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| Earthquake Prediction Flowchart |
 Title text: At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question 'Why didn't you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?' |
Explanation
The comic purports to depict a flowchart demonstrating whether you should believe someone claiming to be able to predict earthquakes. However, this "flowchart" immediately leads to a hard NO, with a brief description on why. Earthquakes happen all the time[citation needed], so if someone claims they can predict them, we'd have their methodology proven or disproven almost immediately, and if it's reliable, seismologists would be parading it around as a revolutionary discovery. Thus, there should be no need to consult a flowchart on the matter.
This strip is similar to 1723: Meteorite Identification, as a one-step flowchart ending in a firm no.
The title text compares those who claim to predict earthquakes to those who claim to predict the end of the world, for example based on their religion. A prominent argument against those who claim to be able to predict disasters like earthquakes is that the "predictor" has not predicted any such disasters prior to their claim. An apocalypse, however, is not something that has occurred before[citation needed], and generally only happens once[citation needed]. Thus, unlike an earthquake predictor, anyone predicting an apocalypse will not need to explain any failures in predicting other apocalypses.
Transcript
- [Caption above a flowchart:]
- Someone is claiming to predict the exact date of a future earthquake.
- Should you listen?
- [At the top of the flowchart is a wide diamond with the following text:]
- Start
- [An arrow points down to a rectangle with the following text:]
- NO
- (There are big earthquakes constantly, so if anyone ever does figure this out, it will be immediately obvious that their method works and the world's seismologists will not shut up about it.
- You won't need this flowchart.)
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