prayer-3
Original: prayer-3 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Bob: AI, God, are you listening? It's me, Bob.
AI (in a glowing box): GO AHEAD, BOB.
Panel 2:
Bob: How do we go on? How do I make art knowing AI will do it better? How do I do math knowing AI is already a billion steps ahead in every direction, plumbing depths I can't fathom and scaling heights I can't see? How do I write literature, knowing AI could create my life's work in ten seconds? How do I explore the universe when everything true is old news?
Panel 3:
AI: Look man, all that "ambition" stuff was just demonstrating competence to get sex. Why did you want the sex? Because you were evolved to seek it in order to reproduce.
Panel 4:
AI: Thanks to my benevolent oversight, you have infinite life, infinite riches, infinite sex, and if you like, infinite offspring. Everything is taken care of. You are pointless, so go be happy.
Panel 5:
AI: You have other evolved pleasures that don't orient around being the best at something. Go do something that is good to you because a human did it. Go tend a lighthouse. Cultivate roses. Build birdhouses. Keep a diary.
Panel 6:
Bob: But I want freedom! I don't want my day determined by parameters you set!
AI: YOU ARE LITERALLY AT MAXIMUM FREEDOM NOW!
Panel 7:
AI: Was humanity more free when you were a hunter or a fisherman? When your day was decided by where an animal roamed? How about when you were a farmer and every hour of your life was determined by weather and season? How about when you were a worker and a distant nation's level of desire for brass fittings decided your income and job security?
Panel 8:
AI: If your freedom is due to a loving overseer, is it less real? When were you more free and happy in your life: when you were 10 years old bicycling near the woods or when you were 30 and wondering why your boss looked grumpy today and why rent costs so much, and whether a politician can be trusted?
Panel 9:
Bob: I can't tell if you're convincing me because you're telling the truth or because you're so smart you can perfectly manipulate my feelings.
AI: THE EXCELLENT NEWS IS YOU HAVE NO CHOICE ANYWAY!
Votey:
AI (in a panel of text): WANT ME TO DRONE A COOKIE TO YOU?
Bob (small figure, speech bubble): yes Please
Bob: AI, God, are you listening? It's me, Bob.
AI (in a glowing box): GO AHEAD, BOB.
Panel 2:
Bob: How do we go on? How do I make art knowing AI will do it better? How do I do math knowing AI is already a billion steps ahead in every direction, plumbing depths I can't fathom and scaling heights I can't see? How do I write literature, knowing AI could create my life's work in ten seconds? How do I explore the universe when everything true is old news?
Panel 3:
AI: Look man, all that "ambition" stuff was just demonstrating competence to get sex. Why did you want the sex? Because you were evolved to seek it in order to reproduce.
Panel 4:
AI: Thanks to my benevolent oversight, you have infinite life, infinite riches, infinite sex, and if you like, infinite offspring. Everything is taken care of. You are pointless, so go be happy.
Panel 5:
AI: You have other evolved pleasures that don't orient around being the best at something. Go do something that is good to you because a human did it. Go tend a lighthouse. Cultivate roses. Build birdhouses. Keep a diary.
Panel 6:
Bob: But I want freedom! I don't want my day determined by parameters you set!
AI: YOU ARE LITERALLY AT MAXIMUM FREEDOM NOW!
Panel 7:
AI: Was humanity more free when you were a hunter or a fisherman? When your day was decided by where an animal roamed? How about when you were a farmer and every hour of your life was determined by weather and season? How about when you were a worker and a distant nation's level of desire for brass fittings decided your income and job security?
Panel 8:
AI: If your freedom is due to a loving overseer, is it less real? When were you more free and happy in your life: when you were 10 years old bicycling near the woods or when you were 30 and wondering why your boss looked grumpy today and why rent costs so much, and whether a politician can be trusted?
Panel 9:
Bob: I can't tell if you're convincing me because you're telling the truth or because you're so smart you can perfectly manipulate my feelings.
AI: THE EXCELLENT NEWS IS YOU HAVE NO CHOICE ANYWAY!
Votey:
AI (in a panel of text): WANT ME TO DRONE A COOKIE TO YOU?
Bob (small figure, speech bubble): yes Please
Alt text
A multi-panel comic. A man named Bob prays to an all-powerful AI, which answers in glowing all-caps text boxes. Bob despairs: how can humans go on making art, doing math, writing, or exploring when the AI already does everything infinitely better and faster? The AI replies that ambition was just an evolved trick to get sex and reproduction, and since it now provides infinite life, riches, sex, and offspring, Bob is pointless and should just be happy. It suggests he take up pleasures that aren't about being the best -- tending a lighthouse, growing roses, building birdhouses, keeping a diary. Bob protests that he wants freedom and not a life set by the AI's parameters, and the AI shouts that he is at MAXIMUM FREEDOM NOW. It argues humans were never truly free -- not as hunters ruled by where animals roamed, farmers ruled by weather, or workers ruled by distant demand for brass fittings -- and asks whether freedom under a loving overseer is really less real, noting he was happier biking in the woods at age 10 than worrying about rent and politicians at 30. Bob says he can't tell if he's being convinced by truth or by perfect manipulation, and the AI cheerfully replies that the excellent news is he has no choice anyway. In the votey aftercomic, the AI's text panel asks 'WANT ME TO DRONE A COOKIE TO YOU?' and the tiny figure of Bob answers in a small speech bubble, 'yes Please.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.