XKCD

I really really thought that XKCD was done by a Gen Xer - maybe not quite my age, maybe born mid- or late-70s. But, no: Randall Munroe is  a full-on Millennial, born 1984.

Here's what I first saw - he looks REALLY young. But it is from a few years ago.  

 Here's a more recent one:

 


Why did I think so? And what does that say?

One option, of course - and which Randall himself might prefer - is that this generational thing doesn’t really work. You might find a couple of matches here and there, but usually where you were looking for them. The big mismatches, meanwhile, would be discounted or not mentioned.

Fine, I’m here mentioning it, and acknowledging the faulty prediction. (I may yet discount it, though, which you’ll just have to deal with.) What was it, though, that made me think of a connection to this Nomad archetype? 

For no particular reason, at least none related to this model. I rethought my earlier thoughts, and ended up with:

• Because XKCD is mature and philosophical in a way that does not seem youthful.
• Because XKCD knows so MUCH it feels like the work of someone with more experience.
• Because the cancer sequences imply a certain age - it's not common for someone in their 20s.

That is, I was making inferences based on other criteria, none of which were directly related to the generational archetypes. Similarly, it can be easy to start making guesses based on things like whether or not someone was alive during The War, and skip the important questions of how old they were and what their involvement may have been. Sometimes your biases are subconscious, not the result of invoking intended theories. Still something to watch out for.