purity-3
Explanation
The comic presents a graph titled "Mad Scientific Purity" on the x-axis and "Danger" on the y-axis, forming a bell curve. Along the x-axis, disciplines are arranged from left to right: Mad Humanities, Mad Social Science, Mad Chemistry, Mad Physics, and Mad Mathematics.
At the far left (Mad Humanities), a stick figure declares: "I'll interpret Shakespeare in an implausible and annoying way!" The danger level is low. At the peak of the curve (Mad Chemistry), a figure announces: "Everyone will die of gas poisoning. So much pain." This represents maximum danger. At the far right (Mad Mathematics), a figure says: "I'm actually indistinguishable from a regular mathematician." The danger level has dropped back down to nearly zero.
The comic is a riff on the classic XKCD "Purity" comic (XKCD #435), which arranges academic fields by their "purity" from left to right (sociology, psychology, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics), with each field dismissing the one to its left as "just applied [our field]." SMBC takes this hierarchy and applies it to the "mad scientist" trope.
The insight is that the danger of a mad scientist follows a bell curve, not a linear increase. Mad humanities scholars are harmless (the worst they can do is produce a bad Shakespeare interpretation). Mad chemists are terrifyingly dangerous (poison gas, explosions). But as you move to the most abstract and "pure" sciences, the danger drops off again. A mad mathematician is indistinguishable from a regular mathematician because pure mathematics is so abstract that even with malicious intent, there's nothing dangerous you can do with it. The funniest part is the quiet resignation of the mad mathematician: they want to be evil but their chosen field simply offers no mechanism for villainy. The theorem they prove in a fit of maniacal rage is just... a theorem.