science-communication
Original: science-communication on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (lecturer, an older man with glasses, standing at a lectern):
Lecturer: Welcome to day one of science journalism. Today we will learn how to communicate physics.
Panel 2:
Lecturer: Quantum mechanics. The entire field of quantum mechanics is about how you don't know what's in a box until you open it.
Panel 3:
Lecturer: You especially don't know what's going on if there's a cat in the box.
Panel 4:
Lecturer: Relativity. A theory invented by Einstein, which suggests that one guy might not know what's in a box, but another guy might be like 'gee you buddy.'
Panel 5:
Lecturer: Einstein discovered it when an apple fell on his head and he thought 'maybe it was me who fell on the apple's head.'
Panel 6:
Lecturer: Finally, quantum computing is when you take a computer and put it in a box. You open it later and it's solved an infinitely complicated problem.
Panel 7:
Lecturer: This is possible because you don't know what's in a box until you open it, so maybe it's solving infinity problems in there.
Panel 8 (a man in the audience raises his hand and asks):
Audience member: Could some of those things be mushed together to explain consciousness?
Panel 9 (lecturer responds):
Lecturer: Absolutely!
Votey:
Close-up of the lecturer's face, wild-eyed.
Lecturer: Also aliens and ghosts.
Lecturer: Welcome to day one of science journalism. Today we will learn how to communicate physics.
Panel 2:
Lecturer: Quantum mechanics. The entire field of quantum mechanics is about how you don't know what's in a box until you open it.
Panel 3:
Lecturer: You especially don't know what's going on if there's a cat in the box.
Panel 4:
Lecturer: Relativity. A theory invented by Einstein, which suggests that one guy might not know what's in a box, but another guy might be like 'gee you buddy.'
Panel 5:
Lecturer: Einstein discovered it when an apple fell on his head and he thought 'maybe it was me who fell on the apple's head.'
Panel 6:
Lecturer: Finally, quantum computing is when you take a computer and put it in a box. You open it later and it's solved an infinitely complicated problem.
Panel 7:
Lecturer: This is possible because you don't know what's in a box until you open it, so maybe it's solving infinity problems in there.
Panel 8 (a man in the audience raises his hand and asks):
Audience member: Could some of those things be mushed together to explain consciousness?
Panel 9 (lecturer responds):
Lecturer: Absolutely!
Votey:
Close-up of the lecturer's face, wild-eyed.
Lecturer: Also aliens and ghosts.
Alt text
A nine-panel comic. An older man with glasses lectures from a podium throughout. He says: 'Welcome to day one of science journalism. Today we will learn how to communicate physics.' He explains 'quantum mechanics' as 'how you don't know what's in a box until you open it,' adding 'You especially don't know what's going on if there's a cat in the box.' He defines 'relativity,' invented by Einstein, as 'one guy might not know what's in a box, but another guy might be like gee you buddy,' and claims Einstein discovered it when an apple fell on his head and he thought 'maybe it was me who fell on the apple's head.' He explains 'quantum computing' as putting a computer in a box that, when opened later, has solved an infinitely complicated problem, 'because you don't know what's in a box until you open it, so maybe it's solving infinity problems in there.' An audience member asks, 'Could some of those things be mushed together to explain consciousness?' The lecturer replies, 'Absolutely!' The joke is a deadpan parody of garbled pop-science journalism. Votey: a wild-eyed close-up of the lecturer's face as he adds, 'Also aliens and ghosts.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.