a-physicist-chemist-and-an-economist-are-on-a-train
Explanation
The Joke
A physicist, a biologist, and an economist are on a train. Out the window, there is a cow. The physicist says "There's a cow." The biologist agrees. The economist also identifies it as a cow. The final panel shows the three of them filling out surveys, reports, and grant applications, all documenting "the slow demise of lunacy in academic culture."
The Humor
This is a subversion of the classic "a physicist, a biologist, and an economist are on a train" joke. In the traditional version, each academic overcomplicates the observation of a cow in their field's jargon -- the physicist might say "there exists a black object on one side," the biologist might classify it taxonomically, and the economist might propose a supply-demand model. The expected punchline involves each discipline making the simple observation absurdly complicated or getting it wrong in discipline-specific ways.
Instead, Weinersmith has all three scientists simply and correctly identify it as a cow. The joke is that this mundane act of agreement and normalcy is so remarkable by academic standards that they treat it as a groundbreaking event worthy of formal documentation -- surveys, reports, and grant applications about "the slow demise of lunacy in academic culture." The humor lies in the implication that academics behaving sensibly is such a rare occurrence that it itself becomes a research-worthy phenomenon.
References
- "Scientists on a train" jokes: A family of jokes in which professionals from different academic disciplines observe something simple (often a cow or sheep) and each responds in a characteristically overcomplicated or field-specific way. The most common version involves a mathematician, physicist, and engineer (or economist).