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<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/s/7d94e0.css" title="Default"/> <title>xkcd: Hypotheticals</title> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/s/919f27.ico" type="image/x-icon"/> <link rel="icon" href="/s/919f27.ico" type="image/x-icon"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 1.0" href="/atom.xml"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="/rss.xml"/>  <meta property="og:site_name" content="xkcd"> <meta property="og:title" content="Hypotheticals"> <meta property="og:url" content="https://xkcd.com/248/"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hypotheticals.png"> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"> </head> <body> <div id="topContainer"> <div id="topLeft"> <ul> <li><a href="/archive">Archive</a></li> <li><a href="https://what-if.xkcd.com">What If?</a></li> <li><a rel="author" href="/about">About</a></li> <li><a href="/atom.xml">Feed</a>•<a href="/newsletter/">Email</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/xkcd/">TW</a>•<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD/">FB</a>•<a href="https://www.instagram.com/xkcd/">IG</a></li> <li><a href="/books/">-Books-</a></li> <li><a href="/what-if-2/">What If? 2</a></li> <li><a href="/what-if/">WI?</a>•<a href="/thing-explainer/">TE</a>•<a href="/how-to/">HT</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="topRight"> <div id="masthead"> <span><a href="/"><img src="/s/0b7742.png" alt="xkcd.com logo" height="83" width="185"/></a></span> <span id="slogan">A webcomic of romance,<br/> sarcasm, math, and language.</span> </div> <div id="news"> <div id="xkcdNews"> <a href="https://xkcd.com/what-if/">Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?</a>鈥攔evised and annotated with brand-new illustrations and answers to important questions you never thought to ask鈥攃oming from November 2024. 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Wouldn't that be awesome? Person: No, stop-- Beret Guy (thinking): Person: Great, you've trapped us in a a hypothetical situation! Beret Guy (holding ice cream): Mm, ice cream. Person: Maybe if I had a knife I could cut our way free . . . Person (thinking): Beret Guy: Mmm, ice cream! Person (reaching back into previous thought bubble): Here, take this one. {{alt: What if someone broke out of a hypothetical situation in your room right now?}}</div> </div> <div id="bottom" class="box"> <img src="//imgs.xkcd.com/s/a899e84.jpg" width="520" height="100" alt="Selected Comics" usemap="#comicmap"/> <map id="comicmap" name="comicmap"> <area shape="rect" coords="0,0,100,100" href="/150/" alt="Grownups"/> <area shape="rect" coords="104,0,204,100" href="/730/" alt="Circuit Diagram"/> <area shape="rect" coords="208,0,308,100" href="/162/" alt="Angular Momentum"/> <area shape="rect" coords="312,0,412,100" href="/688/" alt="Self-Description"/> <area shape="rect" coords="416,0,520,100" href="/556/" alt="Alternative Energy Revolution"/> </map> <br /> <a href="//xkcd.com/1732/"><img border=0 src="//imgs.xkcd.com/s/temperature.png" width="520" height="100" alt="Earth temperature timeline"></a> <br /> <div>  <a href="/rss.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="/atom.xml">Atom Feed</a> - <a href="/newsletter/">Email</a> </div> <br /> <div id="comicLinks"> Comics I enjoy:<br/> <a href="http://threewordphrase.com/">Three Word Phrase</a>, <a href="https://www.smbc-comics.com/">SMBC</a>, <a href="https://www.qwantz.com">Dinosaur Comics</a>, <a href="https://oglaf.com/">Oglaf</a> (nsfw), <a href="https://www.asofterworld.com">A Softer World</a>, <a href="https://buttersafe.com/">Buttersafe</a>, <a href="https://pbfcomics.com/">Perry Bible Fellowship</a>, <a href="https://questionablecontent.net/">Questionable Content</a>, <a href="http://www.buttercupfestival.com/">Buttercup Festival</a>, <a href="https://www.homestuck.com/">Homestuck</a>, <a href="https://www.jspowerhour.com/">Junior Scientist Power Hour</a> </div> <br /> <div id="comicLinks"> Other things:<br/> <a href="https://medium.com/civic-tech-thoughts-from-joshdata/so-you-want-to-reform-democracy-7f3b1ef10597">Tips on technology and government</a>,<br /> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/climate/what-is-climate-change.html">Climate FAQ</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/KHayhoe">Katharine Hayhoe</a> </div> <br /> <center> <div id="footnote" style="width:70%">xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS<br />at a screen resolution of 1024x1. 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