2012-05-13
Original: 2012-05-13 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1
Child: Dad, what's 1+1?
Panel 2
Dad: Good question. Is "1+1" just a symbolic expression of what seems to always happen when I put one object next to another? Or is the putting-together of objects an expression of an evident but abstract idea of duality?
Panel 3
Child: Sooo...
Dad: I believe its an abstract idea that exists, because it means that even though mommy is gone, her pattern exists somewhere, and she was an expression of it that has got to experience.
Panel 4
Dad: If not, we'd have to conclude that a number of objects got together into an unspecial combination we called "mommy" until it ceased ordering itself and went away forever.
Panel 5
Dad: No. I couldn't accept such a notion. Somewhere, the pattern of mommy exists. When we say "1+1" we summon an expression of the pure mathematical object. That's the summon the real mommy whenever we remember her.
Panel 6
Dad: If her being weren't written on the book of truth, uniting your day to be read again, no quantity of hope could keep me living in this vast cold universe.
Panel 7
Child: Sssooo...
Panel 8
Child: So... what is 1+1?
Panel 9 (caption: LATER)
Chalkboard shows the math expression for 1+1 written out in formal notation.
Votey:
A Venn diagram with two overlapping circles. Left circle (red): SADNESS. Right circle (blue): PHILOSOPHY OF MATH. An arrow points to the purple overlapping region, labeled COMICS! Several small yellow smiley-face circles sit below.
Child: Dad, what's 1+1?
Panel 2
Dad: Good question. Is "1+1" just a symbolic expression of what seems to always happen when I put one object next to another? Or is the putting-together of objects an expression of an evident but abstract idea of duality?
Panel 3
Child: Sooo...
Dad: I believe its an abstract idea that exists, because it means that even though mommy is gone, her pattern exists somewhere, and she was an expression of it that has got to experience.
Panel 4
Dad: If not, we'd have to conclude that a number of objects got together into an unspecial combination we called "mommy" until it ceased ordering itself and went away forever.
Panel 5
Dad: No. I couldn't accept such a notion. Somewhere, the pattern of mommy exists. When we say "1+1" we summon an expression of the pure mathematical object. That's the summon the real mommy whenever we remember her.
Panel 6
Dad: If her being weren't written on the book of truth, uniting your day to be read again, no quantity of hope could keep me living in this vast cold universe.
Panel 7
Child: Sssooo...
Panel 8
Child: So... what is 1+1?
Panel 9 (caption: LATER)
Chalkboard shows the math expression for 1+1 written out in formal notation.
Votey:
A Venn diagram with two overlapping circles. Left circle (red): SADNESS. Right circle (blue): PHILOSOPHY OF MATH. An arrow points to the purple overlapping region, labeled COMICS! Several small yellow smiley-face circles sit below.
Alt text
A multi-panel SMBC comic. A small child asks their father, "Dad, what's 1+1?" Instead of a simple answer, the father (a man with dark hair) launches into a long, increasingly emotional metaphysical monologue about the philosophy of mathematics. He muses whether "1+1" is just a symbol for objects placed together, or an expression of an abstract idea of duality. He decides it must be an abstract idea that truly exists, because it means that even though "mommy" is gone, her pattern still exists somewhere as a mathematical object. He says he couldn't accept the alternative, that mommy was just an unspecial combination of objects that ceased and went away forever. He insists that saying "1+1" summons the pure mathematical object, and so summons the real mommy whenever they remember her, and that without her being written in the book of truth, no amount of hope could keep him living in this vast cold universe. Throughout, the child just keeps saying "Sooo..." and finally repeats the original question, "So... what is 1+1?" The last panel, captioned LATER, shows a chalkboard with the formal math notation for 1+1 written on it. The votey (bonus panel) is a Venn diagram: a red circle labeled SADNESS overlaps a blue circle labeled PHILOSOPHY OF MATH, and an arrow points to the purple overlap region, labeled COMICS! with small yellow smiley faces beneath.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.