esteem-2
Original: esteem-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Caption (below the panel): Permanent human happiness will become trivial.
A robot in the form of a man leans on a fence, addressing his neighbor.
Self-esteem robot: "HELLO! I'M YOUR NEW SELF-ESTEEM BOT. I LIVE NEXTDOOR IN A HOUSE SLIGHTLY LESS VALUABLE THAN YOURS WITH MY SLIGHTLY LESS ATTRACTIVE FAMILY. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU IT WILL CALIBRATE TO BE 10% LOWER PRESTIGE THAN YOU SO YOU EVERY DAY GEE YOU AT THE LITTLE LEAGUE GAME - I'LL BE DRIVING MY OLDER MODEL OF THE SAME CAR AS YOURS AND WILL BERATE MY KID FOR NOT TRYING AS HARD AS YOURS!"
Votey:
Handwritten worried thought (text above a drawn worried face): "OH SHIT, MY NEIGHBORS CAN AFFORD TWO ESTEEM-BOTS?"
Below the words, the face of a man drawn looking anxious and distressed.
A robot in the form of a man leans on a fence, addressing his neighbor.
Self-esteem robot: "HELLO! I'M YOUR NEW SELF-ESTEEM BOT. I LIVE NEXTDOOR IN A HOUSE SLIGHTLY LESS VALUABLE THAN YOURS WITH MY SLIGHTLY LESS ATTRACTIVE FAMILY. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU IT WILL CALIBRATE TO BE 10% LOWER PRESTIGE THAN YOU SO YOU EVERY DAY GEE YOU AT THE LITTLE LEAGUE GAME - I'LL BE DRIVING MY OLDER MODEL OF THE SAME CAR AS YOURS AND WILL BERATE MY KID FOR NOT TRYING AS HARD AS YOURS!"
Votey:
Handwritten worried thought (text above a drawn worried face): "OH SHIT, MY NEIGHBORS CAN AFFORD TWO ESTEEM-BOTS?"
Below the words, the face of a man drawn looking anxious and distressed.
Alt text
A man-shaped robot leans on a backyard fence cheerfully greeting his neighbor. His speech: "Hello! I'm your new self-esteem bot. I live next door in a house slightly less valuable than yours with my slightly less attractive family. No matter what happens to you it will calibrate to be 10% lower prestige than you. Gee you at the little league game - I'll be driving my older model of the same car as yours and will berate my kid for not trying as hard as yours!" A caption below reads: "Permanent human happiness will become trivial." The joke: happiness is engineered by giving everyone a neighbor robot designed to always seem slightly less successful, guaranteeing you always feel superior. Votey aftercomic: a man's anxious, distressed face under the handwritten worried thought "Oh shit, my neighbors can afford two esteem-bots?" - the comparison anxiety reasserts itself the moment someone has more of the very robots meant to relieve it.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.