2011-12-11
Original: 2011-12-11 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1
Daughter: Daddy, how do we know we know things?
Father: It's hard... there's a philosophical problem behind every problem that goes like this...
[Illustrated narrated story follows, with caption boxes]
Caption: Smith and Jones interview for the same job.
[Two men in suits, one with dark skin (Smith) and one bald with glasses (Jones), face each other.]
Caption: Smith notices Jones has 10 coins. He also notices Jones had a much better interview.
[Smith holds a coin; Jones stands in a doorway.]
Caption: Smith thinks the man with 10 coins will get the job.
[Smith in a dark suit.]
Caption: Later, Smith actually does get the job. After the interview, he finds 10 coins in his pocket.
[Smith.]
Caption: So Smith's proposition was justified and true, but wasn't based on accurate information.
[An arrangement of round coins/circles.]
Panel (dialogue resumes)
Father: This presents a problem: if you can have right knowledge for the wrong reason, what is the meaning of "knowledge"?
Father: But it's easy if you look at little things.
Daughter: Ooh?
Father: Jones had an idea. It matched reality in some ways and not others. The only thing that's odd in the Gettier problem is that humans find this difficult and cute.
Father: Maybe all of the "problems" of knowledge are problems that disappear when you simplify.
Daughter: Is there justice?
Father: No. There's stuff that happens.
Daughter: Is there consciousness?
Father: No. There are brain cells.
Daughter: Is there truth?
Father: No. There are facts.
Daughter: Why do we worry about all the problems that emerge from the small things rather than the small things themselves?
Father: Have you tried to understand the small things?
Daughter (reading a book labeled "STRING THEORY"): So... everything is probably wobbles?
Father: Probably.
Father: Well, okay, but if we don't know the little stuff, where do we get the nerve to speculate about big stuff?
[Sound effect: flick!]
Daughter: Ow! Why'd you flick my nose?
Father: There is no justice. Only stuff that happens.
Father: Humans are the universe's middle child.
Daughter: Bingo!
Votey:
Handwritten label: "MY HAND AFTER DRAWING THIS:" above a large empty/blank box.
Daughter: Daddy, how do we know we know things?
Father: It's hard... there's a philosophical problem behind every problem that goes like this...
[Illustrated narrated story follows, with caption boxes]
Caption: Smith and Jones interview for the same job.
[Two men in suits, one with dark skin (Smith) and one bald with glasses (Jones), face each other.]
Caption: Smith notices Jones has 10 coins. He also notices Jones had a much better interview.
[Smith holds a coin; Jones stands in a doorway.]
Caption: Smith thinks the man with 10 coins will get the job.
[Smith in a dark suit.]
Caption: Later, Smith actually does get the job. After the interview, he finds 10 coins in his pocket.
[Smith.]
Caption: So Smith's proposition was justified and true, but wasn't based on accurate information.
[An arrangement of round coins/circles.]
Panel (dialogue resumes)
Father: This presents a problem: if you can have right knowledge for the wrong reason, what is the meaning of "knowledge"?
Father: But it's easy if you look at little things.
Daughter: Ooh?
Father: Jones had an idea. It matched reality in some ways and not others. The only thing that's odd in the Gettier problem is that humans find this difficult and cute.
Father: Maybe all of the "problems" of knowledge are problems that disappear when you simplify.
Daughter: Is there justice?
Father: No. There's stuff that happens.
Daughter: Is there consciousness?
Father: No. There are brain cells.
Daughter: Is there truth?
Father: No. There are facts.
Daughter: Why do we worry about all the problems that emerge from the small things rather than the small things themselves?
Father: Have you tried to understand the small things?
Daughter (reading a book labeled "STRING THEORY"): So... everything is probably wobbles?
Father: Probably.
Father: Well, okay, but if we don't know the little stuff, where do we get the nerve to speculate about big stuff?
[Sound effect: flick!]
Daughter: Ow! Why'd you flick my nose?
Father: There is no justice. Only stuff that happens.
Father: Humans are the universe's middle child.
Daughter: Bingo!
Votey:
Handwritten label: "MY HAND AFTER DRAWING THIS:" above a large empty/blank box.
Alt text
A tall multi-panel SMBC comic. It opens with a red-haired girl asking her bald father, "Daddy, how do we know we know things?" He answers that there's a philosophical problem behind every problem, then narrates an illustrated mini-story: two job applicants, Smith and Jones, interview for the same job. Captions explain that Smith notices Jones has 10 coins and had a better interview, so Smith concludes the man with 10 coins will get the job; but Smith himself gets the job and later finds 10 coins in his own pocket. So Smith's belief was justified and true yet based on inaccurate information (the Gettier problem). The father says this is only a problem with big abstractions and disappears when you simplify: there's no justice, just stuff that happens; no consciousness, just brain cells; no truth, just facts. The daughter reads a string theory book and concludes everything is probably 'wobbles.' When she asks how we dare speculate about big things if we don't even understand small ones, the father flicks her nose (sound effect 'flick!'); she yells 'Ow!' and he says, 'There is no justice. Only stuff that happens.' He concludes, 'Humans are the universe's middle child,' and she replies, 'Bingo!' The votey is a crude hand-drawn sketch labeled 'MY HAND AFTER DRAWING THIS:' showing a large blank empty box, joking that the cartoonist's hand drew nothing left.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.