Editing 525: I Know You're Listening

{{comic
| number    = 525
| date      = January 2, 2009
| title     = I Know You're Listening
| image     = i know youre listening.png
| titletext = Basically it's Pascal's Wager for the paranoid prankster.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] occasionally says "I know you're listening" aloud in empty rooms. The idea is, that if nobody is listening he doesn't lose anything, but if somebody ''is'' listening he gains by freaking them out. In this case another Cueball-like surveillance man does get quite the shock.

As mentioned in the title text, this is similar to {{w|Pascal's Wager}}. {{w|Blaise Pascal}} was a French philosopher and mathematician who discussed the issue of the possibility that God actually does exist or not. According to Pascal, a rational person should live as though (a Christian) God exists, because he wouldn't lose anything if this turns out not to be true, but would gain immensely if it is true, by going to heaven in the afterlife. However, the argument works equally well for any and all gods, but doesn't give any reason to choose one over the other, so it seems unlikely that Pascal's Wager has ever changed anybody's religious views. One important way Cueball's wager is different from Pascal's is that Cueball can choose to engage in paranoid pranks, but belief is not something that one can possess simply by choice.


{| class="wikitable"
|+ Game Theory Matrix of Cueball's Choice
|-
| || Nobody's spying on Cueball || Somebody's spying on Cueball
|-
| Cueball does nothing || Null outcome || Cueball is being spied on
|-
| Cueball claims to know<br>that they're listening || Only an omniscient observer<br>would be privy to the absurdity<br>of Cueball's actions || Cueball freaks out the spies
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Game Theory Matrix of Pascal's Wager
|-
| || God does not exist || God exists <!-- || ''Different'' god/gods exist -->
|-
| Atheism || Null outcome || Hell <!-- || Undefined, possible indifference -->
|-
| Faith || Wasted effort || Heaven <!-- || Undefined, possible punishment -->
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the two panels of the comic:]
:Now and then, I announce "I know you're listening" to empty rooms.

:[Cueball is sitting in an armchair, reading. He murmurs something unreadable.]

:[A second Cueball-like surveillance man with headphones, seems to have gotten up from his office chair so fast that is has fallen over and lies behind him. He is now standing in front of a large computer terminal with two screens, he can hear Cueball's mumble as it is shown as coming from one of the screens. The surveillance man is leaning back away from the terminal while holding a hand to his headphones.]

:[Caption below the panels:]
:If I'm wrong, no one knows. And if I'm right, maybe I just freaked the hell out of some secret organization.

==Trivia==
*This comic has a clear resemblance to the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series. This would also make it clear the Cueball in this comic is actually [[Randall]].
*10 years later Randall made a similar comic: [[2203: Prescience]].
*See also [[628: Psychic]] for similar guess work to make you look cool.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
Latest revision		Your text
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	[[Cueball]] occasionally says "I know you're listening" aloud in empty rooms. The idea is, that if nobody is listening he doesn't lose anything, but if somebody ''is'' listening he gains by freaking them out. In this case another Cueball-like surveillance man does get quite the shock.		[[Cueball]] occasionally says "I know you're listening" aloud in empty rooms. The idea is, that if nobody is listening he doesn't lose anything, but if somebody ''is'' listening he gains by freaking them out. In this case another Cueball-like surveillance man does get quite the shock.

−	As mentioned in the title text, this is similar to {{w\|Pascal's Wager}}. {{w\|Blaise Pascal}} was a French philosopher and mathematician who discussed the issue of the possibility that God actually does exist or not. According to Pascal, a rational person should live as though (a Christian) God exists, because he ~~would~~ lose ~~negligible things~~ if this turns out not to be true, but would gain immensely if it is true, by going to heaven in the afterlife. As Pascal ~~himself recognized, this~~ is ~~not a proof of any god~~'s ~~existence, Christian or otherwise~~, but ~~rather an inexorable choice made~~ by ~~every human being. Cueball makes a similar~~ choice ~~here, though hardly for such a moral reason~~.	+	As mentioned in the title text, this is similar to {{w\|Pascal's Wager}}. {{w\|Blaise Pascal}} was a French philosopher and mathematician who discussed the issue of the possibility that God actually does exist or not. According to Pascal, a rational person should live as though (a Christian) God exists, because he wouldn't lose anything if this turns out not to be true, but would gain immensely if it is true, by going to heaven in the afterlife. However, the argument works equally well for any and all gods, but doesn't give any reason to choose one over the other, so it seems unlikely that Pascal's Wager has ever changed anybody's religious views. One important way Cueball's wager is different from Pascal's is that Cueball can choose to engage in paranoid pranks, but belief is not something that one can possess simply by choice.