hiring-metrics
Original: hiring-metrics on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
A man with flame-like red hair and beard (speaking): The more scientific a field of study is, the more it is driven by creativity and reason, as opposed to personal charisma.
Panel 2:
The red-haired man: Compare, for instance, the attractive early Freudians, once popular in psychology, to the generally paunchy and funny-haired cognitive neuroscientists of today.
Panel 3:
The red-haired man: Or consider the trajectory in economics, which runs from the dashing David Ricardo to the Yoda-like Milton Friedman. Note: Economists maintained personal attractiveness right up until the point at which Paul Samuelson mathematized the field.
(A woman wearing sunglasses listens, her mouth open.)
Panel 4:
The red-haired man: Fields such as ecology and sociology are in a period of slow uglification that will continue until deeper laws are discovered.
Panel 5:
The red-haired man: In this department, we use our knowledge of the 'rigor-repulsion axis' to find the very best professors.
Panel 6:
(The woman, now looking unimpressed, removes/lowers her sunglasses.)
Panel 7:
The woman (deadpan): All right. I get it. You want to hire me for physics.
The red-haired man: Fundamental physics.
Votey:
Handwritten text: Except for my economist friends.
A man with flame-like red hair and beard (speaking): The more scientific a field of study is, the more it is driven by creativity and reason, as opposed to personal charisma.
Panel 2:
The red-haired man: Compare, for instance, the attractive early Freudians, once popular in psychology, to the generally paunchy and funny-haired cognitive neuroscientists of today.
Panel 3:
The red-haired man: Or consider the trajectory in economics, which runs from the dashing David Ricardo to the Yoda-like Milton Friedman. Note: Economists maintained personal attractiveness right up until the point at which Paul Samuelson mathematized the field.
(A woman wearing sunglasses listens, her mouth open.)
Panel 4:
The red-haired man: Fields such as ecology and sociology are in a period of slow uglification that will continue until deeper laws are discovered.
Panel 5:
The red-haired man: In this department, we use our knowledge of the 'rigor-repulsion axis' to find the very best professors.
Panel 6:
(The woman, now looking unimpressed, removes/lowers her sunglasses.)
Panel 7:
The woman (deadpan): All right. I get it. You want to hire me for physics.
The red-haired man: Fundamental physics.
Votey:
Handwritten text: Except for my economist friends.
Alt text
A seven-panel SMBC comic. A red-haired, bearded man lectures a woman who wears dark sunglasses. He explains his theory: the more scientific a field is, the more it is driven by creativity and reason rather than personal charisma. He gives examples of fields growing uglier as they become more rigorous — attractive early Freudians versus paunchy modern cognitive neuroscientists; dashing David Ricardo versus Yoda-like Milton Friedman in economics (economists stayed attractive until Paul Samuelson mathematized the field); ecology and sociology in 'a period of slow uglification.' He says his department uses this 'rigor-repulsion axis' to find the best professors. The woman lowers her sunglasses and deadpans, 'All right. I get it. You want to hire me for physics.' He replies, 'Fundamental physics' — the joke being he is calling her extremely unattractive while pretending to compliment her scientific seriousness. Votey: a handwritten note reads, 'Except for my economist friends.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.