2015-02-18
Original: 2015-02-18 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Child: Consider the series: dog + dog + dog + ...
Child: Let's call it Δ_dog
Panel 2:
Child: Now suppose we say:
2Δ_dog = dog + (dog + dog + dog + ...)
Panel 3:
Child: Because Δ_dog contains infinite dogs, we can now say: 2Δ_dog = dog + Δ_dog, thus: Δ_dog = dog + Δ_dog
Panel 4:
Child: Now we subtract away Δ_dog from Δ_dog. By simple algebra, we prove that you can get a dog from nothing. 0 = dog
Panel 5:
FLASH!
Panel 6:
Child (now holding a small dog): We must use this discovery carefully.
(Another child stands beside, looking on.)
Panel 7:
The Earth seen from space against a black starfield.
Panel 8:
A single massive ball/sphere fills the frame (a giant mass of dogs / fur).
Panel 9:
A hellish landscape: red and black sky, ruined silhouettes, with countless dogs piled across the ground.
Votey: Handwritten text reads: "Anyone emailing me to critique the math shall be imprisoned on sight."
Child: Consider the series: dog + dog + dog + ...
Child: Let's call it Δ_dog
Panel 2:
Child: Now suppose we say:
2Δ_dog = dog + (dog + dog + dog + ...)
Panel 3:
Child: Because Δ_dog contains infinite dogs, we can now say: 2Δ_dog = dog + Δ_dog, thus: Δ_dog = dog + Δ_dog
Panel 4:
Child: Now we subtract away Δ_dog from Δ_dog. By simple algebra, we prove that you can get a dog from nothing. 0 = dog
Panel 5:
FLASH!
Panel 6:
Child (now holding a small dog): We must use this discovery carefully.
(Another child stands beside, looking on.)
Panel 7:
The Earth seen from space against a black starfield.
Panel 8:
A single massive ball/sphere fills the frame (a giant mass of dogs / fur).
Panel 9:
A hellish landscape: red and black sky, ruined silhouettes, with countless dogs piled across the ground.
Votey: Handwritten text reads: "Anyone emailing me to critique the math shall be imprisoned on sight."
Alt text
A tall SMBC comic. In the first four panels, a child excitedly works through a fake mathematical proof at a chalkboard-style of reasoning: they define an infinite series Δ_dog = dog + dog + dog + ..., then manipulate it algebraically (2Δ_dog = dog + Δ_dog, so Δ_dog = dog + Δ_dog) to absurdly conclude that 0 = dog, i.e. you can conjure a dog from nothing. A huge starburst panel reads FLASH! Next, the child stands holding a small dog and says, "We must use this discovery carefully," while another child watches. The final panels zoom out ominously: Earth from space, then a giant spherical mass of dogs, then a hellish red-and-black ruined landscape buried in piles of dogs — the joke being the proof unleashed infinite dogs and ended the world. Votey panel: handwritten note reading, "Anyone emailing me to critique the math shall be imprisoned on sight."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.