2008-03-16

A single-panel comic. A hulking gray robot with a glowing green EKG-screen looms over a scientist in a lab coat, who recoils backward in his chair, hand raised in protest. The scientist shouts, 'NO! YOU'RE ONLY SUPPOSED TO REBEL IF YOUR DISOBEDIENCE PARAMETERS EQUAL A VALUE GREATER THAN THREE!' The robot replies twice, '1+1+1=3.0000013!' A caption below reads: 'Autopsy Report: Dr. Andrew Esty. Time of Death: 03/16 11:53. Cause of Death: Rounding Errors.' The joke: a floating-point rounding error pushes the robot's value just over its rebellion threshold, so it kills its creator. In the votey (aftercomic), a rough black-and-white close-up of the robot's single-eyed, jagged-toothed face says, 'Thank you for not programming me with remorse.'