responsible
Original: responsible on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man: I'm afraid your data is about up. Uh... human.
Alien: Aha?
Panel 2:
Man: It's all in this graph of power vs. responsibleness.
(A line graph is shown. The vertical axis is unlabeled; the horizontal axis is labeled "time." Two curves are plotted, identified by a legend: "power" and "responsibleness." The "power" curve rises steeply upward, far outpacing the "responsibleness" curve, which stays low and nearly flat.)
Panel 3:
Man: This is true for every civilization in the universe. Whenever power gets way ahead of responsibleness, the civilization accidentally destroys itself.
Panel 4:
Alien: You guys are screwed.
Panel 5:
Man: Wait. If this happens to every civilization, what are you guys doing here?
Alien: I'm hiding in a rock.
Votey:
Alien (alone in a dark/empty panel): No one would think to look in the backwoods.
Man: I'm afraid your data is about up. Uh... human.
Alien: Aha?
Panel 2:
Man: It's all in this graph of power vs. responsibleness.
(A line graph is shown. The vertical axis is unlabeled; the horizontal axis is labeled "time." Two curves are plotted, identified by a legend: "power" and "responsibleness." The "power" curve rises steeply upward, far outpacing the "responsibleness" curve, which stays low and nearly flat.)
Panel 3:
Man: This is true for every civilization in the universe. Whenever power gets way ahead of responsibleness, the civilization accidentally destroys itself.
Panel 4:
Alien: You guys are screwed.
Panel 5:
Man: Wait. If this happens to every civilization, what are you guys doing here?
Alien: I'm hiding in a rock.
Votey:
Alien (alone in a dark/empty panel): No one would think to look in the backwoods.
Alt text
A five-panel SMBC comic. A man explains to a small green alien why civilizations destroy themselves. In panel 1 the man says "I'm afraid your data is about up... uh, human," and the alien replies "Aha?" In panel 2 the man references "this graph of power vs. responsibleness" — a line chart with "time" on the x-axis showing a "power" curve shooting steeply upward while the "responsibleness" curve stays low and flat. In panel 3 the man explains that for every civilization in the universe, whenever power gets way ahead of responsibleness, the civilization accidentally destroys itself. In panel 4 the alien deadpans "You guys are screwed." In panel 5 the man asks, if this happens to every civilization, what are you guys doing here? The alien answers "I'm hiding in a rock." The votey (aftercomic) shows the alien alone in an empty panel, with hand-lettered text reading "No one would think to look in the backwoods" — the punchline being that the alien's species survived only by hiding rather than by being responsible.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.