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Creator of xkcd Reveals Secret Back-story of His Epic, 3,099-Panel 'Time' Comic
vikingpower writes "Randall Munroe, the comic author best known as the creator of the xkcd webcomic, reveals the secret backstory of his epic, 3099-panel 'Time' strip in an interesting interview with Wired. He says, 'In my comic, our civilization is long gone. Every civilization with written records has existed for less than 5,000 years; it seems optimistic to hope that the current one will last for 10,000 more ... The Earth’s axis wobbles over the millennia, and some individual stars move visibly, so I used a few different pieces of astronomy software–with a lot of hand correction and tweaking–to render the future night sky. When the Sun sets in the night sequence, one of the first things you see is the gap where Antares should be, which was the first clue that this is taking place in the far future. Later in the night–which lasted for several days of real time–more astronomical details let readers pin down the date more precisely.' The comic can be seen as an animation on YouTube. There is also a complete click-through version available on geekwagon. This comic inspired a dedicated wiki and has its own glossary."
And how long has writing existed for?
Randall Munroe is an embarrassing illustration of the mediocrity of the average modern nerd. He says nothing which isn't either cliche or oversimplified.
I thought I was alone in this until a few weeks ago I found a site called xkcdsucks, and it appears I'm not alone in thinking this.
Your personal taste can be different from mass appeal. But, unlike business practice, what harm does it do to simply appreciate the fact that you like things that other people don't like - and they'll like things you don't like?
... but if they're just providing things that others enjoy, why attack it simply because you dislike it?
Just like stand-up comedy, some artists may not do things you like
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
I find many of his comics to be creative in a way that stretches my brain.
For example the recursive WikiLeaks comic, the dnd game with death, "something is wrong on the internet", and others.
I agree that I find some other writers more emotionally effecting (The story of Miko in Order of the Stick literally made me cry-- over stick figures!) or more creative and artistic (Questionable Content) but XKCD is +5 Insightful compared to those. He's a mirror on society- not a story teller so much.
If he wrote SF it would mostly be hard SF I think.
And his illustrations (Cancer, Radiation, Ocean Depths) are spectacular and unique. Here he shows a singular talent.
I think only someone who was in the vast minority or extremely jealous would call Munroe embarrassing. But, as I found in leading MMORGS guilds, there is always "that guy" who will argue with you about anything. Even if you want to give him a $20 bill. I guess you're "that guy".
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I thought I was alone in this until a few weeks ago I found a site called xkcdsucks, and it appears I'm not alone in thinking this.
Hey, look at me! My opinion is valid because I found a website that says the same thing.
It was for lack of better terminology, an entirely new way of doing a webcomic. Usually XKCD updates 3 times a week, with a new URL for each one (and very rarely do stories continue across updates), Time updated every 30 minutes at the same URL, initially with minute variations, which lots of the regular viewers missed for quite a while. The complete lack of dialogue for the first 100 or so frames meant that people were being challenged to create their own backstory. The story itself also got grander in scope as it progressed, with subtle hints towards the setting being given. That it went for months, and over 3000 frames (which when viewed are effectively a stop-motion movie), is also unprecedented to my knowledge. It also managed to spawn a thread which managed to stay on-topic for over 50000 posts, (as well as a whole pile of jargon within that thread.)
It isn't the greatest story ever told, but the method of presentation (particularly the enforced wait between frames which leads to great speculation), subtle hints which rely on not insignificant prior knowledge (the time-period was placed by a particularly beautiful, and accurate, rendering of the night sky which was presented over a period of days), make it unique.
Laughter is the best medicine, except if you have a broken rib.
I thought I was alone in this until a few weeks ago I found a site called xkcdsucks, and it appears I'm not alone in thinking this.
Hey, look at me! My opinion is valid because I found a website that says the same thing.
I'm making a sig out of that.
And how long has writing existed for?
Randall Munroe is an embarrassing illustration of the mediocrity of the average modern nerd.
Long enough that we figured out you don't end a sentence with an unnecessary preposition. Talk about embarrassing mediocrity. You can't even muster a proper sentence with which to condemn your betters.
I should add, for anyone crazy enough to want to read the forums, here's a link: Clicky, it can get quite confusing at times, the regulars were well on their way to inventing a new language (not to mention para-religions at times), but there's definitely some fascinating posts as well, and every frame immortalised in order, with an enforced (by how fast you read) gap to replicate the way it felt when it was going.
Laughter is the best medicine, except if you have a broken rib.
Fine. What about the comics he makes that have nothing to do with computers?
He did ones about Money, Gravity Wells, and Non-Technical Rockets. He had one you had to mouse through that was a couple miles wide, and referenced many of our favorite geeky cultural icons. So go be a sysadmin because you like computers. We'll go enjoy something we like, such as a webcomic.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
This is the sort of bloody nonsense on my lawn up with which I will not put.
First, not everyone is rushing to defend him. Some don't like the comic either. Most of those people make better points than you could.
As to your "question I posed which shows why his "5,000 years" argument is nonsense."
And how long has writing existed for?
You must not be able to read correctly. His quote is:
Every civilization with written records has existed for less than 5,000 years;
He isn't saying that no one ever made a mark on a stick to keep track of how many sheep he has. He is specifically saying "written records", meaning things the civilization is keeping from generation to generation. Whether heroic stories or family inheritence or tax receipts.
Now looking at Wikipedia's "History of writing" article, it points out the invention of writing at 3200 B.C.* So maybe Randall should have rounded differently, or said "about 5000 years" rather than "less than 5,000 years". But that is more a rounding error than your proof of his mediocrity.
*Note: I don't use BCE in place of B.C. As a non-religious person, I don't care which church made the calendar I am used to using. They can peg 'Year 0' at whatever point they want. Labeling the years before that as 'Before (our messiah)' is not offensive. What I find unacceptable is scientists who won't use B.C, because that implies a religious influence which they can't accept, but whose solution is is to change it to BCE and keep the dates exactly the same.
If you don't want to use B.C. because it stands for "Before Christ", and as an atheist that offends you, fine, you have the right to make whatever calendar you want. But be more original that simply removing the periods and adding the letter E, and calling your result "Before the Common Era". You are still saying the Common Era starts with the birth of Jesus, and your calendar starts with (or near) that event. You are agreeing to tie yourself to the church, while acting like you won't stand for it. (Does this offend Muslims as much as it does me?)
I would be fine if the authorities created a new calendar numbering plan that started at the dawn of civilization. Unfortunately, the only time I saw that plan, it was to pin 'Year 0' at 10,000 B.C. So then, to convert from today's date, you would simply add a '1' to the front, and go from 2013 to 12013. So they are still making what they claim to be scientifically valid choices based on the church's calendar.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
I'm going to blow your mind right now. I mean seriously mind-fuck material. Want to know how to earn a bazillion dollars? I'll tell you. It takes work, and it won't happen overnight, but it is like printing your own money, only legally.
Take one idea that seems to have a fan base. One single thing that a large group of people agree is a good thing. Any group of people, any object of affection.
Make a web site dedicated to pointing out all of the flaws, inconsistencies, errors, fails, and general pointlessness of that thing. You don't even have to agree with yourself. Just hate something - vehemently and consistently, except for a few occasions when you pay a back-handed compliment.
And the magical part - allow comments.
People who don't agree will post raging apoplectic fits on how wrong you are. Your fans will post raging apoplectic fits on how wrong your haters are. Non-participants will hit your page daily just to see their "avatars" fight, regardless of their chosen side. Through all of this, you will get PAGE VIEWS which turn into ad revenue. You will have eyeballs, and dollars.
Cafe Press will have "Joining Yet Again is retarded" coffee mugs, and "Joining Yet Again is the new Christ" napkin holders, under your control and out of your control. You will be the messiah and the anti-christ, and rich beyond your wildest dreams.
And you don't have to be honest once.
Here's another tip that will blow your already blown mind. Other people have figured this out already.
And finally, since I'm basically retirement planning for you now, doing it on Slashdot earns dollars for Dice, not for you. How did you earn two replies today? You are a spectacular idiot - a shining example of how not to think, and how not to post. The rarest of the rare, a genuine failure pile. And I stopped to help you be less failtastic, or at least encourage you to be failtastic somewhere else, like in a closet with no internet connection.
Which civilisation involving bipeds has existed for more than 50 million years?
You appear to be confusing "civilization" with "species".
A human civilization is vaguely defined as people living in a place (in city or larger states), with a language and system of writing, set of beliefs and culture.
Taking the long view of human history civilizations get wiped out all the time, and none of the previous civilizations have lasted all that long.
Sometimes an artform needs a new dimension. XKCD is good enough that an individual comic doesn't need to be funny to be valid.
[FUCK BETA]
His opinion is as valid as yours.
I'm not so sure, there wasn't a reference to a website.
It is what it is.
I'm dismayed to see how many comments on the Wired piece and here on Slashdot say such shallowly bad things (it is not criticism, so I won't call it that) about xkcd and this particular project. Do these commentors not know how hard it is to make a thing? Art? Computer programs? New ideas? Try it. Dedicate yourself to something for days, weeks, years. You will see. Never mistake the common phrase "they make it look easy" with "what they are doing is easy". Try to learn and always remember that things that matter are always way harder than they look like they'll be, and the disparity between these two is sometimes the greatest for the very best things.
xkcd and the 'Time' project are not perfect because perfection is unattainable. But I submit that Munroe is a serious artist: he is impressively prolific, and his creations are often deep, thought-provoking, and simply beautiful and fun to look at. Just look at some of the time slices on their own merits, independent of what you think of the story. Are not some of the silhouetted scenes simply wonderful to explore with your eyes?
Now be inspired and create something of your own.