Yes, mad and crazy are (pretty much) the same thing, but mad and Mad aren’t the same thing. Someone can be crazy without ever being Mad. Being crazy simply means being out of touch with reality.
Being Mad allows one the unnatural ability to bend (or even just break) the laws of science to suit their whim. Everyone knows it’s impossible to create a cloning machine from a Coke machine, or to build a teleporter out of coat hangers, or to jam a USB cable up your nose to connect your brain to a computer. But that doesn’t stop Mads from doing it.
Science is supposed to serve as a framework for investigating nature and at it’s core, the “scientific method” remains a valuable tool. But the Mad are gifted with a deeper insight, a level of intuition, allowing them to dispense with the training wheels so useful to lesser mortals.
Of course this often comes with blinders outside their area of interest.
I don’t view the Mad as breaking the laws of physics so much as embracing Clarke’s Law.
Well the issue is that replicating the Mads’ work is often difficult or impossible. It’s not that they make leaps that sane minds wouldn’t, it’s that they make leaps that cannot be made at all.
I think a question of impossibility (ignoring the running gag for a moment) is… a bit wibbly wobbly.
We’ve seen with Dr Lee that it’s *possible* to reverse engineer Mad Science. It’s entirely possible that you don’t *need* to be Mad to do what they do, you just need to be very, very, VERY smart. It may just be that being Mad is the easiest way to be that smart (or possibly a side effect of being that smart).
I don’t view the Mads as having blinders on other fields exactly, I see it more as a strangely general form of hyperfocus. Basically each Mad will be extremely brilliant in whatever topic they’re drawn to (and to some extent adjacent disciplines) but will always choose to adress any given problem with that field, no matter how unsuited.
That said, I wonder if certain disciplines are intrensically better than others? Are bicycles more powerful than gerbils? Can either of them top good ol’ giant robots? Or is everything dependent on the power level of the individual Mad themselves…
My new theory: Each Mad’s chosen discipline is inversely specific to their power level. For example, Helen Narbon’s “center” seems to be gerbils- however, she’s powerful enough that she weilds a wide variety of genetic and biological science, as well as dabbling in some more tangential areas like psychology and revivication and so on. A similar effect can be seen with Tigerlilly. On the opposite end of the spectrum however, we have… bicycles. Just bicycles, nothing else really.
I had no idea there was a product called “Swedish Fish” before reading this strip. I’m not especially curious about finding out how either thing tastes.
They’re basically Gummi Bears, except piscine. They taste like red.
I am baffled by the idea of combining them with Oreos, though from the link above it seems that the actual thing is less wtf than the picture I had in my head.
A whole trainload of now uncontrolled mad science creations, many of the sentient, not to mention zombies? I’d consider that a bigger job than just “cleanup”, but we shall see.
Personally, I’d be leaving the train ASAP, largely because he’s very correct. The people of St. Charlie are their own worst enemies in many cases.
Given how mad science works, I’d expect at least one of them to have built a doomsday weapon or three that turns the entire world into marzipan or something, or at least the entire train. Or that some of the systems that the train relies on to function are so complex that only a mad genius can keep them from going critical at a moment’s notice. And, given that even normal people can’t necessarily resist pressing random buttons (and reality blind people might think it’s an espresso machine), I’d really be running right now.
You are very correct, but this raises the question on how to get off a train moving at high speed through unknown tunnels and possibly alternate dimensions?
So Ira will hang out right here, while St. Charlie is filled up with fear. The reality-blind geniuses awaiting some clean-up-ness, with Swedish-fish Oreos dear.
Oh, I remember those. They were pretty good, but they tasted about like you’d expect. Flavor chemists have gotten pretty good; I had some cheeseburger or taco potato chips a while ago, (I can’t remember which, maybe both) and you could taste the lettuce.
I have to say I’m with Mr. Green on the Swedish Fish Oreos. Yuck!
I mean, I love Oreos and I love Swedish Fish, but not together.
In response to awgiedawgie isn’t mad and crazy the same thing?
Yes, mad and crazy are (pretty much) the same thing, but mad and Mad aren’t the same thing. Someone can be crazy without ever being Mad. Being crazy simply means being out of touch with reality.
Being Mad allows one the unnatural ability to bend (or even just break) the laws of science to suit their whim. Everyone knows it’s impossible to create a cloning machine from a Coke machine, or to build a teleporter out of coat hangers, or to jam a USB cable up your nose to connect your brain to a computer. But that doesn’t stop Mads from doing it.
Science is supposed to serve as a framework for investigating nature and at it’s core, the “scientific method” remains a valuable tool. But the Mad are gifted with a deeper insight, a level of intuition, allowing them to dispense with the training wheels so useful to lesser mortals.
Of course this often comes with blinders outside their area of interest.
I don’t view the Mad as breaking the laws of physics so much as embracing Clarke’s Law.
Well the issue is that replicating the Mads’ work is often difficult or impossible. It’s not that they make leaps that sane minds wouldn’t, it’s that they make leaps that cannot be made at all.
I think a question of impossibility (ignoring the running gag for a moment) is… a bit wibbly wobbly.
We’ve seen with Dr Lee that it’s *possible* to reverse engineer Mad Science. It’s entirely possible that you don’t *need* to be Mad to do what they do, you just need to be very, very, VERY smart. It may just be that being Mad is the easiest way to be that smart (or possibly a side effect of being that smart).
I don’t view the Mads as having blinders on other fields exactly, I see it more as a strangely general form of hyperfocus. Basically each Mad will be extremely brilliant in whatever topic they’re drawn to (and to some extent adjacent disciplines) but will always choose to adress any given problem with that field, no matter how unsuited.
That said, I wonder if certain disciplines are intrensically better than others? Are bicycles more powerful than gerbils? Can either of them top good ol’ giant robots? Or is everything dependent on the power level of the individual Mad themselves…
My new theory: Each Mad’s chosen discipline is inversely specific to their power level. For example, Helen Narbon’s “center” seems to be gerbils- however, she’s powerful enough that she weilds a wide variety of genetic and biological science, as well as dabbling in some more tangential areas like psychology and revivication and so on. A similar effect can be seen with Tigerlilly. On the opposite end of the spectrum however, we have… bicycles. Just bicycles, nothing else really.
“Everyone knows it’s impossible” ??? Bah! That what the fools at the institute said!
I hate to say it, I’m actually curious what those would be like. Once. Probably not twice…
You’re five years too late, I’m afraid.
https://www.delish.com/food-news/a48621/swedish-fish-oreos/
Curiosity never dies. It just gets… odd…
I had no idea there was a product called “Swedish Fish” before reading this strip. I’m not especially curious about finding out how either thing tastes.
They’re basically Gummi Bears, except piscine. They taste like red.
I am baffled by the idea of combining them with Oreos, though from the link above it seems that the actual thing is less wtf than the picture I had in my head.
Lingonberry-flavored, apparently.
A whole trainload of now uncontrolled mad science creations, many of the sentient, not to mention zombies? I’d consider that a bigger job than just “cleanup”, but we shall see.
Job for McGuire, maybe?
Personally, I’d be leaving the train ASAP, largely because he’s very correct. The people of St. Charlie are their own worst enemies in many cases.
Given how mad science works, I’d expect at least one of them to have built a doomsday weapon or three that turns the entire world into marzipan or something, or at least the entire train. Or that some of the systems that the train relies on to function are so complex that only a mad genius can keep them from going critical at a moment’s notice. And, given that even normal people can’t necessarily resist pressing random buttons (and reality blind people might think it’s an espresso machine), I’d really be running right now.
Quite.
You are very correct, but this raises the question on how to get off a train moving at high speed through unknown tunnels and possibly alternate dimensions?
Also, a train made of marzipan? Yum!
There must be some stumbling around among the other inhabitants. Didn’t St. Charlie have a large undead contingent?
St. Charlie decided they were icky after they went a-shambling, and they’re probably already all gone by now.
So the next stop for Anasigma and / or the Institute: Colma?
Sooo… What happens when (not “if”) someone goes so very sane that they come out the other side? This is St. Charlie, after all.
You probably get Mr. Green
So Ira will hang out right here, while St. Charlie is filled up with fear. The reality-blind geniuses awaiting some clean-up-ness, with Swedish-fish Oreos dear.
Confession: When reading Shaenon’s stuff, I frequently “hear” Gene Wilder singing “Stir Crazy”!
That must be Alpha Bravo. He’s got the lackey role down pat!
That’s Echo Bravo.
Thanks, Robert. My gaff! 😉
I meant gaffe!
Oh, I remember those. They were pretty good, but they tasted about like you’d expect. Flavor chemists have gotten pretty good; I had some cheeseburger or taco potato chips a while ago, (I can’t remember which, maybe both) and you could taste the lettuce.