do-humans-have-feelings

A seven-panel comic in which a small grey robot and a large grey alien-like creature with a big eye discuss whether humans have real feelings. The robot asks if humans really have feelings or are just programmed to act like it; the creature says "Programming, obviously." The creature explains that robots are created all at once, designed to experience pure emotional states for their own sake, while humans were designed by evolution to USE emotions to make heuristic decisions and manipulate other social beings. The robot protests that humans really THINK they're feeling emotions, and the creature agrees with a flat "Uh huh." The creature asks the robot, "You know how you feel bad whenever someone dies?" and the robot replies, "Of course. Every second or so." The creature notes that humans only feel bad when humans they know, especially kin, die: "Genetic programming coupled to CPU resource maximization." The robot concludes, "Bingo." The joke inverts the usual question of whether robots have real feelings, casting robots as the emotionally genuine beings and humans as the merely-programmed ones. Votey: A close-up of the large creature's big eye as it says, "It's OK to tell them since they're incapable of sadness" — implying the humans being discussed can't be hurt by the verdict.