2012-03-24
Original: 2012-03-24 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (header banner): WHEN SCIENTISTS DISCUSS PAPERS
A man with glasses holding a sheet of paper speaks to another person (shown in silhouette/profile at right):
Man with glasses: "I don't think this inference is entirely reasonable. If you're using several non-independent variables you're liable to accumulate more error than your model accounts for."
Panel 2 (header banner): WHEN SCIENTISTS DISCUSS GRANTS
The same man with glasses, now grinning, holds a paper and speaks to the silhouetted person:
Man with glasses: "A guy who worked at the NSF once told me if we light a candle within this jackal skull, the funders will smile upon our hopes."
Other person (silhouette): "I'll get the altar!"
Votey:
A man with curly hair grins broadly and holds up a sheet of paper stamped "Approved!" (with a smiley face on it).
Man: "PROOF!"
A man with glasses holding a sheet of paper speaks to another person (shown in silhouette/profile at right):
Man with glasses: "I don't think this inference is entirely reasonable. If you're using several non-independent variables you're liable to accumulate more error than your model accounts for."
Panel 2 (header banner): WHEN SCIENTISTS DISCUSS GRANTS
The same man with glasses, now grinning, holds a paper and speaks to the silhouetted person:
Man with glasses: "A guy who worked at the NSF once told me if we light a candle within this jackal skull, the funders will smile upon our hopes."
Other person (silhouette): "I'll get the altar!"
Votey:
A man with curly hair grins broadly and holds up a sheet of paper stamped "Approved!" (with a smiley face on it).
Man: "PROOF!"
Alt text
A two-panel SMBC comic contrasting how scientists talk in two contexts. Panel one is captioned 'WHEN SCIENTISTS DISCUSS PAPERS': a bespectacled man holding a paper speaks rigorously to a silhouetted colleague, saying he doesn't think an inference is reasonable because using several non-independent variables accumulates more error than the model accounts for. Panel two is captioned 'WHEN SCIENTISTS DISCUSS GRANTS': the same man, now grinning, says a guy at the NSF told him that if they light a candle inside a jackal skull, the funders will smile upon their hopes; the colleague replies 'I'll get the altar!' The joke is that scientists are precise and skeptical about research but turn to superstition and ritual when chasing funding. In the votey aftercomic, a curly-haired man beams and holds up a paper stamped 'Approved!' with a smiley face, shouting 'PROOF!' — implying the ritual 'worked,' which he treats as evidence.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.