Recently the webcomic xkcd has run a number of strips dealing with health and serious illness. For years, xkcd has applied it’s unique (often sarcastic) humor to science, math, and romance. So it was a pleasant surprise to see the webcomic begin skewering topics that are close‐to‐home for anyone who has lived with chronic illness or struggled with a disease or serious health issue.1
The strip Positive Attitude gently pokes fun at the difficulty (and philosophically contradictory nature) of maintaining a positive attitude while fighting a disease.
Genetic Analysis imagines an extreme example of what a genetic test might reveal.2
And best of all, the strip Sickness makes a logical case for the power of science and scientific inquiry in battling illness and disease, as opposed to unquestioning belief in the supernatural.
I wish Randall Monroe and his family the best as they deal with any continuing health issues.
- Back in November, xkcd artist and author Randall Monroe announced that he was “dealing with a serious family illness” and took a month‐long break from creating new xkcd material. Monroe recently resumed posting new material and several of those newest strips address illness and disease. [↩]
- “And you paid how much for your personalized genetic analysis in order to uncover this fact?” [↩]
