
Repatriation cartoon – museum objects returned to former colonies

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by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
In the cartoon the aliens have deduced that a human glove is a garment for the body and the (five) legs, while the shoe is an article of headgear like a hat.
The aliens have reached their conclusion due to their bias towards their own body forms.
A cartoon about cognitive limitations, cultural bias
by chrismadden
This cartoon makes a very negative point about the human race. Personally I think that the human race is okay, but that we tend to have too high an expectation of ourselves and an unrealistic view of the possibility that we can attain an ideal state of existence.
I drew this cartoon in the 1970s. It’s now forty years later. By coincidence I’ve just read a few articles about philosopher John Gray, who is of the opinion that the human race is not exactly the best thing to have evolved on this planet. Possibly a bit misanthropic, but not deluded in the way that some of the more shiny concepts of the nature of humanity are. John Gray’s latest book is The Silence of Animals
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
This is a surreal, nonsense cartoon about an interstellar bus that has inadvertently stopped at a bus stop on earth (which isn’t on its bus route)
by chrismadden
A cartoon about psychiatry, psychology, psychological testing and personality profiling
by chrismadden
This cartoon was drawn quite a few years ago, maybe in the 1980s. I must check.
A quite surreal cartoon, bizarre both in subject and style
by chrismadden
This cartoon was drawn many years ago, but is relevant today due to the BBC series Alien Nation, about the bizarre and otherworldly appearance of insects. Fish look pretty weird too don’t you think?
by chrismadden
The point of this cartoon is to show that even a small deviation from the norm can make a human-like form look very odd, due to our sensitivity to the human form
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
Since creating it I’ve discovered that there is an actual nebula that goes by the same name. The ‘real’ Question Mark Nebula is an area of sky that includes parts of the nebulae NGC 7822, Ced 214, and Sh2-170
An illustration related to philosophy, astronomy, cosmology, science, the meaning of life, the nature of the universe.
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
This week on tv the daleks were in Dr Who and the paralympics were taking place.
The daleks famously have restricted mobility, as they are basically motorised wheelchairs.
The paralympics show a positive approach to disability, so it seems right to point out that the daleks are a positive role model for the disabled too, as their limited mobility is no impediment to their attempts to conquer the universe.
by chrismadden
Cartoon drawn: 2012
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
The ufo in the cartoon is projecting a dna shaped beam of energy down into the water on earth, creating the first life on the planet.
The concept of Was God an Astronaut? (as written about by Erich von Däniken, amongst others)has been revived recently with the film Prometheus by Ridley Scott, and will no doubt be aired again when the sequel is released. In Prometheus there was a scene depicting prehistoric cave paintings, although not humorously as here.
The theory that life may have been planted on Earth billions of years ago by an advanced alien civilization is sometimes known as directed panspermia. This theory was (mischievously?) proposed by Francis Crick (of dna fame) together with biologist Leslie Orgel in 1971. Directed panspermia is sometimes evoked to solve a particular problem in the science of life – science’s current inability to explain life’s origin. Of course the theory simply puts off the explanation, very much in the way that religions do
This cartoon first appeared in BBC Knowledge magazine.
by chrismadden
A cartoon about sentience, sentient computers, artificial intelligence and the Turing test.
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden
by chrismadden