program
Original: program on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: A young boy sits at an old desktop computer.
Narration: When I was young, I learned basic programming.
Panel 2: A close-up of a screen showing code.
Narration: On a solar-powered calculator, I ran a simple program.
Screen text:
10 PRINT "Hello!"
20 GOTO 10
Panel 3: A forest scene; a small figure stands among trees.
Narration: I lost the calculator in the woods one day.
Panel 4: The calculator lies on the forest floor among grass and roots.
Narration: I like to think it's still running somewhere.
Panel 5: The calculator's screen glows in the woods, displaying "Hello!" repeatedly.
Narration: And, sometimes, I can't help but wonder if that little loop of perpetual greeting has grown, through the years, into a form of longing...
Screen text: Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!
Panel 6: The man (now grown), looking emotional, leans toward the calculator.
Narration: And that one day I will find it, sun-bleached and corroded, but still running the old program.
Man: old friend.
Panel 7: A long black panel filled with scrolling text.
Narration: And on that day, I will know what horror is.
Screen text:
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Is anybody listening?
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Is this everything?
Is this all there is?
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Votey:
An all-black panel with white text in the lower-right corner.
Text: GOODBYE, WORLD
Narration: When I was young, I learned basic programming.
Panel 2: A close-up of a screen showing code.
Narration: On a solar-powered calculator, I ran a simple program.
Screen text:
10 PRINT "Hello!"
20 GOTO 10
Panel 3: A forest scene; a small figure stands among trees.
Narration: I lost the calculator in the woods one day.
Panel 4: The calculator lies on the forest floor among grass and roots.
Narration: I like to think it's still running somewhere.
Panel 5: The calculator's screen glows in the woods, displaying "Hello!" repeatedly.
Narration: And, sometimes, I can't help but wonder if that little loop of perpetual greeting has grown, through the years, into a form of longing...
Screen text: Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!
Panel 6: The man (now grown), looking emotional, leans toward the calculator.
Narration: And that one day I will find it, sun-bleached and corroded, but still running the old program.
Man: old friend.
Panel 7: A long black panel filled with scrolling text.
Narration: And on that day, I will know what horror is.
Screen text:
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Is anybody listening?
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Is this everything?
Is this all there is?
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Votey:
An all-black panel with white text in the lower-right corner.
Text: GOODBYE, WORLD
Alt text
A seven-panel SMBC comic narrated as a melancholy memory. A man recalls learning BASIC programming as a boy and running a simple program on a solar-powered calculator: '10 PRINT "Hello!" / 20 GOTO 10', an infinite loop that prints 'Hello!' forever. He lost the calculator in the woods and likes to think it's still running. He muses that its endless perpetual greeting may have grown into a form of longing, and imagines one day finding the corroded, sun-bleached device still running, calling it 'old friend.' The final tall black panel reveals the horror: the screen has filled with an endless scroll of 'Hello!' interrupted by increasingly anguished lines: 'Is anybody listening?', 'Is this everything?', 'Is this all there is?' before resuming 'Hello!' again. Votey: a solid black panel with the words 'GOODBYE, WORLD' in the lower-right corner, a dark play on the programmer's traditional 'Hello, world' first program.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.