wtfe²日本語

xkcd #974

The General Problem

by Randall MunroePublished: License: CC BY-NC 2.5

Comic: The General Problem (xkcd #974). Transcript below.

The General Problem © Randall Munroe · xkcd · CC BY-NC 2.5

Hover textI find that when someone's taking time to do something right in the present, they're a perfectionist with no ability to prioritize, whereas when someone took time to do something right in the past, they're a master artisan of great foresight.

Why it lands

Asked for the salt, build a condiment-passing framework. Sometimes the general solution really does pay off; the hover text points out that we only call it foresight once it already has. Until then, the person at the table is still waiting.

Related

Transcript

  1. CAN YOU PASS THE SALT?
  2. I SAID—
  3. I KNOW! I'M DEVELOPING A SYSTEM TO PASS YOU ARBITRARY CONDIMENTS.
  4. IT'S BEEN 20 MINUTES!
  5. IT'LL SAVE TIME IN THE LONG RUN!

Credits

Original
The General Problem — Randall Munroe, xkcd

The English page shows the original image unmodified. The Japanese page shows an adaptation by wtfe²: the lettering was erased from the art and replaced with a Japanese translation. The adaptation is shared under the same license as the original.