2012-11-12
Original: 2012-11-12 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (single panel):
A man in profile (silhouetted dark, with dark hair) speaks to a woman with reddish-orange hair wearing a blue shirt.
Man (in profile): WELL, A SMALL NUMBER OF TINY THINGS STARTED VIBRATING A LOT. THEN THEY WOBBLE SOME OTHER THINGS, WHICH WOBBLE A LOT OF OTHER THINGS, RESULTING IN A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN DISORDER.
Woman (red hair): WHAT ABOUT THE LIVING THINGS INSIDE?
Man: THAT IS A MEANINGLESS DISTINCTION.
Caption (below panel): Physicists make lousy firemen.
Votey:
The man, now smiling cheerfully (sketched in black-and-white line art): THEY'RE FINE. JUST IN A DIFFERENT CHEMICAL ARRANGEMENT NOW.
A man in profile (silhouetted dark, with dark hair) speaks to a woman with reddish-orange hair wearing a blue shirt.
Man (in profile): WELL, A SMALL NUMBER OF TINY THINGS STARTED VIBRATING A LOT. THEN THEY WOBBLE SOME OTHER THINGS, WHICH WOBBLE A LOT OF OTHER THINGS, RESULTING IN A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN DISORDER.
Woman (red hair): WHAT ABOUT THE LIVING THINGS INSIDE?
Man: THAT IS A MEANINGLESS DISTINCTION.
Caption (below panel): Physicists make lousy firemen.
Votey:
The man, now smiling cheerfully (sketched in black-and-white line art): THEY'RE FINE. JUST IN A DIFFERENT CHEMICAL ARRANGEMENT NOW.
Alt text
A single-panel comic. A dark-haired man shown in profile silhouette explains to a red-haired woman in a blue shirt: "Well, a small number of tiny things started vibrating a lot. Then they wobble some other things, which wobble a lot of other things, resulting in a significant increase in disorder." The worried-looking woman asks, "What about the living things inside?" The man replies flatly, "That is a meaningless distinction." He is describing a fire in coldly physical, thermodynamic terms instead of acknowledging that people are dying. A caption below reads: "Physicists make lousy firemen." In the votey aftercomic, a black-and-white line drawing shows the same man smiling reassuringly as he adds, "They're fine. Just in a different chemical arrangement now" — cheerfully reframing the victims' deaths as a mere change of chemistry.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.