Intuition

A six-panel SMBC comic in a two-row, three-column grid. An enthusiastic man with flame-like orange hair tries to explain quantum computing to a woman with glasses and dark hair. He says he's going to use science to blow her mind; she cheers "Hooray!" He asks if she knows how she thinks it's probably impossible to factor really big numbers quickly on a classical computer. She flatly answers "No." then "I do not." He tries again with protein folding being impossible to simulate; again she replies "I do not." Exasperated, he insists he'll need to spend six weeks building up her proper classical intuition first, and then she'll find out her intuition is totally wrong. The final panel is a close-up of the woman's wide-eyed, overwhelmed face. A caption reads: "This is why it's hard to explain quantum computing." The joke is that quantum computing's coolness depends on the listener already believing certain things are hard for ordinary computers, but the listener has no such intuition to subvert. Votey (bonus panel): a close-up of a tired, droopy-eyed figure as an off-panel speech bubble pleads, "Please stay awake while I blow your mind, sir."