the-future-2
Original: the-future-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1
Woman with curly hair (green jacket, red scarf): Do you think we should care about the distant future of humanity?
Woman with red-orange hair (yellow jacket): Depends on what they're like.
Panel 2
Green-jacket woman: Suppose far future humans walk around all day beating puppies with shovels. Should we encourage that sort of thing by working now to secure them more leisure time?
Yellow-jacket woman: I suppose not.
Panel 3
Green-jacket woman: Wrong! The worse that future people are, the less we are to blame for doing nothing on their behalf!
Panel 4
Green-jacket woman: Now imagine they're all gentle, living in harmony with nature, bearing love with every action. Do you really want to be responsible for handing those people a polluted planet filled with disease and poverty?
Panel 5
Green-jacket woman: So, the ethical thing to do in the present is...
Green-jacket woman: Be as awful as possible, out of respect for the people of the past.
Panel 6
Yellow-jacket woman: "Become more evil with each generation" doesn't feel like a strong moral stance.
Green-jacket woman: It's more popular than you might think.
Votey:
A voice from an off-panel speech bubble: I'm bad... but... I could try to be worse.
(The speech bubble points down toward a doodle of a baby/fetus-like figure.)
Woman with curly hair (green jacket, red scarf): Do you think we should care about the distant future of humanity?
Woman with red-orange hair (yellow jacket): Depends on what they're like.
Panel 2
Green-jacket woman: Suppose far future humans walk around all day beating puppies with shovels. Should we encourage that sort of thing by working now to secure them more leisure time?
Yellow-jacket woman: I suppose not.
Panel 3
Green-jacket woman: Wrong! The worse that future people are, the less we are to blame for doing nothing on their behalf!
Panel 4
Green-jacket woman: Now imagine they're all gentle, living in harmony with nature, bearing love with every action. Do you really want to be responsible for handing those people a polluted planet filled with disease and poverty?
Panel 5
Green-jacket woman: So, the ethical thing to do in the present is...
Green-jacket woman: Be as awful as possible, out of respect for the people of the past.
Panel 6
Yellow-jacket woman: "Become more evil with each generation" doesn't feel like a strong moral stance.
Green-jacket woman: It's more popular than you might think.
Votey:
A voice from an off-panel speech bubble: I'm bad... but... I could try to be worse.
(The speech bubble points down toward a doodle of a baby/fetus-like figure.)
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. Two women stand in a snowy landscape under a dark sky. The first, with curly dark hair, a green jacket and red scarf, asks her red-haired friend (in a yellow jacket) whether they should care about the distant future of humanity. The friend says it depends what future people are like. The green-jacket woman argues: if future humans are awful (beating puppies with shovels), we shouldn't help secure them more leisure time; in fact, the worse they are, the less we're to blame for ignoring them. But if they're saintly and gentle, we shouldn't want to hand them a polluted, disease-ridden planet either. She gestures triumphantly and concludes that the ethical thing to do in the present is to be as awful as possible, out of respect for the people of the past. The friend says "'Become more evil with each generation' doesn't feel like a strong moral stance," and the woman replies, smiling, "It's more popular than you might think." Votey (bonus panel): a speech bubble reading "I'm bad... but... I could try to be worse." points down at a small scribbly baby-like doodle.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.