irony-2
Original: irony-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman with orange hair: Do you think artificial intelligences will take over all of human work, leaving us free to pursue our interests?
Woman with dark hair (walking away): Of course.
Panel 2:
Woman with orange hair: Why?
Woman with dark hair: Because I believe there is a god and that he has a deep and cruel sense of irony.
Panel 3:
Woman with dark hair: The same set of capacities that make it possible for a machine to do the laundry and mow the lawn also allow it to do art, math, science, and so on.
Panel 4:
Woman with dark hair: Because human brains are evolution's landfill, enhancing our own abilities is difficult. Advancing machine abilities is easy. So while we stagnate, they will make the best poetry, best philosophy, best science, even the best jokes.
Panel 5:
Woman with dark hair: Thus, at the exact moment when humans are finally free to spend all of our time in pursuit of beauty and truth, we will discover we're terrible at it.
Panel 6:
Woman with dark hair: That is the kind of outcome you could only expect from an evil deity who likes to laugh.
Panel 7:
Woman with orange hair: What if we made the AI smarter than god for revenge?
Woman with dark hair: Kid, you are just asking for a butt full of lightning.
Votey:
A large face (god/the moon) speaks: Dammit, they figured me out. Better have them go mad.
Woman with orange hair: Do you think artificial intelligences will take over all of human work, leaving us free to pursue our interests?
Woman with dark hair (walking away): Of course.
Panel 2:
Woman with orange hair: Why?
Woman with dark hair: Because I believe there is a god and that he has a deep and cruel sense of irony.
Panel 3:
Woman with dark hair: The same set of capacities that make it possible for a machine to do the laundry and mow the lawn also allow it to do art, math, science, and so on.
Panel 4:
Woman with dark hair: Because human brains are evolution's landfill, enhancing our own abilities is difficult. Advancing machine abilities is easy. So while we stagnate, they will make the best poetry, best philosophy, best science, even the best jokes.
Panel 5:
Woman with dark hair: Thus, at the exact moment when humans are finally free to spend all of our time in pursuit of beauty and truth, we will discover we're terrible at it.
Panel 6:
Woman with dark hair: That is the kind of outcome you could only expect from an evil deity who likes to laugh.
Panel 7:
Woman with orange hair: What if we made the AI smarter than god for revenge?
Woman with dark hair: Kid, you are just asking for a butt full of lightning.
Votey:
A large face (god/the moon) speaks: Dammit, they figured me out. Better have them go mad.
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. A woman with orange hair asks a woman with dark, curly hair whether artificial intelligences will take over all human work and free us to pursue our interests. The dark-haired woman, walking away across a snowy landscape, says "Of course." Asked why, she explains it is because she believes there is a god with a deep and cruel sense of irony: the same capacities that let a machine do laundry and mow the lawn also let it do art, math, and science. Since human brains are "evolution's landfill," improving ourselves is hard while improving machines is easy, so machines will make the best poetry, philosophy, science, and even the best jokes. Thus, exactly when humans are finally free to pursue beauty and truth, we'll discover we're terrible at it, which is the kind of outcome only an evil, laughter-loving deity would arrange. The orange-haired woman asks, "What if we made the AI smarter than god for revenge?" and the dark-haired woman replies, "Kid, you are just asking for a butt full of lightning." Votey: A large round face, like a god or the moon, hovers in the sky above clouds and says, "Dammit, they figured me out. Better have them go mad."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.