Brainstorm: 26
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
By. Francis Pedraza
“That’s absurd!”
—Come up with absurd and extreme hypotheticals.
“Randall Muroe is an American cartoonist, author, former NASA roboticist, and the creator of the webcomic xkcd.” Earlier this year I read his book: What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.
You know, questions like:
? What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light?
? If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color?
? What would happen if everyone on Earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped?
? If my printer could literally print out money, would it have that big an effect on the world?
? How much physical space does the internet take up?
? What would happen if you tried to fly a normal Earth airplane above different solar system bodies?
? How many Lego bricks would it take to build a bridge capable of carrying traffic from London to New York?
? If two immortal people were placed on opposite sides of an uninhabited Earthlike planet, how long would it take them to find each other?
Muroe has a formula:
— Make it absurd
— Take it to an extreme
— Be as nerdy, scientific, detailed, and precise as possible
— Draw comics with lots of dry humor to enjoy the ridiculousness of the whole exercise
Muroe’s answers are over-the-top.
Shall we play with the same format?
— Reply with an absurd hypothetical question of your own.
— Once I add you to the thread, attempt to reply to other people’s questions, and take it to an extreme!
