I don’t know about anyone else, but my mind went straight to the “Arlo” interpretation. That his “action” didn’t produce much of a “reaction” in her.
Wasn’t Newton notoriously bad with women? Or am I thinking of another great thinker/scientist?
I think “Almost makes sense” is about all we can hope for…
Intended joke: he’s talking about how he hit on another woman and she just outright hit him.
In any case, Newton was apparently uninterested in women. And people in general. There has been much speculation about his sexuality as a result, but AFAIK nothing solid has ever come up.
I’m taking it as he’s trying to saying he’s attracted to her and whether she knows it or not she’s attracted to him. She’s saying the reaction is opposite and she is repelled by him. But not equally. She’s for more disgusted and repelled by him then he is attracted to her.
But any other interpretation would work as well because… well “almost makes sense” and “pardon my planet” as noted never really mesh well.
Powers: Wasn’t Newton notoriously bad with women? Or am I thinking of another great thinker/scientist?
He supposedly died a virgin, so . . . yeah, there’s where I went with this joke.
In spite of having been a physicist, when I saw the post title my mind went to Asimov’s Third Law of Robotics.
In spite of having been a physics teacher, I had the same reaction as Brian in STL.
Maybe the creator is riffing on “opposites attract”, saw “equal and opposite” somewhere and thought there was a way to make them connect to each other. I agree, it does feel like there should be something here but none of it makes any sense.
Wow. This seems so obvious to me.
A geeky guy in a bar is trying to impress a woman by espousing his great intellect in coming up with an irrefutable law, that she shuts down by telling him he is wrong because reactions to him will, invariably from women, be opposite and not equal, thus invalidating his law.
She isn’t interested. Her reaction is the opposite of attraction. Not strongly, just indifferent. It can be said to be opposite, but not equal (in magnitude) to his. Whether that is because he is wrong about his law or because he spent his time talking about himself and not her interests doesn’t really matter. Either way, he doesn’t understand women to know how to chat them up at a bar.
There could be a meta joke in here. This woman has the opportunity to be with one of the greatest minds ever. He might be a socially clumsy scientist, but he really does know his science. She thinks he clearly doesn’t know anything, including about women, so dismisses him and insults him, thinking she has disproved his law. The joke could be on her, not him.
We can be pretty sure Newton was somewhere on the spectrum.
Somewhere around Indigo?
Danny and Brian: consider your comments LIKEd. (Whatever happened to that “Reader” setting?)
“Third law” makes me think of thermodynamics, and “you can’t stop playing the game” might fit the setting better. If it weren’t, you know, meant to be before it was formulated.
Boise Ed, the Reader mode I think becomes available when you sign in with a WP login.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I don’t know about anyone else, but my mind went straight to the “Arlo” interpretation. That his “action” didn’t produce much of a “reaction” in her.
Wasn’t Newton notoriously bad with women? Or am I thinking of another great thinker/scientist?
I think “Almost makes sense” is about all we can hope for…
Intended joke: he’s talking about how he hit on another woman and she just outright hit him.
In any case, Newton was apparently uninterested in women. And people in general. There has been much speculation about his sexuality as a result, but AFAIK nothing solid has ever come up.
I’m taking it as he’s trying to saying he’s attracted to her and whether she knows it or not she’s attracted to him. She’s saying the reaction is opposite and she is repelled by him. But not equally. She’s for more disgusted and repelled by him then he is attracted to her.
But any other interpretation would work as well because… well “almost makes sense” and “pardon my planet” as noted never really mesh well.
Powers: Wasn’t Newton notoriously bad with women? Or am I thinking of another great thinker/scientist?
He supposedly died a virgin, so . . . yeah, there’s where I went with this joke.
In spite of having been a physicist, when I saw the post title my mind went to Asimov’s Third Law of Robotics.
In spite of having been a physics teacher, I had the same reaction as Brian in STL.
Maybe the creator is riffing on “opposites attract”, saw “equal and opposite” somewhere and thought there was a way to make them connect to each other. I agree, it does feel like there should be something here but none of it makes any sense.
Wow. This seems so obvious to me.
A geeky guy in a bar is trying to impress a woman by espousing his great intellect in coming up with an irrefutable law, that she shuts down by telling him he is wrong because reactions to him will, invariably from women, be opposite and not equal, thus invalidating his law.
She isn’t interested. Her reaction is the opposite of attraction. Not strongly, just indifferent. It can be said to be opposite, but not equal (in magnitude) to his. Whether that is because he is wrong about his law or because he spent his time talking about himself and not her interests doesn’t really matter. Either way, he doesn’t understand women to know how to chat them up at a bar.
There could be a meta joke in here. This woman has the opportunity to be with one of the greatest minds ever. He might be a socially clumsy scientist, but he really does know his science. She thinks he clearly doesn’t know anything, including about women, so dismisses him and insults him, thinking she has disproved his law. The joke could be on her, not him.
We can be pretty sure Newton was somewhere on the spectrum.
Somewhere around Indigo?
Danny and Brian: consider your comments LIKEd. (Whatever happened to that “Reader” setting?)
“Third law” makes me think of thermodynamics, and “you can’t stop playing the game” might fit the setting better. If it weren’t, you know, meant to be before it was formulated.
Boise Ed, the Reader mode I think becomes available when you sign in with a WP login.