I said for the next 30 days I’d post about electronics, programming and technology. It seems like I’m talking about a weird cartoon, but that’s not entirely true. One of the things that I love about cartoons such as Futurama, or Rick and Morty is that they include a lot of actual science and technology. They also include a lot that is pure fiction, but that’s not the focus of this post.
Have you watched Rick and Morty?
Rick is an eccentric, alcoholic scientist and his Morty is his unassuming grandson. Rick invented a portal gun which allows them to travel through different dimensions. It’s kind of like Dr Who if Dr Who was American, and the show’s creators were constantly trying to offend the sensors. If you haven’t watched it, no amount of my writing will convey how awesome this show is. You’ll need to watch it for yourself.
Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 001 Pilot by ducvien128
Rick is Morty
I’m certainly not the first person to come up with this theory. Other people have noted Rick saying he used to wear blue pants, there’s a Rick that look a lot like a Morty. There’s a lot in the show that would make sense if Rick really was Morty. Imagine if you had to hang around your former self, before you’d learnt all that you know now. I’d imagine that most people would constantly think to themselves, “I can’t believe that I was that clueless”.
It was the episode “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind” that really got me thinking that they’re the same person. Specifically it was the scene where they’re sitting on the people furniture and Rick tells Morty he’s needed for camouflage. Apparently Rick has unique brain waves that can be detected, and Morty’s brain waves cancel them out.
How do waves cancel each other out?
This isn’t a wacky concept Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland just invented. The concept is frequently used in audio circuits. Perhaps the easiest way to explain how two waves can add up to equal zero is to talk about active noise cancelling headphones. These headphones have a microphone built into the earpiece that “listens” to external sounds. The circuit in the headphones “wait” until the incoming sound-wave is at it’s peak, that’s when it plays the exact same sound but opposite. The two sounds are added together, so if one of them is 10 and the other is -10, they cancel each other out.
What does this have to do with Rick and Morty?
Yes, the two waves are opposite, but they’re not opposite in the way that day and night are opposite. Or the way girl and boy are opposite. The two waves that cancel each other out are exactly the same, they just occur at slightly different times. A 1kHz wave can cancel out another 1kHz wave, but a 1.3kHz wave will just add to the noise. What this means is that if what Rick was saying is accurate, Rick and Morty’s brain waves are the same, just occurring at a slightly different time.
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