double-edged
Original: double-edged on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Speaker (a man at a lectern giving a speech): In sum, based on a decade of research into the history of science, I find that all technology is double-edged.
Panel 2:
Audience member (raising a question from the seated crowd): What about single-edged swords?
Panel 3:
The speaker at the lectern stands silent, no dialogue.
Panel 4:
Label/banner: SHORTLY
Newspaper headline: PROMINENT HISTORIAN COMMITS SEPPUKU
(small newspaper subtext, illegible filler beneath the headline)
Votey:
The man (off to the side, dialogue continuing): Also missiles? Missiles are just round.
A young person in the foreground listens with a wide-eyed, blank expression.
Speaker (a man at a lectern giving a speech): In sum, based on a decade of research into the history of science, I find that all technology is double-edged.
Panel 2:
Audience member (raising a question from the seated crowd): What about single-edged swords?
Panel 3:
The speaker at the lectern stands silent, no dialogue.
Panel 4:
Label/banner: SHORTLY
Newspaper headline: PROMINENT HISTORIAN COMMITS SEPPUKU
(small newspaper subtext, illegible filler beneath the headline)
Votey:
The man (off to the side, dialogue continuing): Also missiles? Missiles are just round.
A young person in the foreground listens with a wide-eyed, blank expression.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: A man stands at a lectern delivering a lecture, saying, "In sum, based on a decade of research into the history of science, I find that all technology is double-edged." Panel 2: An audience member in the seated crowd asks, "What about single-edged swords?" Panel 3: The speaker stands at the lectern in stunned silence. Panel 4: A banner reads "SHORTLY" and a newspaper headline declares "PROMINENT HISTORIAN COMMITS SEPPUKU" — the historian, undone by the counterexample, has ritually disemboweled himself. Votey (aftercomic): The man adds, "Also missiles? Missiles are just round," while a wide-eyed young person stares blankly, piling on more counterexamples to the "everything is double-edged" claim.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.