Editing 2278: Scientific Briefing

{{comic
| number    = 2278
| date      = March 9, 2020
| title     = Scientific Briefing
| image     = scientific_briefing.png
| titletext = "I actually came in in the middle so I don't know which topic we're briefing on; the same slides work for like half of them."
}}

==Explanation==
Things are not good, and are going to be bad soon.  The only way for things to not be bad is for someone to do something about it. [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are presenting these things to [[White Hat]], evidently hoping to encourage him to do something about things, but he instead chooses to wait for things to become bad, to which Megan replies that the conversation itself indicates they have become bad.

Megan's final remark &mdash; "Based on this conversation, it already has [become bad]" &mdash; is an instance of [[:Category:Recursion|recursion]], and suggests that the unnamed subject of the graph may be something whose worsening is demonstrated by the way the discussion of the graph has gone.  The subject of the graph could, therefore, be the phenomenon of people not acting on things that are worsening until they actually become bad, as White Hat proposes to do.  Alternatively, if the group of people who could stop the Bad Thing is either small, or made up of people who will predictably act like White Hat, the fact that White Hat has refused to act itself means that ''will'' become bad, which is bad.

At the time this comic came out, the outbreak of {{w|COVID-19}} was on the rise and about to be declared a pandemic, with widespread perception the US federal government had failed to act before the outbreak became a crisis.  The first of the COVID-19 comics, [[2275: Coronavirus Name]], explicitly showed people not dealing with one problem while they concentrate on another (though in that case they were dealing with COVID-19 while neglecting an invading giant spider).

The recursive subject of the graph could also be the deterioration of data analysis into such abstract terms that it no longer depends on the content of the topic supposedly being analyzed.  Or, Megan's final remark could be an ironic commentary on the situation without actually referring to the topic of the graph.  The ambiguity of Megan's remark may be the point of the humor, as it compounds the absurd ambiguity of the entire discussion.

If the graph isn't about the recursive topic of the discussion, what might it be about?  At the moment of release, an obvious possible thing on its way to becoming bad was the number of cases of infection in the COVID-19 outbreak.  There were a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about COVID-19, including the three comics immediately before and the four immediately after this one.  The graph shows a steadily rising line, but with a slight zigzag in it, which ''could'' be an intentional similarity to the {{w|Keeling Curve}}.

The graph could also be about most anything else, because, as the title text remarks, it applies to "like half of" any things considered.  While it's hard to say whether precisely 50% of all things are getting bad (or good), in a more general sense all line graphs would trend at least slightly either up or down.  This binary 'either good or bad' finding may lead one to conclude that "like half" of all graphs show something getting bad (or else good).  If not everyone agrees on what is "good" or "bad" on some issue, that same issue might even be viewed as going either from good to bad or from bad to good, providing two different graphs for each such issue with 50% of them broadly matching the comic.

To whatever extent this comic is related to COVID-19 &mdash; which it does not after all explicitly mention, but, at least, COVID-19 exemplifies the problem of waiting to act until things reach a crisis &mdash; it would be the fourth comic in a row in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}}.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are showing a graph on a projected screen.  The graph is labeled "Things", with "Time" advancing to the right on the ''x''-axis.  The level of "Things" has been rising over time to a point labeled "Now".  The current level of "Things" is above a level labeled "Good", and about as far below a level labeled "Bad".  Megan is pointing to the line of "Things" with a pointer stick, while Cueball is pointing up to the "Bad" level with a pointer stick.]

:Megan: Here's the situation:
:Megan: This line is here.
:Cueball: But it's going up toward ''here''.

:[White Hat enters the scene.  His hand is on his chin.  Cueball is no longer holding a pointer stick.]

:White Hat: So things will be bad?
:Megan: Unless someone does something to stop it.
:White Hat: Will anyone do that?
:Megan: ...We don't know.
:Megan: That's why we're showing you this.

:[A narrow panel focusing only on Megan and Cueball.]

:White Hat (off-panel, left): So you don't know,
:White Hat: And the graph says things are '''''not''''' bad.
:Cueball: But if no one acts, they'll '''''become''''' bad.

:[White Hat is back inside the frame.  He is gesturing to Megan and Cueball with his palm up.]

:White Hat: Well, please let me know if that happens!
:Megan: Based on this conversation, it already has.

==Trivia==
*Poorly labeled graphs were already the topic of [[833: Convincing]].
*This comic was initially missing the speech line to Cueball in panel 3.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]