arts-2
Original: arts-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man with flame-like orange hair (gesturing emphatically): "Generative AI is going to destroy artists' careers! That is a direct route to fascism!"
Woman (skeptical): "What? Why?"
Panel 2:
Orange-haired man: "Artists are the guardians of freedom."
Panel 3:
Woman: "Nah."
Orange-haired man: "Because beauty fights for truth?"
Panel 4 (large text caption from the man):
"Because no matter how bad things get, no matter how big a cult of personality becomes, no matter how totalizing an evil empire grows, there will always be some artist somewhere screaming 'Wait, shouldn't the world orient around ME?'"
Panel 5:
Woman (deadpan): "That's... a new version of artistic merit."
Panel 6:
Orange-haired man (excited): "And it's mine! I made it! I am the star of the movie called Existence!"
Votey:
A crude, childlike scribble of a face. Text reads:
"ME
THE MOVIE
STARRING ME as ME"
Man with flame-like orange hair (gesturing emphatically): "Generative AI is going to destroy artists' careers! That is a direct route to fascism!"
Woman (skeptical): "What? Why?"
Panel 2:
Orange-haired man: "Artists are the guardians of freedom."
Panel 3:
Woman: "Nah."
Orange-haired man: "Because beauty fights for truth?"
Panel 4 (large text caption from the man):
"Because no matter how bad things get, no matter how big a cult of personality becomes, no matter how totalizing an evil empire grows, there will always be some artist somewhere screaming 'Wait, shouldn't the world orient around ME?'"
Panel 5:
Woman (deadpan): "That's... a new version of artistic merit."
Panel 6:
Orange-haired man (excited): "And it's mine! I made it! I am the star of the movie called Existence!"
Votey:
A crude, childlike scribble of a face. Text reads:
"ME
THE MOVIE
STARRING ME as ME"
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. A man with spiky, flame-like orange hair argues passionately with a calmer woman. He declares that generative AI will destroy artists' careers, which is a direct route to fascism. She asks why. He says artists are the guardians of freedom; she flatly replies "Nah." He tries "Because beauty fights for truth?" Then he launches into a grand speech: no matter how bad things get, no matter how big a cult of personality becomes, no matter how totalizing an evil empire grows, there will always be some artist somewhere screaming "Wait, shouldn't the world orient around ME?" The woman dryly notes "That's... a new version of artistic merit." Beaming, he proclaims "And it's mine! I made it! I am the star of the movie called Existence!" The joke is that he proves his own point about artists' self-centeredness by claiming his cynical insight as his personal masterpiece. Votey (bonus panel): a crude childlike doodle of a face beneath the title "ME / THE MOVIE / STARRING ME as ME."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.