Comic 1345: You're Wrong

Title: Answers

Alt text: Stanford sleep researcher William Dement said that after 50 years of studying sleep, the only really solid explanation he knows for why we do it is 'because we get sleepy'.

Ah, here we have yet another instance of Randall trying overcome years of patriarchal oppression by having a girl prove that she is smarter than a guy by beating him in a battle of wits and generally making him look like an idiot. This is such a cliche in Xkcd. D-

But what bothers me is not the fact that she's a girl, as much as the complete falsehood of what she's saying.

No, spending a third of our lives asleep does not make us any less curious. That's just something our bodies force us to do. Unless of course she is referring to the fact that we don't know why, in which case... still no.

Let us disregard the fact there a multiple theories on why we need sleep. Let us disregard what we know all animals with conscious minds needing sleep. Let us disregard this io9 article that says that sleep is a necessary process to take out the brain's trash. Also disregard the fact that we can only hunt during the daytime, and every other thing that tells us why we need sleep. Then Megan's argument might start to make sense. F- for failing to think things through.

And the alt text? Just because one scientist is as clueless as Randall, doesn't mean they all are. M-

'Touché' indeed. What a tool. I bet Randall says 'touché' in real-life. R-

---

A shorter version of this review appears at no-hyphen. And this is really exciting. After a five months absence, is no-hyphen coming back? Who knows. The liveliness of no-hyphen's comment threads were always something I hoped to reproduce. So enjoy that comment thread. But when it has died down, you know where to come to, right?