The Science of Cartooning

When I was a kid, I thought maybe one day I’d be a scientist. Both my father and grandfather were scientists. I loved reading science fiction novels and articles in science magazines. I even remember grappling with all these quantum physics concepts. Schrödinger's cat? An object existing in two states at the same time until otherwise observed? So cool! I was convinced it made perfect sense up until I tried explaining it to anyone else, at which point I began to take on the earnestly hopeless tone of a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.

Now, of course, I actually get it.

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And I would daydream about all the machines and contraptions I’d invent, and all the new technology I’d admirably bring to the forefront of humanity. Mainly though, I wanted to make things hover.

As you may have noticed by the fact that things don’t generally hover yet, I clearly didn’t follow through with those specific dreams. The last thought on anti-gravity I remember having was, how hard could it be? It’s crazy that things don’t already hover! When and where I changed course, I don’t quite remember. It could have been when a math teacher in seventh grade handed me back a test and instead of a grade I got an “undefined” symbol. (Side note: can we at some point talk about education?) It also could have been when I found out about the existence of The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, and I suddenly felt my future jolt and shudder and reform in front of me into a clear straight stretch with big glowing words thrumming:

Draw Funny Things

Draw Funny Things

Draw Funny Things

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Either way, I still love science. I love the stories, the surprises, and the often unimaginably challenging paths scientists take from curiosity to discovery and then back again. (Yes, I love Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. If you know him can you tell him I say hi and thank you? Shannon Stirone is one of my new favorites too.)

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I still read a lot of science fiction (suggestions welcome) and non-fiction as well. And the great thing about science is that new things are always being discovered and invented. The world is constantly changing. There are always new jokes to make. (Or at least the same old jokes in new shiny clothes.)

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The New Yorker July 5, 2021

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There are also the same old fears. We can make the world better, or we can make the world worse. Maybe we’re doing both at the same time. Don’t look too closely though. Or maybe look?

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Even though I never officially became a scientist, I still get to wonder, to ask questions, and to see where that takes me. I think we all do that in our own way.

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The New Yorker Daily Cartoon March 17, 2023

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So here’s to science! Here’s to the scientists getting us there! Here’s to everyone writing and drawing about science! And here’s to our future selves, hopefully living in a world made better by our choices and hard work.

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Safe travels!

-Avi Steinberg