you wanna go next?
:Hairbun: Okay.
:Labels: Phys Bio

:[Zoom in on Hairbun so only she and her lectern are shown. A graph is shown above her. There is a label for the y-axis to the left of the axis which has four ticks with numbers. The x-axis is a timeline without ticks but three years indicating the start center and end of the axis. The graph shows a curve falling off, with one great spike up around 1920.]
:Y-axis label: Per 100,000
:Y-axis:
::800
::600
::400
::200
:X-axis: 1900 1950 2000
:GUSG (Bio): This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country.
:Labels: Bio

:[Zoom back to original scene with Hairy holding the microphone down and Hairbun raising her left hand, while Cueball looks at her.]
:GUSG (Bio): The heroes of my field have '''''slain''''' one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
:Labels: Phys Bio Chem 

:[Zoom in on only Cueball and Hairbun who is pointing aggressively at Cueball who leans away from her one hand on his lectern for support.]
:GUSG (Bio): While the heroes of '''''your''''' field gathered in the desert to create a new one.
:Labels: Phys Bio

:[Zoom back to previous scene all are holding their hands down.]
:Cueball (Phys): ...Jeez, what the hell? I thought this was supposed to be fun and lighthearted!
:GUSG (Bio): '''''You must have been thinking of stamp collecting.'''''
:Labels: Phys Bio Chem 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]