2011-05-14
Explanation
This comic is a three-panel strip comparing how an Artist, a Scientist, and a Mathematician each approach the act of going to sleep. The first panel, labeled "Artist," shows a person saying: "Every night, when I go to sleep, there'''s a chance I'''ll wake up with an idea that'''ll change humanity forever." The second panel, labeled "Scientist," shows another person saying: "Every night, when I go to sleep, there'''s a chance I'''ll wake up with a perspective that'''ll illuminate the universe." Both of these are romantic, optimistic views of creative and intellectual inspiration striking during sleep.
The third panel, labeled "Mathematician," subverts the pattern entirely. Instead of expressing a hopeful sentiment about sleep-inspired insights, it shows an older, tired-looking mathematician sitting at a desk late at night with a box of amphetamines, implying that mathematicians simply do not sleep at all. Rather than waiting for inspiration to come through rest, the mathematician relies on stimulants to power through the night and keep working.
The votey bonus panel continues the joke by presenting a mock pharmaceutical warning: "Side effects: May cause elevated blood pressure, sweating, heart palpitations, and stochastic calculus." This adds "stochastic calculus" -- an advanced branch of mathematics -- to the list of side effects as though it were a medical symptom, reinforcing the joke that for mathematicians, doing math is an involuntary compulsion fueled by stimulants rather than a peaceful process of sleep-inspired revelation.