Spheres Part 2
Original: Spheres Part 2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (title bar): PART 2 OF 5!
PRESS FORWARD TO CONTINUE! (with an arrow pointing right toward an orange circle)
Panel 2: Narrator: THERE ARE ADMITTEDLY SOME GRAINS OF TRUTH TO ALL OF THESE CARICATURES.
A bystander (gesturing toward a crowd of ordinary-looking people): Also, extremely normal-looking people!
Panel 3: Narrator: AND WHILE WE ARE UNUSUALLY FOND OF PURSUING ABSTRACT AND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS PRIMARILY FOR REASONS OF INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY, THE REMARKABLE THING IS THAT SUCH PURSUITS CAN HAVE UNEXPECTED PRACTICAL BENEFITS MANY YEARS AFTER THEY WERE FIRST INVESTIGATED.
Panel 4: Narrator: EUGENE WIGNER FAMOUSLY CALLED THIS THE "UNREASONABLE EFFECTIVENESS OF MATHEMATICS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES."
A man with glasses: THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE RUNS ON MATH WE DEVELOPED FOR GAMBLING?!
Panel 5: Narrator: ONE EXAMPLE IS THE STORY OF "SPHERE PACKING." (a man holds up an orange)
Panel 6: Narrator: IN THE EARLY 1600S, SIR WALTER RALEIGH ASKED THE ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN THOMAS HARRIOT FOR THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO STACK CANNONBALLS TOGETHER.
Sir Walter Raleigh (standing beside a stack of cannonballs): THERE'S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY.
Panel 7: Narrator: HARRIOT STUDIED THE QUESTION IN DETAIL BUT COULD NOT DEFINITIVELY ANSWER IT, AND WROTE ABOUT IT TO AN EMINENT GERMAN COLLEAGUE, JOHANNES KEPLER.
Harriot: FINALLY, SOMETHING I'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR.
Panel 8: Narrator: KEPLER VIEWED THIS AS AN ABSTRACT MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM ABOUT PACKINGS OF INFINITE THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE BY SPHERES OF UNIT RADIUS.
Kepler: THERE'S LESS TO KEEP TRACK OF IF YOU JUST MAKE IT INFINITELY LARGE.
Panel 9: Narrator: ONE SUCH PACKING IS KNOWN AS THE HEXAGONAL CLOSE PACKING; IT IS LAYER UPON LAYER OF SPHERES ARRANGED IN A HEXAGONAL LATTICE PATTERN, WITH ANY SPHERE ON ONE LAYER LYING BALANCED ON THREE SPHERES ON THE PREVIOUS LAYERS. (diagrams of hexagonally arranged spheres are shown)
Votey:
A loose sketch-style drawing of several people. At upper left, a man with glasses; at lower left, two more figures, one of which is labeled in small handwriting "Panic? etc." On the right, a long-bearded man (suggesting a wizard/mathematician) raises one hand, from which a small burst of flame or energy emanates, as if casting a spell.
PRESS FORWARD TO CONTINUE! (with an arrow pointing right toward an orange circle)
Panel 2: Narrator: THERE ARE ADMITTEDLY SOME GRAINS OF TRUTH TO ALL OF THESE CARICATURES.
A bystander (gesturing toward a crowd of ordinary-looking people): Also, extremely normal-looking people!
Panel 3: Narrator: AND WHILE WE ARE UNUSUALLY FOND OF PURSUING ABSTRACT AND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS PRIMARILY FOR REASONS OF INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY, THE REMARKABLE THING IS THAT SUCH PURSUITS CAN HAVE UNEXPECTED PRACTICAL BENEFITS MANY YEARS AFTER THEY WERE FIRST INVESTIGATED.
Panel 4: Narrator: EUGENE WIGNER FAMOUSLY CALLED THIS THE "UNREASONABLE EFFECTIVENESS OF MATHEMATICS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES."
A man with glasses: THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE RUNS ON MATH WE DEVELOPED FOR GAMBLING?!
Panel 5: Narrator: ONE EXAMPLE IS THE STORY OF "SPHERE PACKING." (a man holds up an orange)
Panel 6: Narrator: IN THE EARLY 1600S, SIR WALTER RALEIGH ASKED THE ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN THOMAS HARRIOT FOR THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO STACK CANNONBALLS TOGETHER.
Sir Walter Raleigh (standing beside a stack of cannonballs): THERE'S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY.
Panel 7: Narrator: HARRIOT STUDIED THE QUESTION IN DETAIL BUT COULD NOT DEFINITIVELY ANSWER IT, AND WROTE ABOUT IT TO AN EMINENT GERMAN COLLEAGUE, JOHANNES KEPLER.
Harriot: FINALLY, SOMETHING I'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR.
Panel 8: Narrator: KEPLER VIEWED THIS AS AN ABSTRACT MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM ABOUT PACKINGS OF INFINITE THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE BY SPHERES OF UNIT RADIUS.
Kepler: THERE'S LESS TO KEEP TRACK OF IF YOU JUST MAKE IT INFINITELY LARGE.
Panel 9: Narrator: ONE SUCH PACKING IS KNOWN AS THE HEXAGONAL CLOSE PACKING; IT IS LAYER UPON LAYER OF SPHERES ARRANGED IN A HEXAGONAL LATTICE PATTERN, WITH ANY SPHERE ON ONE LAYER LYING BALANCED ON THREE SPHERES ON THE PREVIOUS LAYERS. (diagrams of hexagonally arranged spheres are shown)
Votey:
A loose sketch-style drawing of several people. At upper left, a man with glasses; at lower left, two more figures, one of which is labeled in small handwriting "Panic? etc." On the right, a long-bearded man (suggesting a wizard/mathematician) raises one hand, from which a small burst of flame or energy emanates, as if casting a spell.
Alt text
An SMBC comic titled "Part 2 of 5" arguing that abstract math pursued out of curiosity often pays off later. A narrator concedes the caricatures of mathematicians hold grains of truth, then notes mathematicians are also "extremely normal-looking people." It invokes Eugene Wigner's "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences," with a stunned man asking whether the universe runs on math developed for gambling. The example is sphere packing: in the early 1600s Sir Walter Raleigh asks mathematician Thomas Harriot the most efficient way to stack cannonballs ("There's got to be a better way"); Harriot can't fully solve it and writes to Johannes Kepler ("Finally, something I'll be remembered for"); Kepler treats it as an abstract problem of packing infinite 3D space with unit spheres ("There's less to keep track of if you just make it infinitely large"). The final panel diagrams hexagonal close packing, layers of spheres in a hexagonal lattice with each sphere resting on three below. The votey is a loose line sketch of several people, including a long-bearded wizard-like figure on the right raising a hand that emits a small burst of flame; a small handwritten label near a lower-left figure reads "Panic? etc."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.