Insight
Insight
[White Hat is holding a finger up while talking to Cueball.] White Hat: Maybe before we rush to adopt < Google Glass > we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives.
[Caption below the panel:] Don't have any insights about a new technology? Just use this sentence! It makes you sound wise and you can say it about virtually anything.

White Hat is giving a profound insight into <Google Glass>. This insight, however, can be given, sounding just as profound, for any other new technology that comes around—hence the angled brackets around Google Glass , indicating that "Google Glass" is a placeholder. This, of course, means it is not profound at all, as it has no actual insight into Google Glass (or any other technology).
The title text highlights a common trait of human listeners. The above sentence is constructed in such a way as to trigger the listener's reservations about the new technology. The sentence sounds profound, not because it has any actual insights, but because it causes the listener to fill in the missing insights with his own pre-existing thoughts on the matter. This is a typical effect of Confirmation bias . Not only does this cause Cueball to regard White Hat as insightful, but it also causes Cueball to think that White Hat agrees with whatever it is that Cueball fears <Google Glass> for.
It seems no coincidence that Randall chose Google Glass as the placeholder. It seems generally that he is no fan of these, which was shown soon after in 1251: Anti-Glass and later again in 1304: Glass Trolling . This was the first time Google Glass was directly mentioned but since this comic Google Glass has become a recurring theme in xkcd.
The caption is reminiscent of Randall's tips , but since the word tip is left out, it is not itself a tip comic.
[White Hat is holding a finger up while talking to Cueball.] White Hat: Maybe before we rush to adopt < Google Glass > we should stop to consider the consequences of blithely giving this technology such a central position in our lives.
[Caption below the panel:] Don't have any insights about a new technology? Just use this sentence! It makes you sound wise and you can say it about virtually anything.
