Frazz by Jef Mallett for January 11, 2024

Humans… If we aren’t there to observe, take notes, write poems or songs about it, it didn’t happen.

I like that Caulfield doesn’t always win.

Clever response?

Did Mrs. Beatrice Olsen win?

If a question is answered and yet you’re still confused, did they give you an answer?

If a question is asked and nobody answers it …

If you hear a tree fall when there aren’t any nearby…

When someone asks an apophasis without asking, was it asked?

That’s not the classic question, which is: If a tree falls and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

If a question was answered and nobody listens, it was probably on social media.

Mrs Olsen wins again!

“And nobody hears it” assumes human observation. Or does any animal within range of a falling tree’s noise count? Or a recording device? Is the tree’s own experience invalid in this? While not sapient (again, by human observation), it still perceives and reacts to stimuli.

If nobody sees it, does the tree even exist?

…………………………………….

There once was a man who said "God

Must think it exceedingly odd

If he finds that this tree

Continues to be

When there’s no one about in the Quad."

…………………………………

Dear Sir,

Your astonishment’s odd.

I am always about in the Quad.

And that’s why the tree

Will continue to be

Since observed by

…………………………….

(From a Berkeley newspaper. The first is by Ronald Knox. The second is unknown.)

“Show video or it didn’t happen.”

A man said to the universe:

“Sir, I exist!”

“However,” replied the universe,

“The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation.”

War Is Kind, Stanza 96 – [Stephen Crane [1871-1900]

And Caulfield comes up with a twist on the classic question; the lad is smart.

… and my husband wonders why I spontaneously burst into laughter during breakfast!

wait… what? … If I fell in the woods would anyone question me or would anybody hear me? oh, my head hurts…

Quantum dendritics.

That’s actually quite deep.

Question everything. Including people who tell you to question everything.

On the very few times I’ve been able to construct a cartoon as neatly organized as Jef can do, I’ve been very proud of myself.

If you question authority, you authorize questions.

Precisely, give or take.

“I think not,” said Descartes, and vanished.

It really is rather arrogant to assume that nothing counts if it’s not acknowledged by humans.

This has quickly become one of my all-time favorite strips.

That’s a pretty stupid question. If a tree falls does it fall?

What was the question, I forget.

I didn’t hear it fall but my power was out for 12 hours. That’s why I’ve been missing from this site for several days.

Q: If a man is speaking in the forest, and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?My Sister’s Answer: “What a silly question: Of course, he is!”

If a question was answered by a politician was it even addressed?