potential-2
Original: potential-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Mother: It's so exciting to be a kid, isn't it? You have infinite potential futures!
Child: Infinite? That doesn't sound right, Mama.
Panel 2:
Child: If the possibilities are infinite, how come there's SOME chance I'll be an astronaut, but NO chance you'll be an astronaut?
Panel 3:
Mother: Common misunderstanding of infinities. Think about it like this:
Panel 4:
Mother: Imagine you have infinite choices of roads, each of which has infinite side-paths, BUT none of the main roads touch.
Panel 5:
Mother: That means once you select, say, the road to Toronto, you still have infinite choices, but none of them will get you to Chicago.
Panel 6:
Mother: And being alive is like you have partial control of the steering wheel and no control over your speed.
Mother: There ya go!
Panel 7:
Mother: And the longer you drive, the more roads you'll never touch.
Panel 8:
Child: This is kinda ruining the whole "life is a journey" thing.
Panel 9:
Mother: I like to think of life as an infinite-branched tree that's slowly being dismembered!
Caption (bottom right): (This bonus comic is thanks to buyers of "Soonish"! Click for more info!)
Votey:
A robot stands with a speech bubble that reads: SOULMATE
Mother: It's so exciting to be a kid, isn't it? You have infinite potential futures!
Child: Infinite? That doesn't sound right, Mama.
Panel 2:
Child: If the possibilities are infinite, how come there's SOME chance I'll be an astronaut, but NO chance you'll be an astronaut?
Panel 3:
Mother: Common misunderstanding of infinities. Think about it like this:
Panel 4:
Mother: Imagine you have infinite choices of roads, each of which has infinite side-paths, BUT none of the main roads touch.
Panel 5:
Mother: That means once you select, say, the road to Toronto, you still have infinite choices, but none of them will get you to Chicago.
Panel 6:
Mother: And being alive is like you have partial control of the steering wheel and no control over your speed.
Mother: There ya go!
Panel 7:
Mother: And the longer you drive, the more roads you'll never touch.
Panel 8:
Child: This is kinda ruining the whole "life is a journey" thing.
Panel 9:
Mother: I like to think of life as an infinite-branched tree that's slowly being dismembered!
Caption (bottom right): (This bonus comic is thanks to buyers of "Soonish"! Click for more info!)
Votey:
A robot stands with a speech bubble that reads: SOULMATE
Alt text
A nine-panel SMBC comic. A pregnant mother talks with her young daughter. Mom cheerfully says it's exciting to be a kid with "infinite potential futures." The daughter objects: if possibilities are infinite, why is there some chance she'll be an astronaut but no chance her mom will be? Mom explains it's a common misunderstanding of infinities: imagine infinite roads, each with infinite side-paths, but the main roads never touch — so once you pick the road to Toronto you have infinite choices but can never reach Chicago. She adds that being alive is like having partial control of the steering wheel and no control of your speed, and the longer you drive the more roads you'll never touch. The daughter says this is kind of ruining the "life is a journey" thing. Mom brightly replies she likes to think of life as an infinite-branched tree that's slowly being dismembered. A caption notes the bonus comic is thanks to buyers of the book "Soonish." The votey: a blocky robot with a speech bubble saying "SOULMATE."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.