internet-5
Original: internet-5 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: An older man and a younger person walk together on a path through grassy green hills.
Older man: *Sigh* I feel bad for your generation on the internet.
Younger person: Why?
Panel 2: Close-up of the older bald, bearded man speaking.
Older man: When I was a kid we all thought the internet would fix everything. Information would be free. People would all talk and understand each other. Democracy would reign. Now it's just like every other medium - run on avarice, ignorance, and cruelty.
Panel 3: The younger person (with curly dark hair) reacts.
Younger person: Well...
Younger person: Was everyone stupid back then?
Panel 4: The younger person looks at the older man skeptically.
Younger person: You thought an information transfer protocol would solve social problems?
Panel 5: Wide shot of the two small figures standing on a dark hillside.
Younger person: We thought anonymous people saying what they thought in a public forum would lead to the best idea getting shared the most-
Older man: So, yes.
Votey:
A caption box (no character shown clearly, just a face in shadow):
I knew I should've gone with mushrooms.
Older man: *Sigh* I feel bad for your generation on the internet.
Younger person: Why?
Panel 2: Close-up of the older bald, bearded man speaking.
Older man: When I was a kid we all thought the internet would fix everything. Information would be free. People would all talk and understand each other. Democracy would reign. Now it's just like every other medium - run on avarice, ignorance, and cruelty.
Panel 3: The younger person (with curly dark hair) reacts.
Younger person: Well...
Younger person: Was everyone stupid back then?
Panel 4: The younger person looks at the older man skeptically.
Younger person: You thought an information transfer protocol would solve social problems?
Panel 5: Wide shot of the two small figures standing on a dark hillside.
Younger person: We thought anonymous people saying what they thought in a public forum would lead to the best idea getting shared the most-
Older man: So, yes.
Votey:
A caption box (no character shown clearly, just a face in shadow):
I knew I should've gone with mushrooms.
Alt text
A five-panel SMBC comic. An older bald, bearded man walks with a younger curly-haired person through green hills. The man sighs, "I feel bad for your generation on the internet," and explains that as a kid everyone believed the internet would fix everything - free information, mutual understanding, democracy reigning - but now it's "run on avarice, ignorance, and cruelty." The younger person asks, "Was everyone stupid back then?" and presses: "You thought an information transfer protocol would solve social problems? We thought anonymous people saying what they thought in a public forum would lead to the best idea getting shared the most-" The older man, deflated, replies, "So, yes." Votey: a shadowed face muses, "I knew I should've gone with mushrooms" - regretting having chosen the internet over psychedelics as the thing that would change the world.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.