What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

by Randall Munroe

The author of this book is an Internet cartoonist, not a health or safety expert. He likes it when things catch fire or explode, which means he does not have your best interests in mind.

Dear Abby for mad scientists—I

I also think that the idea of innate personality types can sometimes lead us astray. By encouraging us to think of every aspect of ourselves as fixed and immutable, it can be easy to miss how much we can learn from each other.

science isn’t simply the set of all true facts. It’s a process for answering questions about things we care about, and the caring has to come first. Answers only matter if someone cares about the questions. There’s no scientific rebuttal to nihilism.