Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for February 20, 2025

Dunning-Kruger poster child

I fear Danae is going to grow up to be a Politician.

I’m waiting for Cap’n Eddie to be even more insane than Danae…..

Actually, Danae is correct. You want to end up with a speed of Zero, both vertically and horizontally. Jeffrey just has to figure out the calculations to get that answer..

Also, you need to get $40 billion in government contracts, none of which is waste. Or fraud. Or abuse.

Actually, it’s fairly much how setting a budget works. You start with the amount of money you wish to spend and then work backwards, designating the purchases which can be accommodated by that amount.

I’m reasonably confident Danae has never formulated a budget.

Math? How about Republican law. I’m thinking this how the current POTUS works. Allege someone’s guilty of something then start manufacturing evidence or pressuring someone to lie.

That was the problem with the Mars Climate Orbiter.

I’m pretty sure that, if you want a smooth landing on Mars, that’s EXACTLY how science works. The solution is a velocity within certain bounds, at a chosen location on Mars, within a given window. You still need the equations that will let you get to that solution (but people have mostly done the hard work for you). Then “all” you have to do is fill in the numbers that give you the answer you want.

How hard can it be?

When I was in school (back before they invented chalk much less calculators) the math teachers all insisted that we had to show our work, not just give the answer. And more than once, after I knew the answer, I went back and figured out how I could have gotten there using the methods they were teaching.

(Yes, I was lying about the chalk. But they really hadn’t invented green-boards yet, much less dry-erase boards or image projectors except for movies).

Since we’re working backwards, there’s landing safely back on Earth, traveling safely from Mars back to Earth, launching safely from the surface of Mars, landing safely on Mars, traveling safely to Mars from Earth, and launching safely from Earth.

We have had Mars technology for decades. However, tight-fisted politicians (mostly elephants) put the kibosh on it after the Apollo program, which was also cut short. There were supposed to be Apollo 18 and 19 missions.

I do not understand why there is an effort to launch a space vehicle to Mars with humans on board. At the present time there is little to gain from such an expensive project other than bragging rights among the Earth’s inhabitants. With the advanced technologies that exist, and are emerging, would it not be less expensive to take the human element and its’ requirements for life support out of the project for the time being and let the machinery and electronics accomplish the mission?

Yes, it is. The Scientific method starts with a hypothesis (answer) and then designs and conducts experiments to confirm it. Just like Danae suggested.

Women are from Venus.

It’s a wonder Jeffrey’s brain hasn’t imploded yet from all of Danae’s crazy, nonsensical theories.

That’s how it works if you want that grant.

Isn’t that how math works, though? An equation says the sums on both sides of the equal sign are equal. So it you start with the answer, whatever you stack on the left side, as long as it equals the answer, must be correct.

There is something to Danni’s reasoning. The obstacles look different when you view them from the other side.

Don’t fight with her Jeffrey, you’ll never win, but you will get ulcers after the arguments!

Why are we trying to go to Mars? Ray Walston liked it HERE.

Sounds like a process that recently has dominated the news.

Danae is correct. First define the task and then the path.

Any takers on the finale tomorrow being some disaster occurring upon the realization that this ‘magic math method’ doesn’t work if you don’t already know the answer?

actually, i’ve seen a lot of science like that

Well, it kind of works. Somebody needs to use this as a sneaky way of introducing her to algebra. ;-)

That seems like what Musk & Trump are doing. Making up fraud to pay for the tax cuts for the Billionaires.

MAGA pseudo science

“Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” was correct, no one can know both the question and the answer.

Actually, in math class, they did require you to show how you arrived at the answer.

Actually, if you start with the numbers of a successful landing and work back from there, it could lead to a design that works. Think Apollo 13, when they had to start all the circuits without tripping a breaker set at the maximum available. They worked back from the value of that breaker. It makes you have to find the design solution that provides the numbers of success, even if it is just, “Casualties = 0”. Of course that doesn’t mean it will be a usable solution, because of budget or politics or something. But at least you will have proven it is possible. Not quite what she is espousing, but when you are doing completely new things, you have to be open to possibilities.

That how Boeing does it!

And today, she’s Assistant Secretary of Education.

Well Tesla said he could do it that way but he was a genius who went mad.

The SpaceX approach to space travel…

It worked for “dark matter”, whatever that is. Spoiler: nobody knows.

On Babylon 5 they showed humans living on Mars in plastic bubbles with air piped in, connected to each other by tubes. And trains running between them. I think that’s a good guess on how it will really look.

42

so THAT’S how carbon dating works…

That was me in my maths class… i knew the answer, but couldn’t “show my work.”

Oh, some fields of science (or what passes for science since at least late 1859) do work that way. Foregone conclusion, just work out the details, make the data fit. From what I hear, there are several other problems with all areas of science these days, even in physics. Sad.

In a twisted way, would that not be the case? We know the distance, the trajectory to leave earth’s atmosphere the rest is trying to find the numbers that work

It’s Danae the boat rocker, I like it ! ;-)

No, but that’s how business accounting works.

Well, if that doesn’t explain Elon Musk (That Weird Kid) to a T.

Feel like Jeffrey in the 4th panel. Read Scientific American.com/article/what-trumps-executive-orders-mean-for-science/

It is actually what we do. The answer is going to Mars. You now have to work your way back through each obstacle in a descending order. Though it would seem to be more work that way. But good luck ….

I can see numerous math teachers just sighing and shaking their heads…

Poor Jeffrey, looks like his head is going to explode! LOLOL

Just don’t confuse inches with centimetres.

Danae’s more a shuttle-exploding-on-the-launchpad kind of engineer.

 Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires is a 2022 book by Douglas Rushkoff that explains how the super-rich fully anticipate a global meltdown or catastrophe in their own lifetimes and are laying plans for how they can survive it. It’s everything from underground bunkers to private islands to space stations to wholly owned 3rd-world countries to (you guessed it) Mars. The biggest stumbling block in these elitist survivalist scenarios is where they’re going to get all the flunkies that they’re going to need to supply their services (most notably including all the necessary kowtows). The poor babies may have to actually save some peons as well!

On the Fastrack (Comics Kingdom) is also going to Mars this month, catching up with Safe Havens, which is ten years ahead of it.

As a matter of fact Danae is correct. But while her method would create many nifty explosions, Jeffery’s will actually get things to Mars and back.

Mr. Miller, you have unlocked the MAGAT (MakeAmericaGreatAgainTrump) math used by Elon Musk to destroy our democracy! Thank you!