Oddly, the example in the comic is an absolutely awful example of the phenomenon described in the caption. A robot that can induce targeted lightning strikes has obvious military applications. Screw search and rescue.
A lot of the claimed s&r applications are
really a thin cover for military gear.
I remember trying to mentor a hardware startup on an event, and we just couldn’t find the common language with the girl that was
pitching it. I just couldn’t see how the cases would justify the market.
Only later on I figured out that the cases were absurd, and all of them really a cover for military applications.
Finding survivors in a forest = finding partisans, is the most common one.
I wonder how hard this would be. As a joke, I put your comment into Claude and asked for an XKCD comic. Surprisingly, it generated (a very bad) SVG image:
I asked it to instead generate a comic in text form and got the following:
Title: "The XKCD Paradox"
Panel 1: A stick figure is typing on a computer. Above them is a thought bubble: "I bet there's an XKCD about how there's always a relevant XKCD."
Panel 2: The screen shows a Google search result. The stick figure exclaims, "Huh, there isn't one. That's weird."
Panel 3: We see the inside of a Google data center. Servers are labeled "XKCD Generator AI." An alarm is flashing with the text "Paradox detected!"
Panel 4: A stick figure resembling Randall Munroe is shown frantically drawing at a desk. A speech bubble reads, "Must... draw... comic... about... always... having... relevant... comic..."
Panel 5: Back to the original stick figure, now looking at a new XKCD comic on their screen. The comic is titled "Meta-Relevance" and shows a recursive image of stick figures looking at computers.
Panel 6: A wide shot shows both the stick figure and the Randall Munroe character simultaneously saying, "Whew, balance restored."
Footnote at the bottom of the comic: "Plot twist: This comic was generated by an AI trying to convince you it wasn't generated by an AI."
This version plays with the meta-concept of XKCD's relevance, the idea of paradoxes in AI, and adds a layer of self-referential humor typical of XKCD. It also touches on the theme of AI-generated content trying to prove it's not AI-generated, adding an extra layer of cleverness to the concept.
I'm mind-blown at how relevant that is here
Oddly, the example in the comic is an absolutely awful example of the phenomenon described in the caption. A robot that can induce targeted lightning strikes has obvious military applications. Screw search and rescue.
Or perhaps it’s a meta comic about dual use :)
A lot of the claimed s&r applications are really a thin cover for military gear.
I remember trying to mentor a hardware startup on an event, and we just couldn’t find the common language with the girl that was pitching it. I just couldn’t see how the cases would justify the market.
Only later on I figured out that the cases were absurd, and all of them really a cover for military applications.
Finding survivors in a forest = finding partisans, is the most common one.
To be pedantic, the comic doesn't mention _targeted_ lightning strikes.
> robot that can induce targeted lightning strikes has obvious military applications
Rescue victims are just the co-operating category of hidden people.
The hookshot also is a weapon in OoT.
At this point, xkcd must be like Simpsons. They already did everything.
I'm starting to suspect that google is behind xkcd, i.e. running some generative AI script behind the scenes whenever someone looks for a comic.
I wonder how hard this would be. As a joke, I put your comment into Claude and asked for an XKCD comic. Surprisingly, it generated (a very bad) SVG image:
https://jumpshare.com/s/cBhNffK6aWZX5SwYP0YN
I asked it to instead generate a comic in text form and got the following:
Title: "The XKCD Paradox"
Panel 1: A stick figure is typing on a computer. Above them is a thought bubble: "I bet there's an XKCD about how there's always a relevant XKCD."
Panel 2: The screen shows a Google search result. The stick figure exclaims, "Huh, there isn't one. That's weird."
Panel 3: We see the inside of a Google data center. Servers are labeled "XKCD Generator AI." An alarm is flashing with the text "Paradox detected!"
Panel 4: A stick figure resembling Randall Munroe is shown frantically drawing at a desk. A speech bubble reads, "Must... draw... comic... about... always... having... relevant... comic..."
Panel 5: Back to the original stick figure, now looking at a new XKCD comic on their screen. The comic is titled "Meta-Relevance" and shows a recursive image of stick figures looking at computers.
Panel 6: A wide shot shows both the stick figure and the Randall Munroe character simultaneously saying, "Whew, balance restored."
Footnote at the bottom of the comic: "Plot twist: This comic was generated by an AI trying to convince you it wasn't generated by an AI."
This version plays with the meta-concept of XKCD's relevance, the idea of paradoxes in AI, and adds a layer of self-referential humor typical of XKCD. It also touches on the theme of AI-generated content trying to prove it's not AI-generated, adding an extra layer of cleverness to the concept.
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xkcd has targeted humor, which I think GANs are not able to demonstrate (at least for now!)