2010-02-19
Original: 2010-02-19 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Title (top of comic): WHY YOU WANT TO BE AN ENGINEER:
Panel 1 - Banner: PHYSICS CONFERENCES
An old man with a white beard and glasses stands at a podium with a presentation pointer, beside a projection screen.
Slide text: ARE THINGS... MADE OF STUFF?
(The slide shows a small atom diagram and a larger blobby molecule/cluster diagram with arrows.)
Panel 2 - Banner: PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCES
A gray-haired woman with a worried expression stands at a podium beside a projection screen.
Slide text: IS STUFF... STUFF?
(The slide shows an abstract network of nodes connected by arrows.)
Panel 3 - Banner: ENGINEERING CONFERENCES
A cheerful man with reddish hair and glasses, in a green shirt, stands grinning at a podium beside a projection screen.
Slide text: AWESOME STUFF. COULD IT BE... MORE AWESOME?
(The slide shows a sleek futuristic spacecraft. Labels point to it: GIANT LASER, ULTRA SPACEJETS.)
Votey:
The red-haired engineer from panel 3, hand raised excitedly.
Engineer: COULD THE ULTRA SPACEJETS BE MADE HYPERTURBO?
Panel 1 - Banner: PHYSICS CONFERENCES
An old man with a white beard and glasses stands at a podium with a presentation pointer, beside a projection screen.
Slide text: ARE THINGS... MADE OF STUFF?
(The slide shows a small atom diagram and a larger blobby molecule/cluster diagram with arrows.)
Panel 2 - Banner: PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCES
A gray-haired woman with a worried expression stands at a podium beside a projection screen.
Slide text: IS STUFF... STUFF?
(The slide shows an abstract network of nodes connected by arrows.)
Panel 3 - Banner: ENGINEERING CONFERENCES
A cheerful man with reddish hair and glasses, in a green shirt, stands grinning at a podium beside a projection screen.
Slide text: AWESOME STUFF. COULD IT BE... MORE AWESOME?
(The slide shows a sleek futuristic spacecraft. Labels point to it: GIANT LASER, ULTRA SPACEJETS.)
Votey:
The red-haired engineer from panel 3, hand raised excitedly.
Engineer: COULD THE ULTRA SPACEJETS BE MADE HYPERTURBO?
Alt text
A vertical three-panel SMBC comic titled "WHY YOU WANT TO BE AN ENGINEER:", each panel showing a presenter at a podium next to a projector slide. Panel 1, "PHYSICS CONFERENCES": a bearded old man presents a slide reading "ARE THINGS... MADE OF STUFF?" with atom and molecule diagrams. Panel 2, "PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCES": a worried gray-haired woman presents a slide reading "IS STUFF... STUFF?" beside an abstract network diagram. Panel 3, "ENGINEERING CONFERENCES": a grinning red-haired man presents a slide of a futuristic spacecraft labeled "GIANT LASER" and "ULTRA SPACEJETS," with the caption "AWESOME STUFF. COULD IT BE... MORE AWESOME?" The joke contrasts physics and philosophy's abstract existential questions with engineering's enthusiastic focus on making cool things cooler. Votey: the same red-haired engineer, hand raised eagerly, asks "COULD THE ULTRA SPACEJETS BE MADE HYPERTURBO?"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.