The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Phones
A parody of Wigner's 'Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics' paper, marveling that phones can make voice calls.
Use this cartoon
Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.
Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2025-05-20-the-unreasonable-effectiveness-of-phones/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
A (holding a phone and a paper "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of ~~Mathematics~~ Phones in the ~~Natural Sciences~~ Making of Voice Calls"): "This device, designed for texting and short-form video, is somehow capable of tapping into an ancient technology of voice communication. It beggers belief!"
[Caption] "My new paper is arguably no sillier than Eugene Wigner's original."
