Explanation [ edit ]

Cueball (physics), a grown-up Science Girl (biology), and Megan (chemistry) appear to be on a talk show called Degree-Off, hosted by Hairy, where representatives of different fields, try to explain why their field is the best and why to get a degree in their field. The title "Degree-Off" is a portmanteau of "degree", as in the recognized completion of studies at a school or university, and "face-off", a direct confrontation between two people or groups. Since there are three participants, this is not a true face-off, unless Megan, who does not speak, is not counted.

The host asks the physicist Cueball to go first. He light-heartedly begins to tell what appears to be long story, beginning with a Richard Feynman anecdote. During the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, Richard Feynman got bored because of the isolation and started learning lock picking on the secret documents safes. Using these new skills, he played lots of pranks on his colleagues, like leaving notes and spooking them into believing there was a spy among them (which, of course, there was). He finishes his case with a quote from Ernest Rutherford, implying that his speech was quite long and winding. The quote communicates the idea that physics is the only fundamental framework, so that the job of chemists, biologists and other scientist simply is to catalog and systematize observations ("collect stamps") on phenomena too complicated to presently be fully described in terms of physics. This idea was earlier lampooned by Randall in 435: Purity (and is also stated in the title text of 1158: Rubber Sheet).

The biologist goes next, showing with a graph (see below) that the field of biology has helped reduce disease. She then goes on to claim that the heroes in biology (the part known as Medicine) have even "slain" one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Popular culture often names the Horsemen "Pestilence", "War", "Famine", and "Death" - Science Girl implies that the field of biology has almost eliminated Pestilence. The imagery of Pestilence being thwarted by modern medicine was also used in the book Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett (of whom Randall is a fan, see 1498: Terry Pratchett) and Neil Gaiman, where Pestilence has retired after the discovery of Penicillin, and been replaced by Pollution.

The graph shows the death rate from infectious disease in USA, similar to that shown in the comic presented by Science Girl, as both have the range of 1900-2000. The spike is attributable to the 1918 flu pandemic. It has been published in the paper Trends in Infectious Disease Mortality in the United States During the 20th Century.

Science Girl then goes on to directly accuse Cueball (i.e. physicists) of creating a new Horseman to replace the one slain by the biologists. She claims that they gathered in the desert to do so. Given Cueball's opening remark, she must be referring to the development of the atomic bomb, which was built and tested in the New Mexico desert. The new horseman is therefore the atomic bomb, or the various perils associated with it.

Science Girl's implied condemnation of the physics community has been echoed by some of the scientists involved in the project itself. After the test detonation of the first nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, found himself quoting the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

This harsh moral judgement shocks Cueball, who exclaims "I thought this was supposed to be fun and lighthearted!" While the set-up is of a frivolous friendly competition, Science Girl's presentation is surprisingly dark. Her retort in the final panel reveals that she was angered by the off-hand dismissal of 'soft' sciences as "stamp-collecting", and turned the game from a light-hearted fun into something more disturbing.

In the title text the biologist goes on to declare in All caps that she is surprised a physicist isn't "harder", after all their condescending towards the "squishy" sciences. The use of 'hard' and 'squishy' is a play on the colloquial division between the so-called 'hard' sciences (such as physics and chemistry) and 'soft' sciences (such as biology and geology). 'Hard' sciences usually refer to the perception that in fields like physics, precisely repeatable experiments and measurements are possible, as opposed to 'soft' sciences seen as placing less emphasis on precisely quantifiable predictability - however Science Girl is extending 'hard' to its meaning of 'stoic', mocking Cueball for not being able to weather a personal moral attack. Again she is indicating that she's upset by directly referencing a mocking portrayal of other fields allegedly made by Cueball.

To be fair to Cueball, the outbreak of disease is more a topic for epidemiology, and biology has spawned multiple diseases, atrocities, and bad movies. However, the Manhattan Project probably symbolized the death of any hope of peaceful resolution in future tensions.

In 520: Cuttlefish Randall shows that he personally respects biologists - or at least fears them.

Within a year Randall has made several other comics about nuclear weapons, this one was the first of these the second, 1539: Planning, came out just 1½ month after this one and after that these two were released early in 2016: 1626: Judgment Day and 1655: Doomsday Clock. Nuclear weapons are also mentioned twice in Thing Explainer, specifically they are explained in the explanation for Machine for burning cities about thermonuclear bombs, but they are also mentioned in Boat that goes under the sea about a submarine that carries nukes. All three comics and both explanations in the book, does like this comic, comment on how crazy it is that we have created enough firepower to obliterate Earth several times (or at least scourge it for any human life).

Transcript [ edit ]

[Hairy is acting as the host of a TV talk show, Degree-Off holding a microphone up. Cueball, a character who looks like a grown-up Science Girl, and Megan are acting as representatives of physics, biology and chemistry respectively. They each stand behind their own lectern with the respective subject label.] Hairy: Welcome to the Degree-Off, where we determine which field is the best! Physics, wanna go first? Cueball (Phys): Sure! I'd like to tell the story of Richard Feynman's Manhattan project lockpicking pranks... Labels: Phys Bio Chem

[Zoom in so Megan is no longer visible. Cueball lifts his hand] Cueball (Phys): ...and as he said, "all science is either physics or stamp collecting." Cueball (Phys): Thank you. Hairy: Great! Bio, you wanna go next? Grown-Up Science Girl (Bio): Okay. Labels: Phys Bio

[Zoom in on Grown-Up Science Girl so only she and her lectern are shown. A graph is shown above her. There us a label for the y-axis to the left of the axis which has four ticks with numbers. The x-axis is a timeline without ticks but three years indicating the start center and end of the axis. The graph shows a curve falling off, with one great spike up around 1920.] Y-axis label: Per 100,000 Y-axis: 800 600 400 200 X-axis: 1900 1950 2000 GUSG (Bio): This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country. Labels: Bio

[Zoom back to original scene with Hairy holding the microphone down and Grown-Up Science Girl raising her left hand, while Cueball looks at her.] GUSG (Bio): The heroes of my field have slain one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Labels: Phys Bio Chem

[Zoom in on only Cueball and Grown-Up Science Girl who is pointing aggressively at Cueball who leans away from her one hand on his lectern for support.] GUSG (Bio): While the heroes of your field gathered in the desert to create a new one. Labels: Phys Bio

[Zoom back to previous scene all are holding their hands down.] Cueball (Phys): ...Jeez, what the hell? I thought this was supposed to be fun and lighthearted! GUSG (Bio): You must have been thinking of stamp collecting. Labels: Phys Bio Chem





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