2012-11-04
Original: 2012-11-04 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Two women are talking. The woman with orange/red hair is explaining a concept; the woman with brown hair listens.
Panel 1 (orange-haired woman, gesturing at a green chalkboard/easel showing "00=a / 01=b / 02=c"): Because distance is infinitely divisible, if you assign number pairs to each letter of the alphabet, you can specify any string of letters just by pointing to a very specific place on this centimeter and getting its decimal output.
Panel 2 (orange-haired woman, holding up a small object): In fact, that sentence I just said is at a particular point on the centimeter, as was this one, and whatever you or I say in the future.
Panel 3 (orange-haired woman): The centimeter has read every book there will ever be and knows every scientific fact that CAN be. It knows the future of our friendship. It knows how we'll die. It knows how the universe ends and how it began.
Panel 4:
Brown-haired woman: What's the point of doing anything then?
Orange-haired woman: Well, the centimeter also "knows" a bunch of crazy stuff.
(A diagram points to a small yellow square on the centimeter, with labels: "2+2 = 3", "Up is down, rotated 90 degrees", and "Ponies aren't awesome".)
Panel 5:
Brown-haired woman: So I know infinity less than the centimeter, but have infinity better discretion.
Orange-haired woman: Yeah, that's basically your life. You know relatively no information, but you're relatively great at using it.
Panel 6:
Brown-haired woman (smiling): I bet if I tell Bobby about this, he'll LIKE me.
Orange-haired woman: Well, you're okay at using it.
Votey:
A silhouetted figure (off-panel speaker on the left): So... should I call the hospital or...
The woman on the right: Yes, please.
Panel 1 (orange-haired woman, gesturing at a green chalkboard/easel showing "00=a / 01=b / 02=c"): Because distance is infinitely divisible, if you assign number pairs to each letter of the alphabet, you can specify any string of letters just by pointing to a very specific place on this centimeter and getting its decimal output.
Panel 2 (orange-haired woman, holding up a small object): In fact, that sentence I just said is at a particular point on the centimeter, as was this one, and whatever you or I say in the future.
Panel 3 (orange-haired woman): The centimeter has read every book there will ever be and knows every scientific fact that CAN be. It knows the future of our friendship. It knows how we'll die. It knows how the universe ends and how it began.
Panel 4:
Brown-haired woman: What's the point of doing anything then?
Orange-haired woman: Well, the centimeter also "knows" a bunch of crazy stuff.
(A diagram points to a small yellow square on the centimeter, with labels: "2+2 = 3", "Up is down, rotated 90 degrees", and "Ponies aren't awesome".)
Panel 5:
Brown-haired woman: So I know infinity less than the centimeter, but have infinity better discretion.
Orange-haired woman: Yeah, that's basically your life. You know relatively no information, but you're relatively great at using it.
Panel 6:
Brown-haired woman (smiling): I bet if I tell Bobby about this, he'll LIKE me.
Orange-haired woman: Well, you're okay at using it.
Votey:
A silhouetted figure (off-panel speaker on the left): So... should I call the hospital or...
The woman on the right: Yes, please.
Alt text
A six-panel black-and-white-bordered color comic. An orange-haired woman lectures a brown-haired friend about a single centimeter. Panel 1: pointing at a chalkboard reading "00=a, 01=b, 02=c," she says that because distance is infinitely divisible, you can encode any string of letters as a decimal point along the centimeter. Panel 2: holding up a tiny object, she says the sentence she just spoke, and everything they will ever say, exists at a point on the centimeter. Panel 3: she says the centimeter has read every book that will ever exist and knows every fact, the future, how they'll die, and how the universe began and ends. Panel 4: the friend asks what the point of doing anything is; the woman replies the centimeter also 'knows' a bunch of crazy stuff, shown by a diagram pointing to a yellow square labeled '2+2=3,' 'Up is down, rotated 90 degrees,' and 'Ponies aren't awesome.' Panel 5: the friend concludes she knows infinitely less than the centimeter but has infinitely better discretion; the woman agrees that's basically her life: relatively no information but relatively great at using it. Panel 6: the friend grins, 'I bet if I tell Bobby about this, he'll LIKE me,' and the woman deadpans, 'Well, you're okay at using it.' Votey: a silhouetted person off-panel asks, 'So... should I call the hospital or...' and the woman on the right answers, 'Yes, please.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.