adverse
Original: adverse on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Clown: Why are children afraid of clowns?
Caption (text near the man): ADVERSE SELECTION
Panel 2:
Clown: If you have a healthy insurance pool, and healthy people leave, premiums have to increase, which makes the overall population sicker.
Panel 3:
Man (with glasses): That drives out the healthiest people in the remaining group, increasing premiums for those who remain. Iterate. This process loops enough and the system breaks.
Panel 4:
Man: So suppose kids are just a little afraid of clowns.
Panel 5:
Man: In that case the people least comfortable being around clowns will not become clowns. That leaves the remaining clowns just that little bit more scary, driving out the next least-scary remaining clowns.
Panel 6:
Man: And the point is, this process, a rational child should assume anyone still selling to be a clown is, by definition, objectively to be feared.
Panel 7:
(The clown leans in, ominous, eyes shadowed.)
Panel 8:
Clown: SON OF A BITCH!
Votey:
Clown: YOU REALLY SUCKED THE JOY OUT OF SERIAL MURDER, KID.
Clown: Why are children afraid of clowns?
Caption (text near the man): ADVERSE SELECTION
Panel 2:
Clown: If you have a healthy insurance pool, and healthy people leave, premiums have to increase, which makes the overall population sicker.
Panel 3:
Man (with glasses): That drives out the healthiest people in the remaining group, increasing premiums for those who remain. Iterate. This process loops enough and the system breaks.
Panel 4:
Man: So suppose kids are just a little afraid of clowns.
Panel 5:
Man: In that case the people least comfortable being around clowns will not become clowns. That leaves the remaining clowns just that little bit more scary, driving out the next least-scary remaining clowns.
Panel 6:
Man: And the point is, this process, a rational child should assume anyone still selling to be a clown is, by definition, objectively to be feared.
Panel 7:
(The clown leans in, ominous, eyes shadowed.)
Panel 8:
Clown: SON OF A BITCH!
Votey:
Clown: YOU REALLY SUCKED THE JOY OUT OF SERIAL MURDER, KID.
Alt text
An eight-panel SMBC comic. A red-haired, white-faced clown and a bespectacled man have a deadpan conversation framed by the label 'Adverse Selection.' The clown asks why children are afraid of clowns. The man explains the insurance concept of adverse selection: when healthy people leave an insurance pool, premiums rise and the remaining population gets sicker, which drives out the next-healthiest people, looping until the system breaks. He then maps this onto clowns: the people least comfortable around clowns won't become clowns, leaving the remaining clowns a little scarier, which drives out the next least-scary clowns, iterating. His conclusion: a rational child should assume any remaining clown is, by definition, objectively to be feared. As he reasons this out, the clown's expression grows steadily darker and more menacing until, eyes shadowed, the clown finally snaps and shouts 'Son of a bitch!' In the votey (aftercomic), the clown, now drawn with a sinister look and what appears to be a knife, glares and says, 'You really sucked the joy out of serial murder, kid.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.