2012-06-10
Original: 2012-06-10 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (narration): We created a universe to explore the behavior of life.
Panel 2 (narration): I wonder what it's like if karma is arbitrary.
Panel 3 (narration): It occurred to us that if two strands of life met, they might not have a way to communicate.
(Two planets are shown, one red and one blue.)
Panel 4 (narration): So we built a universal language that all of them could use.
(A field of dots/binary-like symbols is shown.)
Panel 5 (narration): The language was so universal, life found it could be used to talk to non-life.
Life (a person): Hey, rocket?
(A line of symbols / equation is shown alongside a rocket.)
Panel 6 (narration): But when life forms met, they both told the non-life to make the other life stop.
(Two equations/symbol strings shown, with rockets aimed at each other.)
Panel 7 (narration): Now only non-life remains.
(Debris and rubble drifting in dark space.)
Panel 8 (narration): And all it can do is listen.
(More wreckage in the dark.)
Votey:
Caption above panel: MAJOR CONCERNS:
A man lying in bed, thinking: Dammit. This equation needs an exclamation point but then it'd be a factorial.
Panel 2 (narration): I wonder what it's like if karma is arbitrary.
Panel 3 (narration): It occurred to us that if two strands of life met, they might not have a way to communicate.
(Two planets are shown, one red and one blue.)
Panel 4 (narration): So we built a universal language that all of them could use.
(A field of dots/binary-like symbols is shown.)
Panel 5 (narration): The language was so universal, life found it could be used to talk to non-life.
Life (a person): Hey, rocket?
(A line of symbols / equation is shown alongside a rocket.)
Panel 6 (narration): But when life forms met, they both told the non-life to make the other life stop.
(Two equations/symbol strings shown, with rockets aimed at each other.)
Panel 7 (narration): Now only non-life remains.
(Debris and rubble drifting in dark space.)
Panel 8 (narration): And all it can do is listen.
(More wreckage in the dark.)
Votey:
Caption above panel: MAJOR CONCERNS:
A man lying in bed, thinking: Dammit. This equation needs an exclamation point but then it'd be a factorial.
Alt text
A tall vertical SMBC comic told entirely in narration over space scenes with a dark red border. Panels read top to bottom: 'We created a universe to explore the behavior of life.' / 'I wonder what it's like if karma is arbitrary.' / 'It occurred to us that if two strands of life met, they might not have a way to communicate' — shown with a red planet and a blue planet. / 'So we built a universal language that all of them could use' — shown as a field of dots like a star chart or binary code. / 'The language was so universal, life found it could be used to talk to non-life,' as a person says 'Hey, rocket?' beside an equation and a rocket. / 'But when life forms met, they both told the non-life to make the other life stop' — two rockets aimed at each other, each with its own string of symbols. / 'Now only non-life remains' — drifting rubble and debris in dark space. / 'And all it can do is listen' — more wreckage in the void. Votey: titled MAJOR CONCERNS, a man lies in bed thinking, 'Dammit. This equation needs an exclamation point but then it'd be a factorial.' The joke: a cosmic tragedy where life teaches machines a universal language only to weaponize them into mutual annihilation, undercut by the creator's petty real concern being mathematical notation.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.