Goodbye Dilbert

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, had a racist rant in a video he posted last week. As a result most newspapers that carried the comic strip are dropping Dilbert, including our local Chicago Tribune. I fully support these moves. Much as I believe in separating the art from the artist, it's different when the artist is living and profiting from their art.

So we need to say to Dilbert, making the end of an era. Dilbert started in 1989 as a strip that captured the absurdities of the work place in an anonymous tech company, predating movies like Office Space and shows like Better Off Ted and Silicon Valley. I used Dilbert strips (with permission) in my book, namely this strip to introduce Kolmogorov complexity and this strip to describe my research area. Just call me Dan.

Farewell to Dilbert, Dogbert, Wally, Alice, Asok, the pointy-haired boss and the rest. I won't miss Scott Adams, but I will miss his creations.