mans
Original: mans on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Human (red-haired man): Zorkrang, where does consciousness come from?
Alien (Zorkrang): Same in every intelligent species: from the tiny man on a tiny stage who lives inside your brain.
Panel 2:
Zorkrang: Different brain regions deliver prompts, like "I'm hungry," "I want sex," "What's 68 times 29" and the tiny man directs the action.
Panel 3:
Human: You mean this like a metaphor.
Zorkrang: No. I'm talking about the tiny man in your brain. Don't you guys scan brains?
Panel 4:
Human: We don't have a tiny man.
Zorkrang: What do you mean?
Panel 5:
Human: Our brains are just like... networks of connections.
Zorkrang: What the... like a rhizome or something?
Human: I guess so.
Panel 6:
Zorkrang: Sweet Zorjesus, but how does it...
Panel 7:
Zorkrang (looking distressed): Wow, this is like finding out that a loaf of cheese can do linear algebra. Amazing!
Panel 8:
Zorkrang: Wait, wait, wait if there's a tiny brain-man, where does the tiny man's consciousness come from?
Human: Nice try. It's tiny mans all the way down.
Votey:
A close-up of the human man's face. Speech bubble: Heck, probably you'll never die!
Human (red-haired man): Zorkrang, where does consciousness come from?
Alien (Zorkrang): Same in every intelligent species: from the tiny man on a tiny stage who lives inside your brain.
Panel 2:
Zorkrang: Different brain regions deliver prompts, like "I'm hungry," "I want sex," "What's 68 times 29" and the tiny man directs the action.
Panel 3:
Human: You mean this like a metaphor.
Zorkrang: No. I'm talking about the tiny man in your brain. Don't you guys scan brains?
Panel 4:
Human: We don't have a tiny man.
Zorkrang: What do you mean?
Panel 5:
Human: Our brains are just like... networks of connections.
Zorkrang: What the... like a rhizome or something?
Human: I guess so.
Panel 6:
Zorkrang: Sweet Zorjesus, but how does it...
Panel 7:
Zorkrang (looking distressed): Wow, this is like finding out that a loaf of cheese can do linear algebra. Amazing!
Panel 8:
Zorkrang: Wait, wait, wait if there's a tiny brain-man, where does the tiny man's consciousness come from?
Human: Nice try. It's tiny mans all the way down.
Votey:
A close-up of the human man's face. Speech bubble: Heck, probably you'll never die!
Alt text
An eight-panel SMBC comic. A red-haired human man talks with a green alien (named Zorkrang) against gray rocky backgrounds. The man asks where consciousness comes from. Zorkrang explains that in every intelligent species it comes from "the tiny man on a tiny stage who lives inside your brain," who directs the action based on prompts from brain regions like "I'm hungry" or "What's 68 times 29." The man clarifies he doesn't mean it as a metaphor; Zorkrang insists he means a literal tiny man and asks, "Don't you guys scan brains?" The man says humans don't have a tiny man, that brains are just networks of connections. Zorkrang, increasingly astonished, says it's like finding out a loaf of cheese can do linear algebra, and exclaims "Sweet Zorjesus." Zorkrang then realizes that if there WERE a tiny brain-man, that man would need his own tiny man, etc. The human deadpans, "Nice try. It's tiny mans all the way down." Votey: a close-up of the man's face saying, "Heck, probably you'll never die!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.