robot

A three-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: A man in a lab coat and safety goggles gestures and announces, "Behold! A new kind of robot." A woman scientist beside him asks, "What makes it new?" Between them sits a small rounded robot. Panel 2: A staircase/escalator is visible behind them. The man explains, "It climbs up this escalator that's constantly moving down. It keeps going, never aware of the elevator until its body finally degrades and falls apart." A close-up of the robot's blank, content face is at the right. Panel 3: A folded newspaper with the giant headline "ROBOT ACHIEVES HUMAN-LEVEL INTELLIGENCE" and a smaller note reading "Tomorrow's headline to feature similar information," with a photo of the rocket-shaped robot. The joke draws a grim parallel between the robot's futile uphill climb on a downward escalator (degrading until it falls apart) and human life. Votey (bonus panel): The egg-shaped robot cheerfully walks up a staircase, declaring, "Gonna feel so happy when I get up there!" — oblivious that it will never arrive.