Mindscape 210 | Randall Munroe on Imagining What If...?

Patreon: / seanmcarroll
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: www.preposterousuniverse.com/...
What’s the fastest way to get a human being around a racetrack, if we ignore all the rules of racing? How many pages would you have to read to absorb all of the government laws that apply to you? It’s hard to imagine a better person to tackle these kinds of slightly-askew questions than Randall Munroe, creator of the xkcd webcomic. He collected some answers in his book What If?, and has released a sequel, What If? 2. We dive into how one goes about choosing the right questions and answering them, and how to make it funny along the way.
Randall Munroe received a degree in physics from Christopher Newport University, before working for a while at NASA’s Langley Research Center. He is now the creator of xkcd and the author of several books. What If? and What If? 2 are based on a regular feature in which he tackles questions asked by readers.
Mindscape Podcast playlist: • Mindscape Podcast
Sean Carroll channel: / seancarroll
#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture

[@thewiseturtle]

My absolute favorite thing of Randall's work is his book Thing Explainer, explaining things simply with only 1000 of the most common English words. My second favorite thing he's done is his comic on what it means to be an adult.

[@ivocanevo]

POV: you never expected to have a non-visual XKCD experience, but here you are.

[@bleedleaf]

Amazing getting arguably the GOAT of webcomic creators on your show Sean! wooOO And you even talk about Dinosaur Comics! Also arguably the best webcomic ever! What a treat.

[@NichaelCramer]

Sean Carroll + Randall Monroe. I ask you: What more do you need the first thing on a Monday morning?

[@pinocleen]

Apologies for my "Interruption", but perhaps a fresh new Monday XKCD webcomic?

[@chromabotia]

This was a lot of fun! Thx...

[@joshua3171]

The rubber problem has been known for a while and can be addressed but the current system makes a lot more money

[@RaysAstrophotography]

I love your podcasts Sean! In-depth reviews always!

[@HarryNicNicholas]

talking of trivia, i remember one of our maths teachers explaining he was working out how much of his living room had disappeared after giving the walls a coat of paint. odd the things that stick in your mind for fifty years. when i was at uni (graphic design) i did a comic using a wall brick as the main, and usually only, character "wallace the brick" (on my facebook photo albums) which i also made a short animated film for. i did run out of ideas, but it got a lot further than i expected. (it predates wallace and gromit by the way).

[@bluemalamute]

the effects of a baseball at the speed of sound are crazy enough--see Smarter Every Day's videos on the supersonic baseball cannon.

[@kwanarchive]

I change directories so often that, on every computer I use, I must bind a macro for it to "x". Obligatory x-key cd.

[@markzambelli]

Fantastic podcast...as usual. Thankyou, both host and guest... there is something wonderful about two great minds 'chatting' together and us getting to experience the conversation.😀

[@koolguy728]

NO WAYYYY what an awesome surprise! Randall's comics and What if are all time favs of mine

[@bryandraughn9830]

I wonder, if any humans actually work at Verizon customer service? Great interview!

[@kapsi]

"I don't know" - Randall Munroe

[@DaxLLM]

Very entertaining and fun to listen to!

[@SolSystemDiplomat]

I see your book tour comes through my area!

[@sjeses]

What if... I don't actually exist, and what I call "real" is just an infinite sea of chaos and patterns in varying complexity?

[@LEDewey_MD]

But wait.....wouldn't the steak have been freeze-dried being in the vacuum of space?! (Just kidding!) Very fun interview!! :)

[@tyhggb]

Love your content. If someone asked me what spacetime is made of, what would I tell them?

[@mrloop1530]

You would tell them that spacetime isn't made of anything. You can't break it down to components. I guess you could say that it is a feature of the universe - not a thing in and of itself.

[@James-ip7zk]

Imagining what if=anxiety

[@thewiseturtle]

Only if you have an anxious personality. In which case I imagine most everything generates anxiety. (Sorry, that's gotta suck.) For me, imagining what if is the thing that makes life worth living.

[@James-ip7zk]

@@thewiseturtle certainly ;)

[@littlefurrow2437]

What if... some random kid asked a question that solves the grand unified theory?

[@HarryNicNicholas]

einstein was always an old man?

[@joshua3171]

*I want to die on mars, just not on impack", Elon Musk