64 pages • 2 hours read
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
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Themes
Humor as a Tool to Facilitate Communication and Education
Works in the popular science genre commonly use humor to engage audiences, and it features heavily in What if? 2 as well as in Munroe’s other works. Humor can make even the driest subject matter engaging to a wide and otherwise disinterested audience. Munroe’s humor contributes significantly to the commercial success of his work and thereby to its effectiveness in communicating complex scientific concepts to a wide readership. The book contains many sources and forms of humor, from the absurdity of the questions themselves to the dry wit of Munroe’s prose, to the snappy punchlines and bizarre staging of the comic illustrations.
The very premise of the What if? blog and books is humorous. The application of real scientific principles—often viewed as serious, even intimidating—to absurd hypotheticals creates a comic juxtaposition. Many of the questions are from children, and the others convey a childlike sense of imagination and naivete. In everyday life, such questions rarely receive detailed answers or analysis by highly-qualified experts. Munroe’s doing so therefore highlights the fanciful nature of the inquiries and the joy he finds in them even as it validates them, making for a humorous dialogue between asker and answerer. Through this dialogue, however, Munroe often provides real, well-founded resolution to curiosity that would otherwise go unsatisfied. He provides insight into the scientific process as well as easily digestible information on a wide range of topics. Thus, he is effective as both an educator and a communicator because he meets his audience where they are and teaches without condescension or pretension on topics that interest them.
Munroe is well-versed in blending education and humor. His webcomic xkcd is a mainstay of internet culture, well known for its learned subject matter in addition to its often dry or absurdist humor. Munroe’s illustrations in the style of his xkcd comics feature prominently through What if? 2, as both standalone responses to short or weird questions, and as illustrations interspersed with prose in his full-chapter answers. These comics are generally funny in their own right, since their stark, minimalist style complements snappy dialogue, concise punchlines, and frequent absurdisms and ironies. The comics break up potentially intimidating blocks of text, and either illustrate or clarify Munroe’s written points to make them more memorable and readily comprehensible. In this way, Munroe’s humorous and entertaining approach facilitates both communication and education.
Encouraging Engagement and Curiosity in Science
Modern society’s dependence on technology such as the internet, mobile phones, and electricity means that scientific advancements can have a major impact on everyday lives. Consequently, people have an ever-growing cultural fascination with the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and their associated disciplines. The ongoing popularity of STEM courses in general education and the widespread appeal of popular science media illustrates this cultural fascination. However, the rapid advancements in STEM—and the need for specialized training or education to engage with cutting-edge research—alienate many otherwise-interested laypeople from modern science. Munroe studied physics in college and knows how intimidating “serious science” can be. Nonetheless, he is vocal in his belief that engaging with science can be fulfilling for anyone and everyone. Through What If? 2 and his other contributions to popular science, Munroe encourages the general population to engage with science and to develop their interest and curiosity in the field.
What If? 2 collates content from Munroe’s What If? blog. The blog encourages readers to submit absurd hypothetical questions, many of which Munroe then answers using his scientific expertise. The very format and premise of this blog requires that its audience engage with the writer and indulge in childlike curiosity about science. The opportunity to receive a genuine, well-reasoned answer encourages readers to submit questions, as does the appeal of seeing one’s own name and contribution on a well-known and renowned platform. Munroe’s encouraging tone and his detailed responses reveal his enthusiasm for “silly” or “absurd” questions, aligning him with askers and readers alike and validating their curiosity. As the popularity of his blog and books increases, so too does the reach of Munroe’s influence and the incentive to engage with his work.
What If? 2 retains the blog’s question-and-answer format and thus also preserves the interactive style of its approach. Munroe uses an informal tone, writing in the first person (“I”) and addressing askers and readers directly in the second person (“you”) often shifting to use the first-person inclusive (“we”). In this way, Munroe builds a personal connection between himself, askers, and readers, diminishing the established divide between layperson and scientific expert. He frequently references ongoing research and recent scientific publications and papers, as well as quoting professional scientists and academics. In this way, Munroe makes the concept of engaging actively with science and the scientific community seem less intimidating. Munroe encourages his readers to engage with scientific research and to consider making their own contributions to the field, as in the closing paragraphs of Chapter 22 and Chapter 25.
Absurdity In Imaginary Situations and Real-World Phenomena
What If? 2 explores the intersection of scientific study and the absurd. As the book’s subtitle, Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, indicates, most questions in the book are entirely unrealistic for one reason or another. Munroe uses these absurd premises and hypotheticals as a springboard to introduce engaging but educational topics and methodologies. He answers the questions through a combination of imagination and the application and extension of scientific principles and real-world equivalents. Munroe highlights the absurdities that are also present in real-world phenomena and the ways in which science fact can be stranger than science fiction.
A major source of absurdity in What If? 2 is the extension of existing laws or phenomena to the extreme reaches of possibility or imagination. When pushed to the absolute limit, even everyday objects and situations become subject to ordinarily ineffective or inert scientific forces. The juxtaposition between mundanity, complex science, and the often-catastrophic results of these imaginary situations is often absurd from the reader’s perspective. For instance, a large enough group of dogs could undergo relativistic collapse (307), and Niagara Falls could render Earth uninhabitable if it were forced through a straw (271). Munroe’s dry, ironic sense of humor and his witty, evocative comics add another layer of humor and absurdity to the discussions.
In addition, What If? 2 explores absurdity present in real-world scientific phenomena and studies. Extreme astronomical phenomena like black holes and dark matter, for instance, fall so far outside the realm of everyday experience that they seem fantastical. Discussions of space and extraordinary extraterrestrial conditions consistently skew toward the incomprehensible and absurd, as in the sights along the Chapter 5 “Cosmic Road Trip” or discussions of planets and elements in Chapter 20. Furthermore, many areas of cutting-edge scientific research—particularly in fields relating to quantum physics and special relativity—are so abstract that, to a layperson, their premises, rules, and conclusions can seem completely absurd. Experiments in these fields frequently return results and elicit hypotheses that contradict conventional wisdom and common sense but that are nonetheless supported by data. Munroe’s answers (for example, in Chapter 48 and Chapter 51) show how studies in such fields can yield counterintuitive and extraordinary outcomes.
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