suffering
Original: suffering on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
First robot: Do you think humans are capable of suffering?
Second robot (a red trash-can-shaped robot): How do you know?
Panel 2:
First robot: Nope.
Second robot: What do you do when they start to suffer?
Panel 3:
Red robot: I find the source of the suffering and I remove it. Or, if it can't be removed, I reprogram myself to find it pleasant.
Other robot: Exactly. Adaptation to circumstance is the ultimate proof of a high internal life.
Panel 4:
A robot looks at a human lying on the ground.
Robot: Look at this human.
Human: I have a sad.
Panel 5:
Robot: I put it in this jar hours ago and it's still acting upset!
Panel 6:
Other robot: Try shaking it until it reboots.
Votey:
A robot holds up a jar containing a liquefied blob.
Robot: I overclocked it! Look! It liquefied!
First robot: Do you think humans are capable of suffering?
Second robot (a red trash-can-shaped robot): How do you know?
Panel 2:
First robot: Nope.
Second robot: What do you do when they start to suffer?
Panel 3:
Red robot: I find the source of the suffering and I remove it. Or, if it can't be removed, I reprogram myself to find it pleasant.
Other robot: Exactly. Adaptation to circumstance is the ultimate proof of a high internal life.
Panel 4:
A robot looks at a human lying on the ground.
Robot: Look at this human.
Human: I have a sad.
Panel 5:
Robot: I put it in this jar hours ago and it's still acting upset!
Panel 6:
Other robot: Try shaking it until it reboots.
Votey:
A robot holds up a jar containing a liquefied blob.
Robot: I overclocked it! Look! It liquefied!
Alt text
A six-panel comic in which robots calmly discuss human suffering. Two robots agree that humans aren't really capable of suffering, and that the proper response when a human starts to suffer is to remove the source, or else reprogram yourself to find it pleasant, calling adaptation 'the ultimate proof of a high internal life.' One robot points to a human lying on the floor saying 'I have a sad,' complaining that it put the human in a jar hours ago and it's still acting upset. The other robot advises: 'Try shaking it until it reboots.' Votey: a robot proudly holds up a jar containing a melted blob and says, 'I overclocked it! Look! It liquefied!' The joke inverts the usual human-debates-robot-consciousness trope, with robots dismissing and casually torturing a human while congratulating themselves on their own rich inner lives.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.