hamlet
Original: hamlet on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1
Man with flame-like hair: Dear God. I'm half through Hamlet, and... should he kill the man who murdered his father and married his mother?
Panel 2
Man with flame-like hair: Depends on his species.
Panel 3
Man with flame-like hair: Look, there are basically three types of animal. Solitary, social, and eusocial.
Panel 4
Man with flame-like hair: If Hamlet is solitary, killing the uncle is just a cost-benefit analysis that's mostly about calories and baby production from the perspective of the individual.
Panel 5
Man with flame-like hair: If Hamlet is eusocial, like wasps or naked molerats, it's a simple cost-benefit analysis that's mostly about calories and baby production from the perspective of the colony.
Panel 6
Man with flame-like hair: Hamlet is people. People are a social species. We have strong tendencies both to selfishness and groupishness, and frankly it's hard to tell whether we're being one or the other.
Dark silhouette figure (questioner): In that case? He should probably just go nuts.
Votey:
Text in a speech bubble: "...is Hamlet guy is genius!"
Below, a close-up of the man with flame-like hair, eyes closed, looking pleased.
Man with flame-like hair: Dear God. I'm half through Hamlet, and... should he kill the man who murdered his father and married his mother?
Panel 2
Man with flame-like hair: Depends on his species.
Panel 3
Man with flame-like hair: Look, there are basically three types of animal. Solitary, social, and eusocial.
Panel 4
Man with flame-like hair: If Hamlet is solitary, killing the uncle is just a cost-benefit analysis that's mostly about calories and baby production from the perspective of the individual.
Panel 5
Man with flame-like hair: If Hamlet is eusocial, like wasps or naked molerats, it's a simple cost-benefit analysis that's mostly about calories and baby production from the perspective of the colony.
Panel 6
Man with flame-like hair: Hamlet is people. People are a social species. We have strong tendencies both to selfishness and groupishness, and frankly it's hard to tell whether we're being one or the other.
Dark silhouette figure (questioner): In that case? He should probably just go nuts.
Votey:
Text in a speech bubble: "...is Hamlet guy is genius!"
Below, a close-up of the man with flame-like hair, eyes closed, looking pleased.
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. A man with wild flame-like orange hair holds forth on whether Hamlet should kill the uncle who murdered his father and married his mother. He says it 'depends on his species,' then explains there are three types of animal: solitary, social, and eusocial. If Hamlet were solitary, killing the uncle would just be a cost-benefit calculation about calories and baby production from the individual's perspective; if eusocial (like wasps or naked mole rats), the same calculation but from the colony's perspective. In the final panel he concludes that Hamlet is people, a social species with strong tendencies toward both selfishness and groupishness, making it hard to tell which we're being. A small dark silhouette (the listener) replies, 'In that case? He should probably just go nuts.' Votey (small bonus panel): a speech bubble reads 'is Hamlet guy is genius!' above a close-up of the orange-haired man looking pleased with his eyes closed.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.