self-2
Original: self-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (woman looking upward, hands clasped as if praying):
Woman: DEAR GOD, WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE US A UNIFIED CONSCIOUSNESS? WHY ARE WE MADE OF CONSTANTLY ARGUING BRAIN MODULES?
Panel 2:
God (offscreen, speech bubble): MAN, YOU'RE DESCRIBING A NIGHTMARE! CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW HORRIBLE DEATH WOULD BE IF YOU HAD ANYTHING WORTH LOSING?
Panel 3:
Woman: ISN'T THAT WHAT A SOUL IS?
Panel 4:
God: A SOUL?
Panel 5:
Woman: THE INEFFABLE INDIVIDUAL QUALITY THAT CAN'T BE EFFACED BY TIME OR INJURY OR EVEN DEATH.
Panel 6:
God: I CREATED YOU WITH NO SELF AND YOU INVENTED A SELF TO FEEL BAD ABOUT?!
Panel 7:
God: WHAT?
Panel 8 (woman in profile, no dialogue)
Panel 9:
Woman: I... I GUESS.
Panel 10 (woman looking down, troubled, no dialogue)
Panel 11:
Woman: GOD, ARE YOU STILL THERE?
God (silhouette at lower left): SORRY, I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD SOME MANNA GOT CAUGHT IN MY THROAT.
Votey:
A close-up of God's silhouetted profile (mouth open, laughing) set against a background tiled wall-to-wall with the repeated text "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA".
Woman: DEAR GOD, WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE US A UNIFIED CONSCIOUSNESS? WHY ARE WE MADE OF CONSTANTLY ARGUING BRAIN MODULES?
Panel 2:
God (offscreen, speech bubble): MAN, YOU'RE DESCRIBING A NIGHTMARE! CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW HORRIBLE DEATH WOULD BE IF YOU HAD ANYTHING WORTH LOSING?
Panel 3:
Woman: ISN'T THAT WHAT A SOUL IS?
Panel 4:
God: A SOUL?
Panel 5:
Woman: THE INEFFABLE INDIVIDUAL QUALITY THAT CAN'T BE EFFACED BY TIME OR INJURY OR EVEN DEATH.
Panel 6:
God: I CREATED YOU WITH NO SELF AND YOU INVENTED A SELF TO FEEL BAD ABOUT?!
Panel 7:
God: WHAT?
Panel 8 (woman in profile, no dialogue)
Panel 9:
Woman: I... I GUESS.
Panel 10 (woman looking down, troubled, no dialogue)
Panel 11:
Woman: GOD, ARE YOU STILL THERE?
God (silhouette at lower left): SORRY, I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD SOME MANNA GOT CAUGHT IN MY THROAT.
Votey:
A close-up of God's silhouetted profile (mouth open, laughing) set against a background tiled wall-to-wall with the repeated text "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA".
Alt text
A multi-panel SMBC comic. A woman with blue-gray hair, hands clasped in prayer, looks upward and asks God: "Dear God, why didn't you give us a unified consciousness? Why are we made of constantly arguing brain modules?" God (heard only as a speech bubble) replies, "Man, you're describing a nightmare! Can you imagine how horrible death would be if you had anything worth losing?" The woman asks, "Isn't that what a soul is?" God: "A soul?" She explains, "The ineffable individual quality that can't be effaced by time or injury or even death." God, incredulous: "I created you with no self and you INVENTED a self to feel bad about?! What?" The woman, looking deflated, mutters, "I... I guess." After a silence she asks, "God, are you still there?" God, shown as a small silhouette, answers, "Sorry, I was laughing so hard some manna got caught in my throat." Votey: a black-and-white close-up of God's silhouetted laughing profile against a background completely filled with the repeated text "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA," showing God cracking up at the human's earnest belief in a soul.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.