2013-01-29
Original: 2013-01-29 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (caption): IN THE PREFACE OF THE 1955 EDITION OF "THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS," CAMUS WRITES:
Quoted passage: "The fundamental subject of "The Myth of Sisyphus" is this: it is legitimate and necessary to wonder whether life has a meaning; therefore it is legitimate to meet the problem of suicide face to face. The answer, underlying and appearing through the paradoxes which cover it, is this: even if one does not believe in God, suicide is not legitimate. Written fifteen years ago, in 1940, amid the French and European disaster, this book declares that even within the limits of nihilism it is possible to find the means to proceed beyond nihilism. In all the books I have written since, I have attempted to pursue this direction. Although "The Myth of Sisyphus" poses mortal problems, it sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert."
Panel 2 (caption): I LIKE THIS VIEW. I FIND IT VALUABLE.
A man with flame-like orange hair, reading a book, shouts angrily: YEAH! SUCK ON THAT, DESERT OF NIHILISM!
Panel 3 (caption): AND YET, I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF SCIENCE WILL ONE DAY MAKE HUMANS IMMORTAL.
A graph is shown with the y-axis labeled AVERAGE LIFESPAN and the x-axis labeled TIME, with a red curve that stays low then sweeps sharply upward.
Panel 4 (caption): AND THOSE PEOPLE, NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM US...
Three people stand in a row facing forward: the orange-haired man, a woman with brown hair, and a woman with dark hair in a green and blue sari.
Panel 5 (caption): WILL LOOK BACK AT THIS PHILOSOPHY AS JUST ANOTHER ANCIENT THEOLOGY, AND SAY...
The same three people stand together reading from open books, smiling.
Panel 6 (caption): "WHEN THEY REALIZED THEY WERE IN THE DESERT, THEY BUILT A RELIGION TO WORSHIP THIRSTINESS."
From behind, the three people look out over a desert landscape where small figures dance and celebrate on a sand dune.
Votey:
Caption: DEPRESSED? ENJOY THIS INEPT DUCK:
A cartoon duck flops over awkwardly on its back. Sound effect: MWACK!
Quoted passage: "The fundamental subject of "The Myth of Sisyphus" is this: it is legitimate and necessary to wonder whether life has a meaning; therefore it is legitimate to meet the problem of suicide face to face. The answer, underlying and appearing through the paradoxes which cover it, is this: even if one does not believe in God, suicide is not legitimate. Written fifteen years ago, in 1940, amid the French and European disaster, this book declares that even within the limits of nihilism it is possible to find the means to proceed beyond nihilism. In all the books I have written since, I have attempted to pursue this direction. Although "The Myth of Sisyphus" poses mortal problems, it sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert."
Panel 2 (caption): I LIKE THIS VIEW. I FIND IT VALUABLE.
A man with flame-like orange hair, reading a book, shouts angrily: YEAH! SUCK ON THAT, DESERT OF NIHILISM!
Panel 3 (caption): AND YET, I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF SCIENCE WILL ONE DAY MAKE HUMANS IMMORTAL.
A graph is shown with the y-axis labeled AVERAGE LIFESPAN and the x-axis labeled TIME, with a red curve that stays low then sweeps sharply upward.
Panel 4 (caption): AND THOSE PEOPLE, NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM US...
Three people stand in a row facing forward: the orange-haired man, a woman with brown hair, and a woman with dark hair in a green and blue sari.
Panel 5 (caption): WILL LOOK BACK AT THIS PHILOSOPHY AS JUST ANOTHER ANCIENT THEOLOGY, AND SAY...
The same three people stand together reading from open books, smiling.
Panel 6 (caption): "WHEN THEY REALIZED THEY WERE IN THE DESERT, THEY BUILT A RELIGION TO WORSHIP THIRSTINESS."
From behind, the three people look out over a desert landscape where small figures dance and celebrate on a sand dune.
Votey:
Caption: DEPRESSED? ENJOY THIS INEPT DUCK:
A cartoon duck flops over awkwardly on its back. Sound effect: MWACK!
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1 caption: "In the preface of the 1955 edition of 'The Myth of Sisyphus,' Camus writes:" followed by a long quoted passage in which Camus argues that even within the limits of nihilism it is possible to proceed beyond it, and that the book is "a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert." Panel 2 caption: "I like this view. I find it valuable." Below it, an angry man with flame-like orange hair reading a book shouts, "Yeah! Suck on THAT, desert of nihilism!" Panel 3 caption: "And yet, I can't help but wonder if science will one day make humans immortal." It shows a graph of average lifespan versus time, with a red curve rising sharply upward toward the end. Panel 4 caption: "And those people, not so different from us..." showing three people standing in a row: the orange-haired man, a brown-haired woman, and a dark-haired woman in a sari. Panel 5 caption: "...will look back at this philosophy as just another ancient theology, and say..." the three smiling as they read from books. Panel 6 caption, their imagined future quote: "When they realized they were in the desert, they built a religion to worship thirstiness," shown over the three looking out at distant figures joyfully dancing on a sand dune. The joke: Camus's defiant embrace of finding meaning amid nihilism ("the desert") is reframed by hypothetical immortals as a primitive religion that worshipped thirst. Votey (aftercomic): caption "Depressed? Enjoy this inept duck:" with a clumsy cartoon duck flopping over on its back and a sound effect, "Mwack!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.