recursion
Original: recursion on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: A flyer is tacked to a wooden post/wall. It reads: "PROBLEMS WITH RECURSION?" Below, with downward arrows on each side: "↓ Please take one ↓". The bottom of the flyer has a row of pull-off tear tabs (the kind with little printed strips you tear off).
Panel 2: A man with graying hair, seen from behind, reaches up and tears off one of the pull tabs from the bottom of the flyer. Part of the flyer text is visible: "...WITH ...ECURSIO[N]" and "...ase take o[ne]".
Panel 3: The man, now facing forward in a suit, holds the small torn-off tab and looks down at it, confused. He says: "WHAT THE-"
Panel 4: Close-up of the tab he tore off. It is itself a tiny, complete copy of the original flyer: "PROBLEMS WITH RECURSION?" with "↓ Please take one ↓" and its own row of even tinier pull tabs at the bottom.
Votey: A wordless panel. In the bottom-right corner of a large square, a smaller square is nested, and within that an even smaller square, and within that a still smaller square — squares recursively nested inside each other, each in the corner of the last, shrinking toward infinity.
Panel 2: A man with graying hair, seen from behind, reaches up and tears off one of the pull tabs from the bottom of the flyer. Part of the flyer text is visible: "...WITH ...ECURSIO[N]" and "...ase take o[ne]".
Panel 3: The man, now facing forward in a suit, holds the small torn-off tab and looks down at it, confused. He says: "WHAT THE-"
Panel 4: Close-up of the tab he tore off. It is itself a tiny, complete copy of the original flyer: "PROBLEMS WITH RECURSION?" with "↓ Please take one ↓" and its own row of even tinier pull tabs at the bottom.
Votey: A wordless panel. In the bottom-right corner of a large square, a smaller square is nested, and within that an even smaller square, and within that a still smaller square — squares recursively nested inside each other, each in the corner of the last, shrinking toward infinity.
Alt text
A four-panel comic. Panel 1: a flyer tacked to a wooden post reads "PROBLEMS WITH RECURSION?" with "↓ Please take one ↓" above a row of tear-off pull tabs. Panel 2: a gray-haired man, seen from behind, tears off one of the pull tabs. Panel 3: the man, in a suit, holds the little torn tab and stares at it, saying "WHAT THE-". Panel 4: a close-up reveals the tab is itself a miniature copy of the whole flyer — "PROBLEMS WITH RECURSION?", "↓ Please take one ↓", and its own row of even tinier pull tabs — so the flyer is infinitely recursive. Votey (a wordless extra panel): squares nested inside one another in the bottom-right corner, each smaller square tucked into the corner of the last, shrinking endlessly — a visual of recursion.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.