conscious-6
Original: conscious-6 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (narration): MY WHOLE LIFE I'VE WANTED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT CONSCIOUSNESS IS.
[A woman with long dark hair, glasses, and a maroon jacket walks, looking determined.]
Panel 2 (narration): NOW THAT WE CAN BUILD ARTIFICIAL MINDS, WE WILL FINALLY GET AN ANSWER.
[The woman walks along a path toward a tall lit office building at night.]
Panel 3 (narration): NO MORE DUALISM. NO MORE MYSTERY. NO WAVING YOUR HANDS AND SAYING "EMERGENT PROPERTIES."
[The woman strides through the interior lobby of the building past other figures.]
Panel 4:
A bald man in a suit and round glasses, raising a hand: OH, WE DON'T KNOW WHY IT WORKS — NEURAL NETWORKS ARE MAGIC WIZARD STUFF.
The woman (reacting): SON OF A BITCH!
Votey:
The bald man, smiling: FUNNY THING: NO BRAIN IS BIG ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND HOW IT WORKS.
[A woman with long dark hair, glasses, and a maroon jacket walks, looking determined.]
Panel 2 (narration): NOW THAT WE CAN BUILD ARTIFICIAL MINDS, WE WILL FINALLY GET AN ANSWER.
[The woman walks along a path toward a tall lit office building at night.]
Panel 3 (narration): NO MORE DUALISM. NO MORE MYSTERY. NO WAVING YOUR HANDS AND SAYING "EMERGENT PROPERTIES."
[The woman strides through the interior lobby of the building past other figures.]
Panel 4:
A bald man in a suit and round glasses, raising a hand: OH, WE DON'T KNOW WHY IT WORKS — NEURAL NETWORKS ARE MAGIC WIZARD STUFF.
The woman (reacting): SON OF A BITCH!
Votey:
The bald man, smiling: FUNNY THING: NO BRAIN IS BIG ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND HOW IT WORKS.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: a woman with long dark hair, glasses, and a maroon jacket walks with determination; narration reads "My whole life I've wanted to understand what consciousness is." Panel 2: she walks at night toward a tall lit office building; narration: "Now that we can build artificial minds, we will finally get an answer." Panel 3: she strides through the building's lobby; narration: "No more dualism. No more mystery. No waving your hands and saying 'emergent properties.'" Panel 4: a bald man in a suit and round glasses raises a hand and says, "Oh, we don't know why it works — neural networks are magic wizard stuff," and the woman recoils, shouting "Son of a bitch!" The joke: she hoped artificial minds would demystify consciousness, but AI researchers don't understand their own systems either. Votey (aftercomic): the bald man smiles and adds, "Funny thing: no brain is big enough to understand how it works."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.