math-4
Original: math-4 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Title caption (top): A COMPUTER SCIENTIST, ALGEBRAIC STRUCTURE THEORIST, AND GEOMETER WALK INTO A COFFEE SHOP
Panel 1:
Narration: AS THE CAFFEINE FLOWS, THEY GET INTO AN ARGUMENT ABOUT WHOSE FIELD REQUIRES THE MOST IMAGINATION.
Panel 2:
Narration: THE COMPUTER SCIENTIST SAYS HIS FIELD TAKES THE MOST.
Computer scientist: WE ARE PROBING INTO THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF WHAT IT MEANS TO 'THINK!' WHAT IT MEANS TO 'BE!' TO DO! TIME! SPACE! FREE WILL!
Panel 3:
Narration: THE ALGEBRAIC-STRUCTURE THEORIST ROLLS HER EYES.
Algebraic-structure theorist: MY FIELD REQUIRES FAR MORE IMAGINATION. YOU'RE MERELY DEALING WITH THE STATE SPACE OF THIS UNIVERSE. PEOPLE LIKE ME HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE FORMS THAT MAKE MATHEMATICS ITSELF OPERATE!
Panel 4:
Narration: THEY SCOWL AT EACH OTHER, THEN TURN TO THE GEOMETER, WHO IS SMILING SMUGLY.
Panel 5:
Narration: SHE TAKES OUT A PENCIL AND DRAWS SOMETHING ON A PIECE OF GRAPH PAPER.
Panel 6:
Narration: THE OTHER TWO LOOK AT IT IN CONFUSION.
Computer scientist (or theorist): I DON'T GET IT.
Other: IT'S JUST A BLOBBY THING WITH SOME CIRCLES ON IT.
Panel 7:
Geometer: 'NOW,' SAYS THE GEOMETER, 'IMAGINE THIS IS AN ISOSCELES TRIANGLE.'
(Below: a hand-drawn lumpy blob shape with small circles, on graph paper.)
Votey:
(THIS COMIC CAN BE USED TO OUT ANYONE WHO IS A PRACTICING TOPOLOGIST)
Panel 1:
Narration: AS THE CAFFEINE FLOWS, THEY GET INTO AN ARGUMENT ABOUT WHOSE FIELD REQUIRES THE MOST IMAGINATION.
Panel 2:
Narration: THE COMPUTER SCIENTIST SAYS HIS FIELD TAKES THE MOST.
Computer scientist: WE ARE PROBING INTO THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF WHAT IT MEANS TO 'THINK!' WHAT IT MEANS TO 'BE!' TO DO! TIME! SPACE! FREE WILL!
Panel 3:
Narration: THE ALGEBRAIC-STRUCTURE THEORIST ROLLS HER EYES.
Algebraic-structure theorist: MY FIELD REQUIRES FAR MORE IMAGINATION. YOU'RE MERELY DEALING WITH THE STATE SPACE OF THIS UNIVERSE. PEOPLE LIKE ME HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE FORMS THAT MAKE MATHEMATICS ITSELF OPERATE!
Panel 4:
Narration: THEY SCOWL AT EACH OTHER, THEN TURN TO THE GEOMETER, WHO IS SMILING SMUGLY.
Panel 5:
Narration: SHE TAKES OUT A PENCIL AND DRAWS SOMETHING ON A PIECE OF GRAPH PAPER.
Panel 6:
Narration: THE OTHER TWO LOOK AT IT IN CONFUSION.
Computer scientist (or theorist): I DON'T GET IT.
Other: IT'S JUST A BLOBBY THING WITH SOME CIRCLES ON IT.
Panel 7:
Geometer: 'NOW,' SAYS THE GEOMETER, 'IMAGINE THIS IS AN ISOSCELES TRIANGLE.'
(Below: a hand-drawn lumpy blob shape with small circles, on graph paper.)
Votey:
(THIS COMIC CAN BE USED TO OUT ANYONE WHO IS A PRACTICING TOPOLOGIST)
Alt text
An SMBC comic titled 'A computer scientist, algebraic structure theorist, and geometer walk into a coffee shop.' As the caffeine flows, the three get into an argument about whose field requires the most imagination. The computer scientist boasts that his field probes the fundamental nature of what it means to think, to be, of time, space, and free will. The algebraic-structure theorist rolls her eyes and counters that she has it harder, since she must imagine the very forms that make mathematics itself operate, not just this one universe's state space. The two scowl and turn to the geometer, who is smiling smugly. She takes out a pencil and draws something on graph paper. The other two look confused, saying 'I don't get it' and 'It's just a blobby thing with some circles on it.' The geometer says, 'Now, imagine this is an isosceles triangle.' Below is a crude lumpy blob shape with small circles drawn on graph paper, looking nothing like a triangle. Votey (the small bonus panel): centered text reads '(This comic can be used to out anyone who is a practicing topologist),' the joke being that a topologist treats geometrically wildly different shapes as equivalent.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.