2014-09-14
Explanation
The Joke
A scientist says their experiment found an effect, but they are not sure it is real. Another person asks if they ran an ANOVA (a statistical test). The scientist replies that the easiest way to verify a result is to run an experiment again, and that if the effect is real, you should be able to set up an experiment at will. Specifically, they suggest that if you can replicate it, you can transmit a signal in binary.
They explain a method: tell an observer to only look at initial and final confidence reports. Higher confidence levels are read as 1, lower as 0. If the effect is real, you can transmit a signal with perfect fidelity.
The final panel shows a computer screen displaying binary code (01010101010000110100110010111110) and the text: "SCIENCE, MOTHER F**KERS."
The Humor
The comic humorously takes the mundane problem of scientific replication and transforms it into an absurdly over-engineered solution. Instead of simply replicating an experiment to confirm results (the standard scientific approach), the scientist proposes using the replicability of a real effect as a binary communication channel. The joke is that this is technically correct -- if an effect is genuinely real and replicable, you could theoretically encode information through it -- but it is a hilariously roundabout way to confirm a finding.
The punchline "SCIENCE, MOTHER F**KERS" (a play on the famous phrase) celebrates the nerdy triumph of using scientific methodology in the most unnecessarily elaborate way possible.
References
- ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) is a common statistical test used in scientific research to determine whether differences between group means are statistically significant.
- The comic touches on the replication crisis in science, where many published experimental results have failed to be reproduced by other researchers.
- The binary encoding scheme described is essentially a simplified version of how digital communication works, encoding information as sequences of 1s and 0s.