« The Space Age | Main | Get Rid of Teacher Licenses »
23 July 2009 4:06 PM
The Creator of Dilbert Speaks
Wired has a fascinating story on his bizarre problem:
The rules changed all the time--sometimes day to day, sometimes hour to hour--and whenever he tried to recite them, people thought, "This guy is nuts."
The rules dictated when and where Scott Adams, the chief engineer of the Dilbert comic empire, was allowed to speak. He could neither control them nor predict exactly when they'd go into effect. All he knew was that he'd woken up one morning and found that his voice had turned against him, imposing a set of bizarre restrictions.
Take the rule about crowds. If Adams was at a party with friends, he'd open his mouth to talk, only to find the words tumbling out in a raspy, imperceptible staccato, chopping off sentences before they had a chance to form. If he tried to say, "Tomorrow is my birthday," for example, it would morph into a weak "Ma robf sss ma birfday." But if he was on the lecture circuit, delivering a prepared speech to a crowd of thousands, he could stand behind the podium and--"Hello!"--his voice would whir back to life, if only for the hour he was onstage.
There was also the rule about being alone. Adams might be sitting at the desk in his Bay Area office, working on a new Dilbert strip, when suddenly he'd be able to form words. He'd call out to others in the house--"I can talk!"--but the moment somebody stepped into the room, his voice evaporated.
Then there was the rule about the rules themselves. For some reason, if Adams were to explain his condition to you, his speech would suddenly become clear and strong. Change the topic, however, and his voice would jumble again.
But if you were to place a video camera in front of him and have him talk into it--well, in that case, he could be relatively lucid about anything.
That one still baffles him.
Read the whole thing.
Post a comment