Pharmacists are scientists, sorta. At least where I live you need to be a Doctor (PhD) Pharmacist, something like a biochemical warfare expert in permanent civilian leave. In practical terms they mostly do paperwork and accountancy though. But you still need a PhD.
Butchers are deprecated surgeons. They get a secret anatomy degree by the University of Hellraiser. Don’t you even dare to exert as butcher without such title, you may well end up in the meat grinder!
Although, admittedly, long ago I wore a labcoat without a proper degree. I worked as informatic technician in the pre-Internet era. But you know: Telecom companies are above the law.
“What looks like” being the operative words. Just because it looks like a lab coat does not necessarily mean that it possesses that innate spark which separates lab coats from all other white coats of similar length and material.
I beg to differ: any sufficiently UNDERSTOOD magic is not different from TECHNOLOGY.
Analyzing something does not guarantee understanding, and, with no explanation, it’ll still be “magic”.
Also magic is rather like technology: something you can use even if you don’t understand well enough, say: a computer, a coffee machine, the refrigerator, your car probably and of course that Devil’s spawn that is the mobile phone. Never mind the most magical thing of all: money, which not even economists understand, even if they pretend they do for reputation and perks.
Science is a method for research and potential understanding. Nothing more, nothing less.
Everybody knows that confusium is not an element but an alchemical compound with properties merging those of LSD and the philosopher’s stone.
Please, return your labcoat immediatly. Do not attempt to resist, don’t make it worse for you… and your future career as fast food waiter. There are things worse than that such as volunteer subject for medical experiments in Honduras’ free trade zones, alias Hellzones.
It was first discovered in China, by a guy that started making random phrases that were hard to understand and call him a “philosopher”. The problem is that it was so long ago, most historians think that he was a thinker, not an alchemist.
To put his in perspective,
British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke formulated three adages that are known as Clarke’s three laws, of which the third law is the best known and most widely cited:
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Well, you know how the old saying goes, “Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.”
Think about that for a second…Many people don’t understand how electricity or why it even works, particularly in third-world nations where electricity has never been a part of their daily lives. They don’t know how to channel it or focus it to a specific task. And yet, if they’re supplied with a power plant & the wiring to bring electricity to use in their homes, they too can learn the rituals that make it work for them – ie: a simple gesture to turn on the light switch. To them, being unaware of the power plant that was built & the wiring that installed light fixtures that use it, they might think of having learned sufficiently advanced magic.
Even the people in some areas of first-world nations might think the same thing…
Labcoats are what make you a scientist… or maybe not. It’s all so confusiumed.
What about a pharmacist?
(I blame Phineas and Ferb)
Pharmacists are scientists, sorta. At least where I live you need to be a Doctor (PhD) Pharmacist, something like a biochemical warfare expert in permanent civilian leave. In practical terms they mostly do paperwork and accountancy though. But you still need a PhD.
What about butchers? I’ve seen pics of butchers wearing what looks like lab coats.
Butchers are deprecated surgeons. They get a secret anatomy degree by the University of Hellraiser. Don’t you even dare to exert as butcher without such title, you may well end up in the meat grinder!
Although, admittedly, long ago I wore a labcoat without a proper degree. I worked as informatic technician in the pre-Internet era. But you know: Telecom companies are above the law.
“What looks like” being the operative words. Just because it looks like a lab coat does not necessarily mean that it possesses that innate spark which separates lab coats from all other white coats of similar length and material.
Physics can be such a troll.
No, Trolls are Magical creatures, and therefore are banned from Physics
(Both the regenerating kind and the kind that gets stoned at dawn)
That’s nothing but “alternative physics”, the kind of physics trolls like the most. ;-)
But-but-but science IS magic.
Any science distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Any sufficiently analyzed magic is no different from SCIENCE!
-Agatha Heterodyne
I beg to differ: any sufficiently UNDERSTOOD magic is not different from TECHNOLOGY.
Analyzing something does not guarantee understanding, and, with no explanation, it’ll still be “magic”.
Also magic is rather like technology: something you can use even if you don’t understand well enough, say: a computer, a coffee machine, the refrigerator, your car probably and of course that Devil’s spawn that is the mobile phone. Never mind the most magical thing of all: money, which not even economists understand, even if they pretend they do for reputation and perks.
Science is a method for research and potential understanding. Nothing more, nothing less.
What Agatha did after drinking from the river Dyne looked a hell of a lot like magic to me. Lol
It’s kind of a mix of magic and science – the Dyne’s origin was some kind of divine spring that was turned into a massive river via mad science.
And then Agatha did some more mad science with it.
Think I’ll stick with Arthur C Clarke, tbh. It’s punchier.
Is that Frank from twogag on the right in the last panel?
yes, he is attending via remote-controlled android.
He should lodge an appeal to the council of ricks.
Not that he would succeed, it would just be amusing to watch.
Show them. Show them all. Invent your own science.
Or make your own scientific community. Whichever is easier.
Has a semblance but that person (?) you say has a different shade of brown hair and is wider of shoulders if my memory is correct.
Oops, replied to the wrong comment, sorry.
No problem.
confusium?
Yes, Confusium, Cf. Not to be confused with Cf, Californium, derived, curiously enough, from Curium.
Everybody knows that confusium is not an element but an alchemical compound with properties merging those of LSD and the philosopher’s stone.
Please, return your labcoat immediatly. Do not attempt to resist, don’t make it worse for you… and your future career as fast food waiter. There are things worse than that such as volunteer subject for medical experiments in Honduras’ free trade zones, alias Hellzones.
It was first discovered in China, by a guy that started making random phrases that were hard to understand and call him a “philosopher”. The problem is that it was so long ago, most historians think that he was a thinker, not an alchemist.
I’m… perplexed. Isn’t that a typical outcome of tinkering with confusium by a sapient?
It feels to me that NEITHER of these fellas acts very much like a scientist, in the face of surprise…
Yeah, the correct reaction is “Hmm, does that happen every time?”
Indeed :)
https://xkcd.com/242/
And thus we get to The Confusium Paradox.
“That” (in “does that happen every time”) refers to the experimenter’s state of mind.
“Based on the results of previous tests, we predict the results of this one will be confusing”.
No wonder the Science Council hates anything related to the element.
To put his in perspective,
British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke formulated three adages that are known as Clarke’s three laws, of which the third law is the best known and most widely cited:
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Scientist in the center of the court panel looks like Doc Brown from Back to the Future.
is that… Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures???
http://s2.dmcdn.net/fOoCy/1280×720-Icu.jpg
But what if he could prove the existence of…FAIRY GODPARENTS?!?!?
Well, you know how the old saying goes, “Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.”
Think about that for a second…Many people don’t understand how electricity or why it even works, particularly in third-world nations where electricity has never been a part of their daily lives. They don’t know how to channel it or focus it to a specific task. And yet, if they’re supplied with a power plant & the wiring to bring electricity to use in their homes, they too can learn the rituals that make it work for them – ie: a simple gesture to turn on the light switch. To them, being unaware of the power plant that was built & the wiring that installed light fixtures that use it, they might think of having learned sufficiently advanced magic.
Even the people in some areas of first-world nations might think the same thing…