real-2

A six-and-a-half-panel SMBC comic. A woman with curly dark hair talks with an unseen entity that speaks only through yellow speech bubbles outlined in purple. She asks, "God... is math... real?" The entity replies, "What's math?" She explains, "You know like, one plus one equals two," and it asks, "One of what?" She says, "Just... you know... one," and the entity responds, "The fuck are you talking about." It then argues, "You can't have one. One is a description. It's like saying 'I have a spotted' instead of 'I have a spotted cow' or 'I have a spotted dog.'" The woman looks dismayed, then is shown in profile. In the final wide black panel her white silhouette stands at the bottom while she says, "I guess infinities are right out the window, then," and the entity asks, "What is GOING ON down there?" The joke: a godlike being insists that numbers like 'one' aren't real things, only descriptions, dismantling math from the top down. Votey (aftercomic): a small black-and-white sketch of someone exploring a basement room, captioned with frantic repeated handwritten reminders: "Don't mention surreals. Don't mention the surreals," a math in-joke about surreal numbers.